Loew's State Theatre
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
39 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 535 comments
I’m no expert on finding these things myself, but here’s a link that was posted earlier in this thread:
http://cinematreasures.org/blog/2009/11/18/happy-50th-ben-hur
Go there and scroll way down for David’s post.
And by the way, David, thank you for a delightful read!
Just a footnote: I really miss Loews State. The thought that I will probably never again see such brilliant movie presentations as one could once see there is a sad comment on theaters in our present age.
Well, this guy asked for it, so I posted it on the “Happy 50th Ben Hur ” blog page. I am not going to clutter this site up with TWO posts of the same voluminous document. It’s on that page now. I hope you enjoy the thing. Whew!
I want to read it, damm it, just stop the nonsense and POST IT, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is the F problem? POST IT DAMM IT.
Sorry for the holdup. (Although I posted this same message last night, it strangely vanished.) I was attempting to post a link to the article about “Ben Hur” at Loews State. As I do not have a web site, this was not possible. Here is an email address: If anyone is interested in checking it out, contact me at that address and I will send you a copy in reply. I had a terrible struggle with a balky word-processing app., or this would have been completed days ago. So sorry for the delay and any resulting aggravation to site members.
David, we look forward to reading your memories about “Ben-Hur” whenever and wherever you post them. Thanks!
The old theatres had tons of obstructed view seats that were rarely used but made the house nut higher for film rental purposes. Many multiplexes do that to this day.
Once the house was adapted for roadshow use they expected to sell 100% at each performance so most seats were larger and positions were at least adequate.
Davidgreene5, You take your time until you are ready to post. Loew’s State isn’t going anywhere. AGRoura must be having a persoanl crisis……
I would wager that a good portion of the original seating count was lost with the modernization that occurred in 1958. The pic at the top, markp, is of the remodeled auditorium. The seat count at the very top is based on the original 1921 configuration. It’s likely that even more seats were lost when the auditorium was divided in the late 1960’s.
I’ve never been good at math, but 1172 and 1214 sure dont add up to 3327. Looking at that beautiful photo on the intro and reading the intro, a lot of seats must have been lost, presumably downstairs. I went to this theatre when I was in 2nd grade to see “Doctor Doolittle” I remember our school group was upstairs.
One can easily remove his own post if he wishes to reconsiders his remarks. I recommend it.
Hey AGRoura… why don’t you read the rules about posting that are listed just below. Maybe it is you who should get out of CT! David, please pay no mind to these rude and offensive comments. Things can get heated in these pages from time to time and I’ve gone at it with some people here myself. But I can’t recall another post that has made me angrier and embarrassed at a fellow CT member than the one above. Post your comments in whatever form you feel best and whenever you feel you’re ready. Many of us still look forward to reading them.
Reconsidering… Don' t post it. I could not care less what your probably stupid impression of the Ben Hur premiere is. F.. you idiot.
No offense intended Davidgreene, but do we have to crawl on our knees for you to post the damm comment on Ben Hur? Get a life! Post it or just get the hell out of CT.
Me too, please please post……..
Agree with Ed, please post.
Seems to me that would make for an excellent “blog” entry, which, once posted, you could link to from a comment here. Still… I don’t believe there is a limit on the length of individual comments – I’ve seen some rather lengthy ones. And the memory would very much relate to this page. I look forward to reading it, in whatever form it winds up taking!
Tonight, I completed a long-contemplated written account of the unforgettable experience of the first-run presentation of “Ben Hur” at Loews State Theater in New York. As the wondrous nature of this experience resulted from a host of fine details which all contributed to the whole impact, my account is really lengthy. I have endeavored to contact a Cinema Treasures site administrator for advice as to whether to proceed with posting such a thing. On the advice of a member identifying himself as “Coate”, I will probably place this on the “Happy 50th, "Ben Hur” page if there is no substantial objection to my proceeding with this.
I found it interesting that the marquee wasn’t going to have traditional changeable letters but would get a new special for each attraction. I remember when it was a twin, each side of the marquee had its own custom display but eventually they played movies for which they wouldn’t or couldn’t make a special display and it was back to the red letters on a white background.
I was delighted to read this article; although I was sure that the seat upholstery fabric was primarily gold colored. This was a half-century ago, so I could well be wrong. I am sure that, when I complete and post my recollection of the first-run experience of “Ben Hur” at Loews State, someone is going to dispute some of the details which I recall. Such is life, and the limitations of human memory.
Here is a more thorough article in Boxoffice.
http://www.boxofficemagazine.com/the_vault/issue_page?issue_id=1959-3-30&page_no=23#page_start
Saps, I either never copied it or lost the remainder of that article.
Al where’s page 17? (And I love the no-nonsense delivery of the old Variety!)
David, here is a snipet from Variety regarding the re-opening for “SOME LIKE IT HOT” earlier that year.
I don’t have the whole article but it might give you some ideas.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25725093@N07/6234888799/sizes/l/in/photostream/
In a few days, I will definitely put together an account of the Loews State “Ben Hur' first-run experience. I wish I could find reliable info about that enormous refurbishing that they did on the theater for this premiere run. I had not seen the interior of the theater before I saw this film there, but I understand that they made major changes. – Dave Greene