RKO Madison Theatre
54-30 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
54-30 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 351 - 375 of 1,251 comments
Bway & Peter, the RKO Madison was a great theater in ANY year to see those spookers you mentioned. As cheesy as they could sometimes be, “The House on Haunted Hill,” “Thirteen Ghosts” and other Vincent Price vehicles were almost perfect when viewed within this setting.
PKoch,
Please pardon any comments that might seem a bit vague, I did see it at the Haven, maybe some,time after. My memory is not as sharp as it was , but because I missed out on such a grand venue as the Madison, I felt compelled to mention it once more, it may have even never played there, but I know that it did have charm for many movie goers who miss it, and I want to Thank Warren for posting that ‘33 ad for King Kong at the Madison.
Panzer65, do you regret not having seen the 1976 “King Kong” at the Madison ?
BTW, “premiere” seems contradictory to the Haven’s nature as a second-run movie house.
PKoch,
In reply to my experience seeing King Kong at the Haven in'76, it was an unforgettable one to say the least, but, I could have seen it at the Madison.
It’s possible, Panzer65.
In reply to the comments about which theater Kong was featured in the ‘33 version there appears to be some conflict, PKoch mentions that after his escape the police radio mentions “heading west towards Empire State Bldg”, that means the theater would be on 3rd ave, if memory serves me there was an el on 2nd ave also, if the theater was on 2nd, he would have to pass two els to get to 5th ave and 34th st.Mr. Solero mentions that in books about the film the producers used a theater in L. A.’s Shrine Auditorium as a backdrop, but their intention was the location to be Manhattan’s Times Square, in proximity to the 6th ave. el. It appears perhaps the producers being from California, had the geography incorrect.
Thanks, Warren.
That’s all well and good, Ed Solero, but then how do you explain Kong reported as climbing the Empire State Building after heading west after breaking out of the theatre ? Unless he turned around.
Agreed, Bway, about the Madison in its final years being a great place to see a horror film. It may have almost been a horror itself internally in its last few years.
True, in many horror stories, “the bad place” is usually some once-splendid locale that has fallen into disrepair. Like the movie theater in the Clive Barker horror short story, “Son Of Celluloid”.
Peter, as I said in the past, I think the Madison in it’s final years must have been a great place to see a horror film…
Notice that many horror films are actually set in beautiful “has been” sort of places, and “Haunted Mansions” are always some old decaying Victorian Home, or Queen Anne style like in Psycho…..
So yes, “The Exorcist” must have been really something at the Madison…
Someone above asked about the location of the theater in which King Kong is presented to NYC crowds in the original 1933 version. The theater was never specified in the movie, and as I recall, you never catch a glimpse of any architectural elements. It is my understanding that the theater interior shots were filmed at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The exterior shot of the “Eighth Wonder of the World” sign was likely of a miniature. In any event, I get the idea that the filmmakers intended the theater to be on Broadway in the Times Square area – even though it is not specified. It would seem to be the most logical assumption – and the theater is clearly not Radio City. Books I’ve read on the making of the Kong also indicate that it is the Sixth Avenue El that was recreated for the movie.
The 2005 remake actually recreates 1930’s era Times Square via CGI and places Kong on the stage of the fictional “Alhambra Theatre” which is depicted as being situated at the location of the real life RKO Palace Theatre on Seventh Avenue just off 47th Street.
Thank you, RobertR. I always like to know the relative ages of Cinema Treasures posters and members.
PKoch,
I graduated St. Pancras in June 1979, a full ten years after!!
posted by Panzer65 on Sep 10, 2007 at 12:46pm
I graduated from St. Pancras in 1975.
Panzer65, thanks for the links. I used to have that 1976 King Kong poster on my living room wall in Ridgewood. My mom got it for me on while out shopping on Myrtle Avenue.
Any comments on seeing the 1976 King Kong at the Haven ?
I vaguely remember the 1933 King Kong poster. The posters are designed to get you to come in and see the film, and always make the monster bigger and more monstrous, the disasters more disastrous, etc. than they appear in the films themselves. They also often show scenes that are not in the films they advertise.
For completeness, how about the 2005 King Kong poster ?
To get this back on topic, by contrast to the lurid, exaggerated posters, the Madison had posted outside, on two glassed-in panels on either side of the entrance and ticket booth, framed stills from the films that were showing. I remember them from “Three Stooges In Orbit” and “Mothra” in 1961, “Tales From The Crypt” in March 1972 (especially the skull-faced Grim Reaper riding a motorcycle !)and even the re-re-release of “The Exorcist” in August 1976. I didn’t go in and see that, as I’d had a sleepless night from having seen the film in Manhattan (the Paris ?) April 2 1974, and didn’t want a repeat, but that must have been awesome on that huge still-single screen, the guttural voice of the demon, booming out into that huge, decaying shell of what had once been such an elegant and beautiful show house !
Heres the ‘76 Kong poster.
View link
Heres the ‘33 Kong poster.
View link
Attended the premier of the ‘76 King Kong at the Haven in Queens.
PKoch,
I remember seeing that life sized Kong in the newspaper, and all the hype about its premier, which brings up an interesting point, many Cinema Treasures friends have old posters or billings about past films. Does anyone have the poster for the premier of the ‘76 version? I noticed that as he stands on top of the late Trade Center,his paws have a foot on each one of the towers, while in the movie he has both feet (paws?) on one tower. More strange, if you check out the poster for the '33 vesion, he’s standing behind the Manhattan skyline and appears way too big in proportion as in the movies he is much smaller!
Yes, Panzer65, the way Kong bounces off all the setbacks on his way down.
Panzer65, you’re welcome. I knew the ‘76 Kong was filmed near the BMT el in Astoria, I just wasn’t sure WHERE on that el. Thanks.
Before that, he’s exhibited by Petrox on Roosevelt Island, between Queens and Manhattan. Then he steps on the Charles Grodin characterm the Petrox oil mogul.
I didn’t see any of the filming in Queens, but when I was atop the WTC in summer 1976, and looked down, I saw a life-sized Kong face down in the Plaza between the two towers !
Indeed PKoch, As was King Kong a pioneering film, that quote you mention after Kong takes a plunge off the newly opened Empire State building, is a timeless one!
saps, it wasn’t Katherine Hepburn. It was Mariel Hemingway, and that infamous anal rape scene in “Lipstick” (1976) that did in the RKO Madison !
“No, it wasn’t the airplanes …. it was BEAUTY killed the beast !”
PKoch,
Thanks for your reply, incidentally,the scene in the ‘76 King Kong at his escape by the el was filmed in Queens at the el near Ditmars Blvd. in Astoria. A resident friend of mine told me they used a giant inflatable Kong replica in the final scene at his escape.
I’ve always thought Kong was featured in a midtown East Side theater, because, after he breaks out of the theater, he is described on police radio as heading west towards the Empire State Building, which is on West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. That would make the el he demolishes either the 2nd or 3rd Avenue el, or the extension thereof on East 34th Street.
saps, I think that’s pretty far-fetched about Hepburn being responsible for the closing of the Madison.
Does any one know which theater Kong was featured in the original ‘33 version towards the end of the movie? It obviously was in Manhattan,perhaps it was a fictional movie house?
Thanks, Panzer65. I was wondering what that “now classic movie” was. Most of the links posted here are blocked at my PC, so I couldn’t see it for myself. I, too, can picture what you’ve mentioned, almost as though King Kong himself had appeared at the RKO Madison, and had gone on a rampage through Ridgewood, tearing down the Myrtle Avenue el.