Astor Theatre
1531 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1531 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 340 comments found
Fifty years ago today, John Wayne’s Technicolor epic “The Alamo” opened at the Astor and adjacent Victoria for its first NYC engagement with popular prices and continuous performances. The United Artists release had premiered the previous October at the Rivoli Theatre as a reserved-seat roadshow with a runnng time of three hours and 12 minutes. The version shown at the Astor and Victoria was 26 minutes shorter, but no mention was made in advertising. Nor was the original Todd-AO presentation at the Rivoli. Presumably, the Astor and Victoria gave “The Alamo” wide-screen treatment, but without crediting any process. The dual booking used a “staggered” screening schedule throughout the day and night, with the Astor starting first and the Victoria following half-an-hour later.
When I first visited NYC in 1968, the frontage of the Astor was plastered with gigantic graphics of Julie Andrews in Robert Wise’s STAR (20th-Fox). It was the largest billboard I’d ever seen! I was of course blown away, thinking the picture was probably the greatest story ever filmed, but it flopped and I didn’t actually see it until two years ago (actually not that bad!)
At any rate, aside from the RC Music Hall, the Astor seemed the biggest of NYC’s big time picture houses – if only because of that memorable facade!
Just was in NYC a couple weeks ago, and now it’s virtually impossible to distinguish what’s really behind all the digital advertising in Times Square. I did manage to locate the Palace though, the onetime Mount Olympus of vaudeville (vertical sign).
Seventy-nine years ago tonight, MGM’s “Grand Hotel,” which broke tradition by casting five of the studio’s biggest stars in one film, opened its world premiere engagement at the Astor Theatre on a reserved-seat roadshow policy. Starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and Lionel Barrymore, and with the esteemed Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt heading the supporting cast, the B&W adaptation of Vicki Baum’s best-selling novel went on to win the “Best Picture” Academy Award for 1931-32. Tickets at the Astor were scaled from 50 cents to a top of $2, and bookable eight weeks in advance.
Thanks, Tinseltoes. The image also teaches me that the Gaiety was once under the purview of Minsky’s Burlesque! I knew the Gaiety was the preeminent burlesque house in NYC during the late 1930’s, but I didn’t know it was part of the Minsky’s stable. I suppose that only makes sense. You should post this image on the Gaiety/Victoria page as well. There is a reverse angle photo (take from the 46th Street corner with the Astor in the background) that you posted March 15, 2010, on that page which is dated 1934 and shows the Gaiety still in operation as a cinema (albeit with a pair of older titles, including the seeming exploitation documentary “Wild Women of Borneo”).
Seventy-five years ago tonight, MGM’s “The Great Ziegfeld,” a spectacular B&W musical biography with William Powell in the title role, opened its world premiere engagement at the Astor Theatre as a reserved-seat roadshow. Screenings were twice daily, with an extra midnight performance on Saturdays. Tickets were scaled from 50 cents to a top of $2. Here’s a link to a photo of the Astor’s exterior signage for the engagement, which ran for months and was followed by a conventional popular-priced booking at the Capitol Theatre: View link
On this day in 1954, Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” ended an exclusive and highly profitable run of 20 weeks at the Astor. The theatre then closed for three days for the installation of a new CinemaScope screen and four-track stereophonic sound for the world premiere engagement of Walt Disney’s live-action “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” which started on December 23rd. Supporting the Kirk Douglas-James Mason starrer was Disney’s first Donald Duck cartoon in CinemaScope, “Grand Canyonscope.”
That one works, thanks.
That’s strange Chuck. I’ve clicked on it five times now and it takes me right to the pic. Try this one: View link
Kilroy,
Your link to the photo says “Page Not Found”
“Best Foot Forward” with Lucille Ball, June Allyson and Nancy Walker played at the Astor in August 1943. Here’s a pic of my Mom (on the left) and her friends in front of the WAAC booth with the Astor and the movie marquee visible to the right.
http://www.shorpy.com/files/times_square_1943.jpg
By the way, I spent the better part of my workday today reading all the messages that have been posted here the last six years. Thanks to everyone for sharing their memories and info.
I had no problem viewing. Make sure you have quicktime installed. That might be the problem.
I do clean house daily. That’s not the issue. The apparatus you’re using to post some videos is triggering a “sign up or get lost” message. No way around it. Never ran into this on Cinema Treasures before. I believe that in all cases (wasn’t kleeping track at first), short video clips are involved. It’s OK, though. If I’m missing only video clips, it won’t impair my ability to learn more about the theaters from the texts. I won’t address this issue again because I don’t want to clutter the flow of historical commentary. Thank you, though.
Perhaps you can’t view them because you don’t have enough space available on your computer. Temporary files tend to pile up if you don’t run Disk Cleanup or similar program regularly, every few days if you do a lot of linking.
Thanks William you must have a newer computer than Ed or me,most of the stuff I try to look up works but not always.
Does not work for me either Tinseltoes,Thanks.
It works fine for me. Saw it three times no problems.
Doesn’t work, Tinseltoes. No amount of clicking on the empty box activates it. It seems to require subscribing to something called eFootage. But thank you.
If you click on the link for the “Best Years” sign, the film should start running almost immediately. You don’t need to sign in or license anything. Just ignore the messages around the screen where the film appears.
Just within the past few days I’ve found I cannot access any of the clips being posted on various Manhattan sites without going through some sort of licensing process.
Is this a whole extra step that will be necessary permanently, or does it have something to do with the way the clips are being posted by one or two individuals?
Is the licensing free and safe?
Here’s a link to the Astor’s animated signage for “The Best Years of Our Lives” in 1946: View link
Some of the best photos I have seen on any site on C.T.
What a history.What a great story.Only in America.
Here’s a 1931 aerial view of the massive Astor Hotel, with the Astor Theatre on the corner of the next northerly block, The caption should read 44th Street, not 43rd Street. The hotel fronted on Broadway between 44th and 45th Streets: View link
Here is an interesting ad from Boxoffice in September 1951:
http://tinyurl.com/y9ss5zz
Here’s the 1938 spectacular for a 20th-Fox blockbuster: http://www.howardfrank.com/Street_02.html