Criterion Theatre
1514 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1514 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
27 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 606 comments
Hell0-
to my fellow moviegoers who remember the roadshow runs held at this theater and the Loews State, RKO Palace, the Demille, the Warner, the Rivoli and the Loews Capitol.
in reference to vandanpar’s 9/11/19 comment. does any one ever remember a theater running out of souvenir programs? of all the roadshow engagements I attended(in the Set. 1952 to Dec. 1972 period)I never remember a theater running out of souvenir programs.
Acronyms can be fun to figure out though I get your frustration. On Lynley’s death I emailed a friend about TPA. He had no idea what I was talking about and wrote me an annoyed email calling me inscrutable and asking me to explain it. It seemed pretty obvious to me.
if anyone has a clear picture of the oval and downstairs lounge, now might be a good time to post it.
I saw a couple of movies in the early 80s in the basement screens – badly raked and tight seating even for the times. I do remember the downstairs lounge going back to Is Paris Burning and Patton days. The upstairs screen out of the old balcony might have been the best value for money experience in the Criterion Center days – saw Garp and Cry in the Dark there
I assume that’s where the large elegant oval white lounge was on the lower level. Can anybody who remembers the original theater confirm that?
Maybe the introduction should be updated to mention that those basement theaters we damp little hellholes…
Also, thanks ridethetrain for your Sept 4 info here about this theater & your similiar posts on other theater pages. The Intro has been updated.
Please don’t speak in “code” meaning abbreviations! It is taken me awhile to recall that some posts ago “N & A” was Nicholas & Alexandria. Spell out the names of the movies.
Bigjoe I assure you I am not making this up! I was scandalized. If I knew how to post pictures I would find that image so you could see. Unfortunately the Criterion marquee is a bit in the distance but you get the idea.
Of course when I first walked into the Criterion the first thing I looked for was the program but I didn’t see it! Strange because when I walked in for the Jan revival of MFL earlier in the year there was a guy in a tux selling an abridged version in softcover of the ‘64 hardback.
I’ve learned about Twilight Time limited edition blu rays the hard way. I did get the Japanese edition of Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines because somebody wrote it was the exact same transfer and you could get rid of subtitles. Do you know if this is the same situation for Nicholas? That it is the exact same transfer and subtitles can be eliminated?
I’ve been reading that the kino Lorber Sweet Charity bluray is better than the French blue ray. The problem is they advertised it as the roadshow version yet they left out the entr'acte and exit music. I guess the young people who put these things together don’t know what a roadshow was and don’t really research what that entails. These things exist in earlier video releases of the film. Sloppy.
Joe, why don’t you photograph and post excerpts from some of your roadshow programs…
Hello-
to vindanpar- I still can not believe that during N&A’s roadshow run at this theater that the marquee only had big block letters and never the glass or plastic plates with the art work. rather highly unusual for a roadshow film.
I did buy the souvenir program the first time I saw the film. its rather nice. in reference to your case with all the roadshow films I saw I never remember a theater running out of souvenir programs.
also whenever Twilight Tine releases a blu-ray disc buy it immediately don;t wait. i looked at Amazon and there is a all regions blu-ray from Spain. that’s reasonably priced.
The Criterion Center open on March 20,1980 with 5 screens. The 6th screen open on February 6, 1981 When United Artists took over the theatre in 1988, sometime in early 1990 they split the lower auditorium. B.S. Moss wasn’t responsible for theatre 2 to be split, it was United Artists Theatre Circuit> Please update.
Wally I was teasing you. It was no way an attack. You have a proud history on CT and I thought I’d needle you a bit. I apologize.
I WASN’T GOING TO SAY ANYTHING..ABOUT HELLO DOLLY TIL' I SAW WHAT WAS BEING SAID ABOUT DANNY LOCKIN. I HAVE BEEN ON C.T FOR MANY YEARS.. I ALSO KNOW THAT TOPICS GO WITH THE FLOW… THE ONLY REASON I POSTED THIS FOR THE LINE “MAYBE I’M A NEWBIE”. WAS THAT A PERSONAL ATTACK?
Hello-
first off our discussion of the much maligned Hello Dolly got started on this page because I was discussing the 7 Times Square theaters the studios used for their roadshow engagements. that went on to a discussion of maligned roadshow film posters on this page thought were first rate.
to vindanpar- you mentioned your wonderment on they got that gorgeous final wide angle shot of the film with the church and the nearby river with no intrusions of anything that shouted 1968. I read a few years ago they shot that final scene on the grounds of West Point not to far from Garrison.
Yes but Cinema Treasures has a long history of people congregating on one page discussing many things unrelated to that specific theater. Maybe Wally is a newbie.
I think Wally meant we should be discussing Hello, Dolly on the Rivoli page…
Yes but it was filmed in ‘68. Merrick being the little devil he was decided to have some fun with 20th Century Fox and gave all the executives there heart attacks(figuratively speaking) because he was David Merrick and he could.
Lockin’s death was a terrible tragedy and I think the man who did it was given practically no time at all.
Danny Lockin’s role, naïve maybe, like a young guy living in a small town hearing for the first time, there’s another world out there.. Sorry, he did not live long enough to show us more…He passed in August 21 1977..due to homicide…You know HELLO DOLLY opened at THE RIVOLI in 1969..
Yes the Hudson as a backdrop is magnificent. Though in the opening credits you see cars on the NY thruway which is kind of funny or is it the Palisades parkway?
How they got that wide expansive final shot with the church over looking the river with no 1968 intrusions I’ll never know.
Hello-
to vindanpar-
I thank you for your thoughts on Hello Dolly. like you
I have never gotten the overproduced objections. also I thought it was kind wise of Kelly to shoot the 1890’s Yonkers scenes in Garrison,New York rather than trying to fake it on a backlot.
I’m a big fan of Dolly but some of it even I find cloying and silly. Michael Crawford at times threatens to torpedo the film single handedly with a to put it kindly mentally challenged Cornelius and even the wonderful Danny Lockin overdoes the naïve youth. But this is Kelly’s fault. It doesn’t help that Kidd’s choreography is at times more muscle exertion than the inspired dance of Band Wagon and Seven Brides. The Waiters' Gallop…oy.
Still much of it is pretty great with one of the great production designs of all time. What do you expect with Irene Sharaff and DeCuir given an unlimited budget? I’ve never gotten the over produced objections. Have you ever seen pictures of 14th Street and parades at the beginning the 20th Century? And this is a big splashy musical so we’re talking the scale of DW Griffith’s Babylonia here.
And yeah Streisand kills it. Funny Girl hadn’t even been released yet and she confidently leads a cast of thousands as if she were leading the storming of the Bastille. Her confidence is kind of scary. And she’s at her vocal peak taking a role not known for its vocal demands and turning it into a musical tour de force.
The bluray is a stunner. I always get a kick out of seeing the fibers and textures of the fabric of the costumes and seeing what I always thought were Dolly’s white cloth arm length gloves in the Harmonia Garden are actually calfskin.
Joe, tell you what: there is a TCM screening of Hello, Dolly! this Sunday. I will check it out with fresh eyes and report back here. Maybe others can do the same…
Hello-
to MSC77 many thanks for answering my Denver question. but I’m wondering if you would happen to know if any of the roadshow films which opened if the seven Tines Square theaters that the studios used in the 1952-1972 period did not have souvenir programs.
bigjoe59… Your recent Denver roadshow question has been answered.