On the page for the Forest Theatre someone noted that it was the only theater he’d been in where the concession stand was in the auditorium instead of the lobby. The Crescent was another one of those, and unless my memory has seriously failed me it was because this theater had no real lobby at all! All it had was a vestibule between the doors to the street and a set of windowless doors at the back of the auditorium. Walk through the second set of doors and there were no walls between you and the screen—restrooms were off in the left and right corners and the refreshment stand was dead ahead behind the last row of seats. I don’t remember where the ticket taker was stationed. I think the floor sloped up a bit from the sidewalk level to the last row of seats, which may have helped keep light from the street from getting in. There was some empty space inside the inner doors to allow for concession lines and general milling about, and that was as close to a lobby as it got.
I counted 28 theaters and at least as many features in that Paramount Week ad. At the top of the page, a city councilman wants “proper trolley car service” back on Broadway instead of buses. Radio is the newest technology, Babe Ruth is the king of baseball, Ford is still selling Model Ts by the millions…a different world.
Interior demolition and excavation are proceeding; the current target date for reopening is summer 2011. Bricks from the interior are being donated to the reconstruction of the Palace of Depression in nearby Vineland. Press of Atlantic City story here; NJ.com/Bridgeton News stories here and here.
I made Ken work the other day…saw the theater count at 29,998 and racked my brain for three drive-ins, a storefront art house and a Jerry Lewis Cinema that weren’t listed yet. I think somebody else got the actual 30,000th but what the hey. Thanks to Ken and all others involved with the site. It’s been fun and I’ve learned a lot.
Google Books has the Images of America South Jersey Movie Houses book here, and it includes three photos of the Crescent; one from 1939 on the front cover, one from 1941 on page 25 and one from 2005 as tire store on page 111.
The financial woes continue as a film screening is almost canceled after the Prince’s electricity is shut off over unpaid bills; PECO eventually turns the juice back on. Story here.
Make this one Closed/Demolished; it came down in August 2010. Demolition pictures here.
The building housed a heating and cooling business after the bowling alley closed.
RickB
commented about
Fillmoreon
Sep 5, 2010 at 4:17 am
This is a duplicate listing of theater #13852. Although the theater is in Egg Harbor Township (as the other listing has it) it would have had a Pleasantville mailing address while it was in operation.
I can remember seeing a network news story from the ‘70s that showed the mostly-closed theaters as a symbols of Cleveland’s decline…one of them had “SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS” on the marquee. I now wonder if that might have been related to the use as a lecture hall described here rather than just a random message!
On the page for the Forest Theatre someone noted that it was the only theater he’d been in where the concession stand was in the auditorium instead of the lobby. The Crescent was another one of those, and unless my memory has seriously failed me it was because this theater had no real lobby at all! All it had was a vestibule between the doors to the street and a set of windowless doors at the back of the auditorium. Walk through the second set of doors and there were no walls between you and the screen—restrooms were off in the left and right corners and the refreshment stand was dead ahead behind the last row of seats. I don’t remember where the ticket taker was stationed. I think the floor sloped up a bit from the sidewalk level to the last row of seats, which may have helped keep light from the street from getting in. There was some empty space inside the inner doors to allow for concession lines and general milling about, and that was as close to a lobby as it got.
I counted 28 theaters and at least as many features in that Paramount Week ad. At the top of the page, a city councilman wants “proper trolley car service” back on Broadway instead of buses. Radio is the newest technology, Babe Ruth is the king of baseball, Ford is still selling Model Ts by the millions…a different world.
Cosmic observation of the day: all of the theaters listed for TWIN Falls…are single screens.
Interior demolition and excavation are proceeding; the current target date for reopening is summer 2011. Bricks from the interior are being donated to the reconstruction of the Palace of Depression in nearby Vineland. Press of Atlantic City story here; NJ.com/Bridgeton News stories here and here.
I made Ken work the other day…saw the theater count at 29,998 and racked my brain for three drive-ins, a storefront art house and a Jerry Lewis Cinema that weren’t listed yet. I think somebody else got the actual 30,000th but what the hey. Thanks to Ken and all others involved with the site. It’s been fun and I’ve learned a lot.
Google Books has the Images of America South Jersey Movie Houses book here, and it includes three photos of the Crescent; one from 1939 on the front cover, one from 1941 on page 25 and one from 2005 as tire store on page 111.
Ya gotta love the “TELEVISION” sign right across from the theater in the 1948/9 shot. Holy foreshadowing, Batman!
The financial woes continue as a film screening is almost canceled after the Prince’s electricity is shut off over unpaid bills; PECO eventually turns the juice back on. Story here.
Make this one Closed/Demolished; it came down in August 2010. Demolition pictures here.
The building housed a heating and cooling business after the bowling alley closed.
Nice interior dome shot at the top of this page.
Some 2010 pictures of surviving bits of the lobby about halfway down this page.
This is a duplicate listing of theater #13852. Although the theater is in Egg Harbor Township (as the other listing has it) it would have had a Pleasantville mailing address while it was in operation.
Early 2010 pictures here.
The Roxy is featured in a New York Times story today, about small-town North Dakota theaters. Story with slide show here.
Leif, you may be thinking of Eric’s Place, originally the Trans-Lux, which was at 1519 Chestnut.
I wonder how the sound system is—rich and full, or kind of…tinny?
(Sorry, folks, that had to come out.)
Some June 2010 pictures of the former Loew’s Woodside are near the bottom of this page, as Forgotten New York revisits the neighborhood.
The ex-Paramount organ may soon be on the market as the restaurant that housed it is closing. Sarasota Herald-Tribune story here.
Philadelphia Inquirer column on the progress of the restoration here.
That’s the man. He is still alive at age 102.
One I watched at the Adelphi: TAXI DRIVER and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.
Philadelphia Inquirer story on the theater’s comeback here. Accompanied by a set of nice photos, which may be viewed separately here.
The story puts the theater’s closing date at July 3, 1987, after a fire broke out during a showing of Beverly Hills Cop II.
I can remember seeing a network news story from the ‘70s that showed the mostly-closed theaters as a symbols of Cleveland’s decline…one of them had “SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS” on the marquee. I now wonder if that might have been related to the use as a lecture hall described here rather than just a random message!
Walter Klein Jr., the owner who restored and reopened the Vic in the 1980s, died January 21 in Arizona. A colorful obit may be found here.
This photo, dated May 5, 1959, shows the Keystone just before demolition.