Embassy Theatre
3208 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11208
3208 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11208
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 367 comments
Aurora models were the easiest : fewer, bigger parts. Revell models were the opposite : many more, and smaller, parts. I had both the small Aurora, and huge Revell, Cutty Sark clipper ship : the latter, Christmas 1965, from Stan Jak Hobby Shop at Myrtle and Decatur, across Myrtle Avenue from Glenwood Bowl (formerly Glenwood Theater).
Glad you enjoyed my spelling correction. I HATE being wrong with speling, too.
I remember those Rube Goldberg contraptions. The closest I came to them was “Mouse Trap” in 1963.
Oh yeah ! Hobby glue : great smell ! I mostly used Testor’s. Revell had the same smell, but was more liquid and runny. Aurora, which I could rarely get, smelled different, like strong Chinese mustard.
Models of cars : I hated having to file away the chrome on certain parts to expose the plastic, so the glue would take.
Loved the Aurora monsters : I had Creature From The Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, Phantom Of The Opera, both customizing kits. Also Superman and Batman.
Don’t recall the goopy stuff used to blow bubbles with straws.
I had a Thingmaker too!!! OMG. Too funny. And of course you’re correct about Damocles. I’m such a stickler for spelling that I HATE being wrong. ;)
Another cool thing from the past that I’ve bought for my kids are Rube Goldberg models. They are the best! I used to also put together models of cars and monsters. Another great smell: hobby glue.
OH and what about that goopy stuff that you’d put at the end of a straw to blow bubbles? I’m sure you’ll remember the name…
Marian, I think it’s spelled “Damocles”.
I don’t know how, Marian, I just remember lots of stuff. I think black was “Jet black”. Not sure of the number.
I got a wood burning set for Christmas 1965. I remember the smell well. Yes, it’s seared the molecules of our lungs forever, as well as our noses and brains. Ditto the Mattel Creepy Crawlers “Thingmaker” (like an electric hot plate, with metal tray molds and handles) and its bottles of “Plastigoop”, which I got for my 10th birthday in November 1965.
I remember something in Video Village (or was it Shenanigans? I always get them mixed up) called “The Sword of Damoclese”, and another thing where you had to put your hands inside a box and identify the object in there.
Lawn Green! We used to make that same joke.
How the heck you remember those numbers is beyond me. I thought #1 was black.
Did you have a wood burning set? I loved the smell of that thing. As well as the smell of oil paints and turpentine, which I’m sure has seared the molecules of my lungs forever.
Thanks in advance, Marian, for the “Forbidden Planet” author name.
Thanks also for the mention of the ‘60’s toy store in Manhattan.
I remember both the Video Village board game and TV show. My late mother-in-law was a contestant on that show, and she won a prize !
I also remember discarding our Video Willage board game, and watching the garbage truck “eat it up” out our front window.
Venus Paradise Colored Pencils !
1 : Deep Yellow
2 : Sarasota Orange
3 : Poppy Red
13 : Ultramarine Blue
15 : Lawn Green
Not to be confused with Lorne Greene of “Bonanza” !
P: I only know her married name (Golden) but I’ll find out what her father’s name was. She, too, is an amazing writer.
Re the toys of the 60s, there used to be a store on 2nd Avenue between 60th and 61st St. that sold ALL of the toys from the past… I haven’t been there in years so I don’t know if it still exists, but it was such a cool place to go.
It kills me to think of all the games and toys we threw away that would be worth a fortune today! We even had the board game: “The Kennedys”. Other board games I remember: Mystery Date (“Will he be a dream, or a dud? Open the door for your… Mystery Date…”), Video Village (based on the TV show), Shenanigans (based on the TV Show with Stubby Kaye), Lie Detector (I found one at a tag sale a few years ago and my kids love it).
And of course, we’d get a new Venus Paradise Colored Pencil color-by-numbers every couple of weeks.
Your friend Pam’s father WROTE “Forbidden Planet” ???? I’m thunderstruck !!!! Irving Block or Allen Adler ???? Cyril Hume ????
No, not too personal at all. My cousin John, a year younger than me, got the Emenee organ for Christmas 1967. I was sick that morning, but him playing it for me over the phone got me off the couch and got me to forget my nausea !
I borrowed it from him the following summer (1968). A friend of mine called me, and, once I mentioned that I had it, he wanted me to play him the music from the 1962 horror film “Carnival Of Souls” over the phone on it for him !
I was both flattered and burdened by his over-estimation of me.
I remember Robby too (and in fact, my friend Pam’s father WROTE “Forbidden Planet”!!!) but this one is Robert. Funny.
