Thanks Lost. That info is buried in my rather verbose introduction somewhere. The larger theaters at either end of the foyer are my favorites. The others in between are pretty small, though it has been a while since I caught a flick here. Perhaps the screen size makes up for the small rooms. I’m hoping someone can comment on the current quality of presentation here.
Something got lost in translation when my write-up was posted! I guess using dashes in a sentence only functions in the comments sections – like this, for example. Anyway, the first sentence in the next to last paragraph that opnes with the word “Interstingly” should end with the phrase “rather than an owner.” The next sentence should begin “All the buildings in the shopping center…”
Also, the ticket prices discussed at the bottom of the description should read “Monday thru Thursday” and “Friday thru Sunday”.
The architectural firm for this project was Stephen Sanders & Associates from Massapequa, Long Island.
Once the weather clears up around these parts, I’ll grab a few shots to post.
Here’s a local.live.com view of the Korn’s block front. In this view towards the east, Bell Blvd runs horizontally across the middle of the frame. The address 39-21 Bell would be the third building to the left from the “T” intersection formed by Bell and 40th Ave. Click the “X” on that ad box on the left side of the image to get a bigger view. The building is on the block facing us between the two blue awnings:
The phone directory shows no fewer than 8 listings at the Korn’s current address and NYC Buildings records indicate a C/O issued in 1984 for 3 storefronts at street level with offices above. Another source (oasisnyc.org) indicates that the building was constructed in 1920, but that site does not always have to most reliable information. Perhaps Lost Memory could do a more detailed investigation into City records.
KenRoe… the Victory on 32nd Ave is listed on CT here. Please add any information you might have if you believe it to be the same as the Coolidge listing you found in the 1927 FDY.
Well argued, gentlemen. Definitely food for thought. I surely wouldn’t want to upset the mix of contributors we have right now. Whatever happens, I’m sure Patrick and Ross will consider these viewpoints (and indeed may have already) when time comes to address the situation.
I actually saw “Invasion of the Blood Farmers” when it was – if you can believe it – re-released around 1980 or so. I think I saw it at the RKO Keith’s in Flushing on a double bill. I had actually heard about the film before, but would have been too young to have seen it when it first came out. It was pretty horrific. There are scenes where you can see the boom mic bobbing into the top of the frame! I remember at one point I just stopped paying attention to the story and just started scanning the frame line for other intrusions by the film crew! Ed Wood would have been proud to have been a part of it!
But I gotta say… I’ve seen quite a number of films on 42nd Street that would rival “Blood Farmers” on the list of “world’s worst films”.
I thought the same thing, Warren. I’ll be going back to see the exhibit again. I also love that beautifully detailed scale cutaway model the museum has on display of NYC’s Roxy Theater. I hope that is part of the museum’s permanent collection as I looke forward to studying it again, as well.
I agree with longislandmovies and KenRoe in regards to CT becoming a pay-site in order to defray operating expenses. A few of us raised this very topic last year when the site buckled under its own weight for a number of days and Patrick responded that it was under consideration. It would certainly be preferable to CT becoming a sponsored site and members having to brook annoying pop-up ads and such. Whatever the nature of the current problem, I trust Patrick, Ross and Bryan can soon have it sorted out. And frankly, I’m impressed and eternally grateful that a FREE database of this size has been maintained so beautifully for as long as it has. Kudos to all involved.
Ken… I hope I can be a part of your NYC tour as well. I’ll email you shortly with my contact information.
I find that the site typically tends to bog down and the individiual theater pages become unavailable in the late afternoon. I’ve not encountered many problems specific to the weekends, myself. This particular problem has been persistent since Thursday afternoon. There is obviously a serious problem along the lines of the problem that shut the site down for almost a week sometime last year.
I’ve been noticing lately that a great many more guests have been hitting this site than ever before. Whereas those numbers have previously peaked well under the 500 mark, these past few days have evidenced numbers as high as over 2000! As of this posting, it appears there are 700 guests visiting (and 10 or so registered members).
