Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Memories
-
February 6, 2007
Trans-Lux 52nd St. Lexington
To Whom this may concern:
My name is Sherry, my husband was reading a book the other day and found this program from this theatre. It is dated week beginning Sat. February 18th 1939, I found this very
interesting and thought someone else would too….Thank you
Sherry Deetz1 comment -
January 31, 2007
Glendale memories
GLENDALE, NY — I grew up in Glendale living in the big apartment house on 69th Street(Fosdick Court) and Myrtle Avenue from 1946 to 1974. I attended P.S. 91 and then went on to Richmond Hill High School. I was just recently visiting Glendale and Ridewood after a 17 year absence. I was surprised to see how the old neighborhood has changed and it seemed so busy and congested from how I remembered it. There seemed to be so many more stores and people but it was enjoyable walking and driving up and down the streets remembering the past fun of growing up in a wonderful community.
As a teenager my friends and I always walked down the avenue to go to the movies and the stores. It was our weekly entertainment. There was the Acme Theatre, the Glenwood, the Ridgewood, where I saw West Side Story, and the RKO Madison Theatres. The latter played host to many Rock & Rolls Shows that Murray the K would bring. At one of the shows he introduced Little Stevie Wonder as a newcomer to the business.
-
January 24, 2007
Elmer Behrns
It’s so good to see people interested in some of the buildings my Great Grandfather designed. If anyone has obscure questions they think I may be able to drum up answers to, feel free to ask. Thank you for preserving my families history.
-
January 23, 2007
Jim Rankin memorial site
Here’s a link for the Jim Rankin Memorial Site.
Comments and thoughts are welcome.
-
January 12, 2007
Eugene DeRosa, architect of the Apollo Theatre
Eugene DeRosa, architect of the Apollo Theatre, was my uncle, my father’s older brother. He was born in the Calabria region of Italy in 1894. He emigrated to the United States with his parents sometime between 1894 and 1898. They arrived through Ellis Island and settled in New York. The Depression ruined the family fortunes. I do not know what Eugene did after.
My father was born in 1898 in New York. He was named Felix, although he went by the name of Phil. My father also became an architect and worked with his brother Eugene. I would strongly suggest that he also worked on the Apollo, although not to the extent to gain any official credit. During the Depression, he sold insurance for Prudential, returning to practice architecture during the War and after until his death. He settled in Chappaqua, New York, where he met my mother, marrying at the age of 48.
-
December 21, 2006
Is Rivoli Pendleton’s Missing Link? by Tom Hebert
Prologue
Let’s be clear, you and I: Generally I don’t divulge to anyone that I majored in theatre arts, Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon. Surely not in a newspaper. But several years ago I began to admit to this heresy to other corporate and government managers. To my surprise, with a coming-out-of-the-closet air of relief, several confessed, “Me too!” So there’s a sort of brotherhood of fallen-away drama majors out there who have made it in business or government because they learned the essentials of good management in theatre, that most entrepreneurial, demanding, and accountable of managerial arenas.
Anyway, all that goes to explain why the other day I found myself clearing decades of debris from a dilapidated old theatre stage in downtown Pendleton.
-
December 20, 2006
Virginia Drive-ins
FREDERICKSBURG, VA — This piece delves into the history of drive-ins in Fredericksburg while also looking at the theater history as a whole.
It was April 23, 1951, when the first drive-in picture show debuted in Fredericksburg.
The feature attraction was director John Ford’s majestic big-budget Western “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” starring John Wayne, with Joanne Dru and John Agar. The Free Lance-Star advertised “Pitts Drive-in Theatre—a Carfull for a Dollar-Plus Tax—Shine or Shower—Route 1—Four Mile Fork.” There were two shows nightly at 7:15 and 9:15. The flick was billed as “Drama that’s Raw Violent Real.”
The last remnants of the Fredericksburg Drive-in, which closed in 1990, were bulldozed away this summer to make way for offices and retail use.
To read more, go to the Free-Lance Star
-
December 19, 2006
Cinerama Ad-Cleveland, Ohio
I thought this might be interesting to Cinerama fans.
This is an ad from the first Cinerama showing in Cleveland, Ohio at the Palace Theatre.
For more information, contact me: .
-
November 8, 2006
Search of former Philadelphia theater discovers silent film treasures
PHILADELPHIA, PA — A recent search of Port Richmond’s Richmond Theater found the remnants of several silent film posters. The theater opened in 1913 with silent pictures and closed in 1952 as a second run movie house. The building now houses the Port Richmond Book Store Co. after subsequent uses as a vending machine company and hardware supply business.
The posters were found in a crawl space which traverses the entire main auditorium. Search crews will further explore the venue in early December.
Each of the posters dates to 1917 and provides a unique insight into the early silver screen.
“Plagues and Puppy Love” advertised as a “Big ‘V” comedy distributed by the Greater
Vitagraph Company stars Larry Semon and is written by Graham Baker. “Six Cylinder Love"
stars Tom Mix and Victoria Forde. Written and directed by Mix. The movie was distributed by
the Fox Film Company. -
October 26, 2006
Strand and Europa Theaters in New Brunswick
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — By the mid-1940’s, the Strand had become pretty seedy. We kids sometimes went there for the Saturday 9-cent double bills—usually cowboy films, as I remember.
In the late 1940’s, the Europa Theatre in the Hungarian residential district of New Brunswick already seemed to have become an “art house.” As a young student, I saw Olivier’s Henry V there. This was for the time pretty exotic film fare for New Brunswick.