Ridgewood Theatre

Sorry, that should have been Weird Dutch Guh Shprocket !

After that, with the possible exception of the little-seen “Godzilla Raids Again”, it was Godzilla The Buffoon, instead of Godzilla the Demon Dragon from Hell.

Bway’s concluding comments (2/28) should hit a nerve. As I’d said in a recent post, I plan to hit more than one flick during my upcoming multi-month visit. The corollary to that is to catch some with you “Ridgewood Regulars”

Afterward, as mikemovies suggests, we can tour and also hit a local diner or pizza shop for some lively discussions. We might even be able to offer the Ridgewood management some gentle unrelenting persuasion regarding sound business practices. Better still if we can get EdS & tapeshare to “traduzcase, por favor.” Ha!

P.S. to Bway, LM, mm, ts, f, EsS & PK: I’ll finally be able to give you those “Gojira” DVD samplers I’d saved from last year’s ComiCon. I’ve mailed them on ahead to NY and they’re a hoot!

I used to see the “buddy” system mostly at the Ridgewood, and mostly when it was still one large theater, and it was always those left doors on Madison St. I don’t remember it ever happening once the theater was cut up, although, I mostly wound up in the balcony theaters when I went there for movies. I remember seeing movies in all the balcony theaters at various times, and a few times in the lower left orchestra (if facing the stage) theater. I don’t think I have ever been in the right orchestra theater or that section since it was one large theater. The one where I have seen the most movies is the balcony right hand theater (if facing the stage), and of course, that’s where I saw Friday the 13th VI as mentioned above, and also where I had that hilarious experience of our eyes not adjusting to the dark on a bright sunny day that I wrote about way at the top of this page when I saw Beverly Hills Cop II there.
Ooops, come to think of it….I saw that movie there after Friday the 13th VI, because I believe Beverly Hills Cop II came out the year after….well then…. that was the last movie before my 3 year gap….and then Problem Child, and I have yet to return….
I REALLY ought to go see a movie there one day again, before it’s too late (which may or may not be a concern).
We all complain, “oh, if only I can see a movie again at the Madison”, or “if only I could see a movie again at the Oasis”, “if only I could see a movie again at the Oriental”, or fill in any theater….but we all are a bunch of hypocrites…as we only want what we can’t have…. Here we have the old workhorse, the Ridgewood alive and still showing movies….yet we don’t go see a movie there either…..

When the Ridgewood was still one theater, I remember people sneaking in on the Madison St side doors. You would be sitting in the dark theater, and all of a sudden daylight would shine in when the doors opened.
In 2004, workers were working on those same doors, replacing hinges or something one morning, and they had the doors open, and I took a peak inside. The theater looked fairly good. This of course would be the left hand orchestra theater, if facing the stage.

Haha, yeah, I missed the Manhattan Jason, and the the Hell Jason…but did see Freddie vs. Jason on DVD, and it was one of the dumbest movies I ever saw….
Well, I didn’t much care for Problem Child either, but I guess it’s nice to be able to say the last time I was in the Ridgewood was 17 years ago….and not 21 years ago if it had been the Jason movie! Wow, 21 years ago….it seems like just yesterday I was sitting there watching Friday the 13th….

Peter….I definitely saw Friday the 13th Part VI there, which much have been 1986 (It definitely wasn’t the 1989 Jason Takes Manhattan film, as I never saw that movie)…then a 4 year absense (I used to go to the Forest Hills Theaters alot back in that stretch, Continental, Midway, etc). Then went for my swan song there, Problem Child, so obviously, it was Problem Child as the last movie I saw there. I didn’t realize it was such a long gap of not going there between Friday the 13th, and the last movie.

I just checked on the IMDb. “Problem Child” with John Ritter was a 1990 film. “Friday The 13th Part VI” was a 1986 film. “Jason Takes Manhattan” was a 1989 film. I didn’t see any “Friday The 13th” film listed as released in 1990. I think it said “Jason Goes To Hell” was a 1993 film.

Ernest goes to hell ? Jason goes to camp ? Camp Blood ?

metz, thanks for posting your Ridgewood Theater memories. You could have actually been inside the Ridgewood when 1940’s photos of it I’ve seen of its outside were taken, with the Richmond Hill trolley in the street outside instead of the current Q-55 bus, showing a 1940’s re-release of “My Man Godfrey” (which I saw part of on TCM last night) together with “Three Smart Girls” with Ray Milland, or “Blood On The Sun” starring James Cagney.

hello BWAY and LOST MEMORY!!! the reason i remember the ridgewood was that walter my brother was an usher/ticket taker and of course i got in free…as a kid of ten in 1938 i did not know of the existence of a balcony and often wondered where thos inside stairs led to a …double feature i do remeber was in 1940 THE GREATDICTATOR and a Blondie film [probably a quarter for kids admission about that time good memories of a fine old theatre,,,,,,walter told me of a trick people used to get in free….walking backwards as the crowd exited the theatre…or sneakingup the side stairway when the ticket taker was not looking ..i have fond memories of this wonderful old theatre

Jim, yes, the Ridgewood would be quite diffent if you haven’t been in the Ridgewood since it was one screen.
Peter, you have me beat by a year….I was last in it when I saw Problem Child (John Ritter), which I think was August 1991 (or was it August 1990)? Anyway, that was the last movie I saw there, and I believe it was in one of the balcony theaters. I had previously thought the last movie I saw there was Friday the 13th Part 6, but I think that was out before Problem Child, so Friday the 13th part 6, must have been the second to last movie I saw there. I do remember that I saw Friday the 13th Part 6 in the right balcony theater (if facing the stage), as I sat in the first row above the stairway, as I remember resting my feet on the old railing over the stairway, which had large balistrades.
I think I saw Problem Child in the Middle Balcony Theater.

Michael,
What is the dollar amount associated with that financial goal?

Any closer to issuing a status report of your RFE (Request For Evaluation)?

Antony

Yes, BklynJim, St. Peter was taken almost 2000 years ago.

My name may be Peter, but I’m not that fisherman apostle a.k.a. Simon Bar Jonah …

Thanks for the info on the Peerless. I must have forgotten about it somehow.

My dad remembers his kid sister Gerry getting nits or lice in her hair at another “itch” : the infamous Decatur Theater on Bway in Bushwick, which also has a page on this site.

I’ll keep in touch with you about your trip back to Ridgewood ….

I was last in the Ridgewood Saturday Sept. 12 1992 to see “Hellraiser III : Hell On Earth”, when it was a five-plex.

Eight feet of snow ! What about the towns that got twelve to thirteen feet ?

And that’s just the snowfall ! How much higher were the drifts and the piles created by plowing ?

I think either Bway or our fine British comrade Ken Roe may have been the last of us posting here to have actually been inside the Ridgewood Theater.