Comments from Al Alvarez

Showing 3,426 - 3,432 of 3,432 comments

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Loew's Metropolitan Theatre on May 22, 2005 at 10:44 pm

I have seen some record books that showed the Metropolitan as a department store prior to becoming a cinema in the late teens. They were taken away from a “cinema historian” who visted my office in the late nineties and then disappeared with them.
Asshole!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Stanley Theatre on May 22, 2005 at 11:07 am

The Stanley was advertised as showing films in the New York Times as early as 1916 but started it’s steady life as New York’s premiere Russian cinema in 1941, showing propaganda war films and musicals that hailed the Germans as the enemy even before that was a popular sentiment at the New York Times. Once the US entered the war, the Stanley, always politcal, added anti-Japanese films such as RAVAGED EARTH to its mix of Marxist musicals and war documentaries.

By 1956, at the height of the communist witch hunt, the Stanley disappeared from the movie pages of the New York Times, a likely casualty of the anti-Soviet climate.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Fresh Meadows 7 on May 22, 2005 at 10:38 am

The manager with the dog was industry veteran Edward Bernhardt. Ed was a German raised in Palestine (Israel). I worked with him in the nineties at the Meadows when he carried photos of his deceased pooch Charlie in his wallet and showed them regularly.

Ed started as a projectionist in Israel before immigrating to New York where he had a long career with MGM, RKO Century and innevitably, Cineplex Odeon. Months before passing away he famously stated: “I have lived long enough to have seen the fall of Communism, the Berlin Wall, and Pee Wee Herman. That is enough for one lifetime.”

For many of us, Ed IS the Meadows.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Flamingo Theatre on Aug 16, 2004 at 1:01 am

This was the home of I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW) in the late sixties, a film the Miami Herald refused advertising for. It ran here for several months and then moved to the North Miami by which time the Herald agrred to allow a one inch by one column ad with the title and the X rating. It was operated by Brandt who also ran the Cinema, PLaza Art, Beach and Lincoln at the time.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 116th Street Theatre on Aug 15, 2004 at 11:30 pm

This theatre was open from 1933 to 1968. A previous theatre at this location dates back to 1919 with the same name.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about IFC Center on Jul 18, 2004 at 11:13 pm

Alex, I lived next to the an erly from 1990 to 1996 while working for Cineplex Odeon in an apartment owned by them. Larry would most definitely be the best source (if you can find him) as he worked there for years before and after was the site caretaker for Clearview the last time I saw him, but I can help if you have any questions. The Waverly is the CD cover of the 2001 FUN LOVING CRIMINALS CD and I often run into the marquee shots in London where it is often used in ads for some odd reason!!!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Loew's Metropolitan Theatre on Jun 23, 2002 at 2:02 pm

This theatre dates back to early 1900’s as a Vaudeville house and has an extensive back stage area with dressing rooms and floors for talent agent offices. As a Loews house it was first outside Manhattan run for major films and included a stage show until the mid-fifties. In the late eighties it was taken over by Cineplex Odeon after being closed for a few years and split into four screens. Plaster walls in the lobby cover water features and mirrors that were NOT destroyed during the remodel. Cost of heating and cooling the extensive building and neighborhood violence lead to closing in the nineties when it failed to draw from nearby Brooklyn Heights.