AMC Empire 25

If you visit this theater, you have to check out the outdoor promenade on the top level. Stunning views of Times Square--from twelve stories up!

I saw the picture of the AMC EMPIRE 25 and marveled. The facade and lobby were a part of the old ELTINGE THEATRE, which was named for the female impersonator JULIAN ELTINGE. Very ironic too that the female impersonator, RUPAUL is featured in MADAME TUSSAUD'S WAX MUSEUM at the megaplex. WOW! Learn more about Eltinge at www.julianeltinge.com. It's fantastic! CINEMA TREASURES is marvelous!!

I go to AMC25 42nd Street all the time. I'm 62 and enjoy the senior discount. I saw "IN THE BEDROOM" at Theater No. 14 last night. I was there early and heard a young woman singing with guitar accompaniment. SHe sounded exactly like a young woman I know who sings exactly the same tupe songs. She has a CD out now, just starting in the music business. I told her she might well be doing this, marketing her CD to a theater chain that would play her songs before movie showings, in-between movie showings. How can she get in touch with the right people about doing this. DIrectly to you or is there someone you can refer her to. Her e mail address is:

VGOMES7474@aol.com. You can reply to me a well since I am very interested too. Her singing and guitar playing, to me, is every bit as good as what I heard last night. Tell me how she can get her music marked, to whom, etc., so that she can be heard in the same way, during these movie breaks. Believe me, she is well worth it!

I enjoy AMC25 so much! I also enjoy going to the new Times Square Cafe. I am going there today, in fact!

So, please help a fine artist get a break. Her name is Val Gomes (pronounced like homes)

Thanks again!

Toby Van Buren (TOBY1939@yahoo.com)

i can't wait to see The Debut!!!
CHECK IT OUT!!!
http://www.DebutFilm.com
=)
J~*loca hapa luv

a beautiful theater worthy of the big apple

Number one with Carnige Hall, Lincoln Center and dozens of other smaller venues new York does not need another symphoney concert hall. Number two if you read the description this theatre was built as a cinema from nothing but a shell. What is it that you propose is converted into a concert hall? You obviously have little regard for motion picture theatres.

This project has good intentions but with poor results. Why not keep the theatre as the largest screen of the multiplex? Gutting it for a lobby is a pretty uninspired tradeoff by the developers.

You keep saying turned back into a single theatre, read all the posts turn what back, this was really a new construction, with a reused facade and shell.

In the 1940s, the Eltinge became one of the most popular theatres on 42nd Street under the name of the Laffmovie. The programs changed once or twice a week, and consisted solely of three hours of comedy features, shorts and cartoons. The policy remained for about 12 years, after which the theatre switched to conventional double features as the Empire. The Empire was previously the name of a beloved legit theatre at Broadway & 40th Street, which had just been demolished.

So much for cleaning up Times Square...

Mar 25, 2004
NEW YORK (AP) A 21-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the leg during a movie at a theater complex in Times Square, police said.
The man, Anthony Clarke, was watching "Dawn of the Dead" at AMC Empire 25 when he was shot by the .25-caliber handgun at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
Clarke, of Brooklyn, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in stable condition with a gunshot wound to his left leg, police said.
Police said they were charging him with criminal possession of a weapon.

The introductory credits here are a bit cockeyed. Thomas Lamb was the architect of the original Eltinge Theatre, which was a "legit" playhouse and had only 880 seats. The seating capacity was later expanded to 950 when it became a movie house. The current 4,916-seat multiplex uses Lamb's original facade and a bit of the lobby, but everything behind them is recently built and the work of other architects.

Both the interior and exterior of the Eltinge theater are original. Both the exterior and interior of the theater were landmarked by the city. When AMC did the renovation, the Eltinge theater were moved 200 feet, and then the multiplex built around it. The 900 seat "legit" playhouse of Julian Eltinge is the lobby of the AMC multiplex. People use the old theater space to get to their theaters using some zigzaggng escalators from floor to floor. The former balcony areas were converted to a cafe. So yes, the exterior and interior auditorium of the former Eltinge (Empire theater) ARE in fact the lobby for the new AMC multiplex.