This morning, I reported an unrelated link that was posted yesterday and made comment on the database problems we’ve all been experiencing, with the suggestion they post some sort of bulletin regarding the situation to keep the membership informed. They usually respond quickly to reported links, so I trust we’ll get some news soon enough.
Hey Ken… You wouldn’t happen to have a policy of adopting a local cinema theater enthusiast (such as myself) in each city you visit and taking them along for the tours, would you? Heh heh. And what is the deal with the theater database on CT today? Seems to be down since about 3pm EST.
If you use your mouse to “grab” the image (click and hold down the left mouse button), you can slide it over to the left and get a partial glimpse of the back of the newer multiplex that replaced this twin (and former single screener). You can also click on the directional arrow on that palette to the left to change the view of the structure. In the view to the south I provided above, you are looking at what was the lobby wall. I seem to recall the building was a light almost white color with the entrance on what would be the lower left corner of the structure in the image above. I’m almost positive the doors actually were on the side wall at the corner facing Bell Blvd which runs north and south to the left of the building. I also seem to recall the 1st story of the lobby wall having much more glass allowing daylight into the foyer. The theater ran to the south (you can see the building tapering towards the screen wall) and featured a balcony. When it was twinned, a wall was constructed right down the middle and some of the seats in the front orchestra were lost to allow proper orientation of the screens toward the audience. This resulted in a pair of 600 seat twins, each with its own balcony.
I’m working on gathering some information to post a listing for the newer Bay Terrace 6 (which I believe opened under the Sony Theaters banner), unless you’re working on that already Lost? Warren? If not, I’ll post what I can gather by tomorrow and trust you guys will fill in any gaps in my information.
The Creep was the host of WNEW’s “Creature Features” program (portrayed by former two-bit actor, radio personality and voice over artist Lew Steele) on Saturday nights at 8:30. He was a fixture in the early 70’s. Around 1980 or so, they brought him back for another couple of years. He was a slender middle aged man with silvering hair who wore a black turtleneck under a dark sports coat and a pair of sunglasses. He had a dry and subdued sense of humor and would often run word games where they’d flash certain words in caption format during the broadcast and towards the end if the Creep picked your name from all the entries and called you up, you would have to arrange the word into the name of a movie or what have you to win a prize. What an awful run-on sentence that was, but I have no time to fix it!
Anyway, Steele died in 2001 of a heart attack at age 72, survived by his wife – radio and TV psychic Laura Steele.
By the way… Steele was the guy who first intoned the words “It’s 10 PM… do you know where your children are?” that precedes the Channel 5 broadcast of the 10 O'Clock News to this day!
Vincent… those two scenes were certainly sensational and inspiring! But I wouldn’t apply those adjectives in a blanket description of the film as a whole!
If I may join the fray for a sec… was “The Manster” the one where a monster is growing out of a guy’s body – and it begins with an eye on his shoulder!?!? I think I recall that one from my Creature Features days with The Creep on WNEW channel 5. I don’t remember that one being Japanese… but my memories of it are very faint.
I believe the Paradise might have first opened as a quartet on December 12th, 1980. Stop the presses! (ha ha) Anyway, I have several newspapers from around this time (following John Lennon’s death) and curiously find that in the Thursday, December 11th edition, there are listings in the Movie Clock for only Paradise 1 and Paradise 2 (respectively showing “The Elephant Man” and “Boogie Man”). The ad for “Elephant Man” as well as the ads for “Popeye” and “Stir Crazy” (opening the following day) list the theater as “Loews Paradise Triplex”: Elephant/Popeye NY Post 12/11/80 Stir Crazy – NY Post 12/11/80
My guess is the theater operated only the two downstairs theaters up through December 11th, while the balcony theater was being divided in two for the December 12th bookings. Just throwing it out there.
