Liberty Theatre
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 162 comments
When I was last along 42nd Street a few week’s back, I noticed that the old facade of the Liberty entrance is still somewhat visible behind some of the signage for the new complex. I’ll be back this Friday night for a show at the New Victory and I’ll see if I can snap a decent image of what can be seen from street level. Thanks again for that post, Joe. I saw it on the AMC Empire page as well.
The web site of the Cooper Union’s School of Architecture has an interesting page about the 42nd Street development of which the former Liberty Theatre is now a part.
It’s been a while and I’m wondering if anyone is aware of what sort of progress is being made with the conversion of the Liberty’s auditorium to new use? Last I knew it was to be a catering/event hall.
I can testify that there were no ladies, alone or otherwise, at any of the theaters on the Deuce at that time. j
God I love that sort of stuff, RobertR! Even the schlock was sold with panache! What’s become of showmanship in the industry?!?
I wonder if they enforced the no ladies allowed alone rule for this feature at the Liberty?
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I am amazed at knowing that a movie theatre is entombed inside a hotel.
Here is the updated link to the one posted by Bryan on Feb 7th 2005. Exterior view with ‘The Waste Land’ playing in 1997:
http://www.1timessquare.com/on42/adverts/waste.htm
Check out this interior photo of the Liberty seats by Mitch Epstein at
www.nytimes.com/specials/ts/home/epst.html
In addition. there is a beautiful shot by Andrew Moore of the Liberty stage and fire curtain at www.andrew-moore.info
(just click on Photography and then Times Square 1995-2005)
The Liberty photo is all the way to the right on the top row.
There are also approx. 10 other photos of the unrestored Times Square, Selwyn and New Amsterdam.
Enjoy!
Looks similar to the ad I posted for the Providence Opera House showing of the Griffith film, and same $2.00 top admission, enormous for a film in 1915.
Great ad, Warren. I love the boasting “House remodeled according to scientific adjustment of focal requirements”.
Birth of a Nation at a cost of $500,000. Today the caterer on set gets that much.
And imagine $2.00 admission! I didn’t pay $2.00 on the Deuce in the 60s! j
Another image…..old but not as old. January 1967.
My investigation skills indicate that the shot was taken not too long after the image that appears in Marc Eliot’s book….Down 42nd Street. The features at the Harris in Marc’s book are shown here at the Anco. And the Empire has the same double bill…The Professionals & Attempt to Kill. j
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Thanks, Gerald. My email is listed in my profile. The search continues…..j
It really wouldn’t help you, since I am from Providence and most of the movies I saw at the time were seen locally or in Boston. Besides, it’s a handwritten mess. I saw movies in New York sporadically only beginning around 1964…a lot more in the 1970s and 1980s. If I do note something along the line of this interest, I will relay it to you.
Gerald,
Great mix. And amazing foresight to keep a log!!!
I have been trying to recreate the films that I saw in the 50s & 60s in the theaters that didn’t advertise regularly: Terrace (23rd St)and all of the 42nd Street theaters. If you have a spreadsheet or any way to email that portion of your list…..I’d greatly appreciate it. I’m on this great treasure hunt. j
Jerry, I don’t “remember” them as such. I simply wrote them down. I’ve kept a log of all the movies I’ve seen since 1958. Since you are interested, the movies I saw during that stay were: Blow-Up, Chushingura, Les Carabiniers, Throne of Blood & Drunken Angel, Seven Days in May, The Chelsea Girls, Fahrenheit 451, The Railroad Man & The Shameless Old Lady, Night Games, Eric Soyas “17”, Le Bonheur & Judex. The specific theatres follow the sequence in my previous comment.
Gerald,
I bet thet you remember the other movies. What were they? j
I saw John Frankenheimer’s Seven Days in May here on January 24, 1967, late at night after a five-film movie marathon in Manhattan that day. I had just gotten out of the Air Force and was spending several days in New York satisfying movie-lust and other urges before returning home to mamma. The theatres I visited during that stint were the Coronet, Carnegie Hall Cinema, the Museum of Modern Art film auditorium, Fifth Avenue Cinema, Liberty, Regency, 8th Street Playhouse, Waverly, Festival, Studio, and New Yorker. The only ones that still survive as cinemas are MoMA and the now-resurrected IFC/Waverly.
In 1968 Trans-Lux Relasing re-issued the African Queen.
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Liberty Theatre, circa 1980's
http://www.kilduffs.com/theatre_NYC_Liberty.jpg
The EasyEverything internet cafe occupies the former lobby space of the Liberty, just behind the building’s landmarked exterior.
Of course, I meant to say that I was grateful the theater WASN’T plowed under…
I was the one who posted (erroneously) that the theater was between 42nd and 43rd. I meant to say 41st street where I say “43rd street” in that post. My apologies. Anyway, as mentioned in my post and in later posts, the auditorium of The Liberty remains largely intact, hidden behind the 42nd Street Applebees Restaurant and under the Hilton Times Square tower. It appears that it is currently undergoing renovations to suit some sort of catering or event purpose. Hopefully, the room will retain as much of it’s original beauty and architectural detail as the new use will allow. I’m just grateful that the theater was wholly plowed under to make way for the Hotel and other retail concerns. I’m just as grateful and hopeful with regards to the Times Square Theater, which is currently under renovation and conversion to retail use across the street.
I have an exterior photo of the Liberty (circa early 90s). I’ll e-mail it to some if they want to post it.
What actress performed “The Wasteland” at the Liberty in 1996?