A shame what they did to sucha fine place.

A Shame? Why would you even consider it a shame?! Most likely the old Empire would have been torn down and nothing would be left if AMC didnt step in to build this megaplex in the shell of the Empire.

It certainly is not a shame. It's a perfect example of using an old building for a new use. It makes the new AMC unique, and not another uninteresting new multiplex, and perserves a piece of history at the same time. This is certainly better than if they had razed the Empire theater, and just started from scratch to build the multiplex, which is exactly what would have been done in decades past.

I was there when it opened and they were showing classic films on some screens. I saw 42nd Street, Guns of Navarone (magnificent) they also showed Citizen kane, the 2 Godfathers, mean Streets, Cabaret etc....I thought, this is great. I saw Ben -Hur, they put it on the smallest screen there. I had to leave my seat 3 times, "turn off the lights", "frame the film".. the dunces in the lobby didn't even look fazed. They were bored high schoollers wondering why they were in this crappy job.

Since then , no more classic movies. Just straight releases,a month after Scooby Doo opens it could still be seen on 4 screens there giving everyone an opportunity to pay their $10 for this....slop.

25 screens...you think they could devote at leat 1 to showing some great bigscreen classics. No, because it's not financially lucrative and the theaters are run by people who only know the dollar sign and nothing about movies.

It's much better when some one get's himself shot in the leg. It's publicity. yes, the front is cool but how many people really know it's the classic Empire facade....for that matter, how many really care. 25 screens.....that theater soon enough will be a haven for the bad crowd.

Yes, they moved the building over on rails from one street over. Fantastic. They have a series of pictures of this somewhere inside the place, and they should run a short film of it before every show, or incorporate it into the introductory film to the feature (what a great idea). I agree that moving it over and converting it this way was a splendid idea, and it's incredible that they actually did it. The lobby is extremely impressive. I was there when it opened and saw "Citizen Kane," and I remember they were running "Twentieth Century" with Carole Lombard in one theatre, but no one would pay the ten bucks for films from the 30s, or at least not enough people to make it feasible, apparently. That's unfortunate but I guess Times Square real estate is expensive. Much as I loved the old 80s Times Square freak show, it only seems natural that people can step out of the bus station and see actual movies. This place is a real asset, and it has so many screens that it's usually the last theatre in which you can catch a film before it disappears. It's weird that as you come out of the theatre you pass through a food court that could be anywhere in the country and doesn't feel like New York at all. I do recommend the view from the top balcony overlooking Times Square, though. This is actually a great theatre, awesome by dint of its 25 screens.

Camden

They moved it 200 feet west in the same block of 42nd Street. It was never "one street over."

If they moved it one street over, it would have been a real acomplishment!
200 feet is quite impresive in itself though.

Wait a minute. For some reason I thought it faced the NEXT STREET OVER, I guess on 43rd Street, and there was nothing behind it for the time being on 42nd Street, so they could build the rails and roll it back and across the street. At least that what it looked like was happening to me to judge from the photographs. I'm under the impression that it was indeed one street over. I could've watched it, but I forgot about it that day, so I'm not really 100% sure, though. Oops. After spending ten minutes surfing the net, I finally called the theatre and, incredibly, got someone on the line that seemed to know. You're right, it was on the same side of the same block and they just moved it down 180 feet. I could've sworn from looking at the pictures that it was across the street with nothing behind it to get in its way, but I was wrong. I hate being wrong, but it happens so seldom, of course...

Camden

Now they should demolish the plex and restore the Empire. It is a small gem. Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach would be perfect there and there is no other theater that size in the city for that kind of operetta. Kind of like the Opera Comique still standing in Paris.
I guess though we have to wait a while before the plexes become white elephants(to me they already are)and start collapsing from their own economic weight. Let's hope it's sooner than we think.

