Lakeside Cinema

136 Portion Road,
Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 11779

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Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments

evmovieguy
evmovieguy on April 4, 2005 at 11:38 pm

I can’t remember where but as a kid I did see a film in a Jerry Lewis twin theater. It was either in New Jersey or Massachussets.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on February 8, 2005 at 4:50 pm

I think their hayday was just briefly in the early 1970s – none of them lasted very long, at least not with the JL name. His original idea was to play only G and PG rated family-type films. In those days there were more R rated films produced than anything else. With product that met his criteria scarce, the operation went bust. Many of them became porno joints.

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on February 8, 2005 at 4:27 pm

There was one in a strip mall in Justice, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. It went to porno and finally closed. I also remember newspaper ads touting the cinemas as a way to get into the movie business, utilizing 16mm films and equipment.

br91975
br91975 on February 8, 2005 at 4:24 pm

What was the heyday, as it was, for the Jerry Lewis Cinemas, and why did the concept fail?

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on February 8, 2005 at 4:22 pm

As I recall, they were all franchise operations – the McDonald’s of the movie theatre business, though hardly as successful…..

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on February 8, 2005 at 4:15 pm

The Brunswick Cinema in suburban Cleveland Ohio was originally a Jerry Lewis Cinema, and there was one on McKnight Road in the northern burbs of Pittsburgh. Someone told me the the theatre where Pee-Wee Herman had his ‘big adventure’ <grin> in Florida had been a Jerry Lewis Cinema.

DonRosen
DonRosen on February 8, 2005 at 2:59 pm

I remember the Massapequa Jerry Lewis Twin. It was on the site of the Massapequa Drive-in and White’s Dept Store. I believe it became a liquor store.

br91975
br91975 on February 8, 2005 at 7:07 am

In the tri-state area, at least, according to Joe Masher’s July 20, 2004 post on the Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island Jerry Lewis Cinemas page (/theaters/3760/), there are two former Jerry Lewis sites still in operation, both of them in North Jersey – the Valleyview Twin in Wayne (/theaters/6359/), and the Kinnelon 1-2-3/Meadtown Cinema in Kinnelon.

chconnol
chconnol on February 8, 2005 at 6:52 am

I’m not sure how many there were at one time. I know in addition to this one, there was another one in Massapequa and another on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. Both of those theaters are long gone.

DonRosen
DonRosen on February 8, 2005 at 6:34 am

Did any Jerry Lewis Cinemas survive? I have a Variety ad pitching the Jerry Lewis Cinemas as a mom & pop turn-key operation.