Rialto Theatre

When it was a porno house in the early 1970’s, I believe the 42nd Street entrance led to a second screen located in the basement. But you could also access the main theatre, entering at the rear behind the screen. I think.

Need to update the address, William listed it as 1481 Broadway on Feb. 11.

There were actually two Rialtos. The first one, built on the site of the demolished Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre, opened on April 21, 1916, and is the Rialto shown above in the color postcard. This Rialto was demolished around 1932 and replaced by a much-smaller Rialto that was part of an office building. For quite a few years, the second Rialto was managed by Arthur Mayer, who made it a legendary showcase for horror and gangster movies. His exploits were described in his memoir, “Merely Colossal,” which is well worth reading.

EdSolero you are right about the theatre being used as a visitors center. When the theatre first closed they used the lobby for some sort of virtual reality ride. Cineplex did a nice job on the renovations but even though they opened the theatre with the Broadway entrance, it waas still too close to 42nd Street for many movie goers.

During the very early stages of the redevelopment of 42nd street and Times Square maybe 10 or 12 years ago, I believe the outer lobby of the Rialto was used as a crude and temporary Visitors Information center or perhaps a volunteer center with information available about the plans to clean up and reclaim the area. Today, the shell of the old Newsreel Theater (later known as the Embassy 1) serves as the official Times Square Visitors Information Center. Anyway, I remember my Grandfather telling me that this is the theater where many of those classic Universal horror films (Dracula, Frankenstein) of the 30’s and 40’s would premier.

Around 1979 Cineplex Odeon remodeled the theatre very nicely, even renaming it the Warner for a short time after their big Warner on 47th St. closed.