Mid-Plaza 6

Please update, became a 6 plex on December 21, 1984 and North and the South each was split into three screens each. Closed on September 8, 1989.

Also previous Chains after Town and Country Fox Eastern Theatres NGC Fox Eastern Theatres Mann Theatres Cinema 5 RKO Century and Town And Country again in 1984 when the made it a sixplex.

Grand opening ad: Town & Country Twin North and South in Hicksville opening 27 May 1964, Wed Newsday (Nassau Edition) (Hempstead, New York) Newspapers.com

Twin North opened on May 27th, 1964 with “Cleopatra” on a hard-ticket policy. Grand opening ad already posted.

This theatres' name in the heading should be changed to Twin Theatres North & South. The “Fox Plaza” never preceded or was the name of this Twin Theatre. It was never called Fox Plaza North or Fox Plaza South. Note the Cleopatra ad above and you’ll see. It WAS never a Fox Eastern Theatre when it opened, that was only after it was sold to Fox-Eastern. When Mann took over all Fox Eastern Theatres in 1973, they were still known as Mann’s Twin North and Mann’s Twin South. Thanks CT if you correct the error.

This theatre was built by architect Leon Miller in 1963-4 and operated by him for several years before he sold or leased it to Fox-Eastern Theatres along with some other “Town And Country” theatres he designed and built. The only one he kept to this day is the South Bay Theatre in West Babylon.

<<< So far I’ve been unable to find any Boxoffice items about the opening, but the Twin Theatre was in operation by spring of 1965 >>>

Joe:
When Bill Kallay and I worked on 70mm in New York we learned “Cleopatra” played at this theater beginning in May of 1964. I’m not sure if it was the theater’s debut booking, but, whatever the case, the “Cleopatra” info offers evidence the theater was open at least a year before the time-frame you cited.

This theater had to have been one of the earliest twin theaters built in the United States. Boxoffice of December 9, 1963, said that ground had been broken for the 2000-seat twin theater being built by Town & Country Theatres at the Mid-Island Shopping Plaza in Hicksville. An earlier item in the issue of October 14 had said that the architect for the project was Leon Miller.

So far I’ve been unable to find any Boxoffice items about the opening, but the Twin Theatre was in operation by spring of 1965, when it was the site of a wedding arranged as part of a promotion for the movie “Marriage Italian Style.” Boxoffice of April 5 has a photo of the happy couple with part of the theater visible in the background.

drednour, I remember Bob Jr. Didn’t he eventualy go into management with Natonal Amusements?

I remember your dad very well, a real gentlemen and a pleasure to work with. I think the last time I worked with him was in the mid 80s at the Hicksville six plex.
I also remember Gus, and swapping the old laser disks that were popular before DVD’s, he was a collector of them especailly the classics.

vito, Gus who worked as a projectionist along with my dad (BOB HURD) worked several different theatres over the years, & yes he served on the pension committee until his death in early 2003. My brother Bob Hurd jr. was also a projectionist, & Gus Hurd’s son, Al Hurd is still in the business in NYC @ the multiplex near Times Square. He quit the local #640 & joined the union in the city. Did anyone know George Constandikis? He moved to Fla. at one point & was commuting to N.Y. to work certain times of the year for the better money. He used to drop by & visit us when he was in town, but we lost touch with him. Hicksville memories, I can’t recall anyone with the initials E.P. I’m sure if you told me his name, i’d remember having heard of him.It was probably Bob Hurd who let you watch the show from the booth. My dad, Bob, was a very generous & kind man.

Vito and drednor You may new my father he work at the twin theaters
during Grand Prix and Cleopatra’s Days. He was in his late 50s and his initials were E.P. When I was 15 their was a projectionist that let me watch the movies from the booth. Sure made me fell important.

My father,Bob Hurd(not Bill Herd) was the projectionist at the Twin South Theatre who ran the Star Wars film. I remember all the hoopla & excitement leading up to opening night. My father spent 6 days, 14hrs/day running it. It caused quite a stir in the local #640 because there were other projectionists that wanted to be a part of it. Those were pretty grueling days for him & he came home at night pretty exhausted. That 70MM film was not easy to haul around the booth. After rewinding the film on to the take-up reel, he took a common clothes belt & ran it through one of the holes in the reel & fastened the belt. Then he put the belt over his shoulder & walked the reel over to the projector where he hoisted it up into the magazine of the projector & threaded it. Those reels were 40 minute reels & were very heavy. He did this from opening day til the movie ran it’s course in the theatre, & never once watched the movie. We all thought that was pretty funny. He was never a Scifi fan. He worked at the Twin South from the late 60’s,early 70’s til the late 80’s. I remember going to the Twin South with him as a kid, & i thought i was some sort of a celebrity because i got to walk past all the people waiting in line for the show & go right in. He used to let me splice film & rewind it sometimes. When i got done watching the movie, i’d go over to the North side & cut through the booth & say hello to Solomon who ran the North. Bob Hurd was #2 on the seniortiy list of the local#640, when he was forced to retire because of poor health. He passed away in 2001.

You would not see that now adays………….