Comments from Orlando

Showing 26 - 50 of 514 comments

Orlando
Orlando commented about Village East by Angelika on Sep 17, 2019 at 3:10 pm

The Village East can be seen in the new film “The Goldfinch” which it subs as the Bowery Theatre (on the Village East marquee) and some auditorium shots (in the balcony of the original theatre). Don’t blink, both scenes run a mere minute. The picture isn’t the bomb the critics claim it to be as I don’t read papers until I see the picture. A drama that should be seen unlike half the trash they throw at the screen these days.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Kings Theatre on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:13 am

Tick…tock….tick…tock goes the clock.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Kings Theatre on Sep 9, 2019 at 8:16 am

Sorry for the mispels, I was running out of time on the computer. …..the Loew’s Pitkin followed suit but still had the once and a while vaudeville acts show here and there.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Kings Theatre on Sep 9, 2019 at 8:11 am

The Loew’s Kings stopped stage shows before thier 1st Anniversary with an “all the show on the screen policy”, the Loew’s Pitkin followed but still had the occasinal vaudeville acts only once am week or so, but continually every week.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Last day for the Capitol Theatre, Sept. 15, 1968 on Sep 7, 2019 at 7:41 am

You’re right about that at 63 myself, nee 1956, I spent one morning in the New Penthouse Theatre upstairs not realizing that the year before it was the Strand Theatre before renovations. The movie was “FINIAN’S RAINBOW” on a school trip from Shallow JHS with all the mosic and choral students at the time at 10A.M., we had lunch at the automat next door. Yes it was quite fun for the $1.00 we paid (for the movie). When people tell me to forget the past, I never talk to them again. Those who didn’t live it shouldn’t talk about it … they have absolutely no idea of the time it was. The Cinerama had “Ice Station Zebra” The final roadshow at the Strand was “Camelot” and then the film “The Green Berets”. They did not close during the twinning except for a week before the opening of the new Broadway triplex.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Massena Theatre on Sep 4, 2019 at 7:32 am

Music by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, the soundtrack album sold better than tickets for the movie. It played at the Paris, then the Brandt’s Astor and lastly the Granada Theatre with a co-feature “The Lawyer” with Barry Newman. Paris is in France and the other two locations are in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Orlando
Orlando commented about February 21, 1969 Photo credit Walter Leporati. on Sep 4, 2019 at 7:19 am

This picture was in the Wall Street Journal last Friday, yet your above post doesn’t comment on that. The picture wouldn’t be here had they not printed it. Thank you Wall Street Journal.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Aug 27, 2019 last day City Cinemas operation on Aug 30, 2019 at 9:53 am

The United Palace, when it shows its' monthly movies uses a brand new red velvet, gold trimmed curtain that closes at the movies end. Showmanship has a faint heartbeat here at least. One of my favorite single screen veue for movies!! is now the last… with a curtain.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Aug 27, 2019 last day City Cinemas operation on Aug 30, 2019 at 9:46 am

Some time ago, with my Olumpus Stylus camera I filmed the movie ending, house lights dimming then the house lights slowly rising as the the curtains started to close, as the credits came to an end ten seconds later the traveler closed the credits had ended. The last movie I saw was Mary, Queen of Scots this past Christmas. I knew the end was coming when Pavarotti opened and ten days later the theatres' closing was supposed to have happened but didn’t, this false alarm was actually an alert that the final days were coming. Pavarotti didn’t interest me so as you people say, a better film like “Romeo and Juliet” 1968 would have been a better swan song. Sorry to see it go but enjoyed every moment as I sat and watched every movie for the past three years. I hope the Village East does not close or else I will stop going to the movies. Life is short now and movies stink into the heavens. The last curtained movie theatre has bitten the dust. Shane on the landlord, certainly inhuman and horrible New Yorker.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Master Theater on Aug 28, 2019 at 8:15 am

This is an all new staircase to the right…. not original.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Master Theater on Aug 28, 2019 at 8:13 am

Auditorium of the Oceana Theatre, the lobby is still there with a free standing box-office and a slopping floor. the floor straightened in the inner lobby and in the auditorium where it sloped downward for the orchestra seatsto the stage.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Master Theater on Aug 28, 2019 at 8:03 am

