Bronx Movie Theatres Frequented in 1960s

[Eddie Acunzo]

Folks,

A strange movie house story I'll never forget from the neighborhood years is as follows. I was double-dating, I think it was at the RKO Castlehill when the movie "The Exorcist" first came out. The movie's release was a big deal, and the theater was literally standing room only. Every seat in the place was filled, and the theatre actually let people in to stand in the back. At that time "The Exorcist" was a ground-breaking movie, and considered very scary. It came to a part in the movie when Reagan's mother went to check on her in her room, found her possessed by the devil, and the ceiling cracked above her bed for emphasis. At that moment a 5' x 5' section of the movie theater fell out of the ceiling into the center aisle of the theater, stunning everyone in the house. On impact it raised a cloud of plaster and dust illuminated by the movie projector in the theater, making the moment even more surreal. No one knew what was happening! It looked like a scene from one of those cowboy movies when the cattle and the wranglers are settled around campfires for the night, when suddenly one drunken cowboy fires off his gun, making the cattle raise up and stampede in panic. Everyone in the movie jumped to their feet, ready to bolt in confusion and fear. Surely Satan himself was making a personal appearance in the Bronx! We were particularly frightened because my friend's date was on crutches, and we were fearful that she'd be hurt in the stampede for the exits. Suddenly the "Voice of Reason" was heard above murmors of the panic. "Everyone sit down. Everything is alright. The movie will continue. No one has been hurt." Unfortunately for all of us, the plaster ceiling had given way at an inconvenient and bizarre moment. I think many people went home with rattle nerves that night. The first thing I did when I got home was to search every closet in my apartment at 1576 Taylor to make sure Satan wasn't laying in wait for me. I was clutching a butcher knife in my hand for personal protection. I got to the hall closet, where I forgot my tie rack hung inside the door. I swung the door open and my ties slapped me in the face, surprising the crap out of me. Positive I was under assault, I promptly slashed twenty or thirty dollars worth of ties to ribbons! Am I an idiot, or what? Needless to say, "The Exorcist" is a movie that holds a few memories for me.

Eddie Acunzo

[Les Sherwood]

Eddie
That was a great post. Are you related to Dickie Craig?
You sure tell a good stroy like he did.
All the best.
Les

[Eddie Acunzo]

Folks,

I remember James Arness as the "Thing" and on "Gunsmoke." I also remember that fight and subsequent ones when Cassius Clay/Ali knocked out both, saying in between, "I got the bear [Liston], now I'm gonna get the hare [Patterson]," remember?

A strange movie house story I'll never forget from the neighborhood years is as follows. I was double-dating, I think it was at the RKO Castlehill when the movie "The Exorcist" first came out. The movie's release was a big deal, and the theater was literally standing room only. Every seat in the place was filled, and the theatre actually let people in to stand in the back. At that time "The Exorcist" was a ground-breaking movie, and considered very scary. It came to a part in the movie when Reagan's mother went to check on her in her room, found her possessed by the devil, and the ceiling cracked above her bed for emphasis. At that moment a 5' x 5' section of the movie theater fell out of the ceiling into the center aisle of the theater, stunning everyone in the house. On impact it raised a cloud of plaster and dust illuminated by the movie projector in the theater, making the moment even more surreal. No one knew what was happening! It looked like a scene from one of those cowboy movies when the cattle and the wranglers are settled around campfires for the night, when suddenly one drunken cowboy fires off his gun, making the cattle raise up and stampede in panic. Everyone in the movie jumped to their feet, ready to bolt in confusion and fear. Surely Satan himself was making a personal appearance in the Bronx! We were particularly frightened because my friend's date was on crutches, and we were fearful that she'd be hurt in the stampede for the exits. Suddenly the "Voice of Reason" was heard above murmors of the panic. "Everyone sit down. Everything is alright. The movie will continue. No one has been hurt." Unfortunately for all of us, the plaster ceiling had given way at an inconvenient and bizarre moment. I think many people went home with rattle nerves that night. The first thing I did when I got home was to search every closet in my apartment at 1576 Taylor to make sure Satan wasn't laying in wait for me. I was clutching a butcher knife in my hand for personal protection. I got to the hall closet, where I forgot my tie rack hung inside the door. I swung the door open and my ties slapped me in the face, surprising the crap out of me. Positive I was under assault, I promptly slashed twenty or thirty dollars worth of ties to ribbons! Am I an idiot, or what? Needless to say, "The Exorcist" is a movie that holds a few memories for me.

