Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
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Trouble ahead perhaps for the Ziegfeld? Cablevision is putting their Clearview Cinemas chain up for sale according to this article
Will be there Sunday night for “The Beatles-Lost Concert.” Looks Great!!!
Giles: I saw “Tommy” on Monday night and it was a DCP, but it looked and sounded great. I felt like I was back in 1975, when I saw that movie three times at the Ziegfeld, in “Quintaphonic Sound”.
I should amend that last comment to read that nothing taller could be built on the Ziegfeld’s site UNLESS the prospective developer were to apply with the Department of Buildings for a variance of some sort. Such variances and exceptions have been known to occur, since all such decisions are driven by matters of money and revenue – particularly in mid-town Manhattan!
That’s exactly right, bigjoe59. If the air rights for the theater were used by the developer to build a bulkier and taller neighboring edifice than zoning regulations would normally allow, then nothing taller than the structure that currently exists could be erected on the Ziegfeld’s site.
The building in question, by the way, is the Burlington House (not sure if that is still its name), a monolithic, black glass tower that sits right on Sixth Avenue, between W. 54th and W. 55th Streets. The southern half of the tower, closest to W. 54th, actually occupies the space of the original Ziegfeld Theater, with the current incarnation sitting back aways off Sixth Avenue, behind the skyscraper.
Hello Again-
what neighboring tower are you referring to? if the air rights were already sold a while back does that mean if God forbid the land was redeveloped they could only build a new structure the same size/height as the theater?
I wonder if the air rights/development rights were already sold when the neighboring tower was constructed.
i thank my fellow poster for the reply to my post. well at least i have an answer as to why the Ziegfeld has never been twinned. this could easily have been done by separating the elevated rear section of the orchestra. so my other question is simple. why haven’t the owners of the theater sold it? i wholeheartedly thank them for keeping the theater open but i’m guessing they could could get a huge truck load of cash even in today’s economy if they decided to sell the theater and the land for redeveloping.
I see that the Ziegfeld is showing ‘Tommy’ ‘The Song Remains the Same’ ‘The Last Waltz’ ‘U23D’ ‘Shine a Light’ ‘Stop Making Sense’ – are these 35mm prints or DCP’s?
On Saturday May the 5th – the recent 4K restoration/transfer of ‘Yellow Submarine’ is being shown as well as ‘The Beatles: Last Concert’ on Sunday.
I used to work at the Ziegfeld, and the building is part of the complex including the skyscraper facing 6th Ave. It used to be Burlington, I don’t know if it still is. Clearview only rents. Burlington would never allow it to be twinned, so that is probably why it is still a single screen.
Hello-
i have been a big fan of this theater since seeing its debut engagement the Dec.1969 roadshow run of “Marooned”. its always a joy to see a film here. a simple question- the land under the theater must be worth a bzallion dollars even in today’s economy so how has Clearview Cinemas been able to keep it open? has the chain promised to keep the theater open and never sale it or tear down. i have wondered this the last few years especially since this theater and the Paris are i believe the only single screen movie theaters left in Manhattan.
Agreed Saps! The Ziegfeld deserves to and SHOULD have the biggest screen in the city and not just barely. It should be significantly bigger and I think it would draw many more people if it did.
I’d be happy if the Ziegfeld put in a bigger screen. There is so much wasted space now above, below and on the sides — it looks like one of the classic palaces with a giant proscenium and a postage stamp screen. (Not quite, of course, but still…) The screen is out of proportion to the size of the house. Plus a bigger screen could be a real selling point for promoting the theater.
The NY Times mentions plans for a new Lincoln Center Cinerama location back in 1962. That,of course, never happened.
DEFG: Thanks for the kind remarks; I very much appreciate your comments as well.
I re-checked the finding aid for the Miller Collection of Cinerama theater plans at UCLA; it can be viewed here. It does not list any box containing plans for a new, purpose-built Cinerama house within NYC, but there are gaps in the box sequencing. It is possible that those who did the indexing for the finding aide were unable to identify the proposed locations for some of the theaters.
Also, possibly, the theater’s plans might have been included in the plans for the new Cinerama NYC offices or may have been among those generic plans mentioned at the end of the list. Then too, given the price of real estate, especially in Manhattan, it is possible that Cinerama dropped the idea or thought that another retrofit might be more practical, or by the time that the discussion were going forward, Cinerama may have decided that that the investment was no longer practical.
One day I hope to get out to UCLA and take a look myself
Thanks, CSWalczak.
I don’t know, but now that NYC has no Cinerama house, couldn’t the Ziegfeld put a 3-strip Cinerama equipment and screen even though it is not designed in the design favored by Cinerama as in the Capitol, the Dome, etc.? Besides Cinerama they could screen 70mm classics like Lawrence in a curved screen. What do you think DEFG? I know the only time that Cinerama was shown here, as explained in earlier comments, it was in 70mm, but could real Cinerama be shown here?
Over the years, Cinerama considered installing the process in a number of other NYC area theaters. According to the J. Evan Miller collection of Cinerama Theater plans housed at UCLA, at least preliminary plans or sketches were created for both Loew’s State and the Rivoli in Manhattan, the Meadowbrook in East Meadowbrook, and the Century in Huntington. There were also plans for a Cinerama New York office which would have included a screening room.
The #1 movie for the second straight week in a row is playing at this theater, “The Hunger Games”, which will still do well for weeks to come. What’s the next movie to play here? I hope it’s a mix between summer blockbusters and indie movies, since the Z always plays a mix of great movies. Once in awhile they have a bad movie that lasts only one week before they show another one.
Another look at the infamous console, thanks to member DEFG.
Howard, you’re a dreamer!
Future projectionists, please make sure the sound is loud, use the curtain, and send ushers to eject all patrons who answer & chat on their cell phones (after the cell phones ring!) during the feature. And, please routinely replace the projection light bulbs so the picture is light enough.
It’s all academic, now. Here we are, 43 years on, and we’re on the brink of having nothing left to thread in cinemas across the nation. Working masters of the craft such as yourself, Peter, will eventually be left simply to punch up data files, particularly once studios stop striking prints altogether and all extant reels just fall apart from wear and tear.
I think the intention was that he would thread up the projectors during intervals and then come back down, the way manager/projectionists did outside New York.
So they added a guy in the auditorium to ride the sound & lights while keeping a projectionist only to thread up and make changeovers, etc.? Sounds like a monumentally dumb idea.