RKO Madison Theatre

54-30 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood, NY 11385

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Showing 201 - 225 of 1,251 comments

lefty78312
lefty78312 on July 16, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Just for chuckles I looked up the Liberty Department Stores on the map. It’s about a half-block inside of Queens. The Queens County line goes NW on Wyckoff to Palmetto, then NE for a short block, then back NW on St. Nicholas.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 16, 2008 at 2:46 pm

You have to go around to the back and sides of the Madison on Wyckoff Avenue and Madison Street to get a good idea of its true size. The frontage on Myrtle Avenue is deceptively small. The same is true of the RKO Bushwick, even more so, with its “Flatiron Building” type “nose”, where the marquee once was, at Bway, Howard Avenue, and Monroe Street : stand on the southwest corner of Madison Street and Howard Avenue, and look diagonally across that intersection to the northeast corner occupied by the Bushwick to get a good idea of its true size.

To do the same for the Ridgewood, one needs to go to the eastern corner of Cypress Avenue and Madison Street, and look diagonally across to the Ridgewood at the western corner.

Panzer65, I also appreciate that NY Times quote, because it correctly places the RKO Madison in Queens.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 16, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Re:Peter’s quote from The New York Times:
“The Madison was built in 1927 for burlesque and vaudeville and was the second largest theater in Queens, behind the RKO Keith in Flushing."
Looking outside it does not appear like a large theater,but looking at the square footage inside, it is deceiving.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 16, 2008 at 10:14 am

You’re welcome, Panzer65. Your cautions about going “beyond that door” are right-on, and well worth heeding.

You can get SOME idea of what this once beautiful theater looked like from the photos that Warren and others have posted links to.

MrBill, thanks for the New York Times article. Here’s a quote from it :

“The Madison was built in 1927 for burlesque and vaudeville and was the second largest theater in Queens, behind the RKO Keith in Flushing.”

I never knew the Madison was the second largest theater in Queens. Thanks. As to “blight”, all I can think is : the presence of an ugly store that gave no hint that the building it is in, was once a beautiful theater. The restoration of the baroque facade would serve as a reminder that the building was indeed once a theater.

Thanks in advance for asking if you can look “beyond the door”. I’ll be eager to read what you find out, once you’ve posted it here.

lefty78312
lefty78312 on July 16, 2008 at 4:31 am

Just found a link to an old article about when the Busy Bee opened in 1988 – View link

One of the quotes from the article is ‘the restoration of the theater’s fanciful Baroque facade removes a blight from Myrtle Avenue’. Blight? What was the reporter thinking?

I got a feeling there’s no longer anything of interest beyond the door, but I’ll ask if I can look anyway.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 15, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Thanks Bway & Peter K.,
I may be stepping into The Twilight Zone beyond that door, excellent view upon the once proud RKO Madison and its possible hidden treasures.It just adds to the mystique, these mysteries of unseen areas that are waiting to be discovered.

Bway, really puts the whole mystery into perspective, we must remember that unfortunately there was a fire, so if anything remains it may be water damaged, soot accumulation,or the bleak possibility that because of these circumstances,the manager may not allow access to areas not open to the public, which may present a hazard. The next question is if that happens,no one including CT members will ever venture to areas that should be documented and photographed for people like myself who want to experience first hand what this once beautiful theater looked like.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 15, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Good thoughts, Bway. I’d never realized that about the introduction to the RKO Madison on this page.

Yes, that door has almost become a legend on this CT page for the former RKO Madison.

You’re welcome to my confirmation of when the fire was.

We’ll never know what’s “beyond the door” until someone looks.

Glad you liked my joke about “Beyond The Door” and The Twilight Zone.

Maybe Fast Eddie is behind that door with the corpse of Mae West !

Bway
Bway on July 15, 2008 at 10:47 am

The intoduction is incorrect in it’s final sentence above, which says something to the effect of “the current retail space only uses the former lobby, and the theater may be intact inside”. That isn’t correct, the Liberty Department store uses the whole downstairs auditorium from the stage to the inner and outer lobbies. Nothing is intact in the theater, at least at ground level. The only thing that “could” be intact is perhaps the ceiling dome, and perhaps the top of the walls, and perhaps, maybe part of the balcony “behind the door”, but other than that, NOTHING remains, and nothing is visable in the whole store, except you can see the physical curve of the balcony as it stretches across the former theater.