The staircase is not the original one. You acsess the restrooms from a wide staircase on the riht hand side of the orchestra seating area, the candy stand was in the, set slightly back from the seating area so you could actually around the counter but concessions wer sold from the front facing incoming audiences. The ladies room would be at the top ofthe left staircase and the mens room was to the left accssesed by a simple staircase in the inner lobby on ththe left, not in the orchestra. Today you can see cove lighting as you enter the supermarket still intact.. this would have been the back of the orchestra between the back ofthe candy stand to the last row of the orchestra, a four foot wooden halh wall backed the seats and you would be able to see the entire auditorium. 1n 1974-1975 when I worked there, Mr. Schiering closed the balcony to save on projectionist’s salaries as they got paidby the number of seats. Two balcony/loge entrances wer plaster-boarded one with a door so the Projectio booth still in the balcony. I left in 1976 when it became apparent that Scheiring would be retiring and was going to sublease to Golden Theatres, the abotionists of the Loew’s Alpine ant then the Oceana. The Oceana was a beautiful theatre as far as I was concerned, but to longtime employe there “Gloria” the candy counter/matron called it “Do you how much money it costs to heat up this big old barn?” She was ahoot anda very nice lady with a good sense of humor on everything and sex. This is only a tid-bit, there is much more. Let me know if you want to hear Part II.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Allegheny Theatre on Aug 26, 2019 at 9:01 am

TO CC: I love these oldies but goodies, a great find. Merci!

Orlando
Orlando commented about Chandelier on Aug 26, 2019 at 8:15 am

From the center dome of the auditorium when the building was quadded by Cineplex-Odeon. Nicely lit and maintained. You would have thought it would have ended up in Garth Dubinsky’s home. I wonder if he or RKO management painted over the William Pogany murals/tapestries at the Kenmore, Brooklyn’s moneymaking theatre until it closed or so I’m led to believe. Loew’s Metropolitan under the care of the Brooklyn Tabernacle is wonderfully maintained with all three lobbies in use during Christmas time.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Loew's Inwood Theater on Aug 23, 2019 at 8:37 am

While at Fort Tryon and the Cloisters this past Sunday, I finally saw the former Loew’s Inwood. If the facade was converted to fifth’s, from left to right, first would be a combo Dunkin Donuts, 2nd and 3rd – The Children’s Place and 4th and 5th the CVS for a total of three storefronts not a huge CVS. The CVS runs the length of the building as does Children’s Place. The combo donut/ice-cream is in an original redone storefront which was part of the structure. Nice area of low lying buildings soon to be redeveloped NYC nightmare of high rises, There goes the neighborhood and the people who call it home. At the parkside (Broadway and 200th St. is a Packard dealership with its original facade intact as a parking garage. At least it is main business is cars.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Endicott Theatre on Aug 20, 2019 at 11:25 am

F I N A L L Y! Thank you, how do you do the Texas 2 Step?

Orlando
Orlando commented about Ideal Drive-In on Aug 14, 2019 at 7:15 am

Notice the Fox logo in the James Bond (United Artists) double feature ad. I should become Frank Sinatra in “The Detective”.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Radio City Music Hall on Aug 9, 2019 at 7:23 am

To Mike, I know about the Doris Day series and all its' changing plotlines. Four Seasons in all, but television isn’t Tinseltown. Movies and TV shows are two different mediums. ….? Today, yesterday’s TV shows are todays movies and most should not see the light of theatres or TV screens. Nuff said. To Vindanpar, which title is racist? ? ?. P.S. They booked RCMH some garbage so they could close it down due to costs, as they did with the Roxy when RCMH operated it during the last years to get rid of their competition a block away. They succeded(sic) in 1958-59, the Roxy was closed and if a ploy works they used it again twenty years later with their own RCMH.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Radio City Music Hall on Aug 5, 2019 at 7:29 am

“Where Were You…..? didn’t sink her career as she knew herself that’s why she went out (Forgive the pun!) with her last film "With Six You Get Eggroll”, a better effort and swan song. Remember it was her no good husband who squandered her fortune, (Melcher) for you milleniums who may not know and the horrors of the Manson murders of Sharon Tate and all in the house that her son Terry owned or rented previously to the gruesome murder. She had enough of Tinseltown

