8th Street Playhouse
52 W. 8th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
52 W. 8th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
23 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 110 comments
the 8th St. Playhouse, my first job as a projectionist: spring, 1974.
double bill: Paper Moon & A Touch of Class.
saw ‘The Lacemaker’ and ‘Outrageous’ here.
BobT: Congrats! You are a true Rocky/Shocky fan.
MarkNYLA: Thanks for the correction. The condos are in the same area as where the theatre stood. My coordinates were just a little off. You have to remember that at that time my brain was spaced out on sensation (among other things) :)
Truth be told, Charles, the 8th Street Playhouse wasn’t replaced by condos. The building that housed the theatre is now the NYC outpost of TLA Video, a video rental company specializes in obscure, cult and offbeat titles. It’s probably the best video rental in NY, next to Kim’s Underground. This dosn’t excuse the loss of a great theatre (the first theatre I made a beeline for when I moved here), but it least something movie related took it’s place.
Ah, the 8th St. Playhouse. Made famous for showing Rocky Horror, and is seen in the movie “Fame” when a Doris, and Ralph attend Rocky
Sal Piro – president of The RHPS Fan Club played himself – The best Rocky Horror MC there ever will be. – All the regulars got their face on film too. – Somehow the fact that it’s been replaced by luxurious condos doesn’t seem right. I bet no one in unit 3B is doing The Time Warp. Perhaps the only rice, cards, or tp that gets thrown is by the couple in 12A who are always bitchin' in the kitchen, and cryin' in the bedroom all night. BUT I digress. :)
To me, it’s another classic theatre lost to the almighty green-back.
As late as Decmber 1973 this was still part of Cinema 5 (re-named Rugoff Theatres). They were playing “What’s Up Doc” and “Get to Know Your Rabbit”.
In an ad from April of 1959 the 8th Street playhouse appears in a block ad as a Rugoff Theatre, this is the first time I ever heard it was part of that chain. They were playing Bernard Shaws “Doctors Dilema” released to cash in on her Gigi fame.
Thanks for those details, Robert, and for the memories you, Irv, and everyone else has offered. My New York is, by default and by my age, the contemporary New York of Sunday brunch, weekend lines at the Angelika and the Sunshine, and a Starbucks Vanilla Creme Frappucino (when the mood strikes), but I value the remnants of the ‘Old New York’ we still have (St. Marks Place, for being an ALMOST corporate-free zone; the Waverly Restaurant; John’s of Bleecker Street; and several many others – but far too few as well – to list). Oh, to be 10 years older and to have lived in the New York all you guys had a chance to enjoy…
Once in a while they used to have all night music film festivals, staring around midnight and running straight through till 8 am, with films like The Song Remains The Same and The Grateful Dead Movie.
I was just reminiscing with a friend about first seeing Rocky Horror Picture show at the 8th Street Playhouse in 1978. What a shock to find this website and learn that it closed and the marquee torn down. So sad.
I came in from little backwater-Connecticut at the invitation of a NY friend and what madness ensued that Saturday night at the Playhouse. It seemed as though hundreds of people were dressed up in Rocky garb. One guy had wore his enormous (real) boa constrictor and it was the snake’s 15th viewing of the stage show/film.
When they asked who was a virgin that evening, anyone who raised their arms got grabbed and kissed by various strangers around them.
Indeed the loss of the 8th Street Playhouse was a sad one, and only part of the beginning of the dismantling of the cool, weird, dark, fun & sometimes dangerous New York City that somehow started to vanish 10 or so years ago (give or take 2 or 3 years). When I moved to New York in the mid 1980s one of the first experiences I had was seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the 8th Street Playhouse. Sal Piro and the freaky 8th St. Playhouse cast, needless to say, were amazing! This was the one and only time I have seen Rocky Horror on the big screen, and it just about embodied everything I came to New York for: to be in the midst of a total wierd freak show. At that time I would have never imagined that the 8th Street Playhouse as well as the Rocky Horror midnight show cast would vanish forever. Those guys had been at it for over ten years at that point and the theater was great in itself. How the hell could something so great be shut down forever?
A few other movies I remember seeing there were ‘Earth Girls Are Easy’, Ken Russel’s ‘Lair of the White Worm’, and a revival screening of ‘The Graduate’. In fact during either ‘White Worm’ or ‘Earth Girls’ (can’t remember which) they ran the original trailer for the upcoming screening of ‘The Gradute’. So Cool.
