My father owned the theatre from the 30’s thru the 60’s when he closed it. When the projectionist union demanded two men in the booth for theatres over 1000 seats, he removed 200 seats. It was remodeled in early 40’s with a modern lobby and canope.Re:SPENCER above;the reason the lights never went up was there was always a double feature playing.Also,except on weekends the show didn’t start until 5:30 PM,and the theatre was policed to keep the drunks out.
Another reason for its demise was that the Uptown & Riveiera were owned by Balaban & Katz,who along with the movie distributors were keeping the independants from competing with first run movies.Years later they were subsequently cited as anti-trust,and sued by the independants.
My father owned the theatre from the 30’s thru the 60’s when he closed it. When the projectionist union demanded two men in the booth for theatres over 1000 seats, he removed 200 seats. It was remodeled in early 40’s with a modern lobby and canope.Re:SPENCER above;the reason the lights never went up was there was always a double feature playing.Also,except on weekends the show didn’t start until 5:30 PM,and the theatre was policed to keep the drunks out.
Another reason for its demise was that the Uptown & Riveiera were owned by Balaban & Katz,who along with the movie distributors were keeping the independants from competing with first run movies.Years later they were subsequently cited as anti-trust,and sued by the independants.