Memoirs of a Movie Palace: The Kings of Flatbush (1980)

Like the forums and amphitheaters of ancient days, movie palaces like Brooklyn's Kings Theater were, in their hayday, cultural epicenters and community defining landmarks - microcosmic fantasy worlds where neighborly warmth blended with the glitz and grandeur of Hollywood magic. When The Kings, one of five "Wonder Theaters" in the New York area, finally closed its doors in August of 1977, a neighborhood mourned. "Memoirs of a Movie Palace: The Kings of Flatbush", made in 1979 by director Christian Blackwood, is both a eulogy and a love letter to this Brooklyn institution. In a series of heartfelt interviews, local aficionados of the erstwhile palace as well as its projectionist, its organist, Vaudevillians, and devoted former employees, reminisce about the Kings and its charmed days gone by.