Metropolitan Theatre
241 East 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
241 East 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 46 of 46 comments found
What 14th Street Theater is this photo depicting ? Taken 4-30-1916
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The following is quoted from the July 24, 1947 issue of The New York Times, page 36: “The Arrow Theatre, a 600-seat moving picture house at 235 East 14th Street, has been leased by Benjamin Knobel and Leo Silver to a corporation headed by Morris Goldman and David J. Sanders. It will be renovated at a cost of $50,000 and renamed The Fourteenth Street Metropolitan Theatre, according to Berk & Krumgold, the brokers who arranged the twenty-one-year lease.” Benjamin Knobel was a longtime theatre owner whose name often turns up at Cinema Treasures.
Hi,
I’m the great-great-grandson of Lorenz Weiher. I’ve been trying to find any additional info on his life and professional career as a builder. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, died in the flu epidemic of 1918. Here is a photo of him in the late 1800’s.
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Here is a picture of Tammany Hall and Bryants Minstrals in 1868 just after opening of the building.
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The Metropolitan was a Spanish-language theater in 1953. Our high school class went for a visit to see a comedy with Tin-Tan, a Mexican comedian, and a Donald Duck cartoon. I didn’t know that Clarence “Ducky” Nash could do duck-talk in Spanish!
Here’s an 1895 image of the entrance to Tony Pastor’s 14th Street Theatre. The building to the left is Tammany Hall. The theatre has been depicted in many movies about the “Gay ‘90s,” most memorably, perhaps, in the Alice Faye musical, “Lillian Russell,” where Tony Pastor was portrayed by Leo Carrillo:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/pastor14.jpg
I stand corrected and apologize for posting incorrect information. Thank you for clarifying.
The Metropolitan did not have a “much richer history” as Tony Pastor’s 14th Street Theatre, which was further west and situated at 143 East 14th Street (next to Tammany Hall). The theatre first opened in 1868 as home to Bryant’s Minstrels, and was later leased to a German repertory company. In 1881, Tony Pastor took over and turned it into probably the most famous vaudeville house of the late 19th century.
If this NY Times story is true, Tony Pastor’s Fourteenth Street Theater was torn down in 1928.
“FAREWELL TO TONY PASTOR’S; The Old Theatre Is Soon to Be Only A Memory
May 13, 1928
Like many another New York building rich in memories, one of the most famous theatres is soon to be torn down. It is what was once Tony Pastor’s, on East Fourteenth Street, and on the site it occupies will be built an addition to the new Consolidated Gas Building".
If you map 585 Broadway on Google Maps you will find that address is nowhere near 14th St. Its located near Prince Street which is approximately fifteen blocks south of 14th Street. Are you sure that its the same Metropolitan Theater or could the address be a typo?
This theatre has a much richer past than would be indicated here. It was home to Tony Pastor’s New Fourteenth St Theatre, the home of vaudeville in NYC.
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/pastor.html
In 1881 Pastor leased the Germania Theatre and renamed it Tony Pastor’s New Fourteenth Street Theatre, announcing that it would be “catering to the ladies, and presenting for the amusement of the cultivated and aesthetic Pure Music and Comedy, Burlesque, and Farce.” Tony Pastor’s, as it came to be known, played variety shows until 1908. It was the most popular New York theatre of the 1880s, paving the way for the theatrical ventures of the impresarios B. F. Keith and Oscar Hammerstein, but by the first years of the twentieth century theatergoers had gone northward to venues in Times Square. In 1908 the Fourteenth Street Theatre became a motion picture theater; the same year, Pastor decided not to renew the lease.
Also from the website.
1875 when he took over the Metropolitan Theatre at 585 Broadway. It was here that he worked to perfect the form of entertainment known as legitimate vaudeville, variety which was suitable for women and children as well as the traditional male audience.
Although not a movie house that I am aware of, perhaps we could restore the Metropolitian entry at that address until more research can be done. And we could add Germania as an entry to this address.
Although I was never inside, I can remember the thrill I got when walking on 14th St in the late 70’s, I came across a slab of sidewalk that had “Tony Pastor’s” inset in white tiles. I never saw it again and had since wondered where it was but even at the time, I knew I was somewhere historic.
1975 now featuring Super Panascope :)
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A 1947 ad as 14th Street’s equivalent of the Laffmovie:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/met14th.jpg
This indeed prolific architect always used both names and two middle initials—Lorenz F. J. Weiher. Note the spelling correction of his last name.
I just had a flashback rush when I saw that pic. Truly one of the filthiest theatres I have ever been in, in every sense of the word. Made the Variety Photoplays seem like a day at the Cloisters.
Here’s a view of the auditorium. Note the ladder stored under the screen:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/133-3331_IMG.jpg
Warren, we obviously don’t catch every duplicate entry, but we do get to them as soon as possible. Usually we do updates every day. The other entry for the Metropolitan has been deleted.
Bryan Krefft
Cinema Treasures
This theatre still has two separate listings. Can’t they be consolidated into one?
A sliver-sized apartment building now occupies the site.
I don’t know. I’ll try to look the next time that I’m in the area. But I suspect that it has either been demolished or marked for demolition along with adjacent sites.
Warren, do you know what the building is used for now?
Is the interior intact?