Sutton Theater

Some of this information is incorrect. The Sutton was built before WWII, though I don't have an exact date. At the time, it might have been the only movie theatre on 57th Street, but there were eventually others: the Festival, south side of 57th between Fifth & Sixth; the Normandie (later Playboy and now Screen Directors Guild) and Little Carnegie, both south side between Sixth & Seventh Avenues); and Lincoln Art (later Bombay and Biograph and now a Morton Williams Associated supermarket),north side between Seventh Avenue & Broadway).

Judging from the exterior architecture, I think this theater more likely dates to the '40's... but I have no factual data on that. Back in the early '70's, I saw the Marx Brothers classic Animal Crackers here, which enjoyed a successful theatrical re-release ("in glorious black and white" as the ads went) after many years out of issue. That was probably '74 or so.

As for other theaters on 57th Street, there was another called The Festival on the West Side just off 7th Avenue and down the block from the Hard Rock Cafe. Not sure how far that cinema dated back... I recall seeing "The Complete Beatles" there around 1982 or '83. I believe there was also a theater called the 57th Street Playhouse near Carnegie Hall between 6th and 7th Avenues. Not to mention the old Carnegie Cinemas, but I think they were actually on 7th Avenue, not 57th.

This has to be one of the strangest 'Signatures' the Theatre Historical Soc. (www.HistoricTheatres.org) has ever received in its Guestbook:

"Tue February 10 2004 - 16:11:52
Name: Ismael Leyva
E-mail address: ila@ilarch.com
City and State/Country: New York, NY
I'm a THSA member!:
How did you find out about our website?: I've been here before
What is your favorite type of historic theatre?: I like all of them!
Comments/Suggestions: I'm proud of the work my firm has just done on the Sutton theater on 57th Street. We started with a lovely Ionic stone facade, and with the excuse of a "repair" smashed everything that gave the building any distinction. Please e-mail me at ila@ilarch.com or call me at (212) 290-1425 (w) or (212) 582-9364 (h) to suggest more theaters that I can vandalize for a profit

I read the above post and the story on the homepage and cant make heads or tails of any of it??? Whats the scoop? Did City Cinemas close the theatre?

The Sutton Theatre is located at 205 E. 57th Street and it seated 576 people when it was a single screen theatre.

Ismael Leyva - a sense of decorum -- as well as the desire to post additional messages on this site in the future -- restrain me from offering my exact opinion of you as a human being but I'm sure everyone associated with this site one way or another (or anyone who otherwise loves movie theatres or appreciates architecture in general) shares in my unspoken sentiments. If there's any legal action that can be taken against you and/or the Clarett Group, I sincerely hope it's pursued (and hope as well that the Sutton Theatre is both restored and remains open).

I am assuming the facade is stone? If so, the last thing one would want to do is hack bits and pieces away. It is unclear in the article and the picture, but why the hell would you do that? Stone cannot be 'patched'. It doesn't look like they were trying to flatten it so it could be covered up (as was so popular in the 1940s-70s). Pehaps they are trying to make it so ugly and unrepairable that they can tear it down and build condos, that's my guess. Sort of a version of 'demolition by neglect' but they decided to give the neglect part a head start. A ugh...

This is a real shame...like the old Plaza on 58th St this is a theatre that should have been left to age gracefully and carry on as a landmark...The twinning of it was bad enough...Among the pictures I saw here in the 70s were Butch Cassidy, The Sicilian Clan, Network, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein, The Three Stooges Revue...The other great thing from a location point of view is that people queuing had a long block to do it in...part of the fun of going to the movies in Manhattan in the cold when theatres got 6 shows a day in

The address for the Sutton Theatre is 205 East 57th Street, and seating capacity is 576.

Is this the longest continuously operated movie Theatre still
open in Manhattan or is it the Beekmen or Metro? The Nova may have
held that title until it closed.

The Beekman didn't open until 1952. The Metro opened in 1933 as the Midtown, and the Sutton opened one or two years after that. But I think that the Sutton has been operating "continuously" for longer than the Midtown/Metro, which closed for a considerable period of time before its emergence as the Metro...As for the longest continuously operated movie theatre in the five boroughs of NYC, there seems to be no contest because the Ridgewood in Brooklyn has been with us since 1913!

The exterior of the Sutton, quite frankly, looks like a pure wreck at this point. (Congratulations, Ismael Leyva - your men truly did their 'job'.) I'd be shocked and stunned if the Sutton is still open for business within two years' time.

Does anyone remember the Cinema Rendezvous on 57th Street? I don't remember what comapany owned it. It was open in the late sixties and early seventies as a first run house.

The Cinema Rendezvous was in various incarnations the Playboy and the 57th St Playhouse and is now the DGA screening room I believe

I believe the Cinema Rendezvous was also the Trans-Lux Normandie at one time.

Isn't the Cinema Rendezvous/Playboy/57th Street Playhouse/Trans-Lux Normandie/DGA Theatre listed anywhere? I can't find it under any name.

Ah I think I got my answer to why they destroyed the facade, read the postings for the UA Rivoli. They announced they were cleaning the facade of the Rivoli but actually destroyed it to prevent the facade being given landmark status. This way they could tear down the buiilding at will, which they did shortly later. Now City Cinemas which owns the property (somehow isnt Pacific involved too) will wind up closing it, tearing it down and building condos or an office tower. City Cinemas is no better then the geniuses at UA-Regal.