The Empire's auditorium was demolished. There is nothing left to "restore."

I was there when the plex first opened and the auditorium was intact being used as the lobby. Am I mistaken or have the destroyed that as well?

The original auditorium wasn't demolished; it serves as the lobby for the megaplex that surrounds it.

The Empire will never be a theater again, but the auditorium is alive and well as the loppy of the plex. An escalator even goes through the old procenium arch.

Just consider yourselves lucky in New York that AMC had the imagination to do this. Here in Toronto there are so many old theatres they could have done this to but instead just demolished them. Especially our old beloved University theatre, the facade is still there but now it's a Pottery Barn. Oh well, that's progress.

Well yes. But think if the city powers that be instead had restored the entire block retaining all the original facades getting sponserships for each individual theater and used some imagination.
Both the Met and the City opera could have used theaters for smaller Mozart and the like. Why does anything play in the Gershwin(Frank Rich called it George and Ira's boobie prize)or the Minskoff? They're architectural monstrosities.
This would have maintained an entire historic neighborhood and would have been the jewel in the crown for the city.
The city tore down Penn Station again. Which it never seems tired of doing.

I never realized that the original auditorium was used as the lobby. It just seems like a standard lobby. So, when you walk in, to the ticket booth, are you waling towards the original screen area??

Look up. All the escalators are in the original lobby. Some escalators even go through the procenium arch of the old theater, almost near the ceiling. The former balonies are all the various levels of the "lobby".

I meant "All the escalators are in the originalauditorium".They zig-zap through the old auditorium.

It's quite a hybrid, all right, and it is fantasitc that they used the old theatre for the lobby instead of tearing it down. It is beautiful, and kind of dreamlike and surreal to have those escalators zigzagging through it, now that you've all mentioned it. You can't stand in line there without gawking at the ceiling and scratching your head over its wonderful flamboyance. In a more sensible world, of course Vincent's suggestions about preserving the old theatres intact would be the obvious choice, but as we know, there's not much that's sensible in this irrational world beyond flailing around trying to stay afloat. At least it's not as bad as China, where almost every single thing that is old is being destroyed and replaced with truly obnoxious buildings. Oh, how their future generations will loathe them for it.

Camden

The old Empire of the 50s & 60s had some of the most creative programming on The Deuce. i saw my first Chaplin there, Tillie's Punctured Romance on a double bill with a Francis the Talking Mule movie. Of course, like most of 42nd, the double bills were usually standard action fare. Double bills of films that had been on the bottom of the bill at first run theaters. Tarawa Beachhead, Timbuktu, The Marauders come to mind. Great escape for a 10 year old kid when the Times Square theater across the street had westerns that I'd already seen. The Deuce's sub-run theaters didn't advertise (kept the admissions low), so it was exciting to come up the subway steps and start to peruse the marquees. A kid in a candy shop. Jerry the K

Sure its better than being torn down but they should build stuff like they used to. Why can't they just build nice stuff any more. Just compare your average building from the 20s to your average building now. The Empire should have been redone as a nice one auditorium theatre with nice decor and the old stuff. Why can't they do that anymore?

Megaplexes are stupid!

All that's left is the front facade. a shame

There is no way a company can make money on a one screen theater like that anymore with all the multiplexes around unfortunately.
It's not just the fascade that is left, the entire main auditorium still exists as the "lobby" of the AMC.

yes, 1 screen theaters are not profitable as much as multiplexs. Plus now people are into their surround sound, stadium seats and could care less.

and considering the presentation of films today, the multiplexes are where it's at. No more 70MM, premieres where the public can go to, roadshow engagements....just crap...can you imagine a 70MM presentation of Catwoman????