Peter, thanks for confirming when the fire was. I thought it was after the theater closed, but before converting to retail.
Ironically, perhaps if it didn’t burn, they wouldn’t have gutted it as fully as it was gutted, as they wouldn’t have needed to. But the fire probably really damaged a lot of the interior, if not just the fire itself, but the water when putting it out, and then what the fire and water didn’t destroy, the soot and smoke from the fire would have really destroyed everything else…. So really, even if by some slight chance the upper portions of the walls and the ceiling dome remain “behind that door” in the balcony, it’s probably heavily damaged from the soot, and then let’s not forget it’s been another 30 years since the fire. Sadly, even if we “look beyond the door”, it would probably be disappointing, but it is possible, the upper walls and what’s left of the balcony could be still there, even if in shambles.

Bway
Bway on July 15, 2008 at 10:31 am

Hahaha, good one Peter….that “door” has really become the almost the legend……just “what” is “behind that door”…..
But there you go, step to through that door into…..The Twilight Zone……

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 15, 2008 at 9:59 am

Bway, the fire was between The Theater and Consumers. I remember looking into the charred interior in April 1979, and have posted above about it, probably more than four years ago. I don’t know the exact date of the fire. I’m guessing it was between November 1978 and February 1979.

Yes, the mystery of what may remain of the theater “behind that door” IS very intriguing !!!!

Panzer65, I’m glad I made you feel like James T. Kirk.

Now, to switch to a 1975 demonic possession – horror movie :

“Panzer65 and Bway have gone ………. BEYOND THE DOOR !!!!!!!”

“WHERE OLD THEATRE OBSESSION GROWS …. AND GROWS …. AND GROWS !!!!”

Or, you might go through that door into a balcony seat and back into the past and see a movie up on that huge old screen …. next stop : The Twilight Zone !

Bway
Bway on July 15, 2008 at 4:46 am

I was only in the Madison when I was a little kid, and really don’t remember too much about it, other than “it was fancy”. I can’t recall the layout at all. I remember it as Odd Lot, Consumers, and the Busy Bee Compartment stores much better than I remember it as a theater. But in any of those stores, there was no theater ornamentation whatsoever left in view. It was all gone by the first store, Consumers already. The only difference with Consumers was that the public could only be in the front of the store, where you looked through catalogs (like Service Merchandise used to be). That only used the area of the former outer lobby. I don’t even think the inner lobby was a part of the public space. The auditorium was the warehouse for the Consumers. It is possible at that point that the auditorium was still completely exposed. After Consumers, it became Odd Lot, and that was the first time the entire auditorium was opened up for retail. The curve of the balcony through the building was visable then, just as it is now. The drop ceiling was probably put in when Odd lot took over.
What I am hazy about though is just “when” the fire took place. I know the Madison burned, but I don’t remember if it was between:

The Theater and Consumers or between
Consumers and Odd Lot or between
Odd Lot and Busy Bee Compartment Store.

I draw a blank there. I know it didn’t burn after Busy Bee and Liberty, that much I can say for sure, but I don’t know where the fire occured between the three scenarios above.

I also don’t know how bad the fire was, I just remember “the fire”.

Anyway, yes, interior photos would be great, and I wish and hope that the management will be coopertive and let you see some “hidden” areas. Obviously they would know what is “behind that door” upstairs in the furniture Department. I think the answer to what is left of the ceiling dome, the balcony, and the theater itself is behind that door. That door may lead to what is left of the Balcony seating area, and once in that area, I believe that the balcony still may be open to the high ceiling above the fake drop ceiling that is through the back end of the store. The top of the Procenium arch may even still be all up there…… Warren’s photos only make me more intrigued by what may be left – hidden…..
I

lefty78312
lefty78312 on July 14, 2008 at 7:01 pm

It’s funny; I thought about asking the guy up near the front of the store (the manager?) if I could take a few shots inside the Liberty, but I didn’t feel good. Maybe I should have asked anyway. Maybe he wasn’t even the manager; just another cashier. But I will ask if I go back in October.

