Perhaps President Guliani can find some moral loophole that will limit Bollywood to 40% of any NY venue where it does not represent community’s standards.
I am happy to see people attend the cinema to see the movie, for a change, but that many screens ALL showing Bollywood would be rare even in India.
In the late seventies/early eighties you would have found TRANS-LUX EAST, PENTHOUSE EAST, LIDO EAST, 59th St. EAST, EASTWORLD, ART EAST, TOWER EAST, UA EAST, and 86TH St. EAST. MAD Magazine ran spoof movie ads that looked like the real thing.
Chances are, if the word Village was anywhere on the page you would find a link in the NYT with CINEMA and EAST.
According to the NY times, the Central (as well as the Brooklyn Strand) were closed for a week during that 1957 run of MOM AND DAD and SHE SHOULDA SAID NO for failing to secure a license that allowed for “live” performances from the “lecturer”.
Nice punishment for showing two thirteen year old movies in the moral fifties!
Demolition was announced starting on January 2, 1956 when the Stanley and the National Hotel were both to be replaced by a 15 story textile industry building that has apparently since been demolished as well.
It apparently shows mainstream recent releases, porn and exploitation genre films.
One of the advantages of Bollywood in the US is that the DVD is often available at the same time as the 35mm release. The wholesome audiences these musicals attract could drive out the porn if it actually works here.
This has got to be one of the more entertaining threads. It has sex, drugs, violence, comedy, transvestites, the KKK, religion, a scarecrow, Italian cuisine, bus routes and finally, an act of treachery from the in-house villain. Most current FILMS aren’t anywhere nearly as entertaining!
This from the NY Times Oct. 18, 1998 confirms the suspicions raised about the programming. The ads must be intended as proof.
“And last week Judge Arthur W. Lonschein of Queens ruled that the formerly all-adult Fair Theatre in East Elmhurst, Queens, could remain open because it was now showing adult films in less than 40 percent of its theatres.“
The Bryanston West name was used by Variety, for some reason, when it reported the theatre’s weekly grosses. The “family” allegedly established Bryanston Pictures and the Pusssycat with DEEP THROAT profits.
The afternoon reception, with its bouquets and satin-gowned hostesses, had drawn 1,000 curious citizens, but now it is 8:15, curtain time. Once the lights dim, and handsome Jo (soon Joseph) Cotten, pronounces ‘'That was quite a bump,’‘ to start the first act of William Archer’s The Green Goddess, every ticket holder at Civic Theater’s ’‘modernistic’‘ new playhouse on the Boulevard at 16th Street knows this is it, the most glittery event of the season.
By this January night in 1930, the Civic is Miami’s largest, most important social/cultural organization, counting Abesses, Burdines, even Vanderbilts, among its 600 supporters, and now, after years of wandering from stage to stage, its actors have such a swanky new home even Al Capone shows up. Alas, the company falters during the Depression, but the building is resuscitated as the Mayfair Theater, a popular Wometco movie house. For $1.65, patrons can enjoy coffee and tea poured into china cups and play bridge in a room off the lobby until the main feature starts.
By the 1960s, the Mayfair reinvents itself again, this time as a beloved art-flick theater. It is razed in the early ‘70s to make room for what is now a Radisson, but five Art Deco chandeliers survive at Restaurant San Michel in Coral Gables, glorious fragments of its afterglow.
The first run was at the Penthouse (Gotham) and the R rated wide release was at Loews State and Movieland Yonkers. Hollywood, were you in Yonkers around 1981?
I do remember those marquees being quite large but then I was also smaller then. I know what Harvey means about things looking smaller as you get older. Since each title letter was about a foot tall with extra copy about half that and a blank row in between, that should give you some perpective.
They were able to fit wording that mentioned taglines, stars, and air conditioning so I guess they were huge by today’s standards. I seem to recall the 27th Ave and the Golden Glades Twin drive-in being very dramatic.
Stage, this would have been either Wynwood or Allapattah, most likely the latter. I show the Strand closed in the mid fifties and may served a blak community displaced by 1-95 eminient domain.
Going back to my post of April 19, 2006, there was an Avenue A theatre on 51 Avenue A already showing movies by 1918 and still going in 1923. I propose either there were two Avenue A theatres or the Hollywood and the Avenue A were not the same.
My understanding is that as distributors starting buying stakes back into exhibition in the early 80’s the government looked the other way and the Reagan administration eventually eliminated any remaining constraints for vertical integration in the entertainment business, making the Viacoms and Time Warners of the world possible.
I have seen AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. It has an important message but I don’t think it is a particularly good film. As a visual educator and entertainment medium, HAPPY FEET did a much better job in sending the same message.
