Comments from Al Alvarez

Showing 2,401 - 2,425 of 3,462 comments

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Astor Theatre on Jul 28, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Wow. You can determine the sexual inclinations of men from just looking at an 85 year old photograph? Fabulous gaydar!

My guess is that they are studio heads and members of the press who were mostly men at the time. As for their sexual habits, I’ll leave that to more talented contributors.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Loew's Metropolitan Theatre on Jul 28, 2008 at 12:25 pm

…at the theatre this page is about.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Loew's Metropolitan Theatre on Jul 28, 2008 at 8:40 am

“They called her the scarfaced she-devil!”

“A Woman’s Face” was a first-run move-over from the Capitol and this was the first suburban run of the film, with “Washington Melodrama” as a co-feature. The run included the Loews Jersey City and Newark theatres but since it ran for record three weeks it overlapped with the circuit break.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 44th Street Theatre on Jul 27, 2008 at 2:23 pm

The 44th Street roof showed movies in 1920 as the NORA BAYES.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Capitol Theater on Jul 27, 2008 at 1:30 pm

This was called the Capitol from 1972-1974.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Absinthe House Cinematheque on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Also known as the Merry Go Round as both theatre and cinema.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Suniland Triple on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:26 pm

Suniland becomes a twin.

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Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 79th Street Twin II Cinema on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Here is a Star Twin ad. I have not added the theatre since I cannot find an actual address.

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Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Miami Gardens 183rd Cinema on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:19 pm

I don’t recall this ever being known just as the 183rd street. It did open as the Jerry Lewis Cinema in 1972.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Gala Twin Cinemas on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:16 pm

The Gala Twin opened in 1972 as a subrun house but quickly switched to porn when it stumbled onto DEEP THROAT which had recently been banned from Miami Beach’s Sheridan. Located in an incorporated part of Dade County, no city official had the jurisdiction to shut the Gala down.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Rex Art Cinema on Jul 27, 2008 at 10:41 am

I think this was the New King when it tried running blaxploitaion in 1972.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about The Dark Knight Beats Estimates on Jul 26, 2008 at 8:16 pm

“…or just about every movie that Barbra Streisand ever made.”

How quickly you forget “FUNNY GIRL” and “WHAT’S UP, DOC?”, two classics that have outlived any silly BATMAN movie so far.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about New World Stages on Jul 26, 2008 at 7:49 pm

CO was not above opening screens as they were finished while still in construction on others.

The project ran late and distributors felt the location was too far out west (duh) and didn’t want to risk exclusives of their movies in the zone, so getting first-runs was a problem.

CO was forced to day-date this with the Times Square Warner on “Uncle Buck” and the Warner proved the World Wide was redundant. Universal owned 50% of CO by then so they continued to cooperate for a while.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Astor Theatre on Jul 26, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Since QUEEN CHRISTINA premiered on December 26 and that photo shows a Roll Royce in front, this is most likely a shot of the World Premier crowd and hardly representative of the the average movie-goer in 1933.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Flagler Theater on Jul 25, 2008 at 9:44 pm

I believe this was last known as Radio Centro.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on Jul 25, 2008 at 9:28 pm

This theatre is already listed as the Rio, its last name.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 21st Adult Theatre on Jul 25, 2008 at 8:51 pm

This opened as the Fine Arts in 1963 with Jewish Vaudeville and a movie. It slowly moved to burlesque and soft-core porn films and was the 21st Street theatre by 1969.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Hi-Way Airport 9 Drive-In on Jul 23, 2008 at 6:44 pm

Not in Florida. I saw it at the Golden Glades Drive-In first run.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 79th Street Twin II Cinema on Jul 23, 2008 at 12:21 pm

This was also the location for the Bard theatre which ran movies as well as live burlesque in the late fifties.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 79th Street Twin II Cinema on Jul 23, 2008 at 10:43 am

This location one housed the Little River theatre. I am unsure if it is the same building.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Hi-Way Airport 9 Drive-In on Jul 23, 2008 at 10:40 am

I believe this was the largest drive-in in the country for a while.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Coral Way Drive-In on Jul 22, 2008 at 8:06 pm

The full address for this drive-in was 7080 Coral Way.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Empire 25 on Jul 22, 2008 at 10:16 am

This being 42nd street, I’m not so sure I want to find those stairs.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about The Dark Knight Beats Estimates on Jul 22, 2008 at 9:37 am

I agree. “Titanic” had little girls going back to see DiCaprio for a year. TDK will be out on DVD by Thanksgiving.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Empire 25 on Jul 22, 2008 at 9:31 am

The AMC exit escalators appear to have been designed to move the exiting crowd away from the main building in case of fire. The large “holding” areas in between are supposed to handle the overflow when the escalators back up. Human nature is to huddle around the escalator instead, causing a dangerous result.

The buildings department often demand designs that do not conform with human nature. I often experienced this on new builds in NY. Consider the safe distance of the entrance escalators on each floor compared to the exits.

MarkieS, I disagree that escalators are made to stand still. Don’t you get annoyed by people who block the people movers at airports with luggage and stand still?