click on most images to enlarge RKO Keith's Theatre 129-43 Northern Boulevard Flushing (Queens), N.Y. 11354 The Keith-Albee Flushing was advertised as "The Most Unique Playhouse in the East" and, claiming "3,500 Perfect Seats," had its grand opening at 1:00 pm on Christmas Day, 1928, with continuous showings of vaudeville and a feature movie. Subsequent trade paper reports reduced the Flushing's seating capacity to a round number of 3,000, though it was actually 2,975 or so. In any case, the theatre was much too large for the community it served, but it eventually became profitable during the WWII attendance boom and the rapid post-war development of Northeastern Queens. As designed by Thomas W. Lamb in a fanciful Spanish Baroque Revival style, the theme was carried throughout the public spaces, including the grand foyer, mezzanine promenade, lounges and lower auditoriums. Lamb built RKO Keith's (as it was later known) simultaneously with Proctor's 58th Street in Manhattan; the two were the only RKO theatres in the Greater New York area that had an "atmospheric" style in which the auditorium's deep blue ceiling, simulating the evening sky, was illuminated, like a planetarium, with twinkling stars and projected images of moving clouds. Along the side walls were a series of ornamental outdoor Spanish façades set in a garden. A notable feature of RKO Keith's was its Grand Foyer, a two-story semi-oval room that had a curved blue-sky ceiling. In the center of the foyer was a freestanding fountain, surmounted by a figure of Cupid and sculpted dolphins, that had an illuminated pool stocked with live goldfish. Two curved white marble staircases led to the mezzanine promenade. Sometime in the mid-1970s, the interior was sensitively divided into three theatres—one upstairs and two downstairs—leaving the lower lobby, the four lounges and the balcony level remarkably intact. By that time, a number of significant theatres from the 1920s had been demolished throughout the New York metropolitan area, and few with the once popular atmospheric design were extant. Thus, in 1982, the RKO Keith's Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Two years later, in 1984, the theatre's interior was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, but the Board of Estimate eliminated the triplex auditorium from the designation and only the ticket lobby and Grand Foyer were protected. In 1986, the theater was closed and sold to the Farrington & Northern Development Corporation. Work began in February 1987 to convert the theater to a shopping atrium, but after several spiral columns in the Grand Foyer were smashed, the landmarks agency issued a stop-work order. The owner soon forfeited the property and over the ensuing years the theatre became derelict. In 2010, a Manhattan condominium developer purchased the building for $20 million, but no plans have been announced.             Wurlitzer Organ Company North Tonawanda, N.Y. – Opus 1975 (1928) Electro-pneumatic action Style 250 Special 3 manuals, 15 ranks, 6 tuned percussions, 14 traps Wurlitzer's Opus 1975 for RKO Keith's Theatre was a "Style 250" that had a factory date of October 20, 1928. In fact, the organ was a "Style 250 Special" because it had an additional 8' Saxophone, plus the additional Tibia Clausa unification of 2 2/3' plus 2' on the Great. The organ's 15 ranks of pipes were installed in two chambers, one on each side of the proscenium, which were fronted by elaborate screens that were covered with spiral columns, niches, volutes, and other baroque ornament. A 10 H.P. Spencer blower provided 15" pressure to the entire organ. In 1968, the organ was donated to the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout (Branson), Missouri, where it was installed intact in Jones Auditorium. The organ was playable until about 2008, when a fire in the stagehouse resulted in water damage to the chamber containing the organ's relay. Plans to repair the organ are indefinite.             Pedal – 32 notes 16   Ophicleide     Bass Drum 16   Diaphone   Kettle Drum 16   Tibia Clausa   Snare Drum 16   Bourdon   Crash Cymbal 8   Tuba Horn   Cymbal 8   Octave   Great to Pedal 8   Tibia Clausa   Solo to Pedal 8   Clarinet   8   Saxophone   Pedal 2nd Touch 8   String 16   Ophicleide – Pizzicato 8   Cello     8   Flute   1st Touch & 2nd Touch Traps Switch 4   Flute           3 Combination Toe Pistons         Accompaniment (Manual I) –- 61 notes 16   Contra Viol (TC)   Marimba [re-it] 16   Bourdon   Harp 16   Vox Humana (TC)     Crysoglott 8   Tuba Horn   Snare Drum 8   Diaphonic Diapason   Tambourine 8   Tibia Clausa   Castanets 8   Clarinet   Chinese Block 8   Kinura   Tom Tom 8   Orchestral Oboe   Sand Block 8   Saxophone   Octave 8   String   Solo to Accomp. 