I recently read in Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's "Lost Broadway Theatres" that the Empire's full original name when it opened in 1912 was the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre and the original decor of the auditorium was a blend of neoclassical and Egyptian.

It is just a sad case of the casual American experience. Movie theaters have become common places where oppulent ornamentation is not important anymore and people certainly do not dress for the occasion anymore. I have often seen people visit theaters in t-shirts. Even in movie palaces of all places. Some people say that modernism is sleek and sophisticated. The reality is that it is cheap and easy to accomplish. What is the solution? Do not go to unadorned multiplexes and always wear something in good taste out of respect for a movie palace.

I have seen the AMC and I think that more of the interior could have been preserved. They certainly didn't replace the fabric that lined the walls.

I saw the Empire when it was being moved down the street on the rails. It was an incredible feat. I remember reading ahead of time that they were planning to do this as part of the redevelopment of 42nd Street, and couldn't believe they were attempting it. I remember thinking at the time why didn't they just leave the remaining portion of the Empire where it was and build around it in that location? Why was it necessary to move it 200 ft. west? It just seemed to me that they could have built the multiplex at the original location, and placed the Madame T's Wax Museum on the west side of the multiplex instead of the east side.

I'm glad they did though, because--at the very least--it saved a portion of the old theater. I think the good will to preserve theaters on 42nd Street had been used up by the time the Empire was moved. The New Amsterdam up the street was undergoing an extensive restoration by Disney, and the Ford Center on the north side of the street had taken two old theaters and did a re-adaptive use, but saved the front facade. Next door to it, the New Victory Theater had been restored.

Quite frankly, I'm very surprised that The New Amsterdam; the New Victory; the old part of the Ford Center (can't think of the name of the original theater(s)); and the Empire didn't all get torn down in one fell swoop. I had lived in the East Village just prior to redevelopment, and two old theaters in my neighborhood had been demolished. One was the old Fillmore East (which I think had been a movie theater or Jewish playhouse earlier). The other one was along 13th Street near Second or Third Avenue if I recall. At the same time, the Palladium on E. 14th St. was demolished. Now, that was a big shock to me, because I thought the Palladium would be saved. I know it had been a nightclub and concert venue for years, but had originally been a movie theater?

I was torn about the 42nd St. redevelopment too. Part of me liked the seediness of the street. One got a trill just walking down it late at night. However, it is in one of the primary tourist areas of the city, and having it in that condition reflected badly on the city. I'm just so glad the New Amsterdam got restored. I would have hated to lose that marquee.

Is there any way to retrieve the bookings information on the 42nd Street Theaters, back in the 50s-60s, especially the Empire, Anco, Times Square, Victory, Liberty? I went through the NY Times microfiche at the library and found some mention of the more mainstream New Amsterdam, Lyric, Harris, Selwyn but nothing on the others. Thanks for any info. Jerry 42nd Street Memories

>>All that's left is the front facade. a shame
posted by D on Jul 25, 2004 at 6:53pm

The entire theater was restored: Walls, balconies, murals, proscenium arch; and is now used as the lobby of the new AMC Empire 25.

I agree about the eclectic billing here. Once in the early 1980's the second or third feature was Hitchcock's Psycho from 20 years earlier. At a rock-bottom evening price of 85 cents, who could resist going in. It was the first time I'd seen Psycho on the big screen, and what a setting! I think half of Norman Bate's family was in the audience. We all go a little mad sometimes, no doubt.

saps, funny that you say that. I saw Psycho for the first time at the New Amsterdam when it was re-released in '64 with Stalag 17. And the guy in front of us must have been in the Empire with you. He was talking to himself, holding a hankerchief over his face, laughing like it was a home movie of his brother and mother. Probably was.
Jerry the K 42nd Street Memories

Jerry the K: I know for a fact that a book exists that gives the history of most of the existing and lost theaters in the Broadway theatre district. I don't know the name of the book offhand, but if you do a search of public libraries, you are sure to come across it. I found it in the Kansas City Public Library. It's an older book.

