Comments from FredRM

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FredRM
FredRM commented about Ritz Theater on Mar 1, 2009 at 9:18 pm

I lived in South Side Scranton form 1964 to 1969 and walked downtown many times to see movies at the Comerford.[ and the other two downtown theaters the Strand and the Center] Years later in the late 70s or early 80s I went back to Scranton to visit and went downtown to go to the movies there and the theater was open but they were just using the old balcony as the movie theater.If I remember correctly the first floor had been converted into some kind of shops etc. It was good to see the old balcony area again and it brought back alot of memories. I had my daughter with me and tought it was really neat that she was going to the movies some place where I had gone as a kid.[even though it was just the balcony]I don’t remember what movie we saw but it was a normal movie that kids could watch, not somthing X rated.I had forgotten untill I read other enteries on this site that the name had been changed to the Ritz.I don’t have family in Scranton amymore and haven’t been there for years,so I don’t know if it’s still open or not.

FredRM
FredRM commented about Globe Theatre on Mar 1, 2009 at 8:46 pm

My family moved into a house on Beech street in South Side about a block up from the Globe Theater in June of 1964. The theater was closed then. Kids that lived nearby said it had just closed recently and they used to go to movies there really cheep on the weekends.I remember the building well because I walked by it every day on my way to school at South Scranton Jr High School. Across the street from the Globe was a small Acme market that was open till about 1965 or 66. After the Globe closed it was used by a moving company. I don’t remember the name.After the Globe closed we had to walk into downtown Scranton to go to the movies.

FredRM
FredRM commented about Strand Theatre on Mar 1, 2009 at 8:25 pm

I worked at the Strand theater part time as an usher in 1968 when I was in high school. I got 85 cents an hour and thought I was doing well because I was told one of the other theaters downtown paid it’s ushers 65 cents an hour.The manager’s name was Mr.Foley and the assistant manager’s name was Mr.Burney [sp?].When I first started working at the Strand there was a long run of “Gone With the Wind” I saw it so many times I had every line in the whole movie memorized.The ushers wore a red blazer jacket with a white shirt and black bow tie and black pannts and black shoes.There were 2 other theaters in downtown Scranton then, the Comerford and the Center. If we [the ushers] went to one of the other theaters and told them we worked at the Strand they would let us into see the movie for free, except one time they wouldn’t let me in the Center because you had to be 18 to see the movie and I was only 16. I left Scranton in 1969 and sometime in the late 70s or early 80s I went back to visit and went to to where the Strand had been and it was gone. There was a new, much smaller building in its place, I think it was a bank.