I remember once when the Kameo was spiffed up in its later days – that was then the documentary “King: A Filmed Record” played there in 1970. That was an important movie and they cleaned the place up when it was shown. I remember that it was one of the first theatres I knew with guards instead of ushers, and I think that was because there were a lot of teenagers and kids (like me ) there on the weekend. We were that tail end of the baby boom generation and I think the theatre’s depended on us a lot to fill seats, but they didn’t want to be babysitters. Of course there were always the troublemakers (see the Duffield) who would get in fights and shoot up a theater, and then if was forced to close.
As a teenager in the 1970s, I can tell you that Astor was “the place” to see Kung Fu movies along Flatbush Avenue. It also had a few foreign films. If I remember right, the Kenmore and the Lowes Kings got all the big budget, first run movies and the others on Flatbush had to differentiate themselves. The Albemarle was the place to go to see sci-fi, horror and thrillers (it had “Star Wars” all to itself the summer of ‘77). The Rialto focused on comedies, especially teen movies like “Kentucky Fried Movie.”
I remember once when the Kameo was spiffed up in its later days – that was then the documentary “King: A Filmed Record” played there in 1970. That was an important movie and they cleaned the place up when it was shown. I remember that it was one of the first theatres I knew with guards instead of ushers, and I think that was because there were a lot of teenagers and kids (like me ) there on the weekend. We were that tail end of the baby boom generation and I think the theatre’s depended on us a lot to fill seats, but they didn’t want to be babysitters. Of course there were always the troublemakers (see the Duffield) who would get in fights and shoot up a theater, and then if was forced to close.
As a teenager in the 1970s, I can tell you that Astor was “the place” to see Kung Fu movies along Flatbush Avenue. It also had a few foreign films. If I remember right, the Kenmore and the Lowes Kings got all the big budget, first run movies and the others on Flatbush had to differentiate themselves. The Albemarle was the place to go to see sci-fi, horror and thrillers (it had “Star Wars” all to itself the summer of ‘77). The Rialto focused on comedies, especially teen movies like “Kentucky Fried Movie.”