Considering that Manes died over 20 years ago, the Board of Estimate died in 1990, and Huang hasn’t owned the property since 2002, I doubt any district attorney has this high on a list of priorities — even if the statute of limitations hadn’t passed, which I believe it has.
faberfranz, I have looked through IMdB, but cannot find anything with the title “Male Genitalia.” Your certainty that it would be exhibited at this theater therefore seems unfounded.
Thanks, Ed, for all of those — especially the close-up details. If nothing else, this has to be one of the best documented exteriors (such as it is) ever.
What’s left of the Arion SHOULD be the building to the rear of and spanning several storefronts on the south side of Metropolitan Ave., with 73rd Pl. a few stores to the left (looking northward; Lutheran Cemetery would be another block to the left) and 74th St. intersecting with Metropolitan across the street just to the right.
I think.
I completely blanked out on the Pia Zadora connection. Now we just have to determine if any films with Ms. Zadora in them played at the Keith’s, and the circle, if not complete, will at least justify taking this absurd thread!
Aha! My memory was sort of accurate, but I combined some things. According to an April 5, 1968 TIME article, “Wall Street whiz-bang Meshulam Riklis” at the time was attempting to “take over Schenley Industries, Inc., one of the nation’s biggest distillers (1967 sales: $518 million), through a merger with Glen Alden Corp., part of the $1.4 billion sales complex that Riklis, 44, has shuffled together.”
“Should it succeed, the Schenley takeover would cap a comeback for Riklis, a Palestinian immigrant whose seesawing fortunes have fascinated observers on Wall Street for years. Riklis came to the U.S. in 1947, taught Hebrew and sold stock in Minneapolis until the mid-1950s, when he was struck with what he now calls "the effective nonuse of cash"â€"or the technique of using borrowed money to buy undervalued companies, whose assets could provide the leverage for still larger takeovers.
Backed initially by a group of Minneapolis investors, in less than a decade Riklis spun together a retailing empire under the Rapid-American Corp., which controlled McCrory Corp. whose 1,500 stores (McCrory-McLellan-Green, National Shirt, Lerner) racked up $554 million in sales in 1962. By then he was vastly overextended. When grandly predicted earnings failed to materialize, McCrory’s stock tumbled and Riklis' entire colossus seemed headed for collapse. “God,” wailed Riklis at one point, “has added to our agonies.”
Scrambling for survival capital, Riklis sold off Rapid-American’s businesses (paint, printing and clothing), leaving it a mere shell. McCrory, too, came in for a paring. Riklis then bought control of Glen Alden Corp., a conglomerate with interests in coal and leather goods (which he sold) and textiles and R.K.O. theaters (which he retained). By 1965, such shufflings yielded some $50 million, which Riklis soon put to work. Since early 1966, Glen Alden has bought into building materials, B.V.D. clothing, and only three months ago, the diversified Stanley Warner Corp., whose interests include Playtex bras, movie theaters and throat lozenges."
How ironic! Sounds like the RKO Keith’s went from the frying pan (Riklis) to the fire (Boymelgren).
Glen Alden Corporation? Wow, haven’t heard that name in a while…now I’m racking my brain, trying to remember why I know them. They were one of those conglomerates that sprung up in the 60s, buying a lot of seemingly incompatible businesses. I seem to recall they wound up owning Korvettes or some other discount retailer, but I’m not sure.
With the number of posts on this page over the past 6+ years, it’s no wonder things have become so repetitive — who can keep track? But I’m sure we’ve had links to those Boymelgreen renderings before. Note that their description of the project says it will be completed in early 2008 — highly unlikely if they haven’t even started. Whatever happened to the rumors that Boymelgreen was trying to unload the property? Has anybody heard anything new? Is there anything at all going on there? News and speculation about this theater seems to have died since that flurry of activity in December and January.
