Mr Warhop was the District Manager in charge of all the UA theatres throughout the 5 boroughs. Anyone that knew him will remember how much of a heavy smoker he was. Mr Warhop retired because he was contracted lung cancer and had a lung removed. He was married to a beautiful woman that was younger than he was. He also had an infant son when he contracted lung cancer. Even though he lost a lung and went through chemotherapy, he still couldn’t shake the habit of smoking. He went on to die of lung cancer.
As for Michael Hockstein and Henry, I don’t know what happened to them.
I know that Jerry the projectionist was going to retire when the QUARTET closed.
I remember that UA was considering converting the QUARTET from a quad to a sixplex. They were going to some remodeling and make the stores on either side of the building into theatres. The plan didn’t go through because a community group didn’t want the theatre to become a multiplex. They said that they didn’t want the extra traffic.
The community group was lead by a bitterly obnoxious woman that was extremely overweight and greasy-looking. She was one of those housewives that thought that she knew what was best for everyone else in the community and that she knew everything. She was a real nasty piece of work. (She also had two tubby sons who were exactly like her. She would give them enough money to see one movie and expected her kids to be able to see every movie that was playing within the QUARTET at the time. She would come down and yell whenever her kids weren’t allowed to enter the theatre with outside food/drinks which was the policy and when her kids weren’t allowed to switch theatres. She was a nasty piece of work.) She would protest and show up with a petition whenever a horror movie would play in the QUARTRET or a movie that was R-rated was playing.
Meanwhile they allowed a nightclub to be open a few blocks down, near the catering hall. The nightclub turned out to be worse for the neighborhood than allowing UA to build the extra two theatres ever would have. The nightclub was associated with drug dealing, money laundering, several stabbings, and attracted an extremely rowdy crowd. There was a major difference between the cliental that went to the club when it first opened and later on. At first the crowd was calm and went to dance. There was rarely any news of problems. The original crowd was discouraged from attending and was replaced by a rowdy club full of hoodlums and drug dealers.
If the neighborhood hadn’t blocked UA’s plans to make the QUARTET a multiplex the theatre would probably still be open today.
Does anyone know what happened to ED? The theatre was his home away from home. ED was the mayor of Flushing and everyone in the area knew him.
He use to love horror movies/thrillers and dress up in costume to scare the patrons. We were afraid that one day he would get ideas from one of the movies and go on a rampage. We use to hide all sharp objects from him during the run of horror movies/thrillers.
Does anyone remember the cashier who worked during the day shift? When she would talk to people she would yell at the top of her lungs. ED and her use to get into it all the time. When they were arguing you could hear them yelling at each other for miles.
I use to hear stories about ROSE. She use to frisk partons that she felt were carrying liquor, food/soda, or weapons into the theatre. She wasn’t afraid of anyone and would go toe-to-toe with any patron, no matter their age, their build, or sex. She ran the QUARTET like a navy ship.
I complained to National Amusement’s HQ telling them about my experiences at the Concession Stand with the workers, and with the doorman who if you ask where to go just nods his head. I never got a response back from them. It’s sad because the theatre is near to where I live. Due to these experiences I’ll be forced to travel to other theatres, unless I hear that they’ve changed. Which I doubt. National Amusements use to maintain their theatres now they’re only care about their “de lux” or “premium theatres” in which more than the theatre is found in the building.
The theatre is a bargain during the matinee. But afterwards don’t even bother. The staff does nothing to stop patrons from smoking, or drinking alcoholic beverages. The carpet needs cleaning, and the popcorn is cold and stale tasting. The staff at night is rude, especially the Concession Stand Workers. The Concession Stand Workers will not answer questions, will carry a conversation with coworkers instead of helping customers, and will literally throw your food and drinks at you and on top of that short change you. The matinee staff work as professionals the rest of the staff are rediculous.
