Rivoli Theatre
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
44 people
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Showing 426 - 450 of 921 comments
Was this the same block where later they opened an RKO Video Store? I know the video store was on one of those short streets (east/west) between Broadway/Seventh Avenue at the north end of Times Square? I remember that video store had a great selection and I would go there on my lunch hour every Friday and rent four videos in the late eighties/early nineties. Alas, like the Rivoli, that video store is long gone.
Hardbop… you wouldn’t recognize the block today at all!!! A gleaming glass tower now occupies the site on which Broadway’s own Parthenon (the Greek-inspired facade of the Rivoli) once stood.
Ah. So I was in here! Thanx Warren on the Embassy thread for pointing out that the Rivoli and UA Twin were one and the same. I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out if I was in the Strand/Warner, State & Rivoli/UA Twin. I know for sure I patronized the Strand/Warner at least once (Star Wars revival in ‘83) and the Rivoli/UA Twin for a film called BEDROOM WINDOW sometime in '87, the same year the theatre closed. I remember the night well because a) I had a date; b) I left my umbrella in the theatre. I remember the theatre as being empty and BW was kind of a schlocky title in line of an earlier comment that UA was booking B movie fodder in here.
I’ve must walk down that block again to refresh my memory about where the theatre actually was.
Warren… it appears that the Frisco on 7th Ave played the XXX twin bill as early as 1973 or ‘74 and my newspaper clippings show the pair still going strong in 1980 and 1982. Have you information that shows the Frisco run was not continuous?
By my records of continuous runs in Manhattan, I agree DEEP THROAT/DEVIL IN MISS JONES is probably the record holder but due to the nature of the films and the way they were advertised, this is difficult to prove. There is also THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW at midnight at the 8th Avenue Playhouse to contend with if that counts.
Here are other lonest runs saw I show them:
THE RED SHOES (1948) 2 years, 4 weeks â€"BIJOU
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956) 1 year, 51 weeks â€" RIVOLI
OPEN CITY (1946) 1 year, 49 weeks – WORLD 49
THE BIG PARADE (1926) 1 year, 43 weeks â€" ASTOR
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) 1 year, 41 weeks â€" RIVOLI
LILI (1953) 1 year, 40 weeks â€" 52nd ON LEXINGTON
THIS IS CINERAMA (1952) 1 year 36 weeks â€" WARNER
(Moved over after 35 weeks at the BROADWAY)
MY FAIR LADY (1964) 1 year, 34 weeks â€" CRITERION
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD (1956) 1 year 25 weeks â€" WARNER
WEST SIDE STORY (1961) 1 year 25 weeks – RIVOLI
There is a Movie Clock listing from December 1980 for that double feature at the Frisco. The same listing (with the exact same showtimes) appears in March of ‘82. AlAlvarez and I had been pondering just exactly what/where/when the Frisco was, but it looks like that might be the theater you’re thinking of veyoung. Here are the listings:
NY Post 12/11/80 (second column about half way down)
NY Post 3/10/82 (top of the third column)
I found this photo from a link to a Roger Ebert article on the films of Gerard Damiano:
Frisco Theater circa 1973
At first I thought it was a Chicago photo (since it’s an Ebert interview) but then I noted the Avon 7 in the background and pretty much knew it had to be Times Square. It’s a small photo and the background is pretty dim and washed out, but I think you make out a sliver of the Mayfair Theater and billboard on the left edge of the image and beyond that the old RKO Palace building and marquee.
Here’s a link to the Ebert article:
Ebert Interviews Damiano
Now the question is… was the Frisco ever known as anything else? Was it merely a converted store front porn palace?
i think it played in a small theatre on 7th ave…between the back of rivoli and the old castro show room…
it lasted so long for out of towners it was a must see…
wally7
Hey, Ed and you other guys and girls. Pls answer a question for me. Someome once asked what was the longest run of any film in NYC. My guess is the double feature of “Deep Throat” and “Devil & Ms Jones” somewhere in Manhattan. Opened in the 70’s and ran well into the 80’s. Can someone correct me. pls.
Mikeoaklandpark… I looked up Pump Boys and Dinettes on the ibdb.com website and found that it played from Feb 1982 through June 1983 at the Princess Theater. There is no further information on the Princess at that site, unfortunately. The Cine Lido is not listed here either – at least not under that AKA. Does anyone know if it had a history prior to its years as a porn house or was it converted from retail space specifically for that purpose?
don…
back in new york…631 321 wnyg…..4-8pm m-f..
wally1975
The theater in the reflection was indeed the former Trans Lux 49th Street which opened as a newsreel theater in the late 1930’s and later became the Trans Lux West (to compliment and often day and date with the Trans Lux East on 3rd Ave). “Woodstock” did indeed play there in 1970. Later that decade it became the XXX Pussycat Cinema (and later still the Grand Pussycat). The former Cine Lido and Pussycat 2 – I believe – were on the east side of Broadway closer to 48th Street.
Amazing! The gentleman in the tuxedo, standing between Robert Redford and George Roy Hill is Wally Walters. At least that was his radio name when he worked with me at WGBB on Long Island in the early 70s. I knew he was manager of the Rivoli.
nice going…bill
wally 1975
Wally: “Woodstock” played on Broadway at the Trans-Lux West. Was that the name of the theater that became the Pussycat?
ed
i think i was the pussy cat 1 or 2….before that..
i remember watching woodstock in 4 or 8 track stereo…
i however can’t remember the name…
wally 75
ps….the record store would put a display in the window for every
sound track of the movie playing at the rivoli…
Ed
I think it was the Cine Lido.It later turned into a legit theater that played Pump Boys and Dinettes
Mike
Bonus points if someone can identify the porn theater whose marquee is partially reflected in the glass under the canopy towards the right in that first photo. Expand the pic to full size and you can make it out under the “W” in “Waldo” on the marquee. Judging from the reflection of the sign for Colony Records, the marquee looks to be on the south west corner of B'way and 49th.
Well… I got Wally’s photos taken at the Rivoli during the 1975 premier of “The Great Waldo Pepper” (thanks again Wally)…
The crowd under the marquee
The red carpet in B&W
A country boy
Star and director are shown their seats
That last photo of Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill being shown their seats evidences the drapery on the side walls of the auditorium that obscured much of the decoration in the place. I don’t recall if they ran all the way up the wall – I’m thinking not, but I’ll let Wally or others with better memories than my own clarify that. Were drapes installed in all ‘50’s road show modernizations for acoustic purposes (to hide surround speakers and inhibit reverberation) or just for the asthetics of the time?
Wally… I’ll email you. You might have posted into your own account, I don’t see any new photos on mine. You shouldn’t be able to post directly to photobucket without a password.
RobertR… Thanks for those ads! That “Monster in the Closet” ad shows that the film was booked at the two absolute worst theaters in all of Queens! Compare either of them to the Rivoli – even in its UA Twin configuration!
ps…as i said i posted it..but there wasn’t a submit or send
i just checked it the pictures are sill there,
wally1975
edsolero
i may be a mixed up,,i post pictures of rivoli and rko 59th st.tiwns
ny..on the photo bucket..
isn’t that you…when i clicked on your name it fliped to that.. */
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my e mail is:
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get me through it..wally 75
Wally… I didn’t get an email. It’s possible I didn’t recognize the name and deleted it with the tons of junk I get, but I usually check the subject line for items of interest. Anyway… send it again and I’ll look out for it.
edsolero
let me know if you have the photos rivoli and 59th street twins
wally1975
From Rogers & Hammerstein to Troma :(
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UA destryoing the Rivoli (uselessly renamed UA Twin)
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