As somebody else mentioned here, I also took this stuff for granted. I thought great theaters and film revival were here to stay. After all this was New York City and there is always cool stuff to do that you can’t do anywhere else. There still is, but you REALLY have to look for it. Back then it was literally all around you and never, ever hard to find. Now it’s the reverse. “Normal” things like Starbucks & Bed, Bath, & Beyond are easy to find and always all around.
The alteration of the facade of Electric Ladyland, next door was also total blasphemy. It looks so lame and Hard Rock Cafe-esque now. And this is somewhat unrelated, but I’m sure alot of people on this thread remember the Postermat across the street from 8th Street Playhouse. That place was so cool and one day vanished into thin air only to be replaced by an Army/Navy store. Why?????
When you first walked in the box office was on your right and was a window in the center of the wall, and I believe the managers office was behind it. You walked past the ticket taker and the next area of the lobby was larger. There was a decent sized concession stand and some leather couches. The walls were grey, black and white and decorated with posters of coming attractions. Then there were the doors to the auditorium which when you entered had a large wide isle in the back. If you went into the theatre it had three secions and two aisles. In the rear left (if you were facing the screen) were the stairs to the second floor lounge, rest rooms and projection booth. There was no balcony. The theatre if I rember right was painted grey with black trim. On either side of the screen were two neon sculptures that were lit at intermission and blinked to the beat of the music. The sound system was top notch at least when it was an independant and a City Cinemas. I was only there 2x when UA had the place and the films I saw were mono revivals. The place was always clean, slightly a little ruff around the edges at times, but by no means run down. I believe when City Cinemas booked it they did some painting and might have put down new carpets. I don’t think there was ever a platter it was always 2 projectors with 6000 foot reels.
What was the general layout of the 8th Street Playhouse? Was the decor kept up-to-date, rundown, somewhere in between? The only physical remembrance I have of it as a moviehouse was when it was boarded-up after City Cinemas pulled out and before TLA Video moved into the space.
Boy, does this bring back memories. I lived right around the corner from this cinemas for most of the eighties. I remember when “The Big Chill” came out and there was quite a bit of discussion about that film and the similarities between that film and Sayles' “Return of the Secaucus 7”. The 8th St. Playhouse revived the Sayles film. I remember the line was around the block, snaking down Sixth Avenue when the long version of Leonne’s “Once Upon a Time in America” screened there (I was in the line.)
And I remember the brief period when it was a rep house well. I remember that was my first introduction to Claude Chabrol. They did a Chabrol retro.
And I was at some of those screenings posted by Robert. I remember seeing “La Belle Noiseuse” there the “The Wall”/“Song Remains the Same” double-bill.
I also remember cutting out of work early on a Friday afternoon and seeing a “Giant”/“Rebel Without a Cause” double bill.
I used to have a friend who lived at 58 West 8th, just down the block from the theatre. I remember seeing Yellow Submarine there.
Looking at some newspaper ads from the 50s, the theater is listed as a Rugoff-Becker theater, along with the Gramercy, Art, Beekman & Austin. Some of the features: “Arsenic & old Lace” with “Inspector General”. Rene Clair’s “Gates of Paris” with “Virtous Scoundrel”; Sophia Loren “Miller’s Beautiful Wife” with “Love & Jealousy”; Fellini’s “White Shiek”; along with occasional mainstream single features like “To Catch A Thief”, “Prince & The Showgirl”.
I just recalled something strange about their 3-D festival. In some showings they changed the aspect ratio of the films. I recall seeing “Dial M for Murder” and “Kiss Me Kate” in both full frame and cropped 1.85 ratios there. I’m not sure which one is considered accurate. Both movies were filmed and printed full frame but I know “Kiss Me Kate” was originally cropped in 1953 and advertised as ‘widescreen’ as well as 3-D to jump on the CinemaScope band wagon. I think they play better in 1.33 personally.
There was also a film book store on the same block.
Aside from the spectacular 3-D festival which featured the east coast premiere of “Dial M for Murder in 3-D”, they also had a “Silent Clowns Festival” which was a tie in with the Walker Kerr
book. Live organ was played with each film.
If memory serves, I believe they played original nitrate prints from
Rohauer and other collectors. I recall the opening of “Seven Chances” even had the two color Technicolor prologue. “The Rink” was tinted and toned. The Keaton movies had better contrast and sharpness than any dupe copy shown afterwards which is why I think
they showed originals. I specifically recall “The High Sign” and
“Sherlock Jr.” sparkling on the screen. When they later played them at the Lincoln Plaza cinema a few years later, they were grainy washed out dupes. If they did indeed play original nitrate they were probably circumventing fire laws but the festival sure looked
great.