The building was meant to hold one movie of each type of rating. One G, one PG, one R, and one X. Many in the neighborhood protested the showing of X-rated movies and the police threatened to arrest the projectionist if they ran the movie. The projectionists, under order of the union and the theatre, ran the X-rated movie which led to the arrest of the projectionist, the manager and asst manager on duty, and the cashier who sold the tickets. The rest of the staff was just ticketed.
The Quartet Theatre was a great theatre to see a movie. Because it was the FIRST quad that open in the US it was built above standandards that are still in place today. The volume could be blasted in any of the theatres and it wouldn’t be heard in the other theatres. They used brick to divide the theatres not just plywood. Also, the original marquee was left intact. The new marquee was built over the old marquee. In one of the corners you could look up and see the bulbs and the marquee. The concession stand was located in the middle of the original theatre area. There were two retail stores located on either side of the theatre, in one of those spots was a pet shop. One year the pet shop burned down killing all the animals. If you walked to the theate and the music wasn’t playing or the a/c wasn’t running you could hear the sounds of animals and catch the scent of burned fur. That was the only threate out of all the four that you would encounter that.
The old “Merrick Theatre” is now a church. The organization that runs the church has renovated the building to its old grandure. They have maintained the interior design of the building. The orgranization also owns buildings on Merrick Blvd (betweetn the Bus Terminal and the main branch of the Queensboro Public Library) for use by the congregation and the public. I don’t know if they still hold tours of the Theatre but if you contact the organization that runs the Theatre/Church the’ll be happy to give a tour of the location.
I use to work at the the Continental when it was split into 2 buildings. Continential 1 & 2 (Twin) is now the Brandon and Continental 3 which was across the street and is now closed. The Continental 3 bosted the biggest screen and capacity in the outer boroughs. It had a dolby sound system that was incredible. It is a shame that they didn’t keep that building open but after they renovated the Midway theatre they decided to close it and the twin. They remodeled the twin and now call it the Brandon. Its a shame that it closed because the theatre brought a lot of business to shops in the area.
Mr Warhop was the District Manager in charge of all the UA theatres throughout the 5 boroughs. Anyone that knew him will remember how much of a heavy smoker he was. Mr Warhop retired because he was contracted lung cancer and had a lung removed. He was married to a beautiful woman that was younger than he was. He also had an infant son when he contracted lung cancer. Even though he lost a lung and went through chemotherapy, he still couldn’t shake the habit of smoking. He went on to die of lung cancer.
As for Michael Hockstein and Henry, I don’t know what happened to them.
I know that Jerry the projectionist was going to retire when the QUARTET closed.
I remember that UA was considering converting the QUARTET from a quad to a sixplex. They were going to some remodeling and make the stores on either side of the building into theatres. The plan didn’t go through because a community group didn’t want the theatre to become a multiplex. They said that they didn’t want the extra traffic.
The community group was lead by a bitterly obnoxious woman that was extremely overweight and greasy-looking. She was one of those housewives that thought that she knew what was best for everyone else in the community and that she knew everything. She was a real nasty piece of work. (She also had two tubby sons who were exactly like her. She would give them enough money to see one movie and expected her kids to be able to see every movie that was playing within the QUARTET at the time. She would come down and yell whenever her kids weren’t allowed to enter the theatre with outside food/drinks which was the policy and when her kids weren’t allowed to switch theatres. She was a nasty piece of work.) She would protest and show up with a petition whenever a horror movie would play in the QUARTRET or a movie that was R-rated was playing.
Meanwhile they allowed a nightclub to be open a few blocks down, near the catering hall. The nightclub turned out to be worse for the neighborhood than allowing UA to build the extra two theatres ever would have. The nightclub was associated with drug dealing, money laundering, several stabbings, and attracted an extremely rowdy crowd. There was a major difference between the cliental that went to the club when it first opened and later on. At first the crowd was calm and went to dance. There was rarely any news of problems. The original crowd was discouraged from attending and was replaced by a rowdy club full of hoodlums and drug dealers.
