Regal UA Midway
108-22 Queens Boulevard,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
108-22 Queens Boulevard,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 158 comments
If I remember correctly, you could also see down in the lobby from the balcony level even before the rebuild, but my memory on the Midway is a little fuzzy, as I haven’t been in it since about 1993 or so.
In the rebuild, what was done? Was it gutted to the walls? Where did they get the space for the extra auditoriums they have now (for example, before the rebuild I think it was two balcony theaters and two orchestra level theaters)? Is anything of the original theater intact inside?
I first attended the Midway in the late 1980s, and I hated going to the long tunnel-like main floor theatres that ended in little tiny screens with sometimes tinny sound. The balcony theatres were nicer as others have pointed out above because of the stadium-type raking and the larger screens. But as in so many of the conversions of this type, the geography of balcony seats facing toward the wall in the middle of the theater while the projection booth threw an image out from the center toward a screen curved toward the middle required a head tilt during the entire movie. I don’t get out there all that often now since the part of Queens I’m in now is more convenient to Manhattan than to Forest Hills, but every time I do (and I saw two films there yesterday) I am reminded of how good a job they did when they rebuilt the theatre in the late 1997. The auditoriums aren’t particularly big, but they’re more pleasant than 11 of the screens at the Kips Bay or any of the screens at the Kaufman Astoria and many other newer theatres. Comfy seats, nice sound, decent size screens even in the small auditoriums. And still with a grand staircase in the lobby and the nice people watching from the balcony level.
I used to love this theater when I was a teenager, and it was always well kept back then, even after it was sliced up into 4 theaters.
To all of those who worked at the UA Midway during the 1970’s, who could forget the great movies, i.e. Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, The Sting, just to name a few, but also the great fights on closed circuit television, i.e. the Thrilla in Manilla! But no one who worked with him or knew of him could ever forget the man, none other than Salvatore “Charlie” Manfre'. An icon at this enormous hot spot of entertainment, Charlie put all he had, and then some, into what he did, and many a person loved him for it. Besides being the unofficial manager of the theatre, he was the unofficial mayor of Forest Hills, admired by everyone, and every vendor within 3-5 blocks of the place went out of their way for him! Charlie was like family!For those who have wrote some nice things about him in the comments, i.e. Rob B and Nick P, thank you and god bless. He was all you said and implied! And for the current owners, who knew him very well, a place in the Lobby of the current theatre should be dedicated to Charlie because of all he did and meant to that place for 30+ years. There will never again be a person like him to grace that facility. A treasure worth the dedication! Alas, we lost Charlie back in 1998, but I’m sure he’s running God’s movie theatre on 1 Heavenly Drive! Here’s to you, Pop, and give a big kiss to Mom.
Your son,
Joey
Caught an establishing shot of the Midway’s vertical sign and marquee in a 2006 rerun of the CBS show “The King Of Queens” last night. The theatre as well as the United Artists marquee played pivotal roles in the show. As the characters bounced from theatre to theatre. Interior shots of theatre seating were likely done within a studio though.
The original flourescent colors of the Midway lettering, for the record, were pink and baby blue.
To iRoNmonkey: You last posted on May 28th & said you would write me from your work e-mail. If you had written, I haven’t received it. If you are busy right now, that’s okay as well. Please let me know. My e-mail is
Thank you!
The Midway was air-conditioned from the start. I recall the “air-conditioned by Carrier” banners were hung from the marquee all summer during the war years.
Thank you for your posting! I look forward to hearing from you through your work e-mail, and hopefully we can devise a solution. – Michael
Crazy business at the moment. Lots of product and not enough seats at the Midway. Michael, I will contact you through my work email. Work on the sign slowed to a crawl as the existing front panel is dented (by I don’t know what) and needs full replacement.
On a side note, there will be no Free Family Film Festivel this year as we just didnt get enough people last year to make it cost effective. I think a lot of families have been wooed by the newness of Atlas Park. Thank you to all those that continue to frequent this treasure even though it isn’t as grand as it once was.
To Ironmonkey: My name is Michael Perlman, and I Chair a group called Rego-Forest Preservation Council, promoting the preservation, restoration, & adaptive reuse of historic sites throughout Rego Park and Forest Hills. Thank you for your report! It is very commendable that the landlord & Regal are restoring the Art Moderne facade. I have passed the theater on several instances over the course of the last 2 months, and have admired the progress.
Do you realize that this Art Moderne gem was the last theater ever designed by America’s foremost Thomas W. Lamb? It was unfortunate he passed away before seeing the Midway completely built & in operation. I began conducting preliminary research on the Midway Theatre, and I am now seeking historic photos. I would be happy to share material on the theater with you or a colleague at the Midway, as well as any advice which may assist in the facade restoration, or any future aspects. I can be reached at I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for keeping theater enthusiasts informed!
Been a while since I have been around. I dont know if anyone has noticed but the beacon has been re-lit. I know our sign had been an issue for a while but it has been fixed up. We are working on the front facing but the blade and side facings are all clean and working. The leak has been rememdied. The landlord finally came to his senses and fixed his share. Regal has done the rest of the work and we are finally restoring the front to its former glory.
Thank you very much! Will do either tonight or tomorrow.
And an additional favor, Warren: I came across quite a few great links throughout this thread. However, they were inaccessible. Can you please resend valid links, or send the documents to my e-mail? I would be happy to give you credit as part of my research.
Thanks!
Hi Warren, I visited the Performing Arts Library, and found what I was looking for on the Midway Theatre. Thanks for your tips on that!
Please let me ask you for another favor. What publication are the 2 links you posted above from? A full-image with a decent resolution would be extremely useful for my research. Post or e-mail Thank you!
The Midway vertical sign is visible in the background of This January, 2008 photo
Thanks Warren! Do you have a direct way of reaching Curator Bob Taylor (preferrably via e-mail)?
Warren, can you please send me scans of the booklet in your spare time? It would be very useful for a good cause. Please e-mail me at
did anyone happen to work at the midway from ‘68 – 74 and knew David Caruso? He was an usher in his younger days.
Sorry I was on vacation…Yes that constitutes roughly the first row…the larger number is our Fire code max…I hope people came out for North by Northwest although I am sorry I wasn’t around to see how things ran…
Yeah, I guess you’re right. The first row at National Amusements is pretty darn close also, although some people still like to sit up there even when the showing isn’t sold out. Now that I think of it, I can recall theatre managers (or assistant managers) on a very busy night addressing the ticket purchaser’s line to inform everyone that only the first four rows were available for a certain showing. You don’t hear that much these days since “sell outs” often occur well before the auditorium is opened for seating – I guess due to most rooms being so much smaller than they were even 20 yrs ago when triplexes, quartets and even 6-screen plexes were more the norm.
Look at some of the auditoriums at AMC Empire 25 and many other around the country. That front row is not a great seat or from the sides. And those are modern stadium-style rooms.
Interesting. Meanwhile, at the Midway in auditorium 5 we’re talking about 20 odd seats! Could there be that many seats that don’t have clean sightlines in a modern stadium-style room? Or is there some other reason at the Midway?
When in most theatre computer ticketing systems you can set a cut-off point for the seats. Those odd seats account for being to close, at an angle or some other reason. Thats the way we use to sell.
I had a Cineplex in LA that had 4 seats that you could not see the screen and a Pacific house that 2 could only see ½ the screen and the other 2 none of the screen. Planning at it’s best.
iRoN… What do you mean by “sells out at 199?” Are there 219 seats or only 199? Is the larger number a fire code max capacity?