Hi all at Cinema Treasures and all loyal followers,

We live in the UK and recently visited New York,we stayed on 57th street and were looking for a movie theatre that was still playing the movie we wanted to see,luckily we came upon the Sutton.
Our first thoughts of the place when we first walked in early afternoon to get tickets for the 7pm showing were not good,the place was deserted apart from one member of staff who was no kidding,sitting down asleep,sound asleep to the point where we couldnt wake them with our intentionally loud conversation,the Junior mints and popcorn were a free for all!
Obviously being law obiding British citizens we left empty handed but with cautious thoughts in our minds about returning to the later showing.
Throwing caution to the wind and really wanting to see this movie we returned just before 7,half expecting the place to have been robbed,luckily it was busy,so we decided to stay.

In the end both the staff there were very helpful and friendly,snacks were good and most importantly the screen was excellent.
Although we are more used to the modern multiplexes this movie theatre was a breath of fresh air,the floor and seats were clean,the movie played perfectly and the sound was great.
What a pleasure to enjoy a movie(which by the way was also excellent)in such a respected theatre with such history.
We were lucky to get the main screen and sneaking a peak at screen two we were glad.
All in all after the initial first impression a great time was had by all in a classic American theatre,well done to all the staff for making us feel at home and to all of New York city for a fantastic time which included my Proposal of marriage to my partner(she said yes!)

Thanks again,

Steve Cunnington and Leanne Onderka ,Nortants,UK

Thats a great story and congratulations to you and your fiancee. Glad you got to see The Sutton before it closes.

Can someone tell me which theater is with the original Sutton screen....the top(balcony) or bottom. I've never been there..and when is it closing?

The downstairs is original. Read the posts about the hacking of the facade on this site and The Rivoli site, the ends coming.

After reading these posts I had to make my way over to the Sutton and it's shocking to see what's been done to the facade. It makes no sense. It isn't just a mild chip or hack here and there. The entire front has been hacked and hacked all over. I am amazed that anyone was able to do this without anyone noticing. It's definitely an undeniably vandalism. I've never seen anything like it.

I caught Kill Bill Vol. 2 on its last night here on Thursday and they were only selling tickets on the inside at concessions. The door to Sutton 1 is right next to Sutton 2. The upstairs is very strange. If you're sitting on the side it's hard to enjoy the film. The bottom theater is fine and a fine experience.

I'll head back over for the Broadway documentary going on now. It's so odd to see such a nice large marquee and signage in a once character-filled city like New York, laying beneath a vandalized facade, and knowing that this too will be erased from the city's character and another soulless square bland building will then exist here.

It's amazing it's legal to destroy property like this. It's so obviously not a proper job of whatever they said they were doing.

I just saw a film at Sutton recently, and had the good luck to be in the better downstairs original theater. It was quite beautiful. Yes, they were only selling tickets inside still. I didn't notice the hacked facade that much. I hope they keep this place open. It is one of the last of a dying breed.

The Sutton was originally Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, the only change to the exterior when it was converted to a theatre in the 50s was the addition of the marquee. The Wendy's on Third Avenue btwn 57 & 58 is part of the Sutton property. The Sutton, The Murray Hill and The Beekman were all similiar in that they had the concession area tucked under the stadium with a large window so you could still watch the movie while getting your candy and popcorn. The Beekman still has this set-up.

According to an anonymous source, the Sutton property was sold, the theatre is a tenant, and the new owner intends to tear it down and build something else. However, someone was trying to get the New York City Landmarks Commission to consider giving it landmark status. The new owner got wind of it and quickly contracted to have the exterior destroyed before it could be landmarked. Hopefully, there will be a fight with the landmarks commission who could file suit to get restoration ordered, or at least get some hefty fines levied.

This is really pissing me off. Every old time theater is being sold and closed. Someone in NYC should get the mayor involved. NYC will be left with no theater history. We will be overwhelemd with these damn multiplexes.

The reason there won't be any single theaters is because the multiplexes bring in the kids that have the money to pay for the crap they're showing. The Astor Plaza shuts down next week, the only one left is the Ziegfeld which shows a movie that's playing on 6 screens across town and Radio City, which only shows an occasional premiere for invited audience. There's no more movie people around guys....we are a rare breed.

And don't forget we still have the Beekman and Paris, Rhett, both single screen art houses, though I concede they are hardly in the same "monumental" league as the Astor Plaza and Ziegfeld.

I've noticed that this coming Friday, "The Village" is opening in the midtown area at BOTH the Astor Plaza and the Ziegfeld, as well as at the 42nd Street E-Walk (in addition to 11 other places around Manhattan). Is the movie expected to be that much of a blockbuster? It's unknown to me, as well as its writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan. The advertising suggests a horror movie, a genre that I dislike and never go to see.

Warren
The review in today's USA today wasn't great. it only got 2 1/2 stars. I said this before, Loews could have put a movie in the Astor Plaza that would h ave been and exculusive showing for 6 days.

Well that's all folks we lost the Sutton if you go pass the theatre right now the marquee is dark the films are still listed though.On the entrance door it reads closed forever. it did just like the Astor Plaza did wherein it featured new movies on Fri and closed sunday or monday.

So that leaves City Cinemas with what? the Cinema 1/2/3 the Village East and the Angelika...Hardly critical mass...The Sutton may have been badly twinned but it did give longer legs to some smaller films in its last two years

This really sucks.The theater still shows as open on their web site. Was there any word that they may close.

It seems that within the next few years, most of the classic theaters will be closed forever leaving just the multiplexes. I never went to the Sutton. Wish I did. I hear Cinema 1 isn't the same as it was years ago when it was a premiere theater. Now they show the crap.

So, that leaves what? Radio City which only shows premieres with invited audiences and the Ziegfeld which isn't even open every day, doesn't show 70MM anymore (who does) and shows mainstream. We're doomed!! Soon on this site there will really be nothing to talk about. The Astor Plaza site, which was one of the busiest is basically a ghost town, now that it's gone.