According to an article in the June 20th, 2006 edition of the NY Post, this vacant parcel of land on the now-very-desirable eastern block-front of 8th Ave between 42nd and 41st Streets has been sold and will likely be developed into a residential/commercial mixed use tower. The current owners (Howard and Edward Milstein) bought out other family members to gain full control of the lot in early 2001 for $77.7 million. The property was valued at the time at approximately $111 million. A company out of Parsippany, NJ, named SJP Properties has purchased the lot for an undisclosed amount, though speculation is that the deal could top the 2001 price tag by three to five times. According to Empire State Development Corp Chairman Charles Gargano, any development deal would be subject to per diem penalties if construction did not begin within 12 months of closing. The following link only gives one a summary of the article, as the Post apparently charges a fee for the full text:
Not sure how addresses run and where the cross street would have been, but I know that Cumberland Street is near Fort Greene Park (I remember looking for parking and turning on to it when I took my daughter to a college fair at Brooklyn Tech last year). Perhaps “the Hill” refers to the area now known as Clinton Hill which is just to the east of Fort Greene.
Thanks Al. The Hudson is now used for catered events and such. I figured the orchestra seats were probably ripped out, but I didn’t know if there were any other alterations. You can have a wedding there, for instance. But I also know that Howard Stern recently had a “film festival” there for his fans. I believe the films were all projected on video, so I’m not sure if proper film presentation can still be facilitated there. The Miller orchestra had also been leveled for its use as a disco (ala Studio 54) and for its presentation of the “Cabaret” revival, but I suspect that seats were reinstalled for the run of “Urinetown”… or am I mistaken?
A shame that none of the original interior architecture could be preserved. Why not cantilever the new construction over the theater like they did when the Hilton Hotel went up on 42nd Street over the Liberty?
Hate to sound like a broken record, but does anyone know if any original elements of the theater’s interior have been saved to be incorporated in the new theatrical space (ala elements of the 42nd Street Apollo and Lyric in the Hilton Theater)? Or will this be an entirely new space with only the 43rd Street facade preserved? I haven’t been by the site for a while so I don’t know how construction is going… I believe the project is the new Bank of America office tower which, last I heard, was scheduled for 2008 occupancy.
ERD… you might want to try the Museum of Television and Radio (formerly the Museum of Broadcasting) in NYC to see if they have archival tapes of that Brinkley special from the ‘60’s. The museum used to be located on E. 52nd Street just a few doors down from 5th Ave, but I lost touch with them about the time they changed their name and were expanding their facilities. I think they are still in that same area (if not on the same block) and had a wonderful library of tapes available for private viewings by members. I think there might have even been a fee schedule for none members. It might be worth checking out.
Was CT featured on some TV show recently or in a newspaper article? Or did it get a credit or mention that I missed in the recent A&E “Breakfast with the Arts” segments on Loews Wonder Theaters? There seem to be a lot of visitors to this site in the past couple of days, which might be lending to its instability. Yesterday around midday I noted that there were over 2000 guests as per the counter on this page and as of this writing there are 571! I usually see that number in the 250-350 range.
I definitely think that commercial interests along the 82nd Street corridor (whether north or sout of Roosevelt) will always refer to themselves as being in Jackson Heights. Everything along that little wedge of blocks between Broadway and Baxter down to 41st Ave is probably fair game for that affiliation (whether technically correct or not). I don’t think I’d go all the way down to the Port Washington LIRR line as Warren suggests (which runs through Elmhurst and Corona below 43rd Ave), but I think the area where the Jackson Theater sits is fair game.
Mike… “Tess” definitely played the Baronet as per that ad for its one-week Oscar-qualifying run. The movie clocks that week confirm it. “Stardust Memories” was still at the Little Carnegie during the week of 12/12/80 through 12/18/80. “Inside Moves” moves into the Little Carnegie (day-and-dating with the 34th Street East) on 12/19/80. Perhaps “Tess” played the Little Carnegie when it was officially released sometime after this qualifier.
The day-and-date policy between the 34th Street East and Little Carnegie was alive and well in March of 1982 when Burt Lancaster watched Susan Sarandon bathe her breasts with lemons in this melancholy Louis Malle film:
Thanks Lost. That info is buried in my rather verbose introduction somewhere. The larger theaters at either end of the foyer are my favorites. The others in between are pretty small, though it has been a while since I caught a flick here. Perhaps the screen size makes up for the small rooms. I’m hoping someone can comment on the current quality of presentation here.
