Lenox Theatre
961 Albany Avenue,
Hartford,
CT
06112
961 Albany Avenue,
Hartford,
CT
06112
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Very curious about the posting of the FANTASIA in FANTASOUND posters here…. I was unaware of any 1951 reissue and none with Fantasound after the initial release. Could this possibly be 1941? Later releases in the 50’s used these tracks to create a four track magnetic track, but that was later than 1951.
This opened on June 9th, 1925. Article and ads
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There’s lots of info available on the Lenox includng a photo in the Hartford Courant files. Simple apply for a ct state libary card at ctstatelibrary.org which is free. Once you have it, you can go to the Courant digital files and enter the “Lenox Theater” in quotes and have a ball. Also look on you tube under Charles Nelson Riley’s one man show,“The Life of Riley.” He has a scene when he talks about Mrs. Treske.
Banate A friend of mine lived near Burton St. and Albany Ave. He has wonderful memories of the Lenox and your grandmother. He has great admiration for your grandmother and how she stood up to all the neighborhood boy bullies and never backed down!!! He wants to know if you have a photo of the building? Something dear to his heart and he would love to have a pic. If not, do you know where I could find one? Or If anyone else out there has one please let me know!!
The imminent opening of the Lenox Theatre was noted in The Moving Picture World of May 2, 1925, though the theater’s name was misspelled:
Hi, Do you have any photos of your grandmother’s Lenox? Love to see one, haven’t been able to find one anywhere. If you have one please think of posting on Old Hartford Facebook page which has tons of members. I heard that your grandmother advised Charles Nelson Reilly to go into show business when he was in high school.
Dennis Sullivan
That would be my grandmother, Kate Treske. She managed the Lenox Theater, I guess from the 30’s through the early 60s.
Our neighborhood theater, the Lenox, sat between Cabot and Sterling Streets. The owner-manager was Mrs.Tretski. As a young boy,I saw my first movies at the Lenox in the WWII years with my family after walking there. We’d go a couple of times a week, as they changed films on a regular basis, usually two films a viewing, a newsreel and sometimes a short or cartoon. There was a balcony. Saturday mornings featured a Kiddie Show featuring serials (Superman, etc.),westerns (Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong), cartoons. Some weeks they had guest stars like Ranger Andy. They also sponsored contests for kids: bubble gum blowing, yo-yo’s, etc. The Lenox was a booming business, especially on Friday nights and weekends. I practically lived there as a teenager or at the Lenox Coffee Shop across the street.
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine in April 1960:
HARTFORD-Community Theaters, a suburban circuit, has boosted adult admission from 70 to 75 cents, after 7 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, at the Central, West Hartford and Colonial in Hartford. The theaters' early bird policy of 60 cents for adults remains in effect from 6:15 to 7 p.m. on those days.
At the same time, children’s admission has been increased from 25 to 30 cents at the Lenox, Colonial and Central.
I was just watching a youtube video on Charles Nelson Reilly (RIP) and he was talking in an interview about why he hates going to theaters and being in crowds. (He was at the circus in Hartford in 1944 when a fire broke out and killed 168 people). He mentioned his friend’s mother owned the Lenox Theatre on Albany Avenue.
Here is a 1953 lawsuit against the Lenox:
http://tinyurl.com/yx3smu
Exact address was 961 Albany Ave. It is demolished and there is now a gas station there. I believe this is also now the most crime-ridden location in the entire city according to a Hartford Courant study.
Listed in Film Daily Yearbook’s 1941 and 1943 editions with a seating capacity of 946 and being operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management. The 1950 edition of F.D.Y. gives a seating capacity of 1,000.