Q about Eastside Cinema NYC

[Randy Brown]

While plowing through a fantastic website called Cinema Treasures, I
found this quote about "Rocky" at Eastside Cinema:

"This is another one [where] United Artists was cordially invited by
the landlord to vacate the premises. When UA got the boot from the 8th
Street Playhouse, they moved their weekend showings of 'Rocky Horror'
to this theatre, of all places. After the show would end the crowd
would congregate for most of the night in the plaza-ette in front of
the 919 building, and broken windows, graffiti and other damage was
done to the property, which eventually led to their eviction."

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/6231/

Was this the real reason why the movie shifted from Eastside back to
8th St.? Somehow I don't think NYC fans were that rowdy...

--RB

[Uncle Bill]

> Was this the real reason why the movie shifted from Eastside back to
> 8th St.? �Somehow I don't think NYC fans were that rowdy...
>
> --RB

No, this was not the real reason at all.

When the 8Th Street theater closed, the search was on for another
theater in Greenwich Village. The print and cast were moved to mid-
town on a temporary basis, and the plan all along was to eventually
get back downtown where the show belonged.

In fact, we toned down a lot of our behavior because of the new
location: it was in mid-town, it was NOT a " Greenwich Village
neighborhood" type atmosphere, and the last thing the cast wanted to
do was lose another theater/endanger the one we had at the moment.

When a theater became available ( 8Th Street Movieland ) the cast
and print were moved back downtown, about 2 blocks away from the 8Th
Street Playhouse.

This is the first time I ever heard anything about the cast being
evicted for being too rowdy or causing property damage.

Bill

[randytheicon]

Thanks, BB. I never had the impression that NYC fans were rowdy at
all. If you look through that site you'll find a lot of animosity
toward United Artists Theatres, *some* of it justified.

I'll cite your rebuttal on that page soon.

--RB

[sculptord5]

please note that there are many errors written about theaters on that
site, and some of the people who post there are old biggots who hate
RHPS.

[randytheicon]

Wouldn't surprise me if "dave-bronx" (who posted that misinformation
about Eastside) was one of the thugs that got the movie kicked out of
the Waverly...

--RB