Jerry Lewis Cinema
2166 Forest Avenue,
Staten Island,
NY
10303
2166 Forest Avenue,
Staten Island,
NY
10303
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 36 comments
This opened on January 17th, 1974. Grand opening ad posted.
The Queens location is the Surfside Twin. I tried to link the CT page here for it but I got a SPAM alert.
markp -The twin in Massapequa became the Rae Cinema. Now it’s retail. The twin in East Meadow became Flick 1 and 2. The single screen in Lake Ronkonkoma became the Lakeside Cinema. It is now an OTB location. The single screen in Center Moriches was created in retail space and later called the Center Cinema. It is now a bank. All these are on Cinema Treasures. I don’t recall one in Queens. Please refresh my memory.
Closed as the Jerry Lewis Cinema on February 14, 1984 with “Uncommon Valor”
robboehm, I can recall several Jerry Lewis cinemas in NY and NJ including the one both my father and I worked at, the twin in Carteret NJ. There was also one in Wayne and Hillsboro NJ, as well as the one in Staten Island, the one in Queens and a twin in Massapequa NY. They just over expanded way to fast. Plus they had people in the industry running theatres who knew nothing about theatres.
CJ1949 Rockaway Park is in the Boro of Queens on Long Island. This theater is on Staten Island which is the Boro of Richmond.
A bit confusing to someone who is not from the area. Seems there were two (more?) Staten Island Lewis locations. I have a NY Times theatre directory page that lists two Lewis theatres – this is from 6-22-1981: “Mariner’s Harbor – Jerry Lewis Cinema (yes, still using the Lewis name) phone 720-9300. No street address given. "tentative” booking was “Bustin' Loose”. The Surfside in Rockaway Park (formerly a Lewis theatre) street address given as “103-22 Rockaway Beach Blvd. phone 945-4632” Playing “Hardly Working”(!) and “Tribute.”
I recall seeing ‘The Drowning Pool’ here.
Uploaded a Variety ad for Jerry Lewis Cinemas.
See JERRY LEWIS CINEMA, Canton,Ct on Lewis'own words about his failed cinemas.
O.K.
The book Going To The Movies On Staten Island wrongly states both this and the Richmond theatre were demolished after closing. I went on Google maps street view and the building is still there. Evidently the Entenmann’s Bakery went out of business and there is a “For Lease” sign on the fence in front.
This theatre was at 2166 forest avenue.
The theater that went OTB on the Island was the Rae Twin in New Dorp.
there was a jerry lewis twin in lake ronkonkoma long island
went porno now an o t b…
wonder what it will be in it’s next vise!
There was a Jerry Lewis Twin in Niagara Falls,NY. It closed and the auditoriums are used for off-track betting. The lobby was used by an optician but is now vacant.
just want to flash back to vito june 6th…
what i was talking about was when jerry lewis and the head of ua east
formed some kind of relationship i never gave a date…but, it was early 70’s….
the prototype was some place in queens…that’s all i was saying..
i can’t remember the the operators name that…maybe someone will
…john? maybe…in the prototype was platters…they showed how a twin could use one platter of film could feed two screens…
bookem vito
I remember the bloopers being shown at the Island.
The only movie I saw at the Jerry Lewis was Stripes. It was a single at the time. What also sucked about it was that there was nothing to do in the immediate vicinity after the movie, especially at night.
Here’s a clipping from the Daily News in December 1980:
Movie Guide 12/9/80
The Jerry Lewis is listed way at the bottom as the sole entry for Staten Island. The address shown is 2166 Forest Ave, though I’m sure these guides were prone to typo’s. Lost… where’d you get the 2176 address?
Anyway… check out the programming. “Best of 60’s Rock”. I guess they ran some of those video-to-film transfers of shows like Shindig and other music programs that were fairly popular in the mid to late ‘60’s? Sounds like this may have been a midnight show. I remember some theaters on Long Island used to show “Bloopers” at midnight. “Star Trek” (the TV series) bloopers in particular were a popular part of those programs. Anyone remember those?
Actually Wally, the JL twin I worked in Hawaii, which opened in 1972, had what was called a film transport system that utilized huge 15k reels, (roughly two hours and twenty minutes of film) that were mounted on the rear of the projector. Platters came along a year or two later I believe. Yikes, those reels were heavy, but you could rewind right on the projector. It was the second complex in Hawaii to use Xenon lamps,the first being the now closed Waikiki twins.
most if not all j.l.c.’s were twins…also very small
ua/jerry lewis partnered on the invention of minitec…
most set up the person who sells the ticket…sells the candy..
starts the show…it was also the start of the platter system..
wally1975
Anthony , i don’t recall the theatre ever being twinned. it was too small and no additions were ever added , the building looks the same today as when it was built.
If I remember correctly, they made this theater a twin after a while before it eventually closed.
i recall the popcorn tasting like cardboard.
i recall the popcorn tasting like cardboard.