RKO Keith's Theatre

Looks like it will be just another place for the wealthy to live and feel good about themselves. That lobby and grand foyer were once accessible to all who could afford to see a movie. Now they will exist only for overpaid rich residents who will not doubt strut and primp their way through while the rest of us look in from the street, like urchins at a window. Just another microcosm of the growing class problem in this country. That landmarked area had better be accessible to all who want to see it, or I just might rampage through it. Sorry for the bitter post everyone!

I am only 30 years old but had the pleasure of my dad taking me to the Keiths in the 80’s to see many movies. I loved to go there just to look around there was so much to see, I was in awe of this place. I was only about 9 when they closed it down but I was so sad. I have followed this story for many years and I find this to be a travesty. I believe it’s never too late to vie for a cause you truly care about. There has to be some way we can save this theater. As long as a wrecking ball hasn’t gone through this place we can save it and see it restored to it’s old glory!

I was just telling a friend of mine about a great concert I saw at RKO Keith during spring break in 1967 that opened with Mitch Rider & the Detroit Wheels, followed by the Rascals, and ending with the Who
who promptly destroyed their instruments and burned them on stage. Though I was “eight miles high” that day I will never forget it. It was a great place.

Some comments on the RKO Keith’s:

The theater did not open as a triplex in 1975, but 1976. I know this because I was the first patron in the new theater (and still have somewhere the ticket stub, numbered 000001). The opening film (at least, the one I saw) was a re-release of De Palma’s “The Phantom of the Paradise.” They split the main auditorium on the ground floor in half but didn’t reconfigure the seats, so to see the screen you had to almost look over one shoulder.

In the 1970s they almost never opened the balcony because the audience size didn’t warrant it. The only film I remember that drew enough of a crowd for them to open up the balcony to accomodate them was “Murder on the Orient Express.”

In the 1980s they had video games in the lobby, which I always thought was kind of tacky.

One of the last films I saw there was something called “Wild Style” in the upstairs theater, and the place was already starting to fall apart. I remember a bunch of punks were watching the film and one of the walked back and relieved himself in the back of the auditorium.

I moved from Queens to Manhattan in 1985 and didn’t see any films at the Keith’s after that.

If anyone wants to see what the Keith’s auditorium looked like, just go to the Loews Jersey in Jersey City. Although the lobby looks nothing like the Keith’s, the auditorium gave me a real Proustian rush when I first saw it. It’s a dead ringer for one of the great movie palaces of my childhood.

Ed, I had saved a newspaper clipping from the late ‘80s or so regarding the Marx house in Queens that had been landmarked. Location given was approximately 133rd St. & Jamaica Avenue, very close to the Van Wyck Expressway. I’m sure that show biz people of that era moved around quite a bit.

To rg1945, glad to read about your excursion down memory lane. That, along with theater history, is what it’s all about on the pages of CT.

While the Samuel and Minnie Marx both resided in the Lower East Side, their famous offspring actually hailed from residences on the UPPER East Side. Groucho was actually born on East 114th Street, but he would often refer to a home on East 93rd Street as his boyhood residence. Trivial information to be sure, but I thought I’d set the record straight.

Great advertisement, Warren. My mind wanders off in a strange state of sadness and nostalgia, thinking about the fact that the Marx Brothers actually appeared on stage at the Keith’s at the very height of their Broadway popularity (and during the infancy of their cinematic careers). What ghosts must haunt those musty halls… But, it seems, even ghosts must be evicted sooner or later.

Thanks for that tidbit, Warren. Apparently she had four movies released in 1949, and then never did another film. Why, it’s enough to make you want to down a pink non-alcoholic cocktail…

Warren, that ad is ironic for two more reasons: The second feature at the Manhattan RKO co-starred Gale Storm, who would find much greater fame with her own TV sitcom in the 50’s…and the fact that what was possibly one of Berle’s last movie personal appearances took place in Flushing, when it’s a well-known bit of historical trivia that such a huge audience tuned in to his TV show, the water pressure actually dipped when it broke for commercials because so many people were “flushing” at once!

Tom S. please get your photos up man. I’d love to see them.

Like I said, it sure looks like someone hacked away at the plasterwork all over the theater. That is certainly not normal “neglect” damage, and it’s also too extreme damge that vandals could have done. That had to be done with either sledgehammers or machinery…..and your typical vandal doesn’t go walking around Northern Blvd with a Bobcat or a sledge hammer, so I think it’s pretty obvious who did that horrible destruction to destroy the place.

A full restoration of the RKO Keith’s would be ideal, but at least the preservation of the lobby and foyer would be some consolation. Having lived in Northern California for some years, I saw some films at the Varsity Theater in Palo Alto. When that closed, the city required that the lovely Spanish-style courtyard be preserved. The theater is now a bookstore, but having the courtyard softens the blow. For the other option, go check out what happened to the Prospect Theater just a few blocks from the RKO Keith’s. It was obliterated. There’s nothing there to indicate that a wonderful theater used to exist on the site.

Wow, that water fountain is in quite good condition! At first I thought these two photos were taken before the theater closed. I hope it can be preserved.

Keep these photos coming, asphoto!

if i remember corrently, the fountain in the photo from ed’s 12/14 post is still there…but not in the same condition…i will check my photos.

also – regarding nativeforesthiller’s media recommendations – i’m not the greatest at writing that sort of stuff, but if someone wants to do it, i will gladly let you use the photos.