Orlando
Orlando commented about Radio City Music Hall on Aug 3, 2019 at 10:31 am

It did well in the 5 or 6 week run, over $1,500.000, averaging 250,000 to 280,000 a week. That was great in those days with $1. price before 12 noon. “Where Were You…..?” did far less in Loew’s showcase run only lasting 1 week and 2 days. I saw it at the Loew’s Kings and 30 years later found the poster in the basement of the theatre glued on a poster that fit the one sheet frames of the Kings. A poster is 27"x41", Loew’s Kings frames were 30"x44". Yes, I do have the poster as it was the only one-sheet poster in the entire building. Loved the movie, have it on DVD (Swedish Version) with credits in Swedish and letterboxed at 1:85:1, originally filmed in Panavision 2:35:1. It’s uncut, good print and STILL not available in the U.S. C'mon fellas give a release already. Some people are waiting 51 years to see it again! I can’t believe it was only avaialable in VHS a short while in the 1990’s. Never shown on TCM either. “What’s Up Doc?”

Orlando
Orlando commented about Glen Cove Theatre on Jul 25, 2019 at 7:28 am

Leon A Miller also was the architect for the South Bay Theatre in West Babylon and Tin North and Twin South in Hicksville. All theatres except South Bay where under the Town and Country Theatres and the South Bay Theatre was under the Imperial Banner. I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Miller personally as he visited the South Bay since builder, landlord and owner of the building to see if it was maintained by the lease-holders. He was well into hus early nineties and that was about ten years ago. A nice and warn gentleman who always remembered ny name and greeted me with respect. That’s missing today in all three venues I worked after leaving South Bay before it closed and still is. The South Bat in it’s day as a single theatre was a beautiful theatre. All his theatres are known for their stone use in the facades.

Orlando
Orlando commented about BRIC Arts Media House on Jul 23, 2019 at 2:05 pm

This is the RKO Strand in Far Rockaway, Queens, now demolished. The Brooklyn Strand is BRIC, it’s facade is on a corner on Fulton Street, sadly gutted and facade defaced by a horrible paint job, gray and white without considering the columns and the two mottos split in half grey top and white bottom, I believe.

Orlando
Orlando commented about RKO Albee Theatre on Jul 19, 2019 at 11:20 am

Hey BigJoe'59 ….From Sept of 1973 to May of 75, all the downtowm theatres weroperating except the Fox, torn down within those months, the Paramount, Strand were closed in other uses. The Orpheum and Momart weretorn down in the early 1950’s. Loew’s and the RKO Albee, Duffield and Majestic were still open. You might be mistaking the Albemarle Theatre with the Albee. The Albemarle, Astor, Kings, Rialto (all Flatbush Ave.) and the Beverly, Kenmore and Granada (all Church Avenue) were all operating at this time. However the Kings and Rialto both closed on August 30 1977 along with the Astor. The Granada 1982, Albemarle in 1983 with the Beverly soon after. The RKO Kenmore was the holdout until 1999. Three of the Flatbush Avenue theatres all in a row are still intact… 1 for live shows and 2 as houses of worship. In order of condition it’s the Albemarle, Kings and the Rialto (the oldest at 103 years old looks like the day it opened (interior). The Albemarle is immaculately maintained inside and out (including power washing the bricks on the facade and side (every year!), the sidewalks and interior. No theatre gets that much tender loving care. I will not discuss the Kings for obvious reasons.

Orlando
Orlando commented about METRO THEATER ( Later The Mayfair ) 167 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic – Australia - Follow The Boys 1963 on Jul 12, 2019 at 8:10 am

The movie is “Follow Me Boys” about boys camping outing, thus all the boys in their boy scouts' uniforms. The young men are not ready to “Follow The Boys” … yet.

Orlando
Orlando commented about Glenwood Theater on Jul 3, 2019 at 8:27 am

My bank has a old photo of the block and the former Antoinette/Glenwood as a wedding facility called the _____ Terrace (Oops! the name escapes me, getting older is not what it used to be). I willpost the name in a few days and by the way it was a 1940’s photo. Also in the same photo is the Farragut Theatre, a little further north on Flatbush Ave. I guess being in the middle between the Century’s Farragut and College Theatres, the Glenwood had no chance of survival. Century Theatres had a monopoly on Flatbush Avenue with 6 theatres nestled from Midwood Street and the Junction. Name all six if you read this post. I gave you two.