The Oscars should be about good filmmaking, not content. Movie history is littered with politically incorrect films, some good, some not so good. The Oscars have been quite good at rewarding good filmmaking even when the film was not politically balanced for the times. This has resulted in controversy over films such as THE DEER HUNTER, HEARTS AND MINDS, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, JULIA and FAHRENHEIT 911 which upset many in their day but were rewarded anyway.
I am sure many veterans of the Great War found ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT as offensive as some will find LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. I personally recall the outrage every time Jane Fonda or Venessa Redgrave were rightfully rewarded regardless of their personal endeavors.
Wasn’t ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT about the poor German soldiers getting a beating in WWI?
Was THE DEER HUNTER a good message to send Vietnam veterans?
Weren’t GIGI, MY FAIR LADY, THE APARTMENT and TOM JONES promoting the exploitation of women?
Wasn’t GONE WITH THE WIND too kind to slavery?
Don’t get me wrong, I love all these movies, but I think the Oscars should be about quality achievement not politics. The Oscars would have nothing to be ashamed of if they had rewarded TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. As you inadvertently point out, everyone already knows it was the BEST PICTURE of that year anyway.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a product of Hollywood and now that it is going into wide release will ironically most likely outgross FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
What should have us concerned is the nomination and box office success of the Al Gore documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Why are we buying tickets for party platform power point presentations anyway?
The Oscars were designed as a way for studios to publicise their movies and stars. That was always their purpose.
That fact that so many years later they are still the big prize is credit to the fact they are not afraid to recognise some amazing non-Hollywood “product” (DAYS OF GLORY, VOLVER) and include some movies that count on Oscar to justify their wide runs (BABEL, PAN’S LABYRINTH) that may otherise never get noticed outside the arthouses of Manhattan and Seattle.
Duke, I grew up watching many of those with my family in Miami including the later Spanish films with Joselito, Marisol and Sara Montiel. If you get a chance do pick up a book called MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES by Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr.
It is full of ad copy, poster art and anecdotes from that era and was written in English.
Perhaps President Guliani can find some moral loophole that will limit Bollywood to 40% of any NY venue where it does not represent community’s standards.
I am happy to see people attend the cinema to see the movie, for a change, but that many screens ALL showing Bollywood would be rare even in India.
City Cinema is the chain name.
In the late seventies/early eighties you would have found TRANS-LUX EAST, PENTHOUSE EAST, LIDO EAST, 59th St. EAST, EASTWORLD, ART EAST, TOWER EAST, UA EAST, and 86TH St. EAST. MAD Magazine ran spoof movie ads that looked like the real thing.
Chances are, if the word Village was anywhere on the page you would find a link in the NYT with CINEMA and EAST.
According to the NY times, the Central (as well as the Brooklyn Strand) were closed for a week during that 1957 run of MOM AND DAD and SHE SHOULDA SAID NO for failing to secure a license that allowed for “live” performances from the “lecturer”.
Nice punishment for showing two thirteen year old movies in the moral fifties!
Demolition was announced starting on January 2, 1956 when the Stanley and the National Hotel were both to be replaced by a 15 story textile industry building that has apparently since been demolished as well.
It apparently shows mainstream recent releases, porn and exploitation genre films.
One of the advantages of Bollywood in the US is that the DVD is often available at the same time as the 35mm release. The wholesome audiences these musicals attract could drive out the porn if it actually works here.
Wow! What a tragedy it must be to spend this short lifespan inside that head.
This has got to be one of the more entertaining threads. It has sex, drugs, violence, comedy, transvestites, the KKK, religion, a scarecrow, Italian cuisine, bus routes and finally, an act of treachery from the in-house villain. Most current FILMS aren’t anywhere nearly as entertaining!
This from the NY Times Oct. 18, 1998 confirms the suspicions raised about the programming. The ads must be intended as proof.
“And last week Judge Arthur W. Lonschein of Queens ruled that the formerly all-adult Fair Theatre in East Elmhurst, Queens, could remain open because it was now showing adult films in less than 40 percent of its theatres.“
I will now step outside for a smoke.
The Bryanston West name was used by Variety, for some reason, when it reported the theatre’s weekly grosses. The “family” allegedly established Bryanston Pictures and the Pusssycat with DEEP THROAT profits.
Mon, Dec. 11, 2006
Lost Landmarks | Mayfair Theater
MARGARIA FICHTNER
The afternoon reception, with its bouquets and satin-gowned hostesses, had drawn 1,000 curious citizens, but now it is 8:15, curtain time. Once the lights dim, and handsome Jo (soon Joseph) Cotten, pronounces ‘'That was quite a bump,’‘ to start the first act of William Archer’s The Green Goddess, every ticket holder at Civic Theater’s ’‘modernistic’‘ new playhouse on the Boulevard at 16th Street knows this is it, the most glittery event of the season.
