Broadway Theatre

I also believe "Steamboat Willie" ( the 1 st Mickey Mouse) premiered here. The interior seats were removed twice for 2 different broadway shows. It is a miracle it still looks as good as it does

The Broadway theater was host to several films: Fantasia (1940 I believe), which tried and failed to get stereo sound into the movies, and the stop-action animated version of "Hansel and Gretel" in 1954, one year AFTER Cinerama moved downtown to the Warner Theater fo finish its record 2.5 year run.

The Shubert Organization fully "restored" the Broadway in 1985-86, with help from the archtiectural firm of Fox & Fowle. They reportedly spent $8 million on the job, since very little of the original interior existed when they started. The Broadway re-opened April 10th, 1986 with Bob Fosse's "Big Deal," which proved a quick flop, but the following year it struck gold with "Les Miserables," followed by "Miss Saigon." Several years ago, the Broadway received a new entrance and marquee, due to construction of an adjacent skyscraper hotel that cantilevers over it.

"Fantasia" opened in New York on November 13, 1940 at the Broadway Theatre and played there for over a year. The sound system was named "Fantasound"; the original installation cost for the theatre was $85,000 (1940 prices). Only a few engagements of "Fantasia" were presented in Fantasound. The main problem was the cost to the theatres for the sound system and the possible war in Europe. Fantasia would not be heard in stereo again until 1956, when it was restored to it's original length and released in the four-track magnetic stereo format. The "This is Cinerama" engagement only moved 5 blocks down to the Warner Theatre (aka:Strand)in Times Square.

According to nytheatre.com's Broadway theatre listing page, the Broadway currently has 1752 seats.

And yes this is where "Steamboat Willie" starring Mickey Mouse had its world premiere, November 18, 1928, which is recognized by the Disney company as the official birthday of Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie was actually Mickey's third film, but the first two were silent ("Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho") and were swept aside in the rush to talkies.

One of the reasons that "Fantasia" lasted so long here was that it was shown as a road show with only two performances daily and all seats reserved. Advertising claimed that "This picture cannot be shown in any other theatre within 100 miles of New York." All evening performances were at 8:40, with tickets priced at 75 cents, $1.10, $1.65, and $2.20. Weekday matinees at 2:40 were 55 cents, 85 cents, and $1.10. The matinees on Saturday, Sunday and holidays were 55 cents, 85 cents, $1.10, and $1.65. There were no reduced prices for children.

Walt Disney's "Dumbo" had its New York premiere engagement here in October, 1941, on a continuous run policy, though mezzanine seats could be reserved in advance. Admission was 35 cents to 1PM for adults, and 28 cents at all times for children under 12. Starting on December 24th for one week only, "Dumbo" opened on the entire RKO neighborhood circuit, with "Rise & Shine" as second feature. Meanwhile, "Dumbo" continued at the Broadway as a solo feature, and remained there for some time into 1942 in an exclusive engagement.

In 1947, the faltering United Artists Corporation was finding it tough getting mid-town bookings for some of its product, so it took a lease on the Broadway Theatre and opened them there. I don't have a complete list, but it included "Dishonored Lady" (with Hedy Lamarr & Dennis O'Keefe), "Copacabana" (Groucho Marx & Carmen Miranda), "Heaven Only Knows" (Robert Cummings & Brian Donlevy), and the long-delayed "The Outlaw" (produced in 1941 but held up by problems with the MPAA and state and/or local censorship groups).

The UA lease of the Broadway in 1947 came after the March 29 closing of the stage musical, "Beggar's Holiday," and ended in January, 1948, when the theatre reverted to "legit" with a revival of "The Cradle Will Rock"...During the UA lease, the Broadway was advertised as "Broadway's most newly decorated theatre." Another booking during that period was a re-issue double feature of "Lady of Burlesque" and "The Great John L."...During the first week of the NYC premiere engagment of the long banned "The Outlaw," the Broadway operated 24 hours daily to accommodate the expected crowds. I don't know if they ever materialized.

The first movie under UA's 1947 lease was the New York premiere engagement of Charles Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux," which opened at the Broadway on April 11th, barely two weeks after the theatre's final "legit" booking.

