Brooklyn Movie Palace Regains Thrones
When the palatial Kings Theatre in Brooklyn closed in 1977, and its sumptuous suite of lobby furniture was orphaned, Dorothy Solomon Panzica took the pieces and cared for them at her summer getaway, a farm about 40 miles west of Corning, N.Y., that eventually became her year-round home. And in 2013, when Mrs. Panzica, by now 100 years old, learned through relatives that the Kings was to be reborn, she knew what to do: send back the two thronelike chairs, the exquisite console table with a connection to the imperial French court, the Louis XVI-style side chairs, and the lozenge-shape sofa whose ram’s-head arms once curved around Jazz Age moviegoers in a welcoming embrace. Cheers to you, Mrs. Panzica!