Eddie Acunzo

[Eddie Acunzo]

Sorry for the double-post. Me and the website apparently got our wires crossed or something. No Les, I'm not related to Dickie Craig. Stratton Park just must have been fertile ground to breed storytellers. I occasionally refer to the neighborhood as the "Bigtop." It was like living in a 24 hour circus, a non-stop parade of memorable characters, freaks, geeks, comedians, and oddballs. There was always something entertaining happening, a real hot bed of action. It was possible to see anything if you stayed out long enough. In many respects it was trial by fire, but if you survived it, you learned a lot about life, and developed an ability to laugh at yourself (and everyone else). I don't want to preach to the choir. You know exactly what I mean. That's one of the things that we embrace so fondly from our neighborhood memories and keeps us coming back to this website. Do you agree?

Sincerely,

Eddie

[Les Sherwood]

Eddie
I agree 100%.
Some one wrote saying maybe all the good stories have been told. We had lot of good told on this site over the last few years.
However, I thinkWe need to mine that "mother lodstone" of good stories that we need to unearth.
do you rember the television show "The Naked City "? It payed in the early 60's and started something like this: ... This is a sorty about "the Naked City ' and this is one of them.
Look at the great responses to the questions that you and Don D, asked recently.
We just need to encougage a lot more people to tell "Their" stories or respond to stories told by others.
Keep up the good work.
Recently, I went trip around the wine countries ariund San Francisco on a tour with about people. I went with 2 friends-Steve Coffey and Fred Kopetz. Other people on the tour could not beliieve that we knew each other more more than 55 years.
In November we will get together at Rory Dolan's for dinner with a few other guys.
We tell a lot of stories about the old neighborhood and some of the unique "characters", and we laught as much as when they were first told, maybe more.
Now Steve is a good story teller.Weknew a lot nice and good poeple in the oldneighborhood. I have not found better.
Alll the best.
Les

[Andrew DeStefano]

I remember the tight security in the Loews American in the 1970's. The head of security was that old lady with the white sweater and white shoes and the HUGE flashlight that she would shine in people's faces. She was dubbed "FLASHLIGHT GORDON". She would patrol up and down the aisles telling people to shut up and shining her flashlight in your face when she spoke with you. When your movie finished and you went to the bathroom in an attempt to sneak into the other movie that was playing, she would follow you right into the bathroom. Couldn't get nothing over on old [b]FLASHLIGHT GORDON.[/b]

[Eddie Acunzo]

Les

How old are you? I'm 56, I graduated with John Tell and many of the others that post on the site. I know you're older. You mention Steve Coffey and others that I know were familiar with my brother, Tom who hung out at Cotters somtimes in the sixties. He's deceased now, but he'd be sixty-two now. Like yourself, I still get together regularly with some of my friends from the old neighborhood with whom I've been friends with for over fifty years, like Murphy Ohrnburger, Chris Williams and several others. Guys I went to 102 kindergarten and St. Anthony's with, guys I'll be friends with for another fifty years. John Shanley carried many of his neighborhood stories and characters over to his plays (Five Corners, Moonstruck,etc.) and movies. I recognized a few characters and incidents from our youth in his works and asked him in an e-mail, and he confirmed for me that they were plucked right from the neighorhood characters and incidents that I suspected. The Bigtop made a lasting impression on all of us - some lifelong scars and beauty marks! I was trying to trace down Jimmy and Joey Galvin from Beach Ave. last year and would up talking to someone from the Stratton Park who lives in Arizona now. She was describing how her husband still has the "Bronx" attitude in him, even though they've lived out west for many years. She said its like carrying a fire alarm call box inside of you - "Break glass and use only in an emergency." An emergency response you hope you never have to use, but its always there for you in an extreme danger situation - a secret weapon.

