Carteret Twin Cinema
762 Roosevelt Avenue,
Carteret,
NJ
07008
762 Roosevelt Avenue,
Carteret,
NJ
07008
2 people
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49 year anniversary of its grand opening on this date.
markp’s comment today reminded me to upload a picture of this theatre from its days as the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema, this being 1976. The young fellow in the blue jeans sort of center is markp btw….
It was on this day in 1972 that this theatre opened. It was the second twin in middlesex county. My father was the opening day projectionist. Spent that entire summer seeing so many great movies. After the first month they started running double features in each theatre. Good times.
rivest266, I remember that day like it was yesterday. My dad was the opening day projectionist.
June 7th, 1972 grand opening ad in the photo section.
The shopping center this theatre was in is undergoing a major facelift. When they took down the current façade, the old white aluminum that was on each side of the old marquee made its appearance once more. For at least a few days its a reminder of the old days of the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema.
Was sitting around yesterday while I was at work, and it had hit me that it was 43 years ago that this place had just opened. I remember my dad was the opening day projectionist. I still remember the “New” smell the building had. A great little cinema it was.
Yeah, it amazing what the theatre business does to people.I don’t think there is a BURGER KING TREASURES,LOL.
I have read many of your comments elsewhere MikeRodgers. You and I are truely a blast from the past. Even after all these years I still miss this place. (and all the others I worked at)
Thanks movie 534 for a good story,but i bet you could add a lot more.in other words, write.I enjoy the stories written by theatre people that worked a movie theatre not some blasted 20 plex.
The Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema opened on June 6, 1972. Opening feature in Cinema 1 was “The Hospital”, Cinema 2 had a Disney Double feature. My dad Joe Pusillo was the opening day projectionist, and worked there until the theatre closed in 1984. The theatre did indeed show many a double feature, or twin bill as they used to call it. Some of my favorites were “The French Connection” & “MAS*H”, “Bullitt” & “Bonnie and Clyde”, and “Carnal Knowledge” & “The Graduate” I would go every weekend with dad to see the movies, up to the time I myself became a projectionist in 1977. The building today is a Dollar Dream and Payless Shoe Store.
Just a correction the the decription – the Jerry Lewis Cinema in Carteret was a twin cinema from the outset. It was located in the Carteret Shopping Center on Roosevelt Ave.
As kid growing up in Port Reading, I spent many a weekend at the Jerry Lewis in Carteret. It never was a first run house, but if I recall correctly, always seemed to get pictures after they went through their initial run.
For a time, in the 70’s, the Jerry Lewis also used to run double-features of re-released films. I think my first viewing of some of the old Bond films were at the Jerry Lewis. They’d have things like a double-feature of Thunderball/On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and the like. It also used to show a lot of the B-movie type horror films of the day. To this day, I can still remember seeing “The Devil’s Rain” with Ernest Borgnine and Ida Lupino at the JL or films like “Chariots of the Gods”.
The Jerry Lewis was never what you’d call a luxurious theater. In fact it was kind of spartan inside, with pleated cloth curtains that covered cinder block walls. I don’t know if a change of ownership took place at some point, but towards the early 80’s, the theater became very rundown inside and eventually closed. I believe the building was later converted to retail stores in the Shopping Center.