RKO Albee Theatre
1 DeKalb Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
1 DeKalb Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 102 comments
The Albee was one of the most lavish theaters in Brooklyn. As a young teenager I remember being overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of it. Even if the movie you were seeing was not very good the thaeater was always a thrill. A few films I remember seeing there include: Assault on a Queen, Tony Rome, Masque of Red Death, Tickle Me, and Beach Blanket Bingo
The theatre description says the Albee closed in 1973 but this ad for “Coffy” shows it open as of 1974.
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Here is another Bardot flick at the Albee under “Adam and Eve”. Bardot was hot in the late 50’s after “And God Created Woman”. I wonder if this film was made before that one and released to cash in on her fame?
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Thanks, Warren. Speaking of the “two-day bills”, I’m looking at an ad from 1959 where the RKO’s (except Albee, Palace)all played a new double feature (of revivals) for 1 day only!
Ad reads “TODAY ONLY…TAKE YOUR CHOICE….54 GREAT PICTURES * 27 DIFFERENT SHOWS”
Unfortunately my RKO 23 got Brigitte Bardot (bad news for a 9 year old) paired with Pork Chop Hill. Now that I think about it, I guess the two films did go together. j
Warren,
How exactly did the “product split” work in Brooklyn? I noticed in the ads from the 50s, the Albee usually played the same “A” film that hit my RKO 23rd St immediately afterwards but that the Albee frequently had a different “B” picture. I also noticed the the Allied Artist Bowery Boys series always played Brooklyn but never my Manhattan RKO/Loew’s theaters.
Christmas of 1960 The RKO Albee and RKO Palace were both presenting “Can Can”. The ad said 1st time at popular prices and continuous performances.
Went to all of the downtown theaters Rob…….We took the old Myrtle Ave El to get there…..and Namms was a big Dept Store….I think Mays took them over……I moved to Long Island in 1959…great memories…..Joe From Florida…sasheegm
I remember the RKO ALbee very well. It was a beautiful theatre. I loved going to downtown Brooklyn as a kid with my family. We kids would see a movie at THe Albee or Fox,while my mom & grandmother shopped at A&S,Martins and Mays department stores.Later,we would go eat at Juniors. I recall seeing the old Beach Party movies there.
I remember going to the RKO-Albee in Brooklyn after a film had its NYC Mid-town debut……after playing the Albee, the titles would then go to the neiborhood RKO theaters, such as the Madison & Bushwick in my old neighborhoods………I remember in the mid-1950s, when TV was really putting a hurt on movie-attendance, the Albee ran a double bill featuring two Italian language films with English subtitles…..“The Iron Crown”-1941, which was re-issued in Italy and Europe and cut down to 88 minutes from its original 125 minutes in 1946/48——the co-feature was “The She Wolf”-1951……..Advertising for the double bill, it said “No One under 18 years of age admitted……I was about 14 or 15, but was tall for my age, and got in with no problem…….The Albee was plush inside, with carpeting throughout, as many of the RKO chains were………Joe From Florida—-sasheegm
Apparently I was wrong. I thought there was a forth theater by Erasmus. Apparently there were only the Albemarle, the Rialto, and the Kings.
Did the Albee ever play THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE in the 1960s? I think I may have saw it there.
Interesting, Warren. Looking at my ads, they seem to have substituted some Allied Artists releases as well. Bowery Boys features, for instance, that never made it to my RKO.
Jerry
I would lived in Manhattan as a kid in the 50s, but closely followed
the bookings at the Albee since they would inevitably end up at my RKO 23rd St within a couple of weeks.
Frequently, the 2nd feature would be changed. I guess if audiences were walking out on it at the Albee, they’d try something different when it hit the rest of the circuit.
I have some copies of old NYT ads from the RKO circuit, if anyone is interested in a small list of some of the bookings for the Albee, email me.
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I know the Albee was near the Kings. There is again buzz about reopening the Kings on their section of the site (1360). I see some of you were to that page, but maybe the others would like to look.
I’m very interested in the comments about the screen. The Cinephone theater in Birmingham England had one which must have been installed in the mid 1950’s as it was in the CinemaScopE aspect ratio. It gave one the impression that it was floating in space!
New Year’s Greetings for 2005 from Melbourne, Australia.
Michael Healy
.au
For the RCA Synchro Ray screen, there’s a pictorial spread about it in Theatre Catalogue (1950-51) with full explanation and photos of its installation in the RKO 58 Street as the first of its kind. I remember the Albee advertising its installation in conjunction with its showing of “All About Eve” in late Fall ‘50. My aunt saw it there, and I quizzed her about it. It did not seem at all special. When I finally saw it for Disney’s “Robin Hood,” the thrill had worn off. The screen showed up at other theaters beyond the RKO chain. In upstate NY, for example, an Ithaca Journal from summer 1952 advertises it as the house special at the art-deco Ithaca Theater in an ad for “Where’s Charley.”
I saw the first day of the re-issue run of “King Kong” (1933) at the Albee along with “Island of the Dead” (1945 release). This was also the first day of this new type screen. I have a very negative impression of this screen. Image was lacking in contrast and as I recall I got a headache. I would not go back to see another movie on this type screen.
In an issue of The Journal American the ad for Tuesday Dec 2, 1958 announces the last day for Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter in “Love and War” paired with Anne Bancroft in “The Restless Breed” starting on Wed was the first NY showing of “The Spider” along with “Terror From The Year 5000”. I think these were Fox films, even though they sound like AIP.
Thanks Warren, as usual, you are indeed a source of a wealth of information about all these things. I guess these screens were a kind of synergy of the times if RCA still had an interest in RKO.
However, they were a disappointment to both of us and just did not live up to their hype. Thanks again.
Need a projectionist who worked at the Albee in 1952 to give me an answer….My father took me to the Albee, when I was 11 years old for my first encounter with “King Kong”, which was reissued some time in 1952. The ads in the Daily News at that time advertised that it would be shown on some kind of new type of screen, which I believed was designed by RCA. As I also recall, when we saw the film, it was projected onto the rear section of what appeared to be a shadowbox of some sort. My question is what was the purpose and what was this type of screen supposed to do to increase the King Kong experience.
Hopefully, there is someone out there who can answer this inquiry as well as the one I posed on the Savoy (Jamaica, Queens, NY) website.
The End. Photo link:
Brooklyn Public Library link
The Albee was demolished in 1976.
I still remember all the neon and marquees lit up during the Christmas holiday season shopping trips to all the major shopping stores. This would have been between 1959 and 1972. I also remember the Fox being torn down and the Nevins Street entrance to train under scaffolding for some time. I was to young (thank God!) to feel the impact older generations might have had. The Albee’s marquee was the best since I can’t remember the Paramount’s.
Too bad it couldn’t hold out longer,Brooklyn Heights is a prime location now.
The RKO Albee Theatre’s address was 1 DeKalb Ave..
A description of the theater as it was when opened is in the book “Mr. Bojangles”, by Haskins and Mitgang.