Amity Theatre

Fewer dollar movies article Fewer Dollar movies article 07 May 1975, Wed Newsday (Nassau Edition) (Hempstead, New York) Newspapers.com

In this wonderful strip mall I saw"Mr.Majestic",“Billy Jack”,“Deliverance”,“Death Race 2000”,and"Taxi Driver"not too many laughs,and many more….

As you can see from the “in course of demo” picture the theatre was fairly large; very long. I don’t recall a balcony. That wasn’t common place in an AIT venue.

After the fire it was called, I believe, Studio 78

Bands played in the lobby before the 1968 fire…local bands played before the show, and on occasion, they would take the stage after the show. It had to be 1965 1966. Not a regular thing but the place would be packed when they were there. The manager was very cool Mr. Switzler. I remember the song “On Broadway” being played. Does anyone else remember the bands? Only those over 50 would.

Monie, can you email me- we HAVE to talk!!

Yes, the name of the Matron at the Movie theater was Yetta Schrubnick…she wore that white uniform, black pointy shoes, and had her blue cardigan sweater draped over her shoulders buttoned only at the neck… let’s not forget the flash light…she threw out all the kids who were blowing jaw breakers through straws…I once beaned her in the head w/ a caramel from the back row to the front row…great shot – how she KNEW it was me I’ll never know…we were not allowed to clap or cheer at the good parts of ANY movie! “Shut up shut up” she would scream running up and down the aisle. Anyone remember the Bands that played in the lobby??

play in th e

Updated info: The Amity theater opened on Friday, October 30, 1959. The opening feature was Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest”. It also featured Kiddie matinees every Saturday and all school holidays.

To gfm8959. The Amity was in the on the right hand side of the strip mall. I believe it was at the end of the building. If my mind serves me correctly, the shopping center was levelled and all was built anew. The left hand side with the Pathmark had a Grand Union, which was about the last tenent in the center. The Apple Bank, if that’s still there, was an add on to the center and was all that remained during the many years when Breslin never got his act together and built the new center. That was a big issue. It dragged on for years.

I was actually able to locate the exact date of the fire which was Jan 23, 1968. At the time the estimated damage was 250,000 dollars. The Newsday story said that the fire was luckily confined to the theater and did not spread to the 10 adjacent stores. Apparently the fire started in the rear of the lobby in the pre dawn hours and spread across the ceiling and into the auditorium destroying the screen and “backstage equipment”. The fire was spotted by a patrolman at approx 7:00 AM. According to the article, the theater had closed at approx 3AM that morning (kind of odd time for a weeknight closing). I did notice in searching the Newsday movie ads that at some point in 1967, AIT stopped including the Amity as well as Kings Park and one other theater in their regular ad. At one point, these 3 theatres were grouped together as 1.00 admission houses. Perhaps AIT sold them off??? or just didn’t want the cheaper admission prices shown with their other theaters. I have a copy of the picture taken of the front of the theater but it is kind of hard to see too much detail.

I believe it was “76” to match the 76 cent ticket price.

Wow, bringing back memories. The only movies I saw at the Big A was EYE OF THE CAT and MAROONED. A really big theater, to be sure.

I went more often to the Amity where I saw many incl. THE CONVERSATION and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG…which I fell asleep through!