Loew's Valencia Theatre

165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica, NY 11432

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Showing 276 - 300 of 480 comments

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on March 9, 2006 at 9:06 am

Bob – thanks for the kind words regarding my shows at the Lafayette.

PKoch – the Lafayette Theatre is in Suffern, New York, about 45 minutes by car from Manhattan. You can get there by NJTransit train from Penn Station in about an hour.

PKoch
PKoch on March 9, 2006 at 8:53 am

By “in their face”, I meant, in person, not trying to imply anything negative.

PKoch
PKoch on March 9, 2006 at 8:52 am

So, the bottom line is, the Film Forum folks wouldn’t ley you turn the “frame” knob on the projector and correct the problem ? If so, I can imagine how frustrating that would be. I know you were trying to help them improve the quality of their presentation.

I’m sorry to read that Film Forum has apparently decreased in quality in moving from Watts St. to West Houston.

Where’s the Lafayette ? I think my next venture into avant-garde cinema will be to the Sunshine on East Houston in a few weeks to see “Stoned”, the British 2005 Brian Jones bio pic.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 9, 2006 at 8:44 am

West Houston. I went up to the booth most recently to correct their screening of MAN IN THE DARK. You can call it “in their face” if you want, but I was trying to help them improve the quality of their presentation.

If you’d like to see just how good perfectly projected 3-D CAN look, I suggest you visit the Lafayette for KISS ME KATE tomorrow night. Plus, they’ll be running some rare 3-D shorts that you certainly won’t see at the Film Forum.

PKoch
PKoch on March 9, 2006 at 8:35 am

Bob Furmanek, was this Film Forum on Watts St. or where it is now on West Houston ? I didn’t know you’d been in their face about this.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 9, 2006 at 8:21 am

I don’t need to PKoch. I was there and have told the staff and management on several occasions. They even brought me up to the booth when their operator didn’t know how to frame the 3-D image into alignment. (They had started the show and it was way out of registration, resulting in severe eyestrain.) I pointed out the big black knob labeled “frame” on the projector, and explained to him that it is used to adjust the framing of the image. The professional projectionist didn’t know that.

They seemed to feel that the mere fact they were presenting 3-D was good enough. To go the extra mile to do it right didn’t seem to matter to them.

PKoch
PKoch on March 9, 2006 at 8:14 am

Bob Furmanek, I suggest you e-mail your complaint directly to Film Forum.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 6, 2006 at 12:29 pm

You may not have experienced eye strain, but just about every 3-D presentation I’ve seen at the Film Forum has been out of phase, which means the two shutters are slightly off register. This is different from being out of sync, which creates instant eye strain and headaches.

An out of phase 3-D image just doesn’t look right and, once you’ve seen it, it can be very annoying. I’ve had the opportunity to see many 3-D shows presented perfectly, and going to the Film Forum can be very frustrating.

YMike
YMike on March 6, 2006 at 12:10 pm

I saw “Kiss Me Kate” at the Film Forum in 3D and I do not remember anything wrong with the presentation. In fact I never had eye-strain from any of the Film Forun’s 3D shows. By the way I always felt the Film Forum saying that “Kiss Me Kate” was not screened in NY in 3D before they did it had to be inaccurate.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 3, 2006 at 12:54 pm

By the way, film fans in the New York area can see KISS ME KATE in the miracle of perfected Polaroid 3-Dimension. It’s playing on Friday March 10 at the beautiful 1924 Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, New York. I’ve seen original dual-strip 3-D presented at dozens of venues over the past 25 years, and the presentation at the Lafayette is by far the best. Clear, bright and – most important of all for good 3-D – in sync AND in phase. There are no eyestrain or focus problems whatsoever. (Unlike the Film Forum which frequently presents 3-D out of phase, this will be a quality presentation.) Plus there will be some rare 3-D shorts as well, which will not be shown at any other theater on the East Coast.

If you’ve never seen real 3-D from the 1950’s (and I’m not talking about those terrible re-issues in the red/blue anaglyph system) you owe it to yourself to catch this show. And it’s in stereo sound as well!

Visit their website for all the details:
View link

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 3, 2006 at 12:25 pm

You “guess” they were wrong?!

That passage from IMDB is extremely accurate.

YMike
YMike on March 3, 2006 at 11:48 am

When the Film Forum first screened this film in 3-D I believe they advertised it as being the first time this film was screened that way in NY. I guess they were wrong.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on March 3, 2006 at 11:46 am

Sorry… here’s the correct imdb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0045963/trivia

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on March 3, 2006 at 11:45 am

The following excerpt is from the “Kiss Me Kate” [http://imdb.com/title/tt0045963/trivia]trivia page[/url] on imdb.com:

“The movie was shot full frame (1.33:1, including soundtrack area) and then printed with optical soundtrack and interlocked with a magnetic, full-coated strip of film in the theater. While shot on Ansocolor film stock, the prints were by Technicolor, who optically centered the picture to fit the soundtrack on the film (unfortunately, new prints do not have this advantage and the left portion of the picture is cut off prematurely). The film was only shot in 3-D and except for the premiere (at Radio City), played at almost all major theaters across the USA in 3-D (according to trade ads). According to the director in a 1953 interview, the aspect ratio was intended to be 1.75:1, although it was protected for almost every ratio, due to the ever-changing standards of flat widescreen at the time.”