I had a WhirlyBird too. And a Blue and Grey Army set. Did you have an Emenee organ? (If it’s not too personal?)
;)
Marian …. glad you found the “double standard” funny … Jagger 1972 jumpsuit visual … inching the frontal zipper to the top of the codpiece …. or was it a mound of Venus ?
I remember “Mr Machine” and his theme song … a march ! … but not “Robert the Robot”, although Robby The Robot of “Forbidden Planet” is a household word with me … Christmas 1962 with me …. WhirlyBird Helicopter …. King Zor The Dinosaur ! The year before … Great Garloo … giant visitor from a far off world … also by Marx, I think.
Peter…. too funny about that double standard! And thanks for the Mick Jagger jumpsuit visual. I have to go scrub my brain now. ;)
A lot of the retro toys are back now. I saw a “Mr. Machine” in our local toy store (not used… Ideal is actually making them again!) and a “Robert the Robot”.
Great stuff…
Marian, glad you liked my Sylvia Plath factoid. It seemed that Mother Aurelia just HAD to believe her daughter was a certain way : loving, kind, a devoted mother … a Cooper Union humanities prof of mine, Anne Griffin, a one-time classmate of Ali McGraw’s, (there’s another factoid !) thought Sylvia Plath was very grasping, manipulative … “By 1957, I MUST HAVE a cottage in Devon !” …. who knows, may she rest in peace …
Still haven’t seen Gwyneth Paltrow film, “Sylvia”, though I have seen “Mona Lisa Smile” ….
Typical wild Catholic school girl ? Yes, I suppose I’m still a rebellious 17-year-old Catholic schoolBOY in my going on 52-year-old head … Mick Jagger circa summer 1972 USA, in the skin-tight silver jumpsuit, the frontal zipper open down to the top of the pubis … went to an amateur talent show at NYU Newman center right before Christmas, 1976 … the friend whom I went with said, you’ll love it, it’s Catholic students, so it’ll be pretty dirty …. I loved the way they did “Tits And Ass” from “Chorus Line” … the way the girls on stage pinched their nipples and wowed their mouths at the audience …
Double standard … when the Stones do “Little T and A” they’re a menace to society, but “Chorus Line” is that heartwarming Bway musical …. bring the family !
I love, I love, I love, your NBC Living Color Christmas 1960 photo !!!!! You could have been me in 1961 with …..
MOON BASE … BY MARX ! COMES COMPLETE EXCEPT FOR THE GROUND YOU PUT IT ON !!!! Or was that G I Joe ?
Got me ready to appreciate Kubrick’s “2001” in fall 1970, if nothing else. I wonder if later editions of Moon Base By Marx included a black monolith …. (cue Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Requiem” on the soundtrack):
“EEEEEeeeeee EEEEE eeee EE eeeee ….”
MVitale,
I hung out on Fulton and Pine. (that was near Blessed Sacrament).
Muzer
Muzer: I hung out on the corner of Eldert’s Lane and McKinley outside the “parish house”.
phillysantella, you’re welcome to the TZ update. There’s a lot of garbage on the IMDb, but mixed in with it is lots of good, intelligent writing. Patience is required to scan and sift, to find the good stuff, but it’s usually worthwhile.
Thanks for your answers on F K Lane and ENY Voc High. My dad’s sister attended the same F K Lane you did (albeit in 1943-47). My dad attended the ENY Voc High near Bway Junction, Atlantic and ENY and Van Sinderen Aves, ENY LIRR station, Atlantic Avenue Canarsie Line and Fulton St. el station, a decade earlier, 1933-1937.
I’m very familiar with where Conduit Blvd takes off from Atlantic Avenue. My Brooklyn USGS quad sheet shows “Vocational High School” just south of there, a few blocks east of St. Rita’s.
I am even more familiar with the 3-way intersection of Conduit Blvd and Liberty and Euclid Avenues, the old fire house on Liberty just west of there. That’s where the old Fulton Street El turned onto Liberty Avenue, but that was before my time. It had been gone for 11 years by the time I began to become familiar with that intersection in 1967.
to phillysantella.
Boy I remember it all! Only lived a few blocks from ENY Vocational High school. Still remember all the kids walking up Logan Street coming home at 3 p.m.
Muzer
MVitale,
I’m one year older than you (53). Went to PS 65 – 1959-1965, then 171 from 1965-1968, then Franklin K Lane from 1968-1972. Did you ever “hang out” in Cypress Hills/East New York on any of the “corners” there?
Muzer
Muzer, Mopella and PKoch… thanks for taking the time to check out my blog! It’s been fun to scan old photos and write the stories that they ellicit.
