Your affordable Neighborhood Family Theater

Albany, New York

FR(3/5) SA(3/6) SU(3/7) MO(3/8) TU(3/9) WE(3/10) TH(3/11)

The Theatre was opened in 1929 as the Madison Theater.  Designed by theater architect, Thomas Lamb, it shares the same creator as Proctors Theater in Schenectady.  It was operated as part of the Stanley Warner chain until 1975.  After this, the theater was operated under private ownership. It was taken over by new owners in 1994, renamed the Norma Jean Madison Theater, and split into five auditoriums.  The store front that was occupied by Claps Books was taken over by the theater and two more screens were added to this space. The Norma Jean Madison, one of Albany's oldest movie houses, finally closed in December 2001 due to poor financial management.  One of the creditors, Boston Concessions Group of Cambridge, Massachusetts, then took over the theatre operations in the spring of 2002.  Owing primarily to the fact that the Madison was the farthest theater from their home offices, BCG closed the theater in 2003. Early in 2005 a group was formed to purchase the property and operate it again as a theater.  While the building has suffered about 25 years of neglect, the corner has been turned and the long slow road has been started to bring this landmark back to its former glory.  The first of the seven screens opened on May 20, 2005, showing Star Wars, Episode III.  While progress may seem slow, regular patrons will notice a gradual improvement and with their support it is hoped that these improvements can continue.  It is also the desire of the Madison to become an active part in the community.  We work regularly with local film makers and are always interested in new ideas from the public that we serve.
We are also the home of the New Beginnings Fellowship Church, which meets here every Sunday at 10am.
Come and see the new Madison Theatre, help to keep History alive.

May 30, 1929 – Opening Night at the Madison Theater
December 9, 2009 at 6:29 am by Chuck Miller

Of the dozens of movie palaces and theaters that populated the Capital District, from the beginning of silent film until the creation of shopping mall-based theaters, only three movie palaces have survived to today.  The Spectrum on Delaware Avenue was once called the Delaware Theater, and is the oldest building that still shows films. The Palace Theater, even though it can be used today for concerts and movies, is the oldest theater that still operates with one screen.

And now we come to the focus of our little road trip back in time.  The Madison Theater.  While puttering around through the microfilms of yesteryear, I came across the original advertisements of late May, 1929, promoting the newest motion picture theater, a theater that would give moviegoers in the Pine Hills neighborhood a local theater of their own.

The Madison was created by Thomas Lamb, the architect who designed Schenectady’s Proctor’s Theater.  It would be one of the first theaters in the Capital District to be built with Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone sound process, rather than having the theater retrofitted for sound. Patrons could sit in one of 1400 different upholstered seats.

The first motion picture to grace the Madison’s screen was “The Desert Song,” a very popular film featuring John Boles and Myrna Loy. It featured scenes in two-strip Technicolor, which sadly are lost today. In fact, here’s the lineup for the May 30, 1929 opening night:

   1. An on-screen performance by the Warner Bros. Vitaphone Trumpeteers
   2. A Vitaphone presentation of Frances Alda singing the Star Spangled Banner
   3. An introductory address by Judge James J. Nolan, President of the Pine Hills Association
   4. An introductory address by Albany Mayor John Boyd Thatcher
   5. A special dedication film hosted by Al Jolson
   6. A Pathé newsreel
   7. A Mickey Mouse cartoon, “The Opry House”
   8. An organ solo by W. B. Wiley upon the mighty Wurlitzer
   9. And finally, The Desert Song

All this for 35¢ per person.  Wow.

The Madison would quickly morph into a second-run theater, promising to show the top movies one week after their appearance at Albany’s downtown theaters like the Strand and the Leland.  But as those theaters disappeared over time, the Madison survived.  It remained a single-screen operation until 1994, when a new ownership group purchased the theater, split it into five mini-theaters, and rebranded the facility the Norma Jean Madison Theater.  The current ownership of the Madison Theater has expanded the facility to house seven films at one time

So 2009 markt a special year for the Madison Theater.  It was 80 years ago that the theater opened as an upscale neighborhood movie theater.  With 1350 seats and a pipe organ, the Madison was not a movie palace but was still a cut above your run of the mill theater.  This is probably why it has survived till today.  The architect, Thomas Lamb, also designed another local theater landmark, Proctors in Schenectady.
Unfortunately most of the heritage of the Madison has been covered up or destroyed over time.  That does not mean that she is no longer special, just a bit tarnished with age.  We have started a program of installing new floors and seats and will be sprucing up other areas of the theater.  Above all, we continue to strive to give local and truly independent filmmakers a place to showcase their art.  We would love to have you become part of the history too.  If you have any remembrances, stories or pictures of the Madison we would love to hear from you.  We would eventually love to post those memories, stories and photos on our web site.  Concerts, first dates, first movies, or discovering your favorite film, they all happened here and we would love to hear it.  One of my many memories is that every year at tax time we would come to the Madison while my father filled out our income tax.  My mother didn't want my sister or me to learn any new words as my father tried to understand the latest tax forms.
You can email your memories to us at MadisonTheater@gmail.com or stop by and we can make any arrangements to copy any photos or other material you would like to share. Again, the best pictures and stories will be posted on the Madison Theater webpage.

Jay Pregent,
Manager / CoOwner

The MADISON THEATER History