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Turnbill
Turnbill commented about People's Cinema on Sep 23, 2015 at 11:47 pm

Elevated train is the New Lots Avenue branch of the IRT. When I lived nearby in Brownsville (‘51 – '57), the People’s Cinema was the low end of the triumvirate of Loew’s Pitkin, Ambassador and People’s Cinema. Really rundown. Don’t remember any “leftie” movies. I do remember a 5-cents soda machine that had four flavors. If you pushed all four buttons at once, you’d get “tutti frutti.” The building was converted, ca. 1955, to Fairmont Foods, the neighborhood’s first superette. An actor playing the TV character Rocky Jones was present for the opening.

Turnbill
Turnbill commented about Ambassador Theatre on Sep 23, 2015 at 11:43 pm

I lived in Brownsville, ‘51 – '57, on Saratoga and Riverdale. The Ambassador was the regular “nabes.” Saturday mornings and afternoons were for kids—3 features, 26 cartoons, pogo stick given away, etc. Fierce matrons armed with six-battery flashlights. Manager was Herman Semel, white moustache, always dressed in impeccable tuxedo, undeviating hostility to kids.