Coram Cinema
264 Middle Country Road,
Coram,
NY
11727
264 Middle Country Road,
Coram,
NY
11727
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas
Functions: Retail
Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Cinema, New Coram Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The Jerry Lewis Cinema was opened on March 31, 1972 with Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka and the Choclate Factory”. Later in 1972 it was renamed New Coram Cinema screening X-Rated movies. In 1974 under new operators it went back to regular programing and was renamed Coram Cinema. It closed on March 31, 1984 with Tom Selleck in “Lassiter”, and was converted into retail use.
Contributed by
RobertR
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
I had no idea there was a “TWO GUYS” on Long Island? Are you certain about that?
two guys is a local applience company on li …not the old two guys stores from the 70s…
sorry i read that wrong …back in the day many of the grants stores became two guys!
Perhaps this listing should be updated to say “264 Middle COuntry Rd”, or at least Middle Country Rd.
There was also a Two Guys in Patchogue in the old Granada Theatre. There they didn’t even bother to level the pitch.
According to the Newsday Vault Classic edition of May 18, 1983 the Coram Cinema was still featuring mainstream films, not XXX.
JUST ADDED AN AD on here !
Would be nice if someone could find a picture of the place and post it.
The Grant Plaza launched theatre-less at Christmas time in 1969. The theatre announced the addition of a theatre in September of 1971. Coram Cinema Associates would be the latest franchisee of a Jerry Lewis Cinema. Planned as a single-screen, 350-seat automated theater, the theater pledged only family-friendly fare for Coram. This was second Long Island Cinema along with the East Meadow location – the circuit’s first ever twin-screen location.
The Coram Jerry Lewis Cinema appears to have opened with with “Willy Wonka” on March 31, 1972. It appears that the parent company, Network Cinema may have stepped in to run it and one other early cinema in trouble. It was relaunched by Henry Goldman in 1972 who changed the theater’s name to the New Coram Cinema. It was the height of the porno chic exhibition era that Goldman raised eyebrows booking X-rated films. But it was “The Devil in Miss Jones” that landed the operator in major trouble. Goldman was found guilty on two counts of obscenity in 1973 and “Jones” was banned in Suffolk County. The neighboring Pines Cinema ran the X-rated in the Christmas season of 1973 with “Behind the Green Door” and its operator, Arthur Strollo Jr., was also charged with obscenity.
Though Goldman would briefly relaunch the New Coram with R-rated Hollywood film, it found a new operator in Creative Cinemas Circuit. Creative took on the location in 1974 running it as a mainstream location called the Coram Cinema and as Florin Creative Film’s Coram Cinema until the end of March 1984 at the theater’s 12th anniversary.
Although the nearby Pine continued and would transform to a long-running location, there are no further listings or bookings at this location. There are no listings as the Coram Theatre or Coram Theater – though its possible that it simply didn’t advertise. However, it’s just as likely that the one-screen theater was simply repurposed for other retail operations in March 31, 1984 after screenings of “Lassiter” and remains a retail operation into the 2020s.
Was the theater actually the Firestone store? The roof doesn’t look high enough on the outside for a theater auditorium