RKO Royal Theatre
423 Westchester Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10455
423 Westchester Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10455
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I just came across a NY Times ad from June of ‘67 that has the Royal listed as one of many RKO Theatres showing a bizarre double-bill of “Easy Come, Easy Go” and “Hud.”
The RKO Royal was operating at least as late as May, 1965, according to an ad uploaded today.
Spent quite a few Saturday matinees with on or two rows of pals in the childrens' section watching SciFi and horror movies at the RKO Royal.
Although my best memory is when my dad took me to see I Married a Monster from Outer Space and The Blob. It was a cold winter night and my dad quipped “We won’t have to worry about the blob on a night like this.”
@kencmcintyre Thanks for posting the link to the image.
Here is a photo circa 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/dmho8l
On Friday January 26, 1962, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly-Joe DeRita) embarked on a three day promotional tour for their latest feature film, THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES. They were accompanied by “The Herculean Giant” (almost 8 foot tall Dave Ballard) and popular DJ Clay Cole, who was one of the stars of the co-feature, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK.
On Friday January 26, they appeared at the RKO Royal at 9:35 PM.
Regarding the Westchester Theatre, Bronx, I have three possibilities for you…..
American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915
Westchester Theatre, 2319 Winchester Avenue, Bronx, (now maps as 2319 Washington Avenue, Bronx, 10458)
Westchester Hippodrome, 1423 Williamsbridge Road, Bronx, 10461
Film Daily Yearbook, 1926 edition
Westchester Theatre, 2319 Webster Avenue, Bronx, 10458 (600 seats)
Seems a coincidence with two theatres having a 2319 number on different streets! As Webster Avenue is the one that actually maps correctly I would say this could be the correct address of the Westchester Theatre which is in the photo posted by Lost Memory above.
To promote his new film “The Ladies Man,” Jerry Lewis appeared on stage at this theater on July 12, 1961.
The RKO Royal Theatre had two other architects helping out Thomas Lamb (on one of his first projects), they were Buchanan & Fox.
A vintage image can be found here:
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