New Victory Theatre

Night view of the New Amsterdam and New Victory, 1/23/08

Ugh! Let’s try it again!!! I have to get into the habit of using that PREVIEW button!

[http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Manhattan%20Movie%20Theaters/42nd%20Street%20Rialto/600x580ft.opener1.jpg]Here’s a somewhat sharper version[/url] of that same image, Warren. I dated the photo to early summer of 1985 based on some of the titles playing along the block. It appears that RAMBO, FIRST BLOOD PART II is playing at the Lyric, and further down, LIFEFORCE is at the Apollo. RAMBO opened in May of ‘85 and LIFEFORCE that June.

Here’s a 1930s view as Billy Minsky’s Republic: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/repburley.jpg

Near the end there some deuce houses ran double feature first-runs. I recall many of the Cineplex Odeon National Twin films both playing double-bill around the corner and at half the price, as long as they did not advertise.

This may have been the result of martial arts and porn product drying up or going straight to video.

Jerry… I’m thinking that was a last ditch effort to keep the Victory going while the City was ramping up efforts to clean up the strip – probably around 1988/89? It didn’t last long as the Victory was shuttered by 1990.

Last time I saw a movie on the Duece was early 1988 and I recall that the Victory was still showing XXX porn. The other grinders had mostly gone mainstream – with new Hollywood product topping the bill and an older genre flick in support. One or two of the theatres were still showing Kung Fu flicks – I think the Cine 42 was one, maybe the Rialto II. The Harem was still in full porn swing and if I recall, the Empire was already shuttered. In fact, the Liberty may have also been closed at the time – but I can’t remember for sure.

My Duece swan song was a double bill of “Action Jackson” with Carl (Apollo Creed) Weathers supported by a cheapo Billy Dee Williams actioner called “Love You to Death” (or something like that) co-starring Prince “find” Vanity and the immortal Morgan Fairchild. The theatre reeked of marijuana and urine (I’m almost positive it was the Selwyn, but could have been the Times Square) and, while I soldiered on through both features, I pretty much knew about 20 or 30 minutes in to the first flick that this would be my last trip to one of the old 42nd Street grind houses.

Interesting to see a shot of the Victory’s marquee advertising mainstream features after so many years on the porn grind! Great shot… I’ve been looking to pick up a copy of this book for some time now.

A 1970 night-time view of the Victory can be seen here. That’s a capture from a video clip on YouTube which is a segment from an A&E documentary on Times Square.

A different angle of the marquee change that I posted above, shows another double feature booking in 1962. Not too long before The Victory went to adult fare. j

View link

The current staircase is copied from the original, which had to be removed in 1910 to conform with the city’s widening of 42nd Street.

I am sorry that I didn’t see the theater while it was still showing porn. It would have been interesting to say the least.

As I mentioned would happen in an earlier post, I took the kiddies to a show at the New Vic just the other night, where our seats were right on the stage. After the performance, I snapped a few photos of the house from this vantage point and thought I’d share them here…

Full view from the stage
Stage right
Stage left

The folks managing the theater that night were pretty strict about not allowing photographs, so these were all I could manage without drawing much attention to myself. I would have grabbed a shot looking up into the fly space or into the riggings off in the wings, but it was quite dark and I didn’t have an opportunity.

Excellent pictures of the auditorium, Ed. Thanks for sharing them with us.