If anyone else can recall who played the organ and what specific year it was run (somewhere from 1975-1979) I would appreciate a follow up post.
8th Street Playhouse also played some unusual double bills while I was at NYU. I recall one of the strangest was a pairing of “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Dr. Strangelove”. Spent most of the day there with that show.
It was one of the great repertory cinemas of the era. The silver screen was large and went from wall to wall without curtains. They had black strips than came down from the ceiling to mask off 1.85 films. About the only bad show was a screening of “Gone with the Wind” which they played in 1.85 instead of 1.33. Otherwise, presentation was quite good. In the 3-D festival they played an original Technicolor stereo pair of “Kiss Me Kate”. The film jammed and burned during the screening the audience laughed but I cringed, realizing it was probably the only surviving Technicolor prints of this film.
According to a Village Voice ad the 8th Street Playhouse presented an interesting “Sleaze Festival” in March of 1983. A line in the ad read: “FILMS NOT SEEN OUTSIDE OF DRIVE-INS IN THE DEEP SOUTH.” The program:
March 9: Night of the Bloody Apes & The Last Survivor (imported horror)
March 10: Good Morning – and Goodbye! & Common Law Cabin (early Russ Meyer films)
March 11 & 12: I Spit on Your Grave & Axe (female revenge)
March 13: Bloodthirsty Butchers & The Man With Two Heads (Andy Milligan horror)
March 14: Africa Addio & Mondo Cane (Mondo gross-outs)
March 15: The Big Bird Cage & The Girl in Room 2A (women in chains)
Does anyojne have any phots of the 8th Street Playhouse. I worked there for much of the 80’s and am trtying to write something about the period. I would appreciate any help. JoeF
sethkino
Yes UA did indeed spread their magic on the 8th Steet Playhouse, but only for a short time. Read the posting above about them taking the projectors.
Did UA ever run the 8th St. Playhouse? They did have a twin theatre down the road which is now run by NYU for film screenings. The 8th St. Playhouse is now a TLA Video, which is notable because the video store chain always honors its stores' histories. In Philadelphia, a TLA store is so named for the Theatre of the Living Arts, a live theatre whose space they took over. The NYC store has a writeup in store about the cinema, and has a sample film schedule from its days as a repertory house.
I saw the Talking Heads' movie, “True Stories,” there in 1986 when it was a first-run theatre. The last film I saw there was “King of Hearts,” when it was a repertory house again. That was probably in the early 1990s, shortly before it closed.
The cinema was supposedly the first “pure cinema,” as it had no theatre-like curtains opening and closing with the feature presentations, and was built as a cinema and not a theatre. The old projection booth is still up there if you go into the video store. For what it’s worth, TLA is a fantastic video store. The only one I patronize. It’s between work and home, and home is 65 blocks north.
The 8th Street Playhouse closed its doors for good in late October/early November of ‘92, before the schedule of films Robert lists above ran its course.
I just came across this flyer from the Fall 92 repertory festival at the 8th St. This was when City Cinemas was booking the theatre. They started with first run and then gave revival a shot.
8/19 La Belle Noiseuse
8/21 Duck Soup & Animal Crackers & Horsefeathers
8/23 Pinocchio & Cyrano De Bergerac
8/26 Via Appia
9/6 2001 & Full Metal Jacket
9/2 La Dolce Vita
9/4 Pink Floyd the Wall & Song Remains the Same
9/6 2001 & Full Metal Jacket
9/9 Slacker & The Graduate
9/11 Wild at Heart & 9 ½ Weeks
9/13 Toto Le Heros & 400 Blows
9/16 Poison & Tongues Untied
9/18 Room With a View & Maurice
9/20 Children of Paradise
9/23 The Vanishing & Wages of Fear
9/25 Shadows of Fog & Kakfa
9/27 Daughters of the Dust & Mississippi Marsala
9/30 Noises Off & This is My Life
10/2 Prosperos Books & Edward 2
10/4 Citizen Kane & King Kong
10/7 Rambling Rose & Poison Ivy
10/9 Brazil
10/11 Cabaret & Something for Everyone
10/14 Last Picture Show & Texasville
10/16 Jules & Jim & Black Orpheus
10/18 Batman Returns & Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
10/21 Road Warrior & Deliverance
10/23 Now Voyager & Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
10/25 The Devils & Women In Love
10/28 Blow Up & Red Dessert
10/30 Performance & The Shining
11/1 Alien & Aliens & Alien 3
11/4 Cannes Festival of Humor
11/8 Rear Window & Vertigo
11/11 Lovers & Basic Instinct
11/13 Fearless Vampire Killers & Freaks