8   Viol d' Orchestre   8   Viol Celeste   Accompaniment 2nd Touch 8   Oboe Horn 8   Tuba Horn 8   Quintadena 8   Tibia Clausa 8   Flute 8   Clarinet 8   Vox Humana   Cathedral Chimes 4   Octave   Xylophone 4   Piccolo   Sleigh Bells 4   Viol     Triangle 4   Viol Celeste     Solo to Accomp. 4   Flute     Solo to Accomp. – Pizzicato 4   Vox Humana       2 2/3   Flute     10 Double Touch Adjustable 2   Piccolo          Combination Pistons           Great (Manual II) – 61 notes 16   Ophicleide 2 2/3   Tibia 16   Diaphone 2 2/3   Flute 16   Tibia Clausa 2   Piccolo [Tibia] 16   Clarinet (TC) 2   Fifteenth 16   Saxophone (TC) 2   Piccolo 16   Contra Viol (TC) 1 3/5   Flute 16   Bourdon   Marimba [re-it] 16   Vox Humana (TC)     Harp 8   Trumpet   Cathedral Chimes 8   Tuba Horn   Sleigh Bells 8   Diaphonic Diapason   Xylophone 8   Tibia Clausa     Glockenspiel 8   Clarinet     Orchestral Bells [re-it] 8   Kinura   Chrysoglott 8   Orchestral Oboe   Sub Octave 8   Saxophone   Octave 8   String   Solo to Great 8   Viol d'Orchestre     8   Viol Celeste   Great 2nd Touch 8   Flute 16   Ophicleide 8   Vox Humana 8   Tibia Clausa 4   Clarion 8   Clarinet 4   Octave   Solo to Great 4   Piccolo   Solo to Great – Pizzicato 4   Viol       4   Viol Celeste     Suitable Bass 4   Flute     10 Double Touch Adj. Comb. Pistons             Solo (Manual III) – 61 notes 16   Ophicleide 8   Quintadena 16   Diaphone 4   Clarion 16   Tibia Clausa 4   Octave 8   Trumpet 4   Piccolo 8   Tuba Horn   Cathedral Chimes 8   Diaphonic Diapason   Xylophone 8   Tibia Clausa   Glockenspiel 8   Kinura   Orchestral Bells [re-it] 8   Orchestral Oboe     8   Saxophone   Suitable Bass 8   String   10 Double Touch Adj. Comb. Pistons 8   Oboe Horn                 Tremulants (5)     Main     Tibia     Solo     Diapason–Tuba     Vox Humana               General     Balanced Expression Pedal – Main – with indicating keys     Balanced Expression Pedal – Solo – with indicating keys     Balanced Crescendo Pedal         Double Touch Sforzando Pedal – Piano Pedal      • 1st Touch: Full stops (wind)      • 2nd Touch: Everything     Double Touch Sforzando Pedal – Piano Pedal      • 1st Touch: Snare Drum      • 2nd Touch: Bass Drum and Cymbal     Thunder Pedal (Diaphone) – Piano Pedal     Thunder Pedal (reeds) – Piano Pedal             Effects (operated by pistons)     Auto Horn     Fire Gong     Steamboat Whistle     Horse Hoofs     Two Birds (one in each expression box)                 Sources:      Agovino, Theresa. "Derelict landmark theatre in Queens snapped up," Crain's New York, May 24, 2010.      Buckstaff, Kathryn. "School's Mighty Wurlitzer Offers Powerful Blast From the Past," The Southeast Missourian (June 14, 1998).      Cinema Treasures website: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/834      Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.      Friends of the RKO Keith's web site: www.savethekeiths.com      Gray, Christopher. "STREETSCAPES: Flushing's RKO Keith's; A Magnificent, but Mutilated, Palatial Landmark," The New York Times, April 1, 1990.      Haker, Alan. Electronic correspondence (May 25, 2009) about Wurlitzer organ, Op. 1975 (1928) as relocated to Jones Auditorium, The College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo.      Junchen, David L. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 1. Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1985.      Junchen, David L., comp. and ed. by Jeff Weiler. The WurliTzer Pipe Organ – An Illustrated History. Chicago: The American Theatre Organ Society, 2005.      Kaufmann, Preston J. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, Vol. 3. Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1995.      United States Department of the Interior: National Register of Historic Places. Report on RKO Keith's Theatre, March 25, 1982.       WF Collection. Specifications of Wurlitzer Organ, Op. 1975 (1928). Illustrations:      Cinema Treasures web site. Undated postcard of exterior.      Michael R. Miller Collection. Grand Foyer.      Warren G. Harris Collection. Auditorium.             | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organs List |