Crest Theatre

I remember seeing photos of lines of ppl waiting to see “Psycho” in the 1960 at the Crest, & saw “Silence of the Lambs” there in ‘90 or so. I went to Seton CCHS on the West Side, & we were bussed to the Crest during the day to see “Ghandi,” which was a big deal. Otr fun movies there were “Scanners” and “Halloween 2,” which “everyone” apparently saw on its opening wknd. Good grief! I saw “The People Under the Stairs” there w/a friend during the wk in the '90s, & something about the theater’s deeply creviced architecture thoroughly creeped me out! I was about to ask for my $ back, but some more ppl came in & I calmed down. Weird, hunh? Going to see a scary movie to be scared but backing out b/c the movie theater looks creepy if you look at the walls too closely? HA HA! I visited the West Side a few years ago & went out of my way to drive by the Crest for old time’s sake & couldn’t “find it.” (It was right by the Dunkin’ Donuts!) It took me a while to realize they’d torn it down & put up a parking lot (just like the song). A part of my childhood died when I saw that…. /Glenn

Reopened as Crest on July 4th, 1958. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

I have fond memories that of going to the Crest. My dad was friends with the manager and as a result admission was free. Back then we celebrated Russian Christmas, as a result there was not much to do on December 25. If was great that the Crest was open.

I know the person who is the manager of the theater in the Binghamton High School building. I will ask about the Serling name carving. The theater in the HS building was named the Helen Foley Theater after Rod’s high school drama teacher. The school also has a Rod Serling School of Fine Arts, which my son is a graduate of. There is a bkack and white portrait of Rod on his diploma.

My grandfather, Samuel Sunness, owned the Jarvis, Crest, Art and Airport DriveIn theatres. I too spent many Saturday and Sundays there, free of charge. If I remember correctly, if you brought your own container the popcorn was free, Anyone remember that?

Yes, jeffret … The Crest Theatre was originally The Suburban Theatre. I am unclear as to when the name changed. I am currently working on a Triple Cities theatres history project involving going through the microfilms of the newspaper in the Broome County Library to gradually gather all this information. But it is a very long slow process. It takes me about 3 hours to look through each month of microfilm !!! When I come across the definitive information, I will let you know !!

…..or any degree of regard for…history! Let us know if you can!

Rod Serling was BCHS’s most famous alumnus. Around 1977-1978, the auditorium in Binghamton Central High School had a major electrical fire one night. My homeroom was on the 2nd floor, right across the hall from the doors to the balcony. Over the years, everyone who was ever on stage crew carved their names into the wood trim backstage. The auditorium took over a year to renovate and when it was finished, all of the names were painted over with white paint EXCEPT Rod Serling’s! I know the school underwent a major renovation in the early 1980’s. Don’t know if they saved it.

The Crest had the best movie theatre sound system in the Binghamton area. I saw Earthquake, Midway and Rollercoaster, all in SENSURROUND here. I also saw Halloween on opening weekend in 1978. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Many others, too. Great memories!

My family owned this theater and I was very very sad to see it go. It really signified the end of era for me. I have so many childhood memories of countless hours spent here in the 1970s and 1980s. I made a number of friends with the staff then too. At that time it was run by chains, Cinema National, and later USA Cinemas. I was young, but I still think it was one of the largest screens I have ever seen and quite a large number of seats for a movie theater. I’d love to hear more about its early history. Here are the only photos that I have. The only piece of memorabilia I own is of the glass name plate from the original Peerless projector.
-jk

Projector name plate:

I think this one is from its final years as a $1 theater:

This one is probably circa 1985 as I can make out a poster for “Teen Wolf” displayed.

Here’s an article in The Binghamton Press newspaper about the Twilight Zone: The Movie premiere on June 11, 1983:

Still would like to see a photo(s) of the former Crest Theatre…maybe Lost Memory will come through for me again!

Binghamton was indeed home to the Link Piano and Organ Company. Known better for it’s aviation and undersea exploration devices, many people don’t realize that Link started out manufacturing coin-operated automatic pianos as well as theater organs and photoplayers. Link actually began as a continuation of the Automatic Musical Company, a firm founded in 1900. Automatic manufactured coin pianos until about 1910, when it almost went bankrupt. Ed Link Sr. came over from Huntington, Indiana and took over the company, which became the Link Piano and Organ Company. Link’s main products were the coin pianos, although some theater organs (sold as “C. Sharpe Minor Unit Organs”) and photoplayers were produced for the movie trade. Link manufactured all these instruments until 1930, when it switched to the field of aviation. There are a few Link theater organs still in existence. The only Link theater pipe organ left in the Binghamton area is the instrument that is located at the Roberson Museum and Science Center. It was originally used in the Capitol Theater on Exchange St. It was removed from the Capitol in the 60’s just before the theater was razed and installed by Ed Link Jr. in the Roberson, where it was enlarged from 11 ranks to 18 ranks. This organ is now maintained by the recently-formed Binghamton Chapter of the American Theater Organ Society(www.theatreorgans.com/btoc/). I’m not sure if any Link photoplayers still survive, although I recently came across a Link piano in a local library that may have been a photoplayer at one time.

H Rahner: Often times CT member, “lostmemory” supplies photos so perhaps this will be the case for the Crest. Another sad scenario concerning the Crest Theatre demise.