By this January night in 1930, the Civic is Miami’s largest, most important social/cultural organization, counting Abesses, Burdines, even Vanderbilts, among its 600 supporters, and now, after years of wandering from stage to stage, its actors have such a swanky new home even Al Capone shows up. Alas, the company falters during the Depression, but the building is resuscitated as the Mayfair Theater, a popular Wometco movie house. For $1.65, patrons can enjoy coffee and tea poured into china cups and play bridge in a room off the lobby until the main feature starts.
By the 1960s, the Mayfair reinvents itself again, this time as a beloved art-flick theater. It is razed in the early ‘70s to make room for what is now a Radisson, but five Art Deco chandeliers survive at Restaurant San Michel in Coral Gables, glorious fragments of its afterglow.
Another link about the Miracle.
View link
An actual website page on Florida drive-in air conditioning!!!
http://members.aol.com/filmteknik70/diac.htm
The first run was at the Penthouse (Gotham) and the R rated wide release was at Loews State and Movieland Yonkers. Hollywood, were you in Yonkers around 1981?
I do remember those marquees being quite large but then I was also smaller then. I know what Harvey means about things looking smaller as you get older. Since each title letter was about a foot tall with extra copy about half that and a blank row in between, that should give you some perpective.
They were able to fit wording that mentioned taglines, stars, and air conditioning so I guess they were huge by today’s standards. I seem to recall the 27th Ave and the Golden Glades Twin drive-in being very dramatic.
Stage, this would have been either Wynwood or Allapattah, most likely the latter. I show the Strand closed in the mid fifties and may served a blak community displaced by 1-95 eminient domain.
Going back to my post of April 19, 2006, there was an Avenue A theatre on 51 Avenue A already showing movies by 1918 and still going in 1923. I propose either there were two Avenue A theatres or the Hollywood and the Avenue A were not the same.
Ed, I can’t find any proof that this sight was ever operating as that although it may very well have done so as a porn site.
It is also quite possible that the Big Apple named the screens Cine-1 and Cine-2 once you went inside. This was not rare in the mini cinema era.
HARD TO KILL and THE ROOKIE played first run at the City Cinema West Side (aka Agee, Cine, Show Follies).
My understanding is that as distributors starting buying stakes back into exhibition in the early 80’s the government looked the other way and the Reagan administration eventually eliminated any remaining constraints for vertical integration in the entertainment business, making the Viacoms and Time Warners of the world possible.
I think this was a converted storefront and possibly also the illusive Frisco.
mjc, the Marquee magazine anniversary issue mentioned in previous posts does include a shot of the projectors.
I have seen AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. It has an important message but I don’t think it is a particularly good film. As a visual educator and entertainment medium, HAPPY FEET did a much better job in sending the same message.
The Oscars should be about good filmmaking, not content. Movie history is littered with politically incorrect films, some good, some not so good. The Oscars have been quite good at rewarding good filmmaking even when the film was not politically balanced for the times. This has resulted in controversy over films such as THE DEER HUNTER, HEARTS AND MINDS, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, JULIA and FAHRENHEIT 911 which upset many in their day but were rewarded anyway.
I am sure many veterans of the Great War found ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT as offensive as some will find LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. I personally recall the outrage every time Jane Fonda or Venessa Redgrave were rightfully rewarded regardless of their personal endeavors.
Getting it right?
Wasn’t ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT about the poor German soldiers getting a beating in WWI?
Was THE DEER HUNTER a good message to send Vietnam veterans?
Weren’t GIGI, MY FAIR LADY, THE APARTMENT and TOM JONES promoting the exploitation of women?
Wasn’t GONE WITH THE WIND too kind to slavery?
Don’t get me wrong, I love all these movies, but I think the Oscars should be about quality achievement not politics. The Oscars would have nothing to be ashamed of if they had rewarded TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. As you inadvertently point out, everyone already knows it was the BEST PICTURE of that year anyway.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a product of Hollywood and now that it is going into wide release will ironically most likely outgross FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
What should have us concerned is the nomination and box office success of the Al Gore documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Why are we buying tickets for party platform power point presentations anyway?
I don’t understand.
The Oscars were designed as a way for studios to publicise their movies and stars. That was always their purpose.
That fact that so many years later they are still the big prize is credit to the fact they are not afraid to recognise some amazing non-Hollywood “product” (DAYS OF GLORY, VOLVER) and include some movies that count on Oscar to justify their wide runs (BABEL, PAN’S LABYRINTH) that may otherise never get noticed outside the arthouses of Manhattan and Seattle.
Duke, I grew up watching many of those with my family in Miami including the later Spanish films with Joselito, Marisol and Sara Montiel. If you get a chance do pick up a book called MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES by Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr.
It is full of ad copy, poster art and anecdotes from that era and was written in English.
This theatre was located on Coral Way and Galloway Road.