Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
38 people
favorited this theater
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You will find discussions on both those subjects elsewhere on this site but it looks like there were two Embassy 49’s, and the Frisco was the DEEP THROAT/MISS JONES record holder.
DennisZ, you bring up an interesting point. I cant answer your question, but can throw another one at you. What was the name of the Times Square theatre that ran a double-feature of “Deep Throat” and “Devil and Ms Jones” for practically 10 years? It began sometime in the mid-70’s and ran well into the 1980s. I would bet that this would be the longest-run engagement of all time in New York City.
Was not the Embassy 49th Street originally called The World Theatre where “Deep Throat” had a rather lengthy engagement? Then all of a sudden it was renamed the Embassy 49th Street and its first film attraction under the new name was a Disney movie?
This discussion should probably be moved to the Strand page, but I imagine much of whatever remained of the original decor was hidden behind drapery, as happened to the Rivoli and Capitol during the roadshow era. I’d be interested in any recollections longislandmovies had on the old place.
As for the Embassy chain’s presence in the Times Square area, let’s not forget the Embassy 49th Street theater that lasted into the 80’s.
LIM if you were the manager at the Warner Twin could you tell us how much of the old Strand still existed. I always assume that if a theater was fit for cinerama in the 50’s they just built a smaller theater within the larger. In your wanderings around the place did you still see much of the original structure? Had much of its history been preserved?
Thanks for the correction on the cinerama ……..I was a manager at the warner twin in 1984 and the Orleans was open then …….I think it closed about 1985…
AlAlvarez is absolutely correct. My question: why did theatres start numbering their auditoriums instead of keeping their individual names? I can understand the AMC 25, but why drop the name “Penthouse”? Why name three differently located theatres with the name Embassy? The Embassy 2, 3, 4? Why not the DeMille 1, 2, 3? And the Embassy 5 for the Victoria was just silly.
Twin Two was called the Penthouse from 1968 to 1976, Cinerama ll from 1976-1982 and Warner ll after that. The Orleans was splintered off into porn ghetto oblivion when the name changed in 1976.
warner twin was in the 70s as Cinerama and the 2nd theater was called the penthouse………. never called cinerama 1&2..just fyi
My mistake in that last post. The ad for “The Cardinal” was to announce its upcoming engagement at the Demille on December 12, 1963. As the following clipping from the same edition of the News indicates, this Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward comedy was day and dating at the Demille and Coronet Theaters:
A New Kind of Love 11/25/63
Here’s a clip from the day of JFK’s funeral in November of ‘63, while “The Cardinal” was in its reserved seat engagement at the DeMille:
Daily News 11/25/63
“It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” had only just recently opened at the Warner Cinerama (former Strand) across the Square and up the block on B'way.
The UA Twin @ Broadway and 49th was the last name used by the great Rivoli Theater – which is very much listed on this site. That theater was actually on a trapezoidal block bounded by the east side of Broadway and the west side of 7th Ave and running from 49th to 50th Street.
The Mayfair/Demille (the theater on this page) was known as the Embassy II, III, IV after it was triplexed and stands on 7th Avenue just off the northeast corner with 47th Street. The Embassy 1 is the former Newsreel Theater adjacent to the RKO Palace just a block to the south (and now the Times Square Visitors Center). The former Gaiety/Victoria theater on the west side of Broadway just south of 46th Street was briefly known as the Embassy V before it was razed (along with the old Astor and several legit theaters to the west) to make way for the Marriot Marquis in 1982. It is listed here as the Victoria.
The RKO Warner is listed here as the Strand Theater and was also known as the RKO Cinerama 1 and 2 during the 70’s and ‘80’s. It was demolished in the late '80’s. The other theater you’re looking for (on the west side of Times Square opposite the Embassy) is listed here as Movieland and was built as the Central and subsequently dubbed the Gotham, Forum, Forum 47th (and possibly one or two other variations) before B.S. Moss dubbed it Movieland in the late '70’s. The former lobby space now houses the Roxy Delicatessen and the old auditorium (which housed a disco for a while) was demolished to make way for the W Hotel on 47th.
