Parthenon Theatre

Here’s a current view of the Parthenon Theater taken today.

Click Here for Link

The theater is now a bingo hall in it’s main auditorium, and stores in the former lobby area. The building is heavily altered from it’s original appearance (in the link shown above from the queenspix site). The building is rather unattractive now.

Agreed. There had to have been some time, after the movie you saw in 1959, and before the bowling alley was there in 1961, when the building was closed for renovations, no movies were shown there any longer, and the building was being renovated into a bowling alley.

You never would have been off my Christmas card list, had I had one to begin with.

By the start of school (first grade for me) in September 1961, the Parthenon was already a bowling alley.

“Apparently I never saw Space Angel” ? I most certainly did, as I wrote in an earlier comment ! The Space Angel’s name was Scott McCloud, his ship was the Starduster (I drew it for my son this past January 30th), another character was named Professor Mace, and there was an out-of-control, non-Earth space vehicle named “Big Nasty” that had to be destroyed, similar to the 1958 film, “The Lost Missile”.

I’m also reminded of two cartoons I saw as a kid, in which actors' filmed moving mouths were inserted into the faces of the cartoon characters. One was “Clutch Cargo”, the other was “The Space Angel”.
As you are about eight years my senior, your memory of this may be clearer and more complete than mine.

It’s roofline is visable in quite a few photos taken from the Wyckoff Ave M Line El station. Here’s a few from nycsubway.org:

It’s seen to the left of the M train in this one, “Ridgewood Bingo” on the sign. You can’t even tell it was a theater if you look at it from street level.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1409[/url]

It’s also partially visable on the left in this old image from the 60’s.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2123[/url]

I saw films of an entirely different ilk at the Parthenon. They used to run some opera films on a very limited schedule, perhaps only one or two showings, before the film moved on to another theater. I know I saw “Tosca” there, and I think “Aida.”

The photo of the Parthenon’s marquee posted by Peter K on 8/20 dates from early 1950. There are 3 key words on the marquee…ERROL F, FORSYTE and CROOKED, which leads me to believe that the full marquee reads ERROL FLYNN in THAT FORSYTE WOMAN (released by MGM in 11/49) and the co-feature is CROOKED WAY (released by UA (4/49).

Attended the Parthenon only once around 1954 for a Saturday matinee double feature of the 1943 version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in glorious IB Technicolor and the Ritz Brothers in ARGENTINE NIGHTS. Do not recall anything about the décor except that the theater was very wide.

“War Of The Worlds”, “Forbidden Planet”, “The Time Machine” and “The Day The Earth Stood Still” are all favorite sci-fi classics of mine.
I know about the wires holding up the Martian fighting machine models in “War Of The Worlds”, but it’s such a fine film, and I love George Pal so much, I just don’t care.

I remember “Them !” and “Godzilla” very well. I have them both on VHS. Much of ‘50’s sci-fi and horror had a Cold War subtext of nuclear radiation, The Bomb, and the Red Menace. Biblical allegory abounds in “The Day The Earth Stood Still” (“carpenter” comes to Earth to save mankind from itself, is killed, rises from the dead, ascends into heaven, and tells mankind he will await its collective answer.)This film is typically compared to “The Thing” and “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” in the context, and discussion of, contact with extra-terrestrials in '50’s sci-fi.

What I like about these films, and why I value them so highly, is that they took themselves seriously, and usually had a serious and worthwhile message, and/or moral, to impart to the viewing audience.

I liked “Invasion Of The Saucer Men” too. I recently identified it for another e-pal of mine. I think I first saw it on “The Big Show”, the ABC 4:30 movie, in 1963 or 1964.

I remember Gorshin as The Riddler on the Batman TV show and 1966 feature film.

Yes, “Plan 9” was Lugosi’s last film. He died during its production, so you get to see Ed Wood’s chiropractor, eight inches taller than Lugosi, and without the slightest resemblance to him, stumbling around California tract housing, with a Dracula cape up under his nose. It was dramatized in the 1994 film, “Ed Wood”.

The film wasn’t released until 1959 because for years Wood couldn’t afford to pay the photo lab’s bill for processing the film ! It features Lugosi, Vampira, Tor Johnson, The Amazing Criswell, washed- up cowboy actors, and movie-crazy Baptists, in a tale of Earth’s invasion by hubcaps and paper plates from outer space. As Criswell intones at its end :

“These are the facts, my friends ! May God help us in the future !”

The marquee of the Parthenon Theater can be glimpsed in the following image :

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?33351

It can be seen as a black-bordered white rectangle, with black letters on it, near the middle of the right edge of the image, under the el, and to the right of the trolley car. I think the image dates from the late 1940’s. The top word on the marquee looks like “FRISKY”. I can’t make out anything else.

What was once the Parthenon Theatre can be seen in the following image. It is the half of slant-roofed frieze at the upper left corner, with the red and yellow sign beneath it reading “RIDGEWOOD BINGO” :

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1409

The western wall of the RKO Madison Theater can also be glimpsed in the same image, to the right of the green tower. It is a brown brick wall with the name RKO MADISON erased but with newer and bolder graffiti beginning to prevail.