RKO Fordham Theatre
215 E. Fordham Road,
Bronx,
NY
10458
215 E. Fordham Road,
Bronx,
NY
10458
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 73 of 73 comments
If you think that was tiring, check this out:
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Adam West and Burt Ward (in costume) appeared at 34 theaters in 3 days – in late August, no less! I hope their tour bus had air conditioning!
Wow, Bob. Jerry must’ve been exhausted. Sometimes they only gave him 30 minutes between theaters. If New York City traffic then was anything like it is now, that schedule must’ve been worthless by the middle of the day – unless Paramount gave him a helicopter or something :)
Bette was 54. Here’s a picture of her grave at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in LA, within sight of her old studio, Warner Bros. Here you’ll see not only how old she was, but an epitaph that may help explain something like the “Baby Jane” theater tour:
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The Jerry Lewis 7/61 tour was even more grueling! Check out this ad:
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Then again, Jerry was only 36 at the time. How old was Bette Davis on the Baby Jane tour?
RKO11: I’m sure we’d all love to hear your “Baby Jane” stories!
Response to:
Get a load of this grueling personal appearance schedule: 17 theaters in 3 days. Can you imagine one of today’s movie stars doing something like this to plug their picture?
I was the Assistant Manager of the RKO Fordham when they made their special appearance there for the movie “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”. Boy do I have stories about that stage appearance!
Also Judy Garland went on tour as well as Lucille Ball. Those were the days my friend!!!
Response to:
My memory is of the men selling the Sunday Daily News, Daily Mirror
outside the moviehouse at night
posted by ex-Bronx-boy on Apr 29, 2005 at 3:04am
I remember it. I was the Assistant Manager of the RKO Fordham. I can’t remember his name, but there was also a younger guy who helped him also. They were both great people.
November 7, 1962.
Bill—
What was the date?
Get a load of this grueling personal appearance schedule: 17 theaters in 3 days. Can you imagine one of today’s movie stars doing something like this to plug their picture?
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I went to the Fordham in 1953 or 54 to see Shari Lewis on stage with her puppet “Lambchop.” My one and only time, so RKO did use the stage upon occasion, as well as the screen for movies. Those were the days!
To promote his new film “The Ladies Man,” Jerry Lewis appeared on stage at this theater on July 12, 1961.
The movie houses that I remember on fordham Rd. were the Grand,the Lido, the RKO Fordham, and the Valentine,which was a Skouras circuit theater.
My memory is of the men selling the Sunday Daily News, Daily Mirror
outside the moviehouse at night
The theatre that was on Fordham Road near the El on Jerome Avenue was the Lido. It was a smaller, more moderized moviehouse. I worked at the RKO Fordham Theatre from 1960 to 1970 as the Chief Usher and as the Assistant Manager / Manager.
It was truly a grand theatre.
To catch a glimpse of the old RKO Fordham check out the 1954 film “Marty” in the movie there is a scene right after Marty and Clara have coffee they walk right in front of this theatre under the marquee. The RKO letters are above the poster case and I can make out “Mickey Spillane” and “Ring of Fear” on one of the posters. I was able to match up this theatre with an old photo of the Fordham that I have. Earlier in the film you get to see the front of the RKO Chester on Boston Road as well.
Frankly, I think the neighborhood looks better today than in the old photo.
What is the theater to the left of the Fordham in the 1940s photo?
The theatre can be glimpsed in this 1940s photo:
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This is the site in 2002:
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My 72-year old memnory tells me that the theater at the corner of Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue, along which the Woodlawn Line IRT train ran, was Loew’s Grand. The Valentine, on the other hand, was on the east side of the Grand Concourse between the RKO Fordham and the confluence of Fordham Road and Kingsbridge Road, which was on the way down the hill toward Third Avenue.
The Paradise was certainly a wonder and the place to make an impression on the girls. It was expensive, however, costing a quarter or a half-a-buck apiece on Saturday night. That was in ‘47 or '48. To go there for a show meant to forego either a soda afterward or to have to walk home the three miles or so to my home neighborhood near Mosholu Parkway. I did the latter one time.
A bit south of the Paradise on the same side of the Concourse was an “art film” house named the Ascot. It specialized in foreign films, and the less-celebrated Hollywood releases. My folks dragged me there once to view Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter, a WWII weepy love story. Ugh! My friends and I went to the Ascot for more macho fare. The last one I remember seeing there was Viva Zapata. After 1950 or so, I took girls to Greenwich Village where I remember seeing Marx Bros and WC Fields double bills.
Jerry Breslaw, ex-Bronx, now in the Washington DC area.
Thanks, Warren, that’s sounds right… the Valentine. Surfing this site is like undergoing deep memory recovery! See my other comment for The President Theater, Cinema Treasure 6094. That one was way waaay downtown in the South Bronx, quite a different world, but part of my childhood nonetheless.
I remember the Fordham and the Paradise well. But what was the name of the smaller more modern theater down the road by the elevated subway (Woodlawn line)? My dad took me there for a surprise visit on my birthday to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Of course I ruined the day by stealing some of my baby brother’s candy and he let out with such wailing we were ejected from the theater. I never saw the ending until it was show on TV years later and I barely cared because I was in junior high!
If you catch “The Wanderers,” you’ll see the old RKO Fordham near the beginning of the movie.