Something got lost in translation when my write-up was posted! I guess using dashes in a sentence only functions in the comments sections – like this, for example. Anyway, the first sentence in the next to last paragraph that opnes with the word “Interstingly” should end with the phrase “rather than an owner.” The next sentence should begin “All the buildings in the shopping center…”
Also, the ticket prices discussed at the bottom of the description should read “Monday thru Thursday” and “Friday thru Sunday”.
The architectural firm for this project was Stephen Sanders & Associates from Massapequa, Long Island.
Once the weather clears up around these parts, I’ll grab a few shots to post.
Here’s a local.live.com view of the Korn’s block front. In this view towards the east, Bell Blvd runs horizontally across the middle of the frame. The address 39-21 Bell would be the third building to the left from the “T” intersection formed by Bell and 40th Ave. Click the “X” on that ad box on the left side of the image to get a bigger view. The building is on the block facing us between the two blue awnings:
View of Bell to the east
The phone directory shows no fewer than 8 listings at the Korn’s current address and NYC Buildings records indicate a C/O issued in 1984 for 3 storefronts at street level with offices above. Another source (oasisnyc.org) indicates that the building was constructed in 1920, but that site does not always have to most reliable information. Perhaps Lost Memory could do a more detailed investigation into City records.
KenRoe… the Victory on 32nd Ave is listed on CT here. Please add any information you might have if you believe it to be the same as the Coolidge listing you found in the 1927 FDY.
Well argued, gentlemen. Definitely food for thought. I surely wouldn’t want to upset the mix of contributors we have right now. Whatever happens, I’m sure Patrick and Ross will consider these viewpoints (and indeed may have already) when time comes to address the situation.
I actually saw “Invasion of the Blood Farmers” when it was – if you can believe it – re-released around 1980 or so. I think I saw it at the RKO Keith’s in Flushing on a double bill. I had actually heard about the film before, but would have been too young to have seen it when it first came out. It was pretty horrific. There are scenes where you can see the boom mic bobbing into the top of the frame! I remember at one point I just stopped paying attention to the story and just started scanning the frame line for other intrusions by the film crew! Ed Wood would have been proud to have been a part of it!
But I gotta say… I’ve seen quite a number of films on 42nd Street that would rival “Blood Farmers” on the list of “world’s worst films”.
I thought the same thing, Warren. I’ll be going back to see the exhibit again. I also love that beautifully detailed scale cutaway model the museum has on display of NYC’s Roxy Theater. I hope that is part of the museum’s permanent collection as I looke forward to studying it again, as well.
I agree with longislandmovies and KenRoe in regards to CT becoming a pay-site in order to defray operating expenses. A few of us raised this very topic last year when the site buckled under its own weight for a number of days and Patrick responded that it was under consideration. It would certainly be preferable to CT becoming a sponsored site and members having to brook annoying pop-up ads and such. Whatever the nature of the current problem, I trust Patrick, Ross and Bryan can soon have it sorted out. And frankly, I’m impressed and eternally grateful that a FREE database of this size has been maintained so beautifully for as long as it has. Kudos to all involved.
Ken… I hope I can be a part of your NYC tour as well. I’ll email you shortly with my contact information.
I find that the site typically tends to bog down and the individiual theater pages become unavailable in the late afternoon. I’ve not encountered many problems specific to the weekends, myself. This particular problem has been persistent since Thursday afternoon. There is obviously a serious problem along the lines of the problem that shut the site down for almost a week sometime last year.
I’ve been noticing lately that a great many more guests have been hitting this site than ever before. Whereas those numbers have previously peaked well under the 500 mark, these past few days have evidenced numbers as high as over 2000! As of this posting, it appears there are 700 guests visiting (and 10 or so registered members).
This morning, I reported an unrelated link that was posted yesterday and made comment on the database problems we’ve all been experiencing, with the suggestion they post some sort of bulletin regarding the situation to keep the membership informed. They usually respond quickly to reported links, so I trust we’ll get some news soon enough.
Hey Ken… You wouldn’t happen to have a policy of adopting a local cinema theater enthusiast (such as myself) in each city you visit and taking them along for the tours, would you? Heh heh. And what is the deal with the theater database on CT today? Seems to be down since about 3pm EST.