Here is an ad from the legendary "This is Cinerama"
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/ThisisCinerama.jpg

Here is a 1952 teaser ad for "This is Cinerama" at the Broadway http://photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/?action=view¤t=QuietMan.jpg

An ad for the 1924 opening:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/135-3593_IMG.jpg

I visited this theater Sunday afternoon and took in a performance from 8th row center. The proscenium opening is huge, particularly from that perspective, so I can only imagine what it must have been like with the large, curved Cinerama screen installed! I'm not sure what the original decor was like, but it looks like it could have been in the Beaux Arts style or possible Adams (judging from the foyer), with lots of arch moldings creating space for mural work. Today, it is probably one of the least ornamented theaters on Broadway. The wall space in the auditorium between the moldings is now predominantly adorned with red velvet to match the seat upholstery. The most dominant feature in this space is the elliptical dome and chandelier, which is now partially obscured with rigging for stage lighting. The main foyer is much more elegantly appointed and ornate. I snapped a series of photos while I was there; however, some of the shots in the auditorium came out a bit dark. I also lacked a wide enough lens to really capture the proscenium and dome:

Marquee
Facade and adjacent skyscraper
Dome and chandelier
Balcony view 1
Balcony view 2
Left side boxes view 1
Left side boxes view 2
Seat end-cap
Right side boxes
Proscenium arch view 1
Proscenium arch view 2
Main foyer

In the 2nd shot, you can see the way the new facade was incorporated into the adjacent skyscraper as Warren pointed out in one of his posts above. In the balcony views, you can make out where the projection booth was located (particularly in the 2nd view where you can make out the large windows at the rear of the balcony). What I’m wondering is, for the Cinerama exhibition, did they use this high projection booth? Or did they build a new booth at the rear of the orchestra (where there is a sound board now)? I know that Cinerama required a more level projection field than most rear-balcony booths provided and I notice in the ad posted by RobertR in June that the illustration seems to depict projection from the rear orchestra.

Wow, I haven't been to the Broadway theater in many years. The 2 shows I rmember seeing there were "The Wiz" with Stepahie Mills in the eighties and "Miss Saigon" in the mid nineties. I have to say I am surprised to see the relative lack of ornamentation on this theater. Especially after just having popped my head on Sunday into the incredible "Hollywood" theater just around the corner. Thanks Ed for the pictures!

The intro notes that "This Is Cinerama" had a "magnificent" run here, but I think that the engagement was only in its 35th week when the film moved to the Warner/Strand Theatre. That marked the end of Cinerama at the Broadway, which returned to a "legit" showcase.

The last time I had been in the Winter Garden was for "Beatlemania" back around 1977 or '78. "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation." Wow, nearly 30 years ago... time flies when you're having fun!

While remodeled several times, there are some typical DeRosa features, particularly the "swish" trim around the top and bottom of the boxes.

There appears to be no listing for Paramount's Broadway Theatre. (1915-1928)on 41st street. Does anyone have any information?

Sorry, I found that one. It is the VITAGRAPH (44th & Broadway) that appears to be missing.

Vitagraph was one of the names used for the theatre in the Hammerstein's Olympia complex that spent much of its existence until demolition as the Criterion. There is some discussion of the Vitagraph/Criterion in the listing for Loew's New York, which was originally the Olympia Music Hall and part of the same complex. It was all demolished in 1935 for new buildings that included the second Criterion Theatre.

Thanks Warren. I am not sure how one would list them, but the old Criterion and the Vitagraph both deserve a listing.

The Broadway Theatre was also known as Cine Roma back in 1937, it showed Italian films.

here is the theatre's name timeline.
The B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre opened on Dec. 25th, 1924.
Universal's Colony Theatre reopened Feb. 7th, 1926, Film.
B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre reopened Dec. 8th, 1930, Film.
Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre reopened Sept. 27th, 1932, Legit.
Broadway Theatre reopened Dec. 26th, 1932, Vaudeville house.
B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre reopened Oct. 12th, 1935, Film.
Cine Roma 1937, Film.
Broadway Theatre 1939, Film

The B.S. Moss stands for Benjamin S. Moss, who was a theatre owner and operator. The Shubert's bought the house in 1939.

The photos I posted in January are now located in this Broadway Theater album, now that I've reorganized my photobucket album.