Terrible news. But it was badly twinned. It should never have been. Same goes for Cinema 1(Saw wonderful presentations of Ran and Oklahoma there.) Whatever distinctions they had were destroyed when they were sliced in two.
Is the Beekman all that's left?

I never went to the Suttona after it was twinned. I do know that New Line Cinema has a film coming out for Christmas that was filmed in 70mm digital. Sorry I don't remember the name.

According to the web site of the Clarett Group, the company which currently owns the Sutton property, it is scheduled to be cleared within the next few months to make way for Place 57, a 34-story luxury condominium tower. (For the record, the Clarett Group can be contacted at 212.399.2400 or at info@clarett.com, while Ismael Leyva Associates, P.C. - the architecture firm responsible for the Sutton's recent exterior alterations - can be reached at 212.290.1444 or at ila@ilarch.com.)

Shame on greedy City Cinemas who seem to be more real estate brokers then theatre owners. Originally alot of their upper management were the same people from Cinema 5, but I guess they all died out. Cinema 1 & 2 were once among the most prestigious art houses in the country. The adding of the third screen was only the start of the downfall. They began to book mainstream garbage like any UA theatre in a suburban mall would book.

It would be great to have a first run chronology of this theater - say from 1963-1985...it would probably include a number of Oscar nominees on long first runs at least from say 1970 onwards...thanks in advance to the research minded among us...

Just for the record, the final two films booked into the Sutton were 'Maria Full of Grace' and 'We Don't Live Here Anymore', both of which were move-overs from the Cinema 1-2-3; the final initial release engagement was 'Bush's Brain', a documentary about G.O.P. (and George W. Bush) political strategist Karl Rove.

RobertR -
The proceeds from the sale of the New York properties of City Cinemas/Reading Entertainment are probably being used to finance expansion of Reading's circuit in Australia.

Of the remaining 4 sites, only the Cinema 1-2-3 is owned. The East 86th St. and Village East are both leased, and I'm pretty sure the Angelika is also leased. The Village East was and may still be a partnership with Ackerman, and the 86th St was and may still be a partnership with the previous operator, Town & Country.

The Sutton can be briefly glimpsed towards the end of the 1997 Al Pacino-Keanu Reeves flick 'Devil's Advocate'.

Lets boycott the last City Cinema theatres, what a bunch of loosers.

I came across a newspaper clipping from July, 1951, that reported that in the past two years, the "artie" Sutton had played only four movies: "Quartet," based on four short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, ran for 33 weeks; "The Fallen Idol," 29 weeks; "Trio" (another Maugham collection), 25 weeks; and "The Winslow Boy," 18 weeks.

Boy, the days of exclusive runs. It seems that even now when a film opens exclusive in Manhattan and does boffo buisness they open it everywhere within a few weeks.

This theater needs to be updated to Closed. The theater can also be seen in The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond.

My friend told me the theatre was open last week when he went by, is this true?

Oh that would be great.I just called and the phone number is disconnected. Please see what you can find out.

The Clarett Group is still listing Place 57 as a forthcoming project on its web site; perhaps the crew responsible for preparing the Sutton's interior for demolition were in the building at the time...

I live on East 57th Street and walk by the place every day. The wonderful "Sutton" sign was removed last Friday, 22 October and the building is now in the process of being demolished. Thanks in part to the brilliant efforts of Ismael Leyva--who, one can argue, should probably have his architecture license revoked for his misrepresentation of a facade repair project--New York is losing another great old theater.

The last movies I saw here were "Rabbit Proof Fence" and "ANything But Love," the latter being a real musical that was lucky to get release. Thank god the Sutton was willing to show it.

NOTE to Moviefone...you can remove the Sutton 1 & 2 from your listings.

this theater must be saved. it is a historic beautiful part of new york and destoying it als destroys our historic. ANy news on landmarking it and/or preserving it?

Too little, too late... the Sutton has been demolished and is now nothing more than a pile of rubble and a series of memories for everyone who loved this cool little moviehouse. The fight now is on to save the Beekman and Cinema 1-2-3; check out those theatres' pages on this site, along with the news stories on the front page, to find out why and how these gems became endangered and about the resultant efforts to save them.

I finally checked out the UA Gemini tonight, had no clue such an auditorium existed in the city, and had to walk by the Sutton. Boy, it's a real heart-dropped. Such a cool marquee on 57th, and now just gone. Just rubble. I ran over there when I heard the news and caught my third screening of Kill Bill 2 in the main auditorium and had a peek upstairs just to see it. Not so hot up there, but the cool script doors for Sutton 1 and Sutton 2 where pretty cool. The stairs by concessions to the restrooms were cool and I thought the curved audiotorium was pretty cool.

Last film I saw there was Rick McKay's Broadway: The Golden Age. The director was there and had a lot of great anecdotes about the film and his cast, and he had quite a few stage folks showing up to enjoy the fun, including Jim Borstelman from Chicago and now The Producers (and soon the film version also). Sad to see it go, but great to have it go out on a grand note like Broadway: The Golden Age. I heard Rick came back for a few more screenings.

In one of those sad ironies, a friend photographed the last film on the marquee:

We Don't Live Here Anymore.

I'd pass by this theatre every day on the walk from the subway to high school. What was rather unique about the Sutton, and other theatre's managed by Don Rugoff was the absense of normal movie posters advertising the film at the theatre.

Cinema I & II, The Paris and The Plaza all had these wonderful displays that were hand-made for their theatre's showcase windows that advertised their movies, sort of like the stylish store front windows of nearby Bloomingdales of Bergdorf-Goodman. After the film's run, these displays were dismantled and thrown out in the dumpster. I was able to save a part of a display for a reissue of 2001: A SPACE ODYSEE which, I think, played The Plaza around 1970-71.