I hate doing this writing about one theatre, but not another, but I moved to NYC in ‘82 and distinctly remember seeing movies on the west side of Times Square (opposite from the Embassy). I recently looked up the films I remembering seeing in those venues, but can’t find the listings here. I remember in '87 going to see a movie called BEDROOM WINDOW in one of these theatres. I looked up the BR ad in the Times and it played at a theatre called the UA Twin @ Broadway & 49th, but I can’t find a listing for that theatre? Is it listed and under what name?
And was there ever a third Embassy Cinema in Times Square called Embassy 4? I know the Embassy I was at 46th Street and the Triplex was at 49th Street, but was there an Embassy 4? Or was it simply the Embassy I at 46th Street, II, II & IV at 49th Street?
And I remember in the summer of ‘83 I saw STAR WARS revived in a first-run house on the west side of Times Square. The Times lists SW as playing that summer at the RKO Warner I. Again, no listing for a theatre called the RKO Warner I. Is that theatre listed?
Thanks, it was taken by a friend who managed theatres for many years in Times Square and then on 42 St, he is finally digging through his old stuff and making me copies.
Veyoung, here’s a Bosley Crowther review from the NY Times that states it was 9-channel stereo. I found one more reference to this engagement in the Times when the film “Cinerama’s Russian Adventure” was reviewed, but no mention of the kind of business it did.
RobertR… absolutely awesome photo of the Embassy, Palace and Demille!!! Is it one of your own or did you find it online?
Does anybody have a color photo of the Hawaii billboard? That was also pretty spectacular.
The Magnificent Men had moving parts.The planes looking as if they were bobbing in the air and legs spinning.
Thank you RobertR!
Does anyone here have stats on the Kinopanorama presentation in 1959. I’ve contacted the Moscow film people, and they even dont seem to know much. The reviews mentioned a 60-plus foot screen, only 7 channels, not 8, being used. After the 2nd week, even “Variety” magazine didnt print the box office stats. Anybody know any more?
“Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” at the Demille
embassy-1.jpg
Not sure what went wrong with those last two links. Here they are again:
2002 long shot
2002 marquee and facade
Below are a few shots I took of the theater back in 1993 when it was still in operation and then again in 2002 when it was not:
1993 Long shot with Show Follies
1993 Marquee and facade
2002 Long shot
2002 Marquee and facade
The marquee for the Show Follies porn palace is still in place, though it is now over the entrance to a typical Times Square gift shop. You can’t make it out in either 2002 photo, but I seem to recall that you could make out the marquee lettering from the Will Smith & Gene Hackman flick “Enemy of the State” under the white canvas sheets hung over the marquee with the rental contact information. Assuming that was one of the last films to play here would place the closing of the Embassy 2,3,4 sometime in late 1998 or early ‘99.
Look at this awesome billboard for the Mayfair.
View link
I agree.
First line reads: On Screen ITS COLOSSAL
Second line reads: KILLER “KRONOS"
Third line reads: 8 ACTS VAUDEVILLE
I think it is KRONOS listed as KILLER KRONOS.
May 12, 1957, Jeff Morrow, Barbra Lawrence, plus 8 Vaudeville acts.
According to ibdb.com, “Plane Crazy,” devised by Suzy Conn, never opened on B'way. “Boeing Boeing,” a play similar in theme, had a disasterous run at the Cort in Feb. ‘65, folding within three weeks; erstwhile MGM teen throb Carleton Carpenter was reduced to playing stand-by for its star, Ian Carmichael.
“A Face in the Crowd,” advertised on the Mayfair’s billboard in RobertR’s photo album on the Victoria’s page, opened at the Globe on 28 May ‘57. The Palace was still offering “8 Big Acts” of Vaudeville in '57. Squint as I might, I can’t make out the film’s title on the Palace’s marquee—to me, it seems to have the words “Killer Racoons” in it, but I can find no listing for any movie with that phrase in the streamer; nor for any movie beginning with “It’s” and including “Kill[er[[s]]].”
On the Victoria page they have the actual photo. The billboard is actually displaying A Face in the Crowd. So they got the decade wrong.