Robb, thanks. There are plenty of books dealing with the history of 42nd St.("Down 42nd Street", "Ghosts of 42nd St", etc. They usually focus on the early days, the "porn" days and the clean-up. I guess my time there in the 50s-60s was too boring. I'm really looking for a database of the booking agents who programmed the films on the Deuce. Good luck, eh? Jerry 42nd Street Memories

Jerry the K: I believe the book you are looking for is called "Lost Broadway Theatres" It is availble in both Hard And Soft cover versions. I have seen it in many NYC library branches. It has many exterior and interior photos of Broadway area theatres going back to the turn of the century.

I doubt if there's a database of "agents" who booked the 42nd Street movie houses. They were all operated by either Brandt Theatres or the Cinema Circuit, which had their own bookers, working in concert with their equivalents at the distribution companies. If you look in old Film Daily Year Books, you should be able to find the names of the key Brandt and Cinema Circuit employees. Some might still be living. There was also a New York Bookers Association, which might still be active and have records of past members...In addition to "Lost Broadway Theatres," there's the similar "Broadway Theatres" by William Morrison, a softcover published by Dover and available in most book stores for $16.95.

Thanks, kids. I just ordered both of them from my library down here in the jngle. I'll do a book report when I'm done. I'll try some Google searches on the bookers. The quest continues! Jerry the K 42nd Street Memories

You know it's ironic that AMC saved and used the Empire in its redevelopment and creation of the new multiplex on 42nd St. in NYC. Yet, the Empire Theater in Kansas City, which sits four blocks from the AMC headquarters here, sat empty and rotting for since 1986. AMC had owned the Empire here in KC at one time.

Now that the Empire is being restored as part of the new entertainment district being developed here by Cordish, AMC still has no part in the saving of the Empire. All the new residents of renovated downtown buildings constantly dream of having a movie theater downtown again. There's hope that Cordish will bring a new theater to downtown. It won't be the Empire, since it's being restored for use as a live music venue. AMC is willing to spend millions salvaging an old theater in NYC, but hasn't done the same in its hometown. Especially sad since AMC executives have to drive by the Empire every day.

Especially because it's the only Rapp & Rapp theater in Kansas City.

< http://cinematreasures.org/news/12324_0_1_0_M9 >

< http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4866 >

Here are some comments about this theater posted on the Cine 42 page:

About the most impressive thing - heck, make that the ONLY impressive thing - in the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick 'The Last Action Hero' are the multiple shots of the 42nd Street (and Deuce-area) grindhouse marquees illuminated at night.
posted by br91975 on Jan 13, 2005 at 10:13pm

I recall that they created an elaborate facade for the Empire, which they crashed into or something. It was a beautiful version of how the Empire could have looked at one time.
posted by saps on Jan 13, 2005 at 10:23pm

There was also a scene - if memory serves, the one following the scene saps makes mention of - set within, I believe, the interior of the then-rundown Empire (or at least a fascimile of a theatre which had seen better days).
posted by br91975 on Jan 13, 2005 at 10:48pm

Just a random thought - I wonder what ever became of those beautiful street-entrance doors which once graced patrons and passersby of the Empire (tossed in a dumpster, I fear, but I hope I'm wrong). By the time I became aware of them, they were coated with years of grime, but that didn't take away from their unique detail.
posted by br91975 on Jan 13, 2005 at 10:53pm

It's nice to discuss something other than the Roxy and the Music Hall.

Prior to the redevelopment of 42nd st about 9 years ago, when all these theatres were boarded up i took some photos and a close-up of the original amazingly ornate doors of the empire, they had carved greek-style faces and around the face was the inscription "pandora theatre"
i cant find any reference to the empire being called this?
anyone shed any light?