This is still posted on the Moviefone website.

City Cinemas Sutton 1 and 2
205 E. 57th Street, New York, NY 10022 Map
Add to My Theaters
We're sorry, at this time we do not have showtime information for this theater on March 08, 2005. Please try again later.

Duh! The theatre is gone.

City Cinema$ has demon$trated on numerou$ occa$ion$ that they have little regard for their theatre$, the New York theatre busine$$, their employee$ or their cu$tomer$ - thi$ i$ ju$t another example. Their only concern i$ the -$$dollar$$-, and $ince their inept management cannot compete in the New York market, whatever need$ to be done to wring a$ many dollar$ out of the operation will be done, bu$ine$$ ethic$ and civic-mindedne$$ notwith$tanding. If they had either of tho$e qualitie$ they would have ju$t sold out to a budding theatre operator to try to make a go of it and then flee to kangaroo-land, where they really, apparently, want to be. Do kangaroo$, koala bear$ and platapu$$e$ go the movie$ more than New Yorker$??

I have some older New Yorkers laying about, so I can list some of the movies that played the Sutton on those weeks...

7/8/1967: The Jokers (Michael Winner)
2/24/1968: Charlie Bubbles (Albert Finney)
6/28/1969: The Loves of Isadora (Karel Reisz)
11/11/1975: Hearts of the West (Howard Zieff)
11/18/1975: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman) *Premiere
11/7/1980: Private Benjamin (Howard Zieff)
11/14/1980: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese) *Premiere
11/16/1990: #1 - Fantasia, #2 - Tune In Tomorrow... (Jon Amiel)
11/21/1990: #1 - Three Men and a Little Lady (Emile Ardolino), #2 - Tune In Tomorrow... (Jon Amiel)
6/21/1991: #1 and #2 - The Rocketeer (Joe Johnston)
9/6/1991: #1 - Doc Hollywood (Michael Caton-Jones), #2 - True Identity (Charles Lane)
9/18/1991: #1 - Doc Hollywood, #2 - The Doctor (Randa Haines)
10/24/1991: #1 - Shattered (Wolfgang Petersen), #2 - Twenty-One (Don Boyd)
11/1/1991: #1 - Year of the Gun (John Frankenheimer), #2 - Iron Maze (Hiroaki Yoshida)

Robert Flaherty's THE LOUISIANA STORY with its fine musical score by Virgil Thompson opened at the Sutton in 1948. The Film Daily Year Book for 1944 lists the Sutton as having 569 seats.

One day in 1972, I was walking up Third Avenue when I noticed something new in the neighborhood. On the corner of Third and 57th Street, there was a large display of red, white and blue balloons outside the office of a presidential candidate.

The window display labeled the corner storefront as the headquarters of Bill McKay. The candidate bore a suspicious resemblance to Robert Redford.

Inside, a pretty young girl handed me three balloons and some campaign literature. I helped myself to a slice of apple pie and a cup of coffee. Glancing at the campaign handout, I was puzzled by its lack of opinion. McKay seemed to be all image and little substance.

Leaving the “headquarters,” I glanced across the street to see what was playing at The Sutton. The marquee advertised The Candidate, starring Robert Redford. Suddenly, it all made sense.

As I posted above, I'd pass the SUTTON every day for four years on my way to the High School of Art and Design, on the corner of Second Avenue and 57th Street. Whenever they changed films, I'd step into the lobby and pick up a new edition of SHOWCASE - THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ART THEATERGOERS - so I'd like to fill in some of the blanks in the movie history of the Sutton from 1966 to 1971:

THE BLUE MAX - SEPTEMBER 1966
LOVES OF A BLONDE - NOVEMBER 1966
GAMBIT - JANUARY 1967
TOBRUK - FEBRUARY 1967
A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG - APRIL 1967
THE JOKERS - MAY 1967
GAMES - OCTOBER 1967
CHAPPAQUA - NOVEMBER 1967
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - JANUARY 1968
CHARLIE BUBBLES - MARCH 1968
I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S 'IS NAME - MAY 1968
BOOM - JUNE 1968
A LOVELY WAY TO DIE - JULY 1968
ZITA - SEPTEMBER 1968
THE BOFORS GUN - OCTOBER 1968
SECRET CEREMONY - NOVEMBER 1968
THE FIXER - DECEMBER 1968
HELL IN THE PACIFIC - MARCH 1969
BEFORE WINTER COMES - APRIL 1969
THE LOVES OF ISADORA - MAY 1969
JOHN AND MARY - JANUARY 1970
and . . . I guess I went back the following year and saw
LITTLE BIG MAN - JANUARY 1971.

Damn. It didn't even know the Sutton had closed. Another one bites the dust.

Yep, true. This is just a cry of anguish, unrelated to the Sutton except in a general way: Boston now has only two commercial movie theatres. Providence has three. Boston-proper has no art houses left. None, zero. Providence has two. But then Providence doesn't have a Cambridge.

I walked by here on Saturday and it is indeed a hole in the ground. As I said above, I didn't even know the Sutton had closed.

Passed by on Third Avenue on Saturday April 9 and saw nothing but a gap between buildings where the Sutton used to stand. The last movie I saw there was "The Lion King" in 1994. Saw quite a few there in the decades before that. Definitely saw "The Bad News Bears" there around 1975. There used to be another movie house directly around the corner on Third Avenue but I do not remember its name. I do know I saw "The Towering Inferno" there. Now it's a Wendy's.

I also noted that all the windows on wall of the apartment building adjacent to where the Sutton was are freshly sealed with brick. I guess the original builders were hoping the Sutton would always be there and included windows that viewed out directly above the theater. Now with the new tower coming in they have to go! Major bummer. That's skyrights and zoning for you. The windows can be seen unsealed in the photo of the Sutton at the top of this page.

