By: Chuck Miller
When It Played in Albany, , ,

When It Played in Albany: March 5, 1981

There’s a specific reason why I picked this date. There’s a reason why I’m traveling back 44 years in time.

But we’ll get to that in a moment.

On occasion, I’ll pick a specific date in Albany’s history, and then I’ll find out what movies were playing at the local theaters and drive-ins on that day. It’s a nice little escape into the past.

So what was playing on this specific date in time?

Well, first let’s go to Albany’s big multiplex theater at the time, the Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6 in Northway Mall. Northway Mall was on Central Avenue, where the Target and (soon to be closed) Jo-Ann Fabric stores are today. The Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6 had just held over the Richard Pryor / Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy for a 13th week.

It also held over the Richard Dreyfuss / Amy Irving romantic film The Competition, for which the 1-2-3-4-5-6 claimed an exclusive engagement.

If you were a fan of Goldie Hawn films, the 1-2-3-4-5-6 had two pictures from that star on their screens – the Goldie Hawn / Chevy Chase farce Seems Like Old Times, along with Lovers and Liars, her film with Giancarlo Giannini. You could also see the Clint Eastwood comedy Any Which Way You Can (the sequel to Any Which Way But Loose), and the six-time Oscar nominated film Tess. Oh yeah, and the 1-2-3-4-5-6 had midnight weekend showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Nice.

Walk across Central Avenue and you could take in your choice of films at Colonie Center’s UA Center 1-2 multiplex. One screen had the hasn’t-aged-very-well film The Devil and Max Devlin, with Bill Cosby as the Devil. Um … yeah. May as well go to the other screen and watch the exclusive showing of Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter.

The UA Center 1-2 was part of a chain of United Artists theaters in the area; the UA Towne in Latham had an exclusive showing of the Gene Hackman / Barbara Streisand flick All Night Long, while the UA Hellman offered Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. And the UA Plaza 1-2 – where tickets were $1.50 at all times (jeez, you can’t even get a small candy bar at the theater for $1.50 today), you had your choice of yet another Goldie Hawn film – Private Benjamin – or the classic The Jazz Singer. No, not the Al Jolson film, it was the godawful remake with Neil Diamond. You know, the one that spawned all those godawful treacly songs like “Love on the Rocks” and “Hello Again” and “America.” Yeah … that one.

Over on Wolf Road, you could see two films at the Fox Colonie 1-2. Screen 1 offered the comedy 9 to 5, which you could get your action fix with Screen 2’s Fort Apache, The Bronx. Those two same films also aired at the Mohawk Mall complex (in the heart of 4% sales tax in Schenectady County), and their third screen offered Lily Tomlin and Charles Grodin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

Mohawk Mall’s theaters were part of a chain called CinemaNational, who also had connections with the Cinema 7 theater in Latham. That building in March 1981 offered the science fiction drama Altered States.

So what’s playing at the discount houses? The Scotia Cinema had its third consecutive week of airing the Disney classic The Aristocats, which was paired as a double feature with The Hound Who Thought He Was A Raccoon. Go north to Clifton Park, and the Clifton Park Cinema was on its last week of showing the David Lynch film The Elephant Man. Yes, come see the Elephant Man, and he only costs a dollar to see him!! No, seriously, tickets at the Clifton Park Cinema were only a dollar per seat! I should also note that the Colony Art theater in Schenectady had a double feature as well, but I’m not sure it would be a family friendly choice to see Talk Dirty To Me doubled with Female Athletes. Just sayin’ is all.

Live performances in the Capital District? Well, the Palace Theater presented the very popular Mummenschanz!, while Proctors presented the Irish music legends The Chieftains. Over at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, you could see The Wolfe Tones (voted traditional folk group seven years in a row, according to their advertisements), while flamenco guitarist Carlos Montoya would entertain patrons at the Cohoes Music Hall.

Okay, okay. So why the reminiscence? Why this particular day of all days? Why this particular year of all years?

Because 44 years ago … a quartet of kids from a local high school that few people heard of and fewer even knew existed … went on a local television station …

And we kinda did this. Yeah. We did this.

Happy 44th anniversary of the Street Academy’s Answers Please triumph.

And I’m tremendously good with that. 😀