Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 426 - 450 of 1,093 comments
bigjoe59-
I haven’t found one yet. Since Al says that the Mark opened in December 1976 (I have no reason to doubt that. I just believed it was 1975 because of when Clark went out) but the theatre apparently stayed closed until it was opened as the Mark I, II and III. So from December 1976 until he says it became the Embassy would only be a year total, so you must have just missed it. I’ll keep looking for the photo of the Marquee of the Mark.
to Techman707-
i was wondering if you have come across a photo of the theater front with Mark 1,2,3 actually on the marquee. as you have said this was done right after the theater closed as the single screen DeMille and was tri-plexed. as i have likewise said i often went to the theater right after it was tri-plexed but quite honestly never remember taking note of Mark 1,2,3 being on the marquee.
“Once is Not Enough” Just because it was playing at other theatres doesn’t mean it was not a move-over from the Astor Plaza where it had been playing for three months.
MARK TRIPLEX (as per the intro) The triplex opened in December 1976 so the marquee could not have been up in 1975. “In Search of Noah’s Ark” was a first-run opening feature. By September 1977 the Mark was closed.
EMBASSY 2,3,4 (as per the intro) Opened in December 1977 with “A Piece of the Action” on move-over from the Criterion on two screens.
“Apocalypse Now” This August 1979 release moved from the Ziegfeld to the Cinerama Twin in November 1979 in the 70mm print version. In late December 1979 it opened on all three Embassy screens, now three years old, in 35mm.
It would have been sometime during 1975 I believe. I even think someone once posted a picture here of the marquee with MARK I, II and III on it. If I come across a picture of it I’ll post it.
again i thank Techman707 for his inside info as to the ownership etc….. of the theater. but i do have one additional question. as i have said i have been a frequent visitor to the Times Square area for virtually my entire adult life and would out of habit notice different signage from the previous visit. so during what period of time did the marque actually have Mark 1,2,3 on it?
bigjoe59, After I left the Demille I was only back to the theatre one time to see the tri-plexing job and after looking at it I had NO DESIRE to ever return to that abortion again. It did have the “Mark I, II and III on the Marquee, but, as I’ve said, it was only a short time before Elson took over and renamed it with the Embassy name.
edblank, The entire time I worked at the DeMille I NEVER saw any rats. However, we once had a power loss and I had to go down into a sub-basemant where the main fuses were and DID see a rat there. However, I don’t think there’s a builing in Manhattan that hasn’t or doesn’t have rats somewhere in the basements. But when you see them in a balcony, that’s an infestation. The theatre was kept VERY clean during the time Walter Reade operated the theatre.
As for the balcony, while it is (or was) VERY steep, it also gave every patron an unobstructed view of the screen, which was especially important when they ran 70mm. The balcony of the DeMille would have made a great Imax Theatre. I try not to think about all the beautiful theatres that have been destroyed here in NY, it’s a real crime. For the people that have never seen them, they don’t miss them.
I was in the dumpy re-do of the Mayfair/DeMille only a couple of times after it was triplexed. One was shortly after the butchery for a single-feature re-release opf “Battleground.” (All three of the classics showing that week were of war films, one of the others being “The Longest Day.”)
A later visit to catch up with “Fade to Black” was even less felicitous. I was in one of the upstairs chambers alone one late morning. Very steep ascent. Just generally feeling uncomfortable when a cat appeared out of nowhere, leaping onto the seat beside me. The suddenness of its pounce startled the bejeebers out of me.
After the movie I approached the upstairs doorman, a young man with a thick accent, and asked about the cat. I anticipated his response, although he was even more forthcoming than I expected about cats roaming freely because of the theater’s rat problem.
i thank Techman707 for the inside info. two new-ish questions. your additional thoughts are appreciated. many thanks in advance.
i agree with you that the Demille suffered the worst tri-plexing ever of a former movie palace. but would you have any info as to why since it was in such horrid condition it was never closed for building or health violations previous to its actual closing?
also as i have said i have been to the Times Square area for either films or Broadway shows for virtually my entire adult so i would notice signage that was different from my previous visit.i know when the theater was tri-plexed the new operators were thinking of renaming it the Mark 1,2,3 but did the name ever actually make it on the marquee? if it did actually make it onto the marquee it most have lasted like a day.
Peter Elson (Guild Enterprises) was the last operator of the Embassy 2,3,4 (former DeMille). After Clark was thrown out it was triplexed in the worst butchering of a movie theatre I’ve ever seen and for a short time before Elson took it over itwas called the Mark I,II and III.
All I can say is that with the exception of the Rivoli, which had Norelco AAII Todd/AO projectors, the DeMille had the second best 70mm projectors and had a great 70mm projection and sound with their Cinemamechanica Victoria X projectors. The sound was enhanced for the 70mm showing of “Concert for Banladesh”. None of the other roadshow houses mentioned were worth a damn after being multiplexed. Fortunately, the Capitol didn’t have to suffer that fate and was beautiful and had great 70mm projection until the end.