Here’s an aerial shot of the former Loew’s Bay Terrace from the Windows local.live site:
View looking South
If you use your mouse to “grab” the image (click and hold down the left mouse button), you can slide it over to the left and get a partial glimpse of the back of the newer multiplex that replaced this twin (and former single screener). You can also click on the directional arrow on that palette to the left to change the view of the structure. In the view to the south I provided above, you are looking at what was the lobby wall. I seem to recall the building was a light almost white color with the entrance on what would be the lower left corner of the structure in the image above. I’m almost positive the doors actually were on the side wall at the corner facing Bell Blvd which runs north and south to the left of the building. I also seem to recall the 1st story of the lobby wall having much more glass allowing daylight into the foyer. The theater ran to the south (you can see the building tapering towards the screen wall) and featured a balcony. When it was twinned, a wall was constructed right down the middle and some of the seats in the front orchestra were lost to allow proper orientation of the screens toward the audience. This resulted in a pair of 600 seat twins, each with its own balcony.
I’m working on gathering some information to post a listing for the newer Bay Terrace 6 (which I believe opened under the Sony Theaters banner), unless you’re working on that already Lost? Warren? If not, I’ll post what I can gather by tomorrow and trust you guys will fill in any gaps in my information.
The Creep was the host of WNEW’s “Creature Features” program (portrayed by former two-bit actor, radio personality and voice over artist Lew Steele) on Saturday nights at 8:30. He was a fixture in the early 70’s. Around 1980 or so, they brought him back for another couple of years. He was a slender middle aged man with silvering hair who wore a black turtleneck under a dark sports coat and a pair of sunglasses. He had a dry and subdued sense of humor and would often run word games where they’d flash certain words in caption format during the broadcast and towards the end if the Creep picked your name from all the entries and called you up, you would have to arrange the word into the name of a movie or what have you to win a prize. What an awful run-on sentence that was, but I have no time to fix it!
Anyway, Steele died in 2001 of a heart attack at age 72, survived by his wife – radio and TV psychic Laura Steele.
By the way… Steele was the guy who first intoned the words “It’s 10 PM… do you know where your children are?” that precedes the Channel 5 broadcast of the 10 O'Clock News to this day!
Vincent… those two scenes were certainly sensational and inspiring! But I wouldn’t apply those adjectives in a blanket description of the film as a whole!
If I may join the fray for a sec… was “The Manster” the one where a monster is growing out of a guy’s body – and it begins with an eye on his shoulder!?!? I think I recall that one from my Creature Features days with The Creep on WNEW channel 5. I don’t remember that one being Japanese… but my memories of it are very faint.
I believe the Paradise might have first opened as a quartet on December 12th, 1980. Stop the presses! (ha ha) Anyway, I have several newspapers from around this time (following John Lennon’s death) and curiously find that in the Thursday, December 11th edition, there are listings in the Movie Clock for only Paradise 1 and Paradise 2 (respectively showing “The Elephant Man” and “Boogie Man”). The ad for “Elephant Man” as well as the ads for “Popeye” and “Stir Crazy” (opening the following day) list the theater as “Loews Paradise Triplex”:
Elephant/Popeye NY Post 12/11/80
Stir Crazy – NY Post 12/11/80
All the ads in the next day’s paper (Friday the 12th) list the theater as “Loews Paradise Quad” with the Movie Clock listing “Stir Crazy” in theaters 1 and 2 while “Popeye” and “Elephant Man” played 3 and 4 respectively.
Stir Crazy – News 12/12/80
Popeye – News 12/12/80
Elephant Man – News 12/12/80
My guess is the theater operated only the two downstairs theaters up through December 11th, while the balcony theater was being divided in two for the December 12th bookings. Just throwing it out there.