Muzer/Mopella.. I’m 52, and went to PS 171 for Kindergarten in 1960, St. Sylvester’s from 1961-1969, St. Michael’s from ‘69-73. I remember that some girls in my class went to Maxwell. I, on the other hand, became a stereotypical wild Catholic school girl. ;)
Peter: Honestly, I think I’m still 22 in my head. Thankfully we’ve got good genes in my family and all the women look about 15 years younger than their age. (This does not please my 22 year old daughter, who can easily pass for 16).
I like the Sylvia Plath factoid! Spooky!
Yes, we loved Outer Space too. I did a blog post about Christmas 1960 which clearly shows me with my Astrobase toy. With the lunar module and everything.
Check it out:
View link
Muzer
Thanks for the update on TZ Will do just what you suggested.
In answer to your questions. F.K.Lane by Dexter Ct. is the one.
However i was there only 5-6 months.Had big dissagreement with ,powers to be and was asked to leave LOL Believe the arch nemisis was one Harold Eisner principal at the time. So i transferred all my talents to E.N.Y.Vocational high which was located just south of Atlantic Ave and South Conduit bypass. also sandwiched in by Wells st. and Fountain Ave. On corner of Atlantic was the Hammer Beverage factory, and across the st.was the Bklyn water works bldgs. with the hugh smoke stack. Do you remember any of that??
Welcome, Mopella !
Marian, thanks for posting the links to your weblogs. You’re quite the groovy chick, if I may say so. Also quite the wit … “Cyberia”, indeed ! I just read some of your 101 factoids, and came away feeling tired. I won’t try and compete with you, but I have a few of my own ….
“Spoke to Sylvia Plath’s mother about Sylvia Plath (1932 – 1963) in late May, 1977”
You seem like a goer, a doer, a mover and a shaker …. the very opposite of a cruddy old geezer who needs to get a life, live in the present, and do more than try and relive or recapture the past.
I most associate “oil = Earl” with Archie Bunker, but an older man who interviewed me for a NYC job in May 1979 first said “cunsoined”, then corrected himself, saying “concerned”.
I recall John Laroquette as Dan Fielding on “Night Court” in mid-April 1988, joking about The Duke Of Oil, The Wizard Of Ooze …
The kids who played ball on my old Ridgewood block seemed to spend more time arguing about the balls they’d just hit (was it a triple or a foul ?) than they did playing. Good practice for later life as white collar professionals in our over-litigous bureaucracy.
Never played hit the penny.
Was more obsessed with outer space sci fi than with Westerns as a kid on my block. The Space Angel, Prof. Mace. Wonderful how a bike with training wheels could be a starship, and a sidewalk encrusted with endless globs of dirt-blackened, discarded chewing gum could be a densely-crowded star field in optical reverse ….
That especially big glob on the crack is Delta Geminorum ….
MVitale,
I had such fun reading your blog!! I’m new to this site and I can tell I’ll be having a good time reading about the good old days!! I lived on Hemlock St. in Cypress Hills from 1960 – 1968. Spent my teen years there – such fond memories. I graduated Maxwell HS in 1964 – judging from your photo you look alot younger than I am. I “lived” at Cypress Pool all summer long and “hung out” at Long’s Ice Cream Parlor. Acutally met my husband at Long’s. Kinda like “Happy Days! We’ve been married for 39 years now!!
Time flies doesn’t, it? Mopella
MVitale,
Hi! I read your blog. It was incredible! I actually have 2 kids 21 years apart! Where in East New York did you grow up? What schools did you attend?
Muzer
Hey, you guys have been very busy here the past few days!
Just catching up and when I read about the “oil bill”, I had to comment:
We used to tease my father who would call oil “earl” and call the Earl Theater the “Oil”. We never understood why he couldn’t just switch them around!
We never played kick-the-can, but we did play stick ball (a manhole cover made a great homeplate), and we had to stop every five seconds to let a car by. Those streets were SO narrow, too, so it was an interesting playing field.
I have actually introduced my kids to “hit the penny”… a game we’d play with a “Spaldeen” (pink rubber ball) and a penny and a sidewalk crack for hours on end.
We were also obsessed with TV Westerns, so we’d gallop up and down the block whipping our invisible steeds and yelling “Yah!”. A sight to behold, I’m sure.
I should introduce you to my personal blog, where I write about a lot of things but often post photos and stories about the old neighborhoods and my childhood. Here are two posts you might enjoy:
View link
View link
(you’ll recognize the corner of Sheridan and Atlantic in that photo)
Thank you, Muzer.
PKoch
To PKoch,
Muzer