It’s interesting to note that unlike many other cities throughout the country that STILL HAVE a few restored examples of a movie palace still existing, New York has DESTROYED ALL OF THEM. The only thing left that even comes close is the Music Hall and at one point they wanted to tear that down. If someone were to ask me of a good example of a movie palace in New York, the only theatre near the midtown area left would be the Beacon Theatre, which is like a mini Roxy Theatre. The preservation of historical theatres in NYC stinks!
I was living abroad when this was triplexed into the Mark 1,2,3…Was the first booking as a triplex the move over of Apocalypse Now in 1979 from the Ziegfeld. Wouldn’t that have been great and appropriate in the original DeMille.
I can testify to Walking Tall having played everywhere before NYC. My memory of it was at the Gateway in Ft. Lauderdale on a very long first run. The Cinerama Releasing Corporation ads (their product was mostly showcased at RKO’s – in Manhattan at the 86th St, 59th St and Cinerama) were the pokiest slimmest in memory…
I was living abroad when this was triplexed into the Mark 1,2,3…Was the first booking as a triplex the move over of Apocalypse Now in 1979 from the Ziegfeld. Wouldn’t that have been great and appropriate in the original DeMille.
I can testify to Walking Tall having played everywhere before NYC. My memory of it was at the Gateway in Ft. Lauderdale on a very long first run. The Cinerama Releasing Corporation ads (their product was mostly showcased at RKO’s – in Manhattan at the 86th St, 59th St and Cinerama) were the pokiest slimmest in memory…
Is the interior now completely gutted?
Guild did. It says it in the intro.
i’m asking a question i asked several months ago and would appreciate it if my fellow posters have any additional info/thoughts on the matter. during Oct.1955 thru Dec.1972 seven large grand old movies were used as roadshow houses by the studios-Criterion, Loews State, RKO Palace, DeMille, Warner, Rivoli and the Loews Capitol. now the Palace was originally built as a stage theater so my question will pertain to the other six. the Criterion was in fairly decent shape after a redo by United Artists theaters before being gutted for the Toys R' Us. the Loews State which had been twinned in 1968 was in fairly decent shape before the building which housed it was torn down. the Warner which had been tri-plexed in 1967? was still in fairly decent shape before the building which housed it was torn down. this was also the case with the Rivoli which had been twinned and the Loews Capitol which wasn’t. so here’s my question- who the hell owned/operated/managed the Embassy1,2,3 before it closed for good? in contrast to the other five theaters just noted the Embassy 1,2,3 was in absolutely horrid shape. this was especially true not only of the 3 auditoriums but the men’s rooms on both the orchestra and mezzanine/balcony level. i can’t believe the theater hadn’t already closed because of building or health code violations.
Al, Yes, the fire was not too long after “Walking Tall”. Your right about it being sub-run because I recall it being a used print. We usually got a new prints and a backup print. If you know when “That’s Entertainment” left the Ziegfeld, that was the night of the fire. It was supposed to be moved over to the DeMille the next day. The night before I had changed over all the gates and lenses to 70mm and the print of “TE” was supposed to be brought over in the next morning. When I came out of the subway that morning I saw there was nothing on the marquee and then the stagehand told me about the fire. Other than the smell of smoke, the booth and the projectors weren’t damaged at all. Most of the damage was in the second floor lobby.
techman,
“Walking Tall” was playing subrun at the DeMille in August-September 1974 when the theatre disappears from NYT ads. Is this when it caught fire?
Here is a shot I hadn’t seen before, which I found on someone’s flickr acount.
View link
Walter Reade bought the 1910 burlesque house in 1928 and rebuilt it into a movie theatre, which RKO operated. It opened in October 1930.
IMDB notes that the movie “M” was released in the US on March 31, 1933, in New York City, despite being produced and released in Germany in 1931. A date of May 11 is given for its German premiere in ‘31.
techman, the 1931 German film “M” did not open in the U.S. until 1933.
Al-The only “M” I was aware of (besides the 1951 remake) was the 1931 version directed by Fritz Lang with Peter Lorre. Who was in the 1933 version of “M”?
Tinseltoes-Are you saying Walter the Reade Sr. had the Columbia Burlesque Theater built in 1910?
Walter Reade died in 1952 at age 68. The son died in 1973 on a ski trip at age 57.
techman, the American “M” run didn’t occur until 1933.
The Mayfair became the DeMille in December 1959 with the Aromarama run of “Behind the Great Wall”.
“The Mayfair foreign phase was very short lived. Even "M” was dubbed into English by the third week and mainstream films were mostly the norm.
RKO had been the previous operator."
Al, I’m a little confused. Are you referring to the remake of “M” in 1951? Because the original German “M” was around 1931 and it was the RKO Mayfair at that time, so it couldn’t have been Walter Reade who had the theatre unless it was later.
BTW-At the top of this thread they say that the Mayfair became the DeMille in 1960 or “the early 1960’s”. The theatre was renamed the DeMille in 1959, a short time before Spartacus opened. There was a plaque with a bust of DeMille (just like the ones in Loews theatres of Marcus Loew) in the lobby as you went up the staircase to the mezzanine. It also had the actual day, but I just can’t remember the date it said.
The Mayfair foreign phase was very short lived. Even “M” was dubbed into English by the third week and mainstream films were mostly the norm.
RKO had been the previous operator.