RKO Albee Theatre
1 DeKalb Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
1 DeKalb Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 102 comments
this was one of the first theatres in the us to show closed circuit fights long before fathom events made it possible.
Unlike the other boroughs of New York City where references are to the such and such section, Queens has maintained community identities in every day references and specifically designated Post Office Identities. If it’s good enough for the US Postal Service it should be good enough for Cinema Treasures. So let it be.
Also, isn’t it easier to find something with a community name than the borough name? Did you ever see how many entries there are for Brooklyn?
And let’s not even get into the fact that Manhattan is the borough name but it is New York County, Staten Island is the borough name but the County is Richmond, and the borough of Brooklyn is Kings County. The Bronx and Queens only have the one identity.
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to Ken Roe thanks for the info. its just bizarre that Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten island and Manhattan(as New York, New York) gets entire borough listing where as Queens doesn’t.
The various towns/districts of Queens were listed in editions of Film Daily Yearbooks as being in Long Island. When Cinema Treasures was first set up for some reason each town/district were listed as separate entities.
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to David Z. and Rob B. thanks of the info. just out of curiosity would you happen to know why Queens is the only borough out of 5 in NYC that doesn’t get a borough listing and you have to put the specific neighborhood in Queens you’re looking for.
bigjoe if you’d input Flushing, NY you would have been given a page showing two open theaters. If you went for the prompt for all theaters you would have been given nine, one of which is the RKO Keith’s Theatre (which is how you would have had to enter it by it’s name). When circuit names are involved it can be tricky. Best bet is my city name.
RKO Keith’s Theatre in Flushing page is below.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/834
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how is the gutted movie palace in Flushing listed on this page? I tried just Flushing, then RKO Flushing. then i tried Keith’s Flushing. but zippo.
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to Orlando thanks for the info. also to Comfortably Cool when I said all of NYC I meant all five boroughs. in fact if they were still in operation both the Bunny and The Colosseum would have take the title from the Alpine. both theaters in Upper Manhattan closed rather recently.
Hey BigJoe'59 ….From Sept of 1973 to May of 75, all the downtowm theatres weroperating except the Fox, torn down within those months, the Paramount, Strand were closed in other uses. The Orpheum and Momart weretorn down in the early 1950’s. Loew’s and the RKO Albee, Duffield and Majestic were still open. You might be mistaking the Albemarle Theatre with the Albee. The Albemarle, Astor, Kings, Rialto (all Flatbush Ave.) and the Beverly, Kenmore and Granada (all Church Avenue) were all operating at this time. However the Kings and Rialto both closed on August 30 1977 along with the Astor. The Granada 1982, Albemarle in 1983 with the Beverly soon after. The RKO Kenmore was the holdout until 1999. Three of the Flatbush Avenue theatres all in a row are still intact… 1 for live shows and 2 as houses of worship. In order of condition it’s the Albemarle, Kings and the Rialto (the oldest at 103 years old looks like the day it opened (interior). The Albemarle is immaculately maintained inside and out (including power washing the bricks on the facade and side (every year!), the sidewalks and interior. No theatre gets that much tender loving care. I will not discuss the Kings for obvious reasons.
That could be true of the Alpine, but does anyone have an up-to-the minute listing of all cinemas currently operating in the five boroughs? I assume that with “NYC,” you mean Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. The area’s daily newspapers have drastically reduced their movie coverage, probably in retaliation to the industry’s increasing abandonment of printed advertising.
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many thanks to Comfortably Cool for the info. Sept. of 1973 to May of 1975 I went to Pratt Institute to get my Masters degree. if it was early enough after school I spent time in the Downtown Brooklyn shopping center. at that time this theater, the Loews Metropolitan and the Ablemarle were still in operation. I even shopped in the Abraham and Strauss Dept. store.
another question since you are a font of knowledge. isn't
the Alpine in Bay Ridge the oldest continually operated movie theater in all of NYC?
Prior to the 1960s, Downtown Brooklyn was a city in itself, packed with large department stores that attracted shoppers from all over the borough, as well as Queens and lower Manhattan. Starting with the Strand and Loew’s Metropolitan and followed by the Keith-Albee, Fox Theatre, and Brooklyn Paramount, it also became an entertainment mecca with exclusive first-run status, for a time even day-and-date with Broadway. After William Fox’s bankruptcy, the RKO circuit got the contract for Fox (and subsequent 20th-Fox) product, which is the reason why the Albee and not the Fox Theatre became the Downtown Brooklyn showcase for that studio. Taken over by Fabian, the Fox depended primarily on Warner Brothers and Columbia product. The Brooklyn Paramount still focused on Paramount releases, but with Fabian management instead of bankrupted Paramount-Publix. The Metropolitan remained solidly MGM and United Artists. In addition to Fox, the Albee also was the showcase for RKO Radio product. Universal product was usually split between the Albee and Metropolitan.
I think there are people on here more qualified than I to explain the important role played by the RKO Albee in its 50 year run as Brooklyn’s top exhibitor. (Perhaps tied with Loew’s Metropolitan…?)
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to Mike(saps)~ no offense against Brooklyn its a great borough but. I find it interesting that after The Robe’s 1st run engagement at the Roxy Fox would have booked it even if only for a week exclusively into the Albee. was there some special business relationship between Fox and the management of the Albee?
It seems to have played exclusively here for one week before going wide all over the metropolitan area.
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on pg. 1 of the photo section is an ad for The Robe’s run at this theater after finishing its exclusive 1st run in Manhattan. now from the wording in the ad am I to understand during the film’s run at this theater it was the only movie theater in all of NYC showing the film?
It was still showing first run, but day-and-dates with other Brooklyn houses, not playing exclusives in Brooklyn as it had for decades.
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before it closed in Sept. 1978 was it still showing films first run?
the memories…..My uncle and cousin worked at the Brooklyn fox and Albee,I spent teen years at the Valencia in Jamaica but my cousin got me passes to see murray the K at the fox
Pic of 1920’s Projection Room added to Photo Section.
Brad Smith, you’re AWESOME! I wish I could visit (or had visited) one tenth of the theaters you have photos of. Thanks!
This has been closed for a long time, just like the Brooklyn Paramount, which was taken over by some College.
This theater and me have a long but short history, Me and my Mom spent lots of Money we didn’t have here. I was so young I remember being carried into this theater as a child, seriously I was born in 1969 and remember seeing Return of the Dragon (1974) and had to be held up to see over the chair in front of me. (The photo was provided by the Brooklyn Public Library)“SORRY DIDN’T MEAN TO REMOVE THE PREVIOUS PHOTO” when I saw the posting I new I had to contribute that shot…
Warren G. Harris: I love that movie “The People Next Door” ! I’d love to hear more stories you may have. The INTERIOR of the suburban homes looked so realistic —that was a studio in NYC? I wish this movie would come out on DVD.