AMC Fantasy 5

I found this site after seeing “Song of Bernadette” (1943, Jennifer Jones [Oscar]) on cable the other night and was reminded of my childhood. In the late 1950’s I attended St. Agnes Elementary School in Rockville Centre and every year we would be marched in 2 columns down the sidewalk from the school to the Fantasy Theater to watch “Song of Bernadette.” Naturally, as a kid living in Rockville Centre, I was at the theater on many, many Saturdays. There were weekly chapter-released action shorts before the noon feature. Westerns were still very popular. I remember they had a “chaparone” sitting in the balcony’s 1st row to prevent kids from throwing popcorn down into the orchestra! The ceiling was magnificent – high with a recess for the large light. The burgundy velvet-like curtain had gold braiding on it & opened vertically from the center first in a crescent shape. My main memory of this theatre was walking outside (always still daylight!) and not being able to see and having to cover your eyes! Too bad it wasn’t restored & saved.

Of course this place is better than Lynbrook or Malverne. They’re both former single screeners that got that hacked up multiplexing “thing” that a lot of theaters got back in the early 80’s. The Fantasy was completely torn apart from the inside and rebuilt.

I remember in 1988 or so when the gutted the insides. My friend and I late on a Saturday night parked in the lot behind the theater and were able to walk right into the old auditorium. They were about ¾ done with the demolition and you could still see the old “dome” that was in the auditorium and there were old seats scattered around. The balcony was gone but you could see where it once was.

As nice a job as they did with the renovation, it was sad to see this done because The Fantasy was one of the last large single screeners in the area and I thought that it might never be multiplexed. It was still a single screener in 1987.

I find it amazing that there’s not more comments about this theater. There’s a lot written about the Lynbrook (‘cause that sucker was huge) but not about this lovely place. Well, OK…formerly loveley. Again, I have a lot of memories of the place that I’d love to know more about it. I think part of the reason is that it wasn’t really gigantic or anything. In size, it was probably bigger than the Century’s Baldwin but definately no where near as large as the Lynbrook.

Was The Fantasy ever part of any Roadshows? Just curious…

As much as I think they did an OK job with the renovation to a multiplex, they pretty much removed everything that I remebered from the old Fantasy.

The “Fantasy” was a large but not huge neighborhood theater. Though it was a big as the Lynbrook theater (another favorite of mine) it was very nicely decorated. The main theater was in a beige and had a small dome with a hanging light fixture (not quite a chandelier but close enough to impress an 8 year old). The nicest thing I remember was the curtain. Not sure if there’s a technical name for it but it rose from the “stage” and had a scalloped look to it.

When the multiplexing craze started in the early 80’s, this theater managed to avoid this. And for a long time I thought it might not be multiplexed at all. But in 1988, the entire theater was gutted out and multiplexed. Though the new theaters were OK, it was a mere shadow of what it once was. The last movie I saw there before they multiplexed it was “2010” in 1985 but it was still a single theater for another three years or so.

It was a very similar layout to Centurys Green Acres the lobby was along the front of the building then and there were two staircases that went up to the balcony.

this house as a single was one of centurys best theaters 1 block away from the rvc rko twin (BOTH THEATERS STILL OPEN)This is a very nice 5 plex done by Cineplex O deon still does very well .