In the '50s, I saw there Alec Guinness in the wonderful "The Ladykillers" and "The Horse's Mouth." And I recall seeing there "Moby Dick" and "Suddenly Last Summer," both of which had been day-dating at the Criterion. And I remember standing outside in line for "Gigi" through an entire sold-out showing after it had moved there from its reserved-seat booking at the Royale. On Sept. 25 '04 above, Warren listed four films that had played a total of 105 weeks in 1950-51. I believe that "Marty" played nearly a year there in 1955 on an exclusive run, no? After (or was it just before?) receiving its Academy Awards in March '56, "Marty" then moved to city-wide booking on the Loew's circuit.

Davebazooka,
The theatre directly around the corner on 3rd Ave. would have been the Coronet/Baronet or later Coronet 1 & 2.

No, the theatre around the corner was the Gotham Cinema. Wendy's is not where the Gotham was, it was next door, and it is part of the Sutton's property. In the winter Wendy's (although at that time it was Burger King) would call us in the theatre and ask for heat, and we would go in the cellar of the theatre and open a valve for the steam, when they had enough they would call to say so and we would turn it off.

Hi Gerald!
I remember the Baronet/Coronet, they have just been replaced by a luxury tower on Third Avenue between 59th and 60th. The theater I recall was on Third Avenue between 57th and 58th, one block downtown from Alexander's. I used to think it was connected on the inside to the Sutton around the corner but I don't think it was.

I have been keeping a list of movies I have seen and the theaters I saw them in since 1986, I'll check tonight and see if any of them have the name of that theater where I saw "Towering Inferno."
It has been driving me nuts for a while now that I can't remember that theater!
Dave B

THE GOTHAM!!!! HOLY CRIPES, yes that was definitely it. I remember waiting outside to see Towering Inferno. I know I saw something there in the 80s but I forgot what. Thanks for jogging my memory!
Dave B

Check out the listing for the Crown Gotham...isn't that the Gotham Cinema that was around the corner from the Sutton?

Yup that's it - The Gotham Cinema was owned by Crown Theatres, previously owned by Trans-Lux.

I too didn't know that the Sutton had closed. Thank God I went to see "Broadway: The Golden Age" when it played there recently. One of my happiest memories was rushing with friends to the Sutton to see "Ed Wood." All the movie buffs were there, so we had to wait till the later show. All the true believers enjoyed it together. Then it opened wide and bombed ! What do they know ? Thank you, Martin Landau ! frankie from Brooklyn

Here is the Sutton day and dating with the Criterion
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/SuddenlyLatSummer.jpg

The Burtons day and dated the Sutton and Trans-Lux West.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/BoomatSuttonTrans-LuxWest.jpg

saw Roeg's 'Don't Look Now' here.

The Sutton was one of my favorite theatres. The audience always seemed to be filled with well informed fellow film lovers which made the experience even more enjoyable. Among the many films I saw there included are: The Sting, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Joe Hill, The Immigrants, The New Land, Young Frankenstein, Blazzing Saddles, Silent Movie, A Countess From Hong Kong, Dealing, The Group, Animal Crackers, Raging Bull, Don't Look Now, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Morgan and Little Big Man.

"Thats Entertainment" started a revival craze and I remember this release of "Animal Crackers" did such huge business at the Sutton, it opened on a neighborhood run also. Check out the Suttons great marquee in the ad.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/AnimalCrackers.jpg

Rober R - That's a great ad!

Another great ad is the Christmas 1964 NYTimes full page spread that Rugoff ran after the big brouhaha involving Billy Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid. UA was scheduled to open the farce at Cinema 1 for the holidays but the wags at the time considered it too risque. The distributer got cold feet and pulled the film at the last minute. Rugoff than rushed Nothing But A Man into release, to fill in the gap.

As a clever PR move, Rugoff ran this full page ad with drawings of quaint Victorian holiday figures, each displaying the presentation at each of the circuit's ten Manhattan theatres.

Kiss Me Stupid finally premiered in Jan. '65, and despite all the fuss is now rated PG13.

Does anyone have a copy of that ad?

Re: the "Animal Crackers ad: Wow!!! I never knew that Marx Brothers movie was a "sexual Keystone comedy"!!!!

From 1955: the little low-budget movie based on a TV play that went all the way to the top prize at the Academy Awards. I like the way the Sutton is mentioned in one of the critics' quotes.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/billhuelbig/marty.jpg

From Shaun Considine's biography of Paddy Chayefsky, "Mad as Hell":

In New York, the film continued to run for an unprecedented 39 weeks at one theatre only, the Sutton. "That was the first time that people from the suburbs ever went to a movie on the East Side," said Bernie Kamber. "They'd come in on the subway from Queens or from the Bronx, get off at 59th Street, walk two blocks south, then stand on line for MARTY."

PaulLD1... The tag line "A sexual Keystonecomedy" belongs to a different advertisement (apparently cut off in the image) that was below the one for "Animal Crackers". I "yahoo'd" the phrase and found it was a quote from Pauline Kael's review of the movie "Going Places" -- a French film of some controversy that was released here in 1974 concurrent with the Sutton engagement of the restored Marx Brothers classic. It starred Gerard Depardieu, Jeanne Morreau and Isabelle Huppert.

Couldn't tell you the theaters in which "Going Places" was booked. I can tell you that during this time, my Mother worked for Rugoff Theaters and scored some passes for my Grandfather and I to see "Animal Crackers" during this run.

A couple of years later, I caught "Animal Crackers" on the big screen one last time at Century's Green Acres Theater on a double bill with the bio-pic "W.C. Fields and Me" starring Rod Steiger and Valerie Perine.

If I recall, "Going Places" was a Cinema 5 release and premiered at the Cinema II.

City Cinemas website still has the demolished Sutton Twin listed.

I'm not surprised - they haven't got a clue what they're doing - and they don't care....

The a**clowns at Reading/City Cinemas also still had listed on their website, TWO YEARS after they were demolished and replaced by the NYU Outpatient Cancer Center, the Murray Hill Cinemas as one of their properties.

To EdSolero: That remark about the "Sexual Keystone Comedy" was strictly tougne-in-cheek!

I do have my own Sutton story: I saw "The 3 Stooges Follies" on opening day at the Sutton. My visit was not a pleasant one in part because of management, the other, a drunk audience member. Throughout the whole show a drunken patron kept laughing and hollering "HA HA HA--THAT MOE HOWARD!!!", and even ruined the punch line at least once. The second was the "Krazy Kat" cartoon advertised was not on the bill, when I asked why, some apathetic usher said "you can watch those on TV". I didn't have the patience to tell him that this was not a 1960's King Features TV cartoon, but a 1930's Charles Mintz cartoon. I don't think I ever went back to the Sutton again.

1999 photo:
http://www.webcom.com/dsl/ny2.html

Seems 1968 audiences had concerns over ticket prices also.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Theatres/1968tixprices.jpg

A very simple ad for "Gigi"
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/Topaze.jpg

I remember when they first twinned the Sutton, they had a free day of movie previews where you could go in, sit and watch old and new previews and inspect the new set-up.

Now, its just the site for the construction of yet another ugly mid-town high-rise. I've been into Manhattan on a number of occasions over the past few weeks and I pass this site every time I make my way back to the 59th Street Bridge. I remember driving by in years past and happily think back on my experience seeing "Animal Crackers" here back in the '70's warmed by the fact that the theater was still in use - even after accepting the fact that it was twinned back in the late 1980's. Now, I still think back on "Animal Crackers" when I drive by, but it is with a deep sense of loss and sadness. It is amazing that the City (meaning we the people as well as those we elect to oversee its administration) allows the continuation of these acts of vandalism - to paraphrase Ada Huxtable's memorable description in the NY Times of old Penn Station's demolition.

This was the most comfortable movie house I remember. The seats were so cozy and with ample leg room. No wonder Woody Allen loved to have his movies premiere here.

You're thinking of the Beekman...

Woody Allen did open his 1975 "Love and Death" simultaneously at the Sutton and Paramount (the subterranean theater at the Gulf and Western building near Columbus Circle) according to the New York Times online archive of movie reviews. Not the most scientific means of determining what films played where, but the Times often would continue the tradition of listing the premier or first-run house in its reviews through the '70's and very early '80's - before opening wide became the standard operating procedure. A look at reviews for some of Woody's other films in the '70's mention the 68th Street Playhouse, Baronet, Coronet and Little Carnegie theaters, but, interestingly, not the Beekman.

Woody's contemporary Mel Brooks might have a stronger connection to this theater, opening both "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" - widely considered his two best films - at the Sutton, each one at either end of 1974. While his bi-centennial follow-up "Silent Movie" had its NY debut at the Cinema 1 & 2 a few blocks away, Brooks returned to the Sutton for 1978's "High Anxiety."

This was one of the better theaters in the Manhattan. I saw lots of films here with family and friends in the last 1970s and early 1980s, always an enjoyable experience. I hated it after they divided it into a twin theater, it's lost all of it's charm. I rarely went there afterwards. Still, it's sad to hear of it's demise.

1955 "Wall Stretcher": www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/sutton4th.jpg

I remember that same "wall-stretcher" ad used at the Avon Cinema here in Providence, where the film played quite a long time. After Marty was becoming very popular, this ad copy must have been sent out by United Artists to the theatres playing the film.

The first c/o that I can find showing a motion picture theater at this address is dated April 16, 1934. Seating was 570. Architect was Benjamin Schlanger.

Ben Schlanger was involved also with the Beekman and Cinema I & II in New York and also The Cinema in D.C.

Here is a photo of the former Sutton theater.

After reading and posting this morning about dads and movies such as "Midnight Cowboy" (which I saw twice here in the same week), I thought this might be a good time to cross the river and bridge and post one here.

It was in front of the Sutton while on line in 1975 that a young lady "forced" me to sign an autograph for her because she was thoroughly convinced I was Henry "Fonzie" Winkler. Aaaay!

Back in '69, Newman & Woodward co-starred in a novel western about two minor bandidos of the old wild west. Intentional humor was pretty much a novelty in westerns of any era, so I fell in love with this one. ("Think ya used enough dynamite ther, Butch?")

My dad was on disability at the time and rarely got out of the house. For his 11/1 birthday, I decided to treat him to subway fare, a cold six-pack of beer to carry with him, and the price of admission to see this movie at the Sutton. To my amazement, he went. To my even greater amazement, he actually LIKED it, this from a man who showed few visible displays of having any kind of sense of humor.

I never regretted that gift. It was the last movie he ever saw in a theater, and he passed away less than two years later, 3 weeks shy of his 60th. Glad you could make it, Dad...

That was Paul Newman & ROBERT REDFORD. Ay!!!

One movie made late in the 1990s cast a most memorable and eerie glow on the Sutton Theater itself. In the late reels of "The Devil's Advocate," lawyer Keanu Reeves leaves the hospital following his wife's suicide and heads to the offices of law firm president John Milton (Pacino) to confront him. The scene, shot with an overhead crane, with traffic cordoned off out of view by the NYPD, and coupled with a soundtrack piece that deserved an Academy Award all by itself, features the Sutton, late in the afternoon, its former grandeur long behind it, and looking as forlorn and as desolate as Reeves' character. Superb cinematography!

Regarding "The Devil's Advocate." While the scene may take place in the late afternoon in the film, it was shot in the early morning. I was living in the apartment building next door to the Sutton when the film was being shot. The exterior of my old apartment building (225 East 57th) doubled as the exterior of the hospital in the film.

I won't soon forget walking through the lobby of 225 East 57th at about 7:00 on a Sunday morning, half-asleep and on my way to pick up a copy of the Sunday Times, and nearly walking into Keanu Reeves, who was covered in fake blood. That woke me up fast.

Excellent story, ErikH. It made my day. We, as NYers (or former NYers) never really know when we'll cross over the line into TinselTown territory!

I drove passed the former theater's site just a few hours ago and had my camera in the car. While stopped in traffic waiting for the light to change, I pointed over my shoulder (and through my moon roof for the 2nd shot) and captured the uninspired glass tower that has risen on the lot:

205 East 57th at street level
Glass tower

Wow! What a stunningly ordinary building - certainly adds something to the neighborhood - and doesn't it blend in well with the buildings on either side of it? What is it, by the way - more desperately needed over-priced condominiums?

ErikH made me think of the time I was lost in my own thoughts walking up 5th Av when Rizzoli was still there when I suddenly look up in front of the store and right in front of me are DeNiro and Streep holding shopping bags of Christmas presents. This was nowhere near Christmas and if there is a movie out there with this scene of the two of them standing in front of Rizzoli's I'm probably somehwere in the vicinity off camera.

The film with Streep and DeNiro is "Falling in Love." One of the scenes was filmed at the Rizzoli book store.

The above description of the Sutton states it opened in the 1950s yet THE FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK for 1944 lists the Sutton as being opened in 1944. What year did the Sutton open?

The Sutton was already open in 1934. It became a major first run "sure seater" art house in 1947 with Powell & Pressburger's I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING and for several years specialised in British imports.

Whatever became of the Orleans Theatre that was located on one of the W. 40's or 50's Streets off of Broadway in NYC. I lived in Manhattan in 1969/70. I remember seeing one of my favorites there, "Last Summer" with Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davidson, Richard Thomas and Cathrine Burns. The marquee had two figures sitting on top of it as if they were in a New Orleans outdoor cafe. The Rod Steiger blockbuster "3 Into 2 Don't Go" with Claire Bloom and Judy Geeson also played there. What is there today?????

The Orleans is mentioned on the Strand link as it was part of that theatre originally.

An ad like this shows the high regard the Sutton once had
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/marty6monthsatSutton.jpg

In it's heyday
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/SuddenlyLastSummer.jpg

A 1968 moveover of "Millie"
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/Gate.jpg

Variety June 22, 1955

"Biz is holding up so well for "Marty" at the arty Sutton Theatre that film rental on this United Artists release may be sufficient to pay off the $325,000 estimated negative cost.

This is a vintage photo of the Sutton Theater. Imdb gives a date of 1945 for the movie title "Scarlet Street" on the marquee .

Very cool. If you zoom in to the left of the box office in the photo you can also see the Beekman Radio Shop, a relic of the past.

The photo in the NYPL Digital Gallery was probably taken in 1946. The Sutton was a late-run "nabe" in those days. Universal's "Scarlet Street" had its NYC premiere engagement at Loew's Criterion in February, 1946. It was originally scheduled to open there in January, but the opening was delayed due to objections from the New York State Board of Censors, which tried to ban the film due to its bold treatment of adultery and murder. After Loew's Criterion, "Scarlet Street" had a Loew's circuit run with MGM's "She Went to the Races" as supporting feature. The Sutton's booking would have been after that, perhaps in April or May. Due to its "sophisticated" East Side clientele, the Sutton usually played only single features.

The New York State Board of Censors?? While I wasn't around in those days, I never would have thought that New Yorkers were so delicate and unaware of the concepts of adultery and murder that they had to be protected from the movies by a State board of censors. I'd heard of various private organizations like the Legion of Decency and a few others, but why was the State involved in that stuff? It sounds very ominous to me.

If you zoom in on the photo Lost posted, you'll see at the bottom of the "Scarlet Street" poster in the first display case to the right of the entrance, a small sign seems to read "USHERETTES WANTED." Great photo.

It does read "Usherettes Wanted". Another sign reads "Alibi" with James Mason and Margaret Lockwood. I guess that was the next attraction coming to this theater. The zoom feature is a little slow but useful.

In the "old days," every movie shown in New York State had to be approved by its official censorship board before the film opened. This was not unusual for those times. The 1946 FDYB lists state censor boards for New York, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. There were also local censor boards that ruled over the "key city territories" of Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Haven, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Portland (Ore.), San Francisco, and Seattle...In 1946, the governing rule for the New York State Board was that "No motion picture will be licensed, or a permit granted for its exhibition within the State of New York, which may be classified or any part thereof, as obscene, indecent, immoral, inhuman, sacrilegious, or which is of such a character that its exhibition would tend to corrupt morals or incite to crime." Only newsreels were exempted from review.

The only movie I ever saw at The Sutton was THE FULL MONTY in 1997.

This is the first theater I went to when I moved to NYC - I saw "The Crying Game" in the smaller theater and was appalled at the tiny screen and the rectangular shaped auditorium - it was almost impossible to see unless you were able to get a seat dead center. BUT I always loved the facade and marquee of this beautiful theater.

On the DVD of "Young Frankenstein" in the Mel Brooks collection set, the special features section shows a shot of the Sutton with WORLD PREMIERE YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN on the marquee. I don't know if this is also on the individually sold disc.

I saw the movie 'Broadway-The Golden Age' here and it was just me and 2 very old ladies in the house. They sat 2 rows in front of me and they talked all the way thru the movie but it was just fine with me because it turned out that these two ladies were old Broadway chorus girls and they knew almost everyone in the movie. They were totally charming and very entertaining, it was better than any DVD commentary could ever be!
It closed very soon after and i have been past it in its new life as a new face less New York building!

It saddens me to read over and over about all the great theatres being lost to the wrecking ball. But, as someone who has been a projectionist for almost 33 years now, the sad reality is, money talks, and condo's and office towers rule. I myself am trying to get an old palace back up and running here in N.J. So far the owners have been renovating and hopefully soon we can get some old time movies going. But this is the exception, rather than the rule. And another thing that gets my goat is all this talk of "digital cinema". Movies have been on FILM forever, leave it on FILM.

This was the Sutton Theatre (not Sutton Theater)...Prior to the Sutton, another theatre occupied the site, but it was strictly "legit" and never showed movies. It first opened in 1912 as the Adolf Philipp Theatre, and was re-named The Bandbox in 1914. With only 299 seats, The Bandbox proved a failure under several managements by stock companies. In 1917, The Bandbox was sold and converted into a branch of the Chatham Phoenix Bank. When the banking concern went bust in the Depression, Manufacturers' Trust Company acquired its assets and sold the 57th Street branch in 1933 to a syndicate that intended to build a cinema in its place. I don't know if any elements of the original two-story building were retained. It doesn't look like it in a 1917 photo of The Bandbox that can be found in the Digital Photo Gallery at www.nypl.org

Here's a link to the NYPL image of The Bandbox Theatre, which stood on the same site but was apparently demolished to make way for the Sutton:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=135605&imageID=100022&word=Bandbox&s=1¬word=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=3&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=2#

Another late, lamented Manhattan movie landmark. I have fond memories of "Raging Bull," "Network" and many other attractions there. - Ed Blank

City Cinemas' parent company holds a 25% stake in the Place 57, the faux-luxury condominium building now occupying the site of the Sutton.

Ben Schlanger was architect of the Sutton Theatre, according to an article in the October, 1934 issue of Architectural Forum. The article claimed that the Sutton was a conversion of The Bandbox Theatre. But I don't know how much of the Bandbox remained by that time. The 299-seat "legit" playhouse had been turned into a branch of the Chatham Phoenix Bank in 1917. See my posts above of 3/23/08 and 5/5/08 for more about The Bandbox.

Warren, I think the Philipp/Bandbox Theatre, Chatham/Manufacturers Bank and Sutton Theatre are all the same building. The photo in your post of 5/5/08 of the Bandbox has certain similarities to the Sutton theatre that we are all familiar with. The cornice line seems to be the same height, and the alley-way on the east side of the building is there. I think the bank applied the facade with the columns that we are familiar with, a look common to banks of that era. When converted back to a theatre the marquee was added, the street-level store-front modified and the second floor windows closed. What do you think?

Dave, there are some similarities, but I wouldn't want to rush to any conclusions. It might be nothing more than retention of some or all of the exterior walls, with everything new inside.

That information verifies what I posted on on May 24, 2006 at 4:59pm.

Yes, I would imagine the interior of the building had been gutted and rebuilt with each change of use.

Hi, movies534! I wholeheartedly agree with your phrase "Movies have been on film forever! Leave it (them) on film! Frankly, there are times when I absolutely curse the day that VCRs, video, DVD players, and ultimately DVD's and all these elaborate home-entertainment systems that many Americans own were ushered in.

Growing up on the Upper East Side in the 60s and 70s, this was an iconic venue, running a mix of Universal, Fox and Cinema 5 (own brand) product in its Rugoff/Cinema 5 hey day...Some of my best Sutton memories include Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Sicilian Clan, The Three Stooges, Blazing Saddles, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Young Frankenstein (several times), High Anxiety, Love & Death, Network...Attended a prevue/trailer day as they launched the twin and remember not fondly the uphill sloping in the smaller screen

Like the Beekman, there would have been a decent case for landmarking this, but only as a single screen

Great theater. Saw Moonstruck here as a 16 year old my first few months in the city. Used to trek up 3rd Ave every so often to catch a movie here; Clara's Heart, The Good Mother, Hardware (after it had twinned) but not too much more after it split. I really tried to patronize as many single screens as I could. I truly miss them.

Renewing link.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=31&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31186

This was the Sutton in 1986.

Renewing link.

If the writer of the item in the April 23, 1955, issue of Boxoffice got the facts right, the Sutton must have opened in the mid-1930s. The article said that the opening week of "Marty" had given the Sutton the biggest gross in its 21-year history.

The earliest mention of the Sutton I've found in Boxoffice so far is from the August 28, 1943, issue which said that the house had been taken over by the R&B circuit, and that after being renovated the Sutton would be operated with the same policy as the circuit's Art Theatre and 8th Street Playhouse, both of which were in Greenwich Village.

The Sutton #2 (larger ground-level auditorium post-twinning) was one of the two theatres (gosh, the LA house slips my mind) where Dolby SR-D (Dolby Stereo Digital) was quietly (well, it was loud) beta-tested with the engagement of STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.

Joe, the Sutton was already advertising in the NYT as showing movies in 1934.

As Al Alvarez posted, the Sutton was operating in 1934. The 1935 Film Daily Yearbook lists the Sutton Theater at 205 East 57th Street with 575 seats. The Department of Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy in April of 1934 for a 570 seat motion picture theater at 205-09 East 57th Street. There was also a certificate of occupancy issued in February of 1924 for a bank at this address. The introduction above should be updated.

Ah, I was in a rush last night and failed to read any of the recent comments that revealed the opening date.

On the bright side, Boxoffice got this one right. :)

Updated -- thanks!