Yeah, I noticed that John’s Best was gone, and AutoZone moved to a new location up the road a few months ago. JoAnn’s Fabrics and possibly a laundromat and hair salon appear to be the only places left, other than the company that has its office in the corner space of the old John’s Best building. JoAnn’s has obviously been in a state of limbo for years; the ceiling has multiple leaks, the floors have been allowed to deteriorate and have never been cleaned, but when I asked people who worked there if there were any plans to move, they just reply that they don’t know. Meanwhile, just up the road, a brand-new building is being constructed for a Goodwill Super Store! I’ll never understand real estate…
Lou, take a look over at /theaters/834/ and you’ll see there’s been a huge amount of speculation over whether there’s still any chance the theater could be preserved. Nobody seems to know what’s going on right now. (But let’s not discuss this here!)
If that’s a theater, it’s not one I recognize. But just a very short distance East, on the other side of the LIE, is what I used to know as the Century Fresh Meadows. Could that be what you’re thinking of? View link
The original artist’s rendering, which is linked to a couple of times above, shows the sign as simply “UA Theatre” and that’s what I remember it actually saying (about the ONLY thing in that rendering that is accurate!). The early publicity referred to it as the “new UA Theatre”. They never referred to it, at least initially, as the UA Lefrak or UA Lefrak City, that I can recall. But in addition to the 60s-era ad posted by RobertR for the computerized Ali-Marciano fight simulation in which it is The U.A. Theatre, to which Lost Memory links again above, there is in another ad he posted on Nov. 7, 2005 for a 1970 run of Five Easy Pieces, and the name is given as UA’s LEFRAK CITY. I don’t see any ads posted for the Loews incarnation (and I wasn’t around any longer when they owned it).
Lefrak City was built in stages, beginning with the first sections on Junction Blvd. about 1961, with additional sections going all the way back to 99th Street by 1966.
Considering that Manes died over 20 years ago, the Board of Estimate died in 1990, and Huang hasn’t owned the property since 2002, I doubt any district attorney has this high on a list of priorities — even if the statute of limitations hadn’t passed, which I believe it has.
faberfranz, I have looked through IMdB, but cannot find anything with the title “Male Genitalia.” Your certainty that it would be exhibited at this theater therefore seems unfounded.
Thanks, Ed, for all of those — especially the close-up details. If nothing else, this has to be one of the best documented exteriors (such as it is) ever.
What’s left of the Arion SHOULD be the building to the rear of and spanning several storefronts on the south side of Metropolitan Ave., with 73rd Pl. a few stores to the left (looking northward; Lutheran Cemetery would be another block to the left) and 74th St. intersecting with Metropolitan across the street just to the right.
I think.
Like anything associated with Boymelgreen, that last page seems to have contained a virus!
I completely blanked out on the Pia Zadora connection. Now we just have to determine if any films with Ms. Zadora in them played at the Keith’s, and the circle, if not complete, will at least justify taking this absurd thread!
Aha! My memory was sort of accurate, but I combined some things. According to an April 5, 1968 TIME article, “Wall Street whiz-bang Meshulam Riklis” at the time was attempting to “take over Schenley Industries, Inc., one of the nation’s biggest distillers (1967 sales: $518 million), through a merger with Glen Alden Corp., part of the $1.4 billion sales complex that Riklis, 44, has shuffled together.”
“Should it succeed, the Schenley takeover would cap a comeback for Riklis, a Palestinian immigrant whose seesawing fortunes have fascinated observers on Wall Street for years. Riklis came to the U.S. in 1947, taught Hebrew and sold stock in Minneapolis until the mid-1950s, when he was struck with what he now calls "the effective nonuse of cash"â€"or the technique of using borrowed money to buy undervalued companies, whose assets could provide the leverage for still larger takeovers.
Backed initially by a group of Minneapolis investors, in less than a decade Riklis spun together a retailing empire under the Rapid-American Corp., which controlled McCrory Corp. whose 1,500 stores (McCrory-McLellan-Green, National Shirt, Lerner) racked up $554 million in sales in 1962. By then he was vastly overextended. When grandly predicted earnings failed to materialize, McCrory’s stock tumbled and Riklis' entire colossus seemed headed for collapse. “God,” wailed Riklis at one point, “has added to our agonies.”
