Bel-Vue Theatre
336 Belleview Square,
Bellevue,
WA
98004
336 Belleview Square,
Bellevue,
WA
98004
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The street address listed in the city directory is 336 Bellevue Square.
Roman-Holliday: Was your manager’s name perhaps Corrine Strello (unsure of spelling)? Mrs. Strello was a manager for SRO theaters from the late 1950’s until retiring from SRO’s Cinerama in the early 1980’s. I worked for her at the Cinerama. Such things would never be allowed today but her husband managed for a competitor, National General’s Crossroads Cinema in Bellevue.
I worked at the Bel-Vue in the late 1960s. Bellevue Square was still small and quaint in those days. I worked the box office, the concession stand, tore tickets, and whatever else needed doing. I loved it. I don’t remember my boss’s name, but she was formidable. I sometimes had to change out the red plastic letters on the overhead marquee and I was afraid of heights even then. Sometimes I had to run errands at the nearby John Danz Theatre. My favorite memory: was checking ID for the X-rated “The Killing of Sister George”. After making sure that everyone was 18 or over, I took my 17-year-old self into the theatre to enjoy the picture. That film has had a lasting influence on me, as has my short tenure at the late, lamented Bel-Vue.
I fondly remember working at the “Bel-vue” during it’s last year of life as an art house. It truly beat working at the “commercial” theaters ie. Factoria. I also fondly remember working for Bill Schreib (the manager), I wonder what happened to him. Good memories.
The Bel-Vue originally had a readerboard out on Northeast 8th, although the theater sat farther back on the property. The letters were stored under the sign. When the theater was playing the 1955 Jennifer Jones weepy “Good Morning Miss Dove” someone broke into the letter storage and put the f-word between “Morning” and “Miss.” Shortly afterward the sign was moved to the theater building!