By the way, I never did get a lead on the Galvins except to find out that Joey is probably dead, and could find no leads on his older brother Jimmy.

Eddie
Eddie

[Lydia58]

Now this is a topic....I have so many movie theater stories I'm having trouble picking just one. I think I'll have to go with seeing "Earthquake" at the Palace. This was the movie with "sensoround" if you recall, which was supposed to give the effect of the rumbling of an earthquake. Well these huge speakers were "installed" in the balcony, so the balcony was off-limits for seating. My friend Kevin Leddy snuck up to the balcony anyway and sat himself directly in front of the sensoround speakers-he wanted to experience the full effect. When the first earthquake struck and the theater starting shaking, we turned around to watch Kevin hurling himself around the balcony. It was hysterical. I have tears rolling down my face as I'm recalling this. Great, great memories. So many great times at the movies.

[Andrew DeStefano]

I recall seeing Earthquake.....in Sensaround! That's how they presented it. I must have gone on open balcony night, because my sister and I sat in the seat right next to the sensaround speaker. It nearly blew my eardrums out.

[beth]

I remember going to the Palace with my older sister Janet. We were probably sent to the movies to give my mother some free time. I was very young, maybe 6 or 7. It was a regular black and white film, they all were, about a little girl and a dog. About ten minutes into the film, the craziest thing happened. There was color. I don't think I had ever seen such color. I stood up and remained standing for the rest of the film. Of couse it was The Wizard of Oz. I can still remember how I felt. I am 62 and it is still my favorite film. When my son got married a few years ago, he had them play Over the Rainbow for my dance with him. Funny how some memories are so vivid. By the way Eddie, if you read this, I went to school with your brother Tommy for 8 years. We were in the same class and he was a really nice boy with a really good sense of humor.

Beth

[jkelley]

Wow, this one brought back some great memories. I remember the Palace especially from a very young age. My mother would drop my younger brother Johnny and me off and we would eat, see two movies (cartoons in between) and spend the whole day there. When I was six I entered a Hoola-Hoop contest that was held at the Palace. The stage was filled with kids, most of them older than me. When it was all over I was the only one standing. I could hoola-hoop for days. I won the contest and they wrote an article in the Bronx news with my picture and I won a free pass to the Palace for a year!! It is one of my best memories. When I was ten, my best friend in Parkchester was a girl named Linda Bruell. She did all the Ideal toy commercials and was a local celebrity. She made a movie with Jackie Gleason, Jill St. John and Glynnis Johns called "Papa's Delicate Condition" She was the daughter and co-star in the film. When it opened at the Loew's American, the made a big deal and she brought me and a few other friends to see the movie. It's actually a really cute movie and she was good. They moved after that, probably to California, and I never saw her again.

[Mike Durkin]

My biggest memory of the LOEWS AMERICAN was the beatles "hard days night".I remember me and a bunch of the guys went to see it and couldn't figure out what the girls saw in them,now ya have to remember we were still in the greaser stage. Not long after we were all sporting mop tops and wearing beatle boots,in fact I bought mine at the shoe store right next to the theather.THE REST WAS HISTORY!

'

[Eddie Acunzo]

Mike Durkin, I still remember you and I going out on a Friday night in out Beatle boots, turtle neck sweaters, and Neru jackets, going to either to see the band Circus Maximus, or was the club Circus Maximus? Anyway the club had a great light show, we had fake I.D., and the band had that guy Jerry Jeff Walker in it (sung Mr. Bo Jangles) when he was a kid before he went country. We thought we were hot stuff. Don't remember where the club was, but we took the el to get there.

Beth, glad you remember my brother, Tom.

Eddie Acunzo

[Mike Durkin]

It was a club called "circus maximus" If memory serves me correctly it was north of the north bronx,and the trains stopped running after a certain time.

[Les Sherwood]

I am curious why no one mentioned the Circle Theater.
I can't remember any special experience i had there but I am sure someone remembers something or good story that happened there.
I know that there was a baqr next door which I think was named Gold...? or something like that.
Oh well.
Les