Dale Theatre

In the 1950s and early 60’s, I lived not far away and went here often. At 560 seats, it would now be one of the largest theaters in NYC, but at the time, it was considered tiny. I was taken by my father to see Fantasia here in 1955, which is the first film I remember seeing in a theater. I also saw “Freud” there around 1962. It tended to play slightly higher-class films than the RKO Marble Hill around the corner, although I think I saw far more films at the RKO. When I got a little older, I’d take the bus to the Loew’s Paradise.

I saw “A Woman Under the Influence” at the Dale. They had a ridiculous round illuminated clock on the top left corner of the screen! Not only the time but it said The Dime Savings Bank. Made a long movie even longer!

The Dale Theatre was under construction when it was mentioned in Boxoffice, July 3, 1937. Later issues indicate an opening sometime between August and October that year. It was built for Harry Brandt.

Looking at the photos linked in the previous two comemnts, I fancy the Dale has a strong similarity to the Kent Theatre that was opened in Brooklyn during the same era. Harry Brandt was a partner in the Kent Theatre, which was designed by Charles Sandblom. Could the Dale be another Sandblom design? Boxoffice isn’t telling.

Here is a photo taken off of Google maps:
http://tinyurl.com/5pngb2

It closed around late 1993. I was a high school student from the nearby JFK High School and the last movie I saw there was “Needful Things” around the time. I remember watching “Batman”, “Passenger 57”, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, “Ghostbusters II”, and “Rapid Fire”

I remember the Dale Theatre quite well as a child in the 50’s and early sixties. You see, my father was it’s daytime projectionist. I must have seen hundreds of double features there. I was always fascinated by the carbon arc lighting and how my dad was able to switch from one projector to the other when a reel of film ran out (there were 2 holes popped out seconds apart in the top right hand corner of the film frame.)

Recently I was given a projectionists view of the largest multi screen theatre (15) and was blown away. Each film is now one huge reel instead of four and it is now placed horizontally like a pancake instead of vertically. Instead of 2 side by side for one film there are fifteen of them side by side. My dad would have loved to see how this medium evolved.

Images from September 2002 can be found here:
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I believe it was twinned. I saw some movies there in the late 80’s. The afternoon shows cost 4 dollars.

The Dale! I’d been trying to remember that name, but had confused it with the Beverly and the Valentine, which it certainly was not. Located near the RKO Marble Hill, it showed subsequent-run product that had made its way through the Loew’s and RKO chains. I remember it from the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, when it also showed a fair amount of classic revivals and some foreign films. It never really competed for the latter with the wonderful Heights on W. 181 Street, but still it offered enough off-beat fare to attract the Riverdale crowd. (Um, I guess it got its name from the “Dale” in “Riverdale”?) It had an attractively blue-draped, softly lit design, with a properly proportioned widescreen that was rare in small theaters whose proscenium was usually too narrow for post-’53 technology. You could see the marquee from the elevated B’way IRT train, often the best way to find out what was playing since the theater did not advertise in the NY Times. I went there with friends from school chiefly for the revivals, which were otherwise unavailable in the pre-VCR, pre-DVD era.