Scrambling for survival capital, Riklis sold off Rapid-American’s businesses (paint, printing and clothing), leaving it a mere shell. McCrory, too, came in for a paring. Riklis then bought control of Glen Alden Corp., a conglomerate with interests in coal and leather goods (which he sold) and textiles and R.K.O. theaters (which he retained). By 1965, such shufflings yielded some $50 million, which Riklis soon put to work. Since early 1966, Glen Alden has bought into building materials, B.V.D. clothing, and only three months ago, the diversified Stanley Warner Corp., whose interests include Playtex bras, movie theaters and throat lozenges."
How ironic! Sounds like the RKO Keith’s went from the frying pan (Riklis) to the fire (Boymelgren).
Glen Alden Corporation? Wow, haven’t heard that name in a while…now I’m racking my brain, trying to remember why I know them. They were one of those conglomerates that sprung up in the 60s, buying a lot of seemingly incompatible businesses. I seem to recall they wound up owning Korvettes or some other discount retailer, but I’m not sure.
I think Warren was being facetious. But you knew that.
With the number of posts on this page over the past 6+ years, it’s no wonder things have become so repetitive — who can keep track? But I’m sure we’ve had links to those Boymelgreen renderings before. Note that their description of the project says it will be completed in early 2008 — highly unlikely if they haven’t even started. Whatever happened to the rumors that Boymelgreen was trying to unload the property? Has anybody heard anything new? Is there anything at all going on there? News and speculation about this theater seems to have died since that flurry of activity in December and January.
Cheshir, have you checked with the Ridgefield Playhouse?
I’d say at this point, having the “G” match the other letters is the least of their problems.
Yeah, I noticed that John’s Best was gone, and AutoZone moved to a new location up the road a few months ago. JoAnn’s Fabrics and possibly a laundromat and hair salon appear to be the only places left, other than the company that has its office in the corner space of the old John’s Best building. JoAnn’s has obviously been in a state of limbo for years; the ceiling has multiple leaks, the floors have been allowed to deteriorate and have never been cleaned, but when I asked people who worked there if there were any plans to move, they just reply that they don’t know. Meanwhile, just up the road, a brand-new building is being constructed for a Goodwill Super Store! I’ll never understand real estate…
I recall the Cameo being $1 through the 70s and into the 80s as well.
That IS kind of strange. You have to wonder if anybody at the News-Times even remembers the name of the theater!
Lou, take a look over at /theaters/834/ and you’ll see there’s been a huge amount of speculation over whether there’s still any chance the theater could be preserved. Nobody seems to know what’s going on right now. (But let’s not discuss this here!)
Thank you, Lou! Now please head over to the RKO Keith’s in Flushing and find out what the heck is going on over there!
Perhaps the Italian restaurant will be converting to Indian fare?
Obviously, Microsoft has expanded the meaning of the word “live”…
Aha! Never mind what I just said. The theater you’re talking about is this one:
/theaters/6154/
If that’s a theater, it’s not one I recognize. But just a very short distance East, on the other side of the LIE, is what I used to know as the Century Fresh Meadows. Could that be what you’re thinking of?
View link
The original artist’s rendering, which is linked to a couple of times above, shows the sign as simply “UA Theatre” and that’s what I remember it actually saying (about the ONLY thing in that rendering that is accurate!). The early publicity referred to it as the “new UA Theatre”. They never referred to it, at least initially, as the UA Lefrak or UA Lefrak City, that I can recall. But in addition to the 60s-era ad posted by RobertR for the computerized Ali-Marciano fight simulation in which it is The U.A. Theatre, to which Lost Memory links again above, there is in another ad he posted on Nov. 7, 2005 for a 1970 run of Five Easy Pieces, and the name is given as UA’s LEFRAK CITY. I don’t see any ads posted for the Loews incarnation (and I wasn’t around any longer when they owned it).
Lefrak City was built in stages, beginning with the first sections on Junction Blvd. about 1961, with additional sections going all the way back to 99th Street by 1966.
Yes, that’s it. (I had forgotten about Loehmann’s.) The Warehouse Super Center sign is on the old marquee.
I meant the original page you linked to, not the second one, which is up near Utopia Parkway — a completely different area.