Memoirs of a Movie Palace: The Kings of Flatbush

1980 / 46 min. / color
Directed by Christian Blackwood

In August 1977, the Brooklyn Kings, one of five “Wonder Theaters” in the New York area, closed its doors and became property of the City due to unpaid taxes. There are plans to renovate and restore it to Brooklyn’s cultural life as a multi-purpose theater by 2014.

When it opened in 1929, in the presence of Hollywood star Dolores de Rio, it offered movie premieres and Vaudeville and its 3676 seats were regularly filled by enthusiastic Brooklynites. Designed by Rapp & Rapp in a ‘French Baroque’ style, the lavish theater is remembered vividly by a generation of locals who were looking for affordable diversion in palatial surroundings during the harsh Depression years.

In 1979 the documentary filmmaker Christian Blackwood assembled local aficionados of the erstwhile palace as well as its projectionist, its organist, Vaudevillians, the theater’s manager, ticket sellers, popcorn vendors and ushers to reminisce about the Kings and those charmed days. “Memoirs of a Movie Palace” narrated by Eli Wallach is a journey through the ups and downs of this “Wonder Theater”, that may come back again with an entirely new creative agenda.