Check this link to the UK Cinema Theatre Association CTA Online Yahoo group.Ive added six photos of 42nd st area cinemas, including a 1995 photo of the Adonis, the David, the Empire, Cine 42, New Amsterdam and Harem
As well as two postcards one of 42nd street in the snow in all its eighties sleazy glory and one very early eighties one of it at night...enjoy!

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/cta-uk/lst?.dir=/42nd+street+New+York+Cinemas&.src=gr&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.com/
posted by woody on Jan 29, 2005 at 3:42pm

In reference to the post by Woody, I believe the "Pandora" inscription on the doors was for the movie "The Last Action Hero" which had scenes filmed at the Empire.

The timing would be about right, i took the pic of the doors through the filthy security grill in early 1995, and last action hero filmed in 1993
wonder what became of the doors, they were amazing and looked very authentic

Yes, the "Pandora" lettering was from the use of the Empire's exterior for "The Last Action Hero." The interior of the fictitious Pandora Theatre was the Orpheum in Los Angeles, since restored and still operating for both live shows and movies, and with its original pipe organ still in use (a friend of mine tunes it).

I couldn't open that link from woody, so I just joined the Cinema group at this link instead. Instant membership, no waiting.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cta-uk

The Eltinge first opened under its new name of the Laffmovie, "devoted exclusively to fun and laughter," on July 1st, 1942. The premiere program was a reissue of Harold Lloyd's "Professor Beware," plus shorts and cartoons including "You Nazty Spy" (with the Three Stooges) and "Affairs of Pierre" (with Willie Howard).

http://community.webshots.com/photo/241259275WjAiVB

A nighttime marquee shot

There was a multiplex on the site where the AMC moved and I assume it was demolished to make way for the AMC 'plex. I forget the name of it, but they played first-run films and charged a price a couple of dollars cheaper than other theatres in NYC. And they weren't strict about allowing people to move to another theatre without buying a second admission. I usually was afraid to walk on that block and wouldn't step foot in any of those 42nd Street theatres, but do remember seeing one film there in '94 called JASON'S LYRIC. It was probably the only place the film was playing so I was forced to brave the block. I remember the woman in the ticket booth sat there couting and recounting cash as I waiting to buy a ticket, which caused me to miss the beginning of the film. It was the first and last time I went there. Anyone remember this theatre?

It was the Movieplex 42, hardbop - http://www.cinematreasures.org/theater/8429/

Hardbop...
I remember this theatre even though I'd never gone inside only because it just looked real seedy. From what I recall it had six screens and the strangest thing of it all was the fact that for some odd reason this theatre was never listed in any of the newspapers adds of movies being played there at the time. So on paper the theatre didn't exist.

"they played first-run films and charged a price a couple of dollars cheaper than other theatres in NYC. And they weren't strict about allowing people to move to another theatre without buying a second admission"

This is why the Movieplex 42 was not allowed to advertise in the newspapers. In the 50s and early 60s, none of the 42nd St theatres were allowed to advertise. In the late 60s, restrictions were loosened up a bit and the theatres appeared in the showcase ads.

Don,
Even in the 1950s, some 42nd St theaters appeared in ads placed by the distributor (ala "showcase"). I'm looking at ads for Pinocchio ('53 release) that lists the Selwyn; Some Like It Hot (New Amsterdam). Some ads (House on Haunted Hill) mention that the film is at the New A but will play the following week at the Harris.

The Apollo advertised a lot since its art-house programming was geared toward the "non-typical" 42nd Street crowd.

The re-release theaters (Empire, Victory, Anco, Liberty)with the most eclectic programming do not appear in any ads that I can find from the '50s. The Anco & Liberty pop-up on occasion in the 60s when they would do the 3rd week of a popular booking, after the New A. & Harris.

I am still looking for booking info on these "re-release" theaters from the 50s-60s. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Jerry

Hey Don...
Your explanation about why the Movieplex 42 was not listed on any movie ads for films that were running there in the newspapers makes no sense. If it were