St. George Theatre

The St George just completed its 1st annual Christmas Spectacular last week on Wednesday, December 22, 2004. A total of 7 shows. Most of the shows were close to sold out and most attendees were very pleased with the performances. Smiles all around. I had the privilege of playing an Allen ADC 4500 Theatre Organ at the start of each show, a'la Radio City Music Hall (which was loaned to the theatre by Steve Frank of Allen Organ Studios of New York thru a cooperative effort of myself and NYTOS). In all, about 10,000 or so people got to hear a theatre organ in the St. George in over 50 years! It was a very rewarding experience to say the least.

Greg K

The evening was wonderful! Red carpet, a string trio, klieg lights, 4 trumpeters, wonderful food,open bar, waiters//waitresses galore, singing from an Irish tenor, a 16 piece band, awards, Senator Marchi (who had attended the St. George back in 1929), a huge Christmas tree, organ music( An Allen Organ loaned through the NYTOS ) played by Bernie Anderson and Greg Klingler, and 400 people. If you would like to see photos of the evening, feel free to e-mail me.

Tomorrow ( Wednessday ) there are plans for a temporary installation of an Allen Organ console to be installed at the St. George Theatre. This installation is in preparation for the 75th anniversary of the theatre’s opening which was on December 4th, 1929. The gala re-opening is to be this Saturday! The “loaner” will be at the theatre for about a month. Meanwhile, the nice folks at the New York Theatre Organ Society ( NYTOS ) are trying to aquire another organ for permanent installation in the theatre. We’ll keep our fingers crossed, and hope this comes to fruition! Thanks, NYTOS!

Yankee…..

I have just been informed that someone will be coming to the theatre soon to check out the projection room. The St. George Theatre will try to start showing classics in the spring. Films that are planned are Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, and The Wizard of Oz.

Hi: For whatever it’s worth, The St George Theatre Wurlitzer organ console is now in a private home in Arlington Minnesota. It would be really nice to see it eventually returned to the theatre. It’s been around the country. First it was reinstalled in a pizza restaurant in Texas, then to a private home in Ontario, CA. then to Century Pipe Organs in Minneaplis and finally sold to Lawrence Crawford of Arlington MN. Best wishes: Terry Kleven…

What’s the latest on the classic film series? I’d love to see a great old movie in a great old theater.

If you haven’t already don so, you guys better get this theatre its landmarks status. There are plans in the works for someone to buy it back from Rosemary, at a sum that she may not resist, and to level the entire block to make way for a tall residential tower, as well as commercial space. It is inevitable that a building will go up next door, but do not allow the theatre to be vulnerable!

Yes Mike, but seeing IS believing. One has to go inside to appreciate the true grandeur and splendor of this theatre.

I am so glad the theatre is FINALLY open to tour goers of Staten Island and the St. George area. Hip, hip, hooray for Mrs. Rosemary and her family!

I do hope the plans for films come through. For an idea of the types of shows you might want to consider running, check out two film classics series that are currently running in the New York/New Jersey area:

Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre, Suffern, NY – www.bigscreenclassics.com (this is the series that I run)

The Movie Palace Experience – at the Union County Arts Center (Rahway Theatre), Rahway, NJ – www.ucac.org (Bernie Anderson is in charge of this series)

Feel free to contact me if you’d like any assistance.

Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Thank God!
Doreen, the red valance above the stage curtain can also be lowered for cleaning. I cleaned it as best I could. I’m off to Hawaii, where I lived for 10 years, see you in about two weeks.

I am comcerned about the speaker system. The one removed was an
Altec model A4 Voice of the Theatre with two 15" woofers and a hi Frequency horn loaded in an 800 lb cabinet. If anyone knows were we might get a speaker of that type please let us know. I just hope my Altec Lansing poer amplifiers are still in the booth. Doreen, you did not mention the red stage curtain, is it still there?

JEAN,
SHE (AND YOU KNOW WHO I’M REFERRING TO) CLEARED THE STAGE OF EVERYTHING. THE ONLY THING SHE LEFT US WAS JUNK! You have no idea of the damage she has cost us: every seat in the front mezz. was slit, the marble mantel and wall in the orchestra was torn to pieces, grafitti in every restroom, holes in dressing room walls, the roof was neglected and will cost us millions to repair interior dome, hole in the center of the stage, I could go on and on — BLATANT VANDALISM DONE BY THE CARETAKER HERSELF!!!!!!

YOU FAIL TO REALIZE THAT WE ARE ONLY WORKING WITH THE BEST IN THE THEATE AND RESTORATION BUSINESS. Of course, we are restoring the phone booths and they will be working soon.
As to the items you mentioned, anything of value was saved but whatever is gone was gone before we took over. Please keep in mind that we are restoring this magificient theatre because we LOVE it and have many fond memories of it as native Staten Islanders. The theatre’s best interest is always our upmost priority.

Vito,
Yes, the screen is still there. We look forward to meeting with you to start a movie series soon.
Doreen

This message is for Warren, and this is the only way that I could contact him.

It appears from your posts that you have some old issues of Film Daily. I’m trying to get some additional information for a few NJ theaters that I recently posted. They include the Orpheum in Paterson; the Palace in Passaic, and the Strand in Clifton. If it’s not too much trouble, could you please tell me the listed seating capacity for these theaters?

Many thanks!

Bob