If the neighborhood hadn’t blocked UA’s plans to make the QUARTET a multiplex the theatre would probably still be open today.
Does anyone know what happened to ED? The theatre was his home away from home. ED was the mayor of Flushing and everyone in the area knew him.
He use to love horror movies/thrillers and dress up in costume to scare the patrons. We were afraid that one day he would get ideas from one of the movies and go on a rampage. We use to hide all sharp objects from him during the run of horror movies/thrillers.
Does anyone remember the cashier who worked during the day shift? When she would talk to people she would yell at the top of her lungs. ED and her use to get into it all the time. When they were arguing you could hear them yelling at each other for miles.
I use to hear stories about ROSE. She use to frisk partons that she felt were carrying liquor, food/soda, or weapons into the theatre. She wasn’t afraid of anyone and would go toe-to-toe with any patron, no matter their age, their build, or sex. She ran the QUARTET like a navy ship.
I complained to National Amusement’s HQ telling them about my experiences at the Concession Stand with the workers, and with the doorman who if you ask where to go just nods his head. I never got a response back from them. It’s sad because the theatre is near to where I live. Due to these experiences I’ll be forced to travel to other theatres, unless I hear that they’ve changed. Which I doubt. National Amusements use to maintain their theatres now they’re only care about their “de lux” or “premium theatres” in which more than the theatre is found in the building.
The theatre is a bargain during the matinee. But afterwards don’t even bother. The staff does nothing to stop patrons from smoking, or drinking alcoholic beverages. The carpet needs cleaning, and the popcorn is cold and stale tasting. The staff at night is rude, especially the Concession Stand Workers. The Concession Stand Workers will not answer questions, will carry a conversation with coworkers instead of helping customers, and will literally throw your food and drinks at you and on top of that short change you. The matinee staff work as professionals the rest of the staff are rediculous.
Hasn’t UA been bought out by Regal Entertainment?
The building was meant to hold one movie of each type of rating. One G, one PG, one R, and one X. Many in the neighborhood protested the showing of X-rated movies and the police threatened to arrest the projectionist if they ran the movie. The projectionists, under order of the union and the theatre, ran the X-rated movie which led to the arrest of the projectionist, the manager and asst manager on duty, and the cashier who sold the tickets. The rest of the staff was just ticketed.
The Quartet Theatre was a great theatre to see a movie. Because it was the FIRST quad that open in the US it was built above standandards that are still in place today. The volume could be blasted in any of the theatres and it wouldn’t be heard in the other theatres. They used brick to divide the theatres not just plywood. Also, the original marquee was left intact. The new marquee was built over the old marquee. In one of the corners you could look up and see the bulbs and the marquee. The concession stand was located in the middle of the original theatre area. There were two retail stores located on either side of the theatre, in one of those spots was a pet shop. One year the pet shop burned down killing all the animals. If you walked to the theate and the music wasn’t playing or the a/c wasn’t running you could hear the sounds of animals and catch the scent of burned fur. That was the only threate out of all the four that you would encounter that.
The old “Merrick Theatre” is now a church. The organization that runs the church has renovated the building to its old grandure. They have maintained the interior design of the building. The orgranization also owns buildings on Merrick Blvd (betweetn the Bus Terminal and the main branch of the Queensboro Public Library) for use by the congregation and the public. I don’t know if they still hold tours of the Theatre but if you contact the organization that runs the Theatre/Church the’ll be happy to give a tour of the location.
I use to work at the the Continental when it was split into 2 buildings. Continential 1 & 2 (Twin) is now the Brandon and Continental 3 which was across the street and is now closed. The Continental 3 bosted the biggest screen and capacity in the outer boroughs. It had a dolby sound system that was incredible. It is a shame that they didn’t keep that building open but after they renovated the Midway theatre they decided to close it and the twin. They remodeled the twin and now call it the Brandon. Its a shame that it closed because the theatre brought a lot of business to shops in the area.