Maybe someone on the board who remembers the Madison when it was still a theater could meet me at the store and look around with me.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 14, 2008 at 3:01 pm

PKoch ,your making me feel like the James T. Kirk of CT!

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 14, 2008 at 2:58 pm

My last visit was July of last year, I posted what I had taken in dated July 14, 2007. Hopefully it will be more detailed, and of course, the photos to prove it.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 14, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Panzer65, perhaps it’s time for you to boldy go where no CT member has gone before : behind the walls and through the doors of the Liberty Dept. Store that was once the RKO Madison Theatre !

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 14, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Panzer65, I hope you do, and that, once you have, you write about it here.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 14, 2008 at 2:21 pm

I don’t want to make promises PKoch, but with every posting I see about connecting the dots, I feel I must visit the Madison that was left behind in ‘78.Armed with my camera and an explorer’s mentality, I must see the manager first, after that obstacle, I may make Cinema Treasures history.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 14, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Yes, Panzer65, Peter.K = PKoch. I don’t know if such a computer program exists. I agree, the only real way to solve the mystery would be to ask the manager for access to areas not open to the public. Do you intend to do this ?

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 14, 2008 at 2:04 pm

Peter K.(aka PKoch?)
Thats an excellent idea, if it is possible, I for one never being in Madison as a theater, would find that quite interesting.In the meantime,I would like to take some before and after photos, the older ones that Warren provided would be excellent to compare to today’s store. The only real way to solve the mystery would be to ask the manager for access to areas not open to the public, I have a feeling there are some viewing treasures behind those walls and above the ceiling.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 14, 2008 at 10:26 am

It would be great if there were some sort of architectural graphics computer program, into which digital photos of both the RKO Madison as it once was, as a movie theater, and as it is now, as a Liberty Department Store, could be input, and it would then generate, as output, plan, elevation, section (two-dimensional) and axonometric (solid) drawings of the RKO Madison as both a theater and as a Liberty Department Store, to help answer such questions as, are the balcony seats and ceiling still behind that door up in the furniture department ? Was the grand staircase jackhammered out, or is it still behind some wall ? etc.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 14, 2008 at 7:28 am

MrBill, those of us who remember the RKO Madison when it was still a theater have been trying to connect the dots now for years, as you can read right here on this page.

lefty78312
lefty78312 on July 13, 2008 at 2:04 pm

I have a tentative trip to the City planned for October, and I’ll ask if I can take a few photos inside the Liberty Department Stores. Other than being a little bigger inside than it looks from the outside, I couldn’t visualize it as ever having been anything but a bargain department store. Maybe someone who remembers it when it was still a theater can connect the dots.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 13, 2008 at 10:49 am

Thank you Bway,
I now have a better understanding of Madison’s original configuration. Perhaps some interior photos of the store may be in order.

Bway
Bway on July 13, 2008 at 10:10 am

What I was saying, is basically what Warren said too…. The furniture store is NOT in the balcony where the seating was, but what I called the “balcony Mezzanine”. I don’t know what the correct term for that area would be, but it’s the area you would come to after ascending the grand staircase, but you are still not in the seating area yet. I severely doubt they leveled the balcony seating area, which is probably all still behind that door upstairs in the furniture area, to the left in the middle when you first come up. I believe that door leads to the white area in Warren’s photo, on the right of the photo, which would be the middle of the actual balcony.
As for the grand staircase, wheather or not the grand staircase was removed is up for debate, as I have no idea, but the current staircase in the store looks nothing in structure to what the grand stairway looks in Warren’s photo of the Madison foyer. They either jackhammered it up, or closed it in behind a wall, and then built the current store stairway, which if jackhammered, may lead to where the original staircase led, or is a totally new structure that they added. That stairway has been there since the Odd Lot days, so whatever happened happened soon after the theater was gutted.

As for warren’s photo of the foyer, I “think” that the outer lobby would be to the left (along with Myrtle Ave), and the auditorium would be to the right, but I am not sure of that.

Panzer65
Panzer65 on July 13, 2008 at 7:00 am

Or,is the the view perspective with the photographer’s back facing the entrance doors,and the orchestra entrance is to the left?