According to Al’s list above, this classic pulled into the Paris for quite a nice run in December of ‘80:
Mon Oncle – Daily News 12/14/80
According to an article in the June 20th, 2006 edition of the NY Post, this vacant parcel of land on the now-very-desirable eastern block-front of 8th Ave between 42nd and 41st Streets has been sold and will likely be developed into a residential/commercial mixed use tower. The current owners (Howard and Edward Milstein) bought out other family members to gain full control of the lot in early 2001 for $77.7 million. The property was valued at the time at approximately $111 million. A company out of Parsippany, NJ, named SJP Properties has purchased the lot for an undisclosed amount, though speculation is that the deal could top the 2001 price tag by three to five times. According to Empire State Development Corp Chairman Charles Gargano, any development deal would be subject to per diem penalties if construction did not begin within 12 months of closing. The following link only gives one a summary of the article, as the Post apparently charges a fee for the full text:
Post Article Summary
Not sure how addresses run and where the cross street would have been, but I know that Cumberland Street is near Fort Greene Park (I remember looking for parking and turning on to it when I took my daughter to a college fair at Brooklyn Tech last year). Perhaps “the Hill” refers to the area now known as Clinton Hill which is just to the east of Fort Greene.
Thanks Al. The Hudson is now used for catered events and such. I figured the orchestra seats were probably ripped out, but I didn’t know if there were any other alterations. You can have a wedding there, for instance. But I also know that Howard Stern recently had a “film festival” there for his fans. I believe the films were all projected on video, so I’m not sure if proper film presentation can still be facilitated there. The Miller orchestra had also been leveled for its use as a disco (ala Studio 54) and for its presentation of the “Cabaret” revival, but I suspect that seats were reinstalled for the run of “Urinetown”… or am I mistaken?
A shame that none of the original interior architecture could be preserved. Why not cantilever the new construction over the theater like they did when the Hilton Hotel went up on 42nd Street over the Liberty?
Hate to sound like a broken record, but does anyone know if any original elements of the theater’s interior have been saved to be incorporated in the new theatrical space (ala elements of the 42nd Street Apollo and Lyric in the Hilton Theater)? Or will this be an entirely new space with only the 43rd Street facade preserved? I haven’t been by the site for a while so I don’t know how construction is going… I believe the project is the new Bank of America office tower which, last I heard, was scheduled for 2008 occupancy.
ERD… you might want to try the Museum of Television and Radio (formerly the Museum of Broadcasting) in NYC to see if they have archival tapes of that Brinkley special from the ‘60’s. The museum used to be located on E. 52nd Street just a few doors down from 5th Ave, but I lost touch with them about the time they changed their name and were expanding their facilities. I think they are still in that same area (if not on the same block) and had a wonderful library of tapes available for private viewings by members. I think there might have even been a fee schedule for none members. It might be worth checking out.
Was CT featured on some TV show recently or in a newspaper article? Or did it get a credit or mention that I missed in the recent A&E “Breakfast with the Arts” segments on Loews Wonder Theaters? There seem to be a lot of visitors to this site in the past couple of days, which might be lending to its instability. Yesterday around midday I noted that there were over 2000 guests as per the counter on this page and as of this writing there are 571! I usually see that number in the 250-350 range.
I definitely think that commercial interests along the 82nd Street corridor (whether north or sout of Roosevelt) will always refer to themselves as being in Jackson Heights. Everything along that little wedge of blocks between Broadway and Baxter down to 41st Ave is probably fair game for that affiliation (whether technically correct or not). I don’t think I’d go all the way down to the Port Washington LIRR line as Warren suggests (which runs through Elmhurst and Corona below 43rd Ave), but I think the area where the Jackson Theater sits is fair game.
Mike… “Tess” definitely played the Baronet as per that ad for its one-week Oscar-qualifying run. The movie clocks that week confirm it. “Stardust Memories” was still at the Little Carnegie during the week of 12/12/80 through 12/18/80. “Inside Moves” moves into the Little Carnegie (day-and-dating with the 34th Street East) on 12/19/80. Perhaps “Tess” played the Little Carnegie when it was officially released sometime after this qualifier.
The day-and-date policy between the 34th Street East and Little Carnegie was alive and well in March of 1982 when Burt Lancaster watched Susan Sarandon bathe her breasts with lemons in this melancholy Louis Malle film:
Daily News 3/6/82