I can’t say how accurate this passage is, but I thought it relevant to this discussion. Perhaps that the premeir engagement at Radio City Music Hall was not presented in 3-D (if that is true) lies at the root of the current belief that the film was only ever released flat.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on March 3, 2006 at 11:12 am

If one were to believe what is written today, KISS ME KATE was only released flat because of the publics lack of interest in 3-D movies. Even the new DVD contains comments to that effect.

The truth of the matter is the film had a very wide 3-D release. In fact, there were so many bookings for the 3-D version in December 1953, the studio ordered additional left/right prints from Technicolor!

Paul Noble
Paul Noble on March 3, 2006 at 10:12 am

Warren, I saw the first Natural Vision 3-D movie at the Valencia, “Bwana Devil,” on a jam-packed Friday night in 1952. The short was Disney’s “The Alaskan Eskimo.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Valencia had 3 projectors, and needed an intermission halfway through the main feature for reel changes.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 24, 2006 at 8:45 am

Thanks, Warren. I saw that double feature at the Alden, while I saw “Car Wash” sans the second feature at the old Continental in Forest Hills. It has always been reported – whenever an article is written about the Valencia’s history – that the final feature to play was the Muhammed Ali bio-pic “The Greatest”, which is listed on the imdb.com site as having been released on May 20th, 1977. I saw “The Greatest” at the Valencia during it’s run there. I wish I could tell you exactly when that was, but somehow I recall it as being in June right near the end of the school year.

JoeB
JoeB on February 6, 2006 at 11:56 am

A&E are in the process of working on a segment on Marcus Loews' “Wonder Theatres” (the Valencia Theatre, Paradise Theatre, and Jersey Theatre) on their Breakfast with the Arts show. I was contacted because they wanted to use my photographs of the Valencia theater. As soon as I hear of a broadcast date from them I will post it here.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 3, 2006 at 7:08 am

I stand (or rather, sit at my computer) corrected, Warren. Thanks.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 3, 2006 at 7:06 am

The Laurelton Theater is located between 227th and 228th streets on the south side of Merrick Blvd. It is still there in operation as a church. It was a cozy little nabe that usually played double features consisting of a major film on late run (I recall both “Jaws” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as lead pictures during 1975) paired with a low budget action flick (“Framed” with Joe Don Baker and “That Man Bolt” with Fred Williamson come to mind). They also often played a cartoon or Three Stooges short between features, when the program was more child-freindly). I think it had a balcony, but I can’t recall for sure.

mauriceski
mauriceski on February 2, 2006 at 8:52 pm

JJL,I remember the ST ALBANS it was on Linden blvd.But where was the LAURELTON,located?

JJL
JJL on February 2, 2006 at 7:39 pm

English, the local theaters for me and my family were the St. Albans and the Laurelton. Going all the way in to Jamaica Ave. to the Valencia or the Merrick was an event. On some occasions we would have supper at a Chinese restaurant located, I seem to recall, in a building between 168th and the Valencia – upstairs.

PKoch
PKoch on February 2, 2006 at 7:55 am

Tonino, when and where did I refer to something before my time is ancient ?

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 2, 2006 at 7:51 am

That may have been the case as film distribution entered the wider “Showcase Theater” scheme in the 1960’s, english, but places like the Triboro, Valencia and Flushing Keith’s would often have early run bookings exclusive within the borough and probably pulled in patrons from all over Queens durings its first 30 or so years of operation. Even in the 70’s when the Valencia was exhibiting more “neighborhood theater” type of fare, I know many families from my neighborhood in Laurelton, Queens (which had its own small 2nd run house) would travel by bus to Jamaica to catch a flick at either the Valencia or RKO Alden. But, obviously, even local patronage wasn’t sufficient to save either theater from closing down years ago.

mauriceski
mauriceski on February 1, 2006 at 9:03 pm

Wow, I would have sworn that most of the people that attended the theaters on Jamaica Ave were from Jamaica.Because these theaters were considered neighborhood theaters.Especially during the war when we had air raid drills at any given time at night.All of the movie houses on Jamaica Ave were pretty nice. You must remember,we are not talking about Broadway here.We Of SOUTH JAMAICA thought all of the theaters were nice and did not worry about the beauty of the inside of the theater.We would worry about getting in or getting there before the price of admission changed.But usally you could always get into the Valencia because of its size.