In the spring of 1942, MGM (probably with assistance from the allied Loew's Theatres) leased the Broadway Theatre as a showcase for short subjects. The two-hour programs had a sliding price scale of 28 cents to 45 cents, with children 20 cents at all times. I don't know how long the policy lasted, but it started in April during Easter Week and had ended by July 4th, when the Broadway Theatre returned to "legit" with the opening of Irving Berlin's patriotic musical, "This Is The Army":
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/pp1.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/pp2.jpg

Here are two interior images from the Internet Broadway website that I rejuvenated to show more detail. None of the ceiling chandeliers are original or even close copies of them:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/bwaynow.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/bwaynow2.jpg

This website has an interior photo of the Colony Theater. Click the photo to expand it.

Here is a view of the marquee from the 1980's.

The Broadway Theater marquee during Miss Saigon's run:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/NYCBroadwayTheater1999.jpg

"Also known as" above the name in the introduction should be Cine Roma. As Cine Roma, the Broadway was a showcase for Italian imports for more than two years, from early 1937 until nearly the end of 1939. Advertising and publicity were almost entirely targeted at Greater New York's very large Italian-American community, which had its own newspapers and radio stations. That's probably why that period in the Broadway's history has been barely documented.

Curiously, a theatre once called Cine Roma later introduced Cinerama to NYC!

On February 25th, 1937, The New York Times reported that the Broadway Theatre had been taken under long-term lease by the Nuvo Mondo Motion Picture Corporation for Italian films, "absent from Broadway [the district] since the closing last summer of the Cinema Roma, which since has become a burlesque house." The Broadway Theatre was due to open on February 27th with "Loyalty of Love," starring Marta Abba. The NYT also claimed that "The house will supplement its screen fare with stage presentations, the first of which will be entitled 'A Night in Rome.'"...I don't know how long the stage presentation policy lasted, but I suspect not past opening week. I found the first one reviewed in Variety, but none thereafter.

In November, 1937, the Broadway Cine Roma became a cinema in name only during a special engagement of a two-a-day Italian vaudeville show toplined by Carlo Buti, Italy's most popular singer and its equivalent of Bing Crosby, in his American debut. Variety reported Buti's salary as $1,000 per week, and claimed that the entire package, including supporting acts and orchestra, was costing Cine Roma $5,000 per week. "At a $1.25 top, the Cine Roma is grabbing stout biz," claimed Variety, due to "Buti's vast fandom in Italy, which has been communicated to the Italian-Americans here through phonograph platters. The 1,900-seat house has been playing to near capacity each performance. After winding up a four-week stand here, the show will make a tour of one-nighters through New England."

daytime exterior shot taken nov 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2007960099/

CAUTION: The following might be considered "useless drivel" and could cause permanent damage to your mental health.

In September, 1928, the Colony had a brief closure for installation of new equipment for sound movies. The theatre re-opened on October 1st with Universal's "Lonesome," which was 100% sound, including background music, sound effects, and sprinklings of spoken dialogue. Ben Bernie & His Orchestra topped the Colony's stage revue.

The "function" in the introduction needs to be changed. "Stage shows" ended here in the 1920s, when they supported movies at the Colony. For many decades, the Broadway has been a "playhouse," presenting stage PLAYS (not "shows"). Most of the plays have been musicals, due to the Broadway's large seating capacity.

The Broadway/Colony showcased Vaudeville in the thirties and has presented some non-play stage shows since, such as Robin William and Elvis Costello performing live.

Robin Williams and Elvis Costello did not put on "stage shows." They were "live" concerts. If management will not accept "playhouse," I could agree to "live theater," but not "stage shows" for the current "function" of the Broadway Theatre.

"[Elvis] Costello Sings Again," which was produced by Ron Delsener, was a special presentation that gave only five performances at the Broadway Theatre in October, 1986. Nearly sixteen years later, in July, 2002, "Robin Williams: Live on Broadway," gave three performances, which were produced by HBO and used as the basis for a TV special. I don't think that those two isolated cases, which amounted to eight nights in the past twenty-two years, justify "concerts" being included in the "function."

Nana Mouskouri 1977

You forgot Nana Mouskouri in 1977 or credit to IBDB.COM.

I dislike Nana Mouskouri so intensely that I must have erased that Broadway Theatre booking from my memory. But I would guess that her show didn't run more than a week at the Broadway, which only strengthens my case. That makes only three "concert" engagements (and all in a matter of days) over a space of 31 years...The Colony, which was re-named the Broadway in 1930, also had no substantial history with a film/stage policy in that decade. The simultaneous arrival of "talkies" and the economic Depression put an end to that. Even better positioned rivals faltered. The Paramount dropped stage shows for nearly a year, and the Capitol for eight years. The Roxy actually closed its doors for a brief period. During the 1930s, the Broadway Theatre was probably shuttered more often than open. B.S. Moss couldn't get enough "A" movies or afford to hire "names" for stage shows. He sometimes leased the Broadway to others for stage plays, revues, and foreign movies. Moss pretty much gave up on the Broadway in 1936, when he opened the New Criterion, which was solely a cinema and much better situated in the heart of Times Square. Even then, Moss had a tough time getting product for the Criterion, which finally caused him, in 1938, to make a deal with the Loew's circuit to take over the bookings and management of the theatre.

The opening paragraph of the introduction needs correcting. B.S. Moss built the Colony Theatre primarily for movies, with stage facilities for vaudeville if required. The Colony first opened on December 25, 1924 with "The Thief of Bagdad" (Douglas Fairbanks), with a concert-sized orchestra conducted by Edwin Franko Goldman providing all the music. As time passed, the Colony added "live" prologues to the programs and eventually revues to meet the compettion of new rivals like the Paramount (1926) and Roxy (1927). Due to its smaller size, the Colony couldn't afford to spend as much money on its stage presentations, which were rather skimpy by comparison. But patrons expected them as part of the package, and the policy continued until December, 1930, when Moss changed the Colony's name to Broadway and turned the theatre "legitimate." The first booking was a musical comedy, "The New Yorkers," which ran only twenty weeks depsite comedics by Jimmy Durante and score by Cole Porter (including "Love For Sale").

The Broadway Theatre can be seen in the background of this 1947 photo, with an electrified "Charles Chaplin" on the marquee. The Broadway was presenting the world premiere engagement of his controversial "Monsieur Verdoux." The marquee in the foreground belongs to the "legit" Hammerstein's Theatre, which has served as a CBS broadcasting studio for most of its existence and is currently home (as The Ed Sullivan Theater) to David Letterman's late-night program: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/chap47.jpg

As a Broadway theater during the past few decades, the Broadway had one of the best marquees in Manhattan. No more. Does the city prevent theaters from maintaining old-style marquees or is the theater owners who keep shrinking them or replacing them with nondescipt new marquees?

Unless a marquee has been officially landmarked, there's nothing to prevent a theatre from replacing it with a new and/or different one. Nearly all the Broadway cinemas and "legit" houses went through marquee changes over the years. The Capitol, for example, had at least four or five...Here's a new link to photo described above on 4/4/08:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/chap47.jpg

Thanks, Warren. Never saw that marquee before. I love the old ones, with the individually-placed letters. I was always intrigued when moviehouses outside New York used the names of actors who weren't necessarily the top-billed ones, violating the contractual billing, so to speak, to favor a hometown actor, a singer who was at a local nightclub, etc.
But I did like the Broadway Theatre's script-like marquee from the 1980s and 1990s.

Link to a 1927 program from the Colony:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/colony-theatre-92427

Visited the Broadway in 2003 to see Baz Luhrmann's "La Boheme" -- thanks to all for filling in the history and various aliases.

Renewing link.

Plenty of showmanship and style in that program. Makes you want to attend that theatre. I appreciate S. Porridge letting us see it.

My grandmother "performed" as a lingerie model/dancer? in a/the Parisian Lingerie Revue. The first production was presented before the movie "Devil's Island" with Pauline Frederick, and the second edition of the revue played before a production of "Oh Baby", a play with Graham McNamee, a few weeks later. I'm writing about her experiences on Broadway and am looking for more info on this time period and these particular performances. If anyone's interested, I can post playbill and ads for these shows.

Oops, forgot to mention a date: c 1926

On Christmas Day, the theatre will celebrate the 85th anniversary of its grand opening by B.S. Moss on 12/25/24 as the Colony. Details of the Colony's first program can be found in the introduction.