55th Street Playhouse
154 W. 55th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
154 W. 55th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 90 comments
Does anyone know what year the theater closed? Thanks.
Someone mentioned the Rendezvous Theater. It was located on West 54th St between 6th & 7th next to the Ziegfeld movie theater. It was torn down 30 odd years ago and became a parking lot.
The most interesting aspect of the 55th St structure is why it is still standing? The following sounds like an urban legend, but I vaguely recall reading an article in a NY paper stating that the hotel right behind this old art house theater wanted to tear it down and use that space for deliveries. However there were a few apts above the theater and the hotel had to buy off these tenants. One man refused to go unless he was compensated above what the hotel was willing to pay. So they left him alone upstairs and drilled a delivery driveway right thru the structure. If it wasn’t for that man holding out we wouldn’t be chatting about this infamous porn movie house now.
Also the 55th St Playhouse showed films instead of videos. Does anyone recall that Al Parker 3-D movie shown there? (Management would recycle the 3-D glasses!) Even with these glasses you still got a blurry double image in a few shots. (The 3-D effect did work in bits & pieces.) The lobby & upstairs lounges were tiny. Sometimes you would enter that theater after paying 5 bucks & see Al Parker or Joe Gage sitting there waiting to sign autographs. (Usually no one was interested.) Al Parker was a good conversationalist. After saying hi to me he asked me about the drinking water in NYC.(He said something like “I heard your drinking water in NYC is excellent because the reservoirs are upstate.†I knew who he was but couldn’t believe the topic we were discussing.)
excuse me. it’s me again. i read my comment about MEAT/RACK playing at the 55th playhouse 30 years ago. Hello! it’s 40 years not 30.Thanks again everybody.
Nope. Just me. I got in touch with the guy with the MEAT/RACK ad and he is the nicest guy(on the planet!) he gave me his original MEAT/RACK ad(that you see on his chainedandperfumed website)that as he mentions was stuck in a Films and Filming magazine perhaps since the week the movie opened.(March 20, 1970)So SOMEONE in 1970 must have liked the ad and/or movie so much that they cut the ad out of the new york times newspaper then put it in the film magazine where it stayed for 30 years.I wonder WHO that SOMEONE was? Are they still with us? I am VERY grateful for the original MEAT/RACK ad(they can bury me with it)but it makes me crave finding the poster even more(if that’s possible).And to the SOMEONE who cut the ad out 30 years ago, I try to telepath postive engery to YOU whoever and wherever YOU may be now. Thank you guys for the response and the link.I really appreciate your help and thoughtfulness.
Could there be two of you looking?
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The DVD is available through Something Weird with “Sticks & Bones” on the same disc.
MEAT/RACK(the real story about midnight cowboys/A Film by Michael Thomas/A SHERPIX RELEASE)opened at the 55th playhouse theater on March 20, 1970.It arrived before Deep Throat,Boys in the Sand or any of the other hardcore exploitation films from the 1970’s.I know that the company Sherpix printed movie posters for their films because I have collected a few of them. I have been hunting for the MEAT/RACK movie poster for yearS now and can’t seem to located a copy.I’ve never even laid eyes on one that’s how mysterious MEAT/RACK movie poster is.Does anyone know if there was one even issued for the movie? Or have I been chasing a ghost?
Thank Gerald.
I found a 1970 NYT article that explains when legit switched from 8:30pm-8:50pm shows to 7:30pm shows so that people would attend shows just after work. This followed a drop in attendance when Times square had, as AGR mentioned, a spree of muggings.
The start times were later compromised at 8:00pm after restaurants complained it was hurting their business. NYC art houses were booming then and ran all day anyway.
The concept of “Curtain at 8:40” is dealt with in this Boxoffice article from November 22, 1952:
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If I remember correctly, film roadshows also started at 8:40 in the time of Oklahoma, Around the Wold, etc.
Interesting. I didn’t know that about legit shows.
For some reason legit theaters always started the show at 8:40PM. When crime went up in NYC in the late 70’s or 80s, curtain time was moved to 8PM so people would get out earlier and suburbanites would reach home safe. It has stayed that way even now when NYC is safe, or safer. I agree with saps in that art houses probably though an 8:40 show would make their presentations look more like a theatrical event.
Maybe the art houses of the time thought that “curtain at 8:40” made their presentations seem more like a theatrical event than just another movie.
I don’t get the “curtain at 8:40” comment. Does anyone know why that term meant arthouse?
There is a small photo of the front of this theatre in Boxoffice Magazine, issue of April 19, 1952. Go to page 26.
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_041952
Interesting.
The 1942 Film Daily Year Book lists this (perhaps erroneously)as an RKO location.
This weekend I was watching a documentary film Factory Days by Paul Morrissey. He discussed the period when he was making Andy Warhol produced films. In it he showed two defunked theaters, 55th Street Playhouse & The Garrick – Andy Warhol Theater. I’m not familiar with either one. I looked up the 55th St Playhouse, and saw that it was around the block from The Zeigfeld. Apparently Warhol films had long runs at this theater. I made a few screencaps since I don’t see any working links here.
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Can’t remember if I was ever here…
Hi there. i’m new to Cinema Treasures.i’ve been reading about the 55th playhouse in new york city because one of my favorite movies opened there on March 21,1970 called MEAT/RACK.i wished i had been old enough then to see the film as well as viewing the movie poster that they must have had on display outside the theater.i collect movie posters and have been searching for MEAT?RACK(the real story about midnight cowboys)since i saw the movie on VHS in 1996.i researched the movie ads in the new york times so i have a few microfilm copies. has anyone out there ever seen the MEAT/RACK movie poster? oh and by the way, the conversation about the movie HIM has got me interested as well.
Was this (or the David) the theater across from City Center? With bathrooms on the second floor above the lobby? I had my wallet stolen in a scuffle in a darkroom behind the screen in 1980ish (and I still haven’t gotten it back!). WTF?
This film with Marcello Mastroianni opened at the 55th Street Playhouse at the end of May 1959.
Gerald, this was in February 1964 when they opened with Gregory Markopolous' “Twice a Man” and Stan Vanderbeek’s “Breath-Death”.
Warren, if MiracleMan is indeed new to CT, a welcome would have been in order, not stupid bullying.
There was a time in the 1960s or 1970s when the theatre began a policy of showing the work of independent experimental American filmmakers (perhaps Stan Brakhage, etc.) I don’t believe it lasted very long, but I was wondering if anyone could pinpoint that period and its duration.
No, I am not SamSchad. I am MiracleMan. I defend no one but I felt a comment was apropos re this particular thread.
Thank you for your concern.
We are discussing theaters and this is applicable to this one in that its advertisement for Him mentioned sheds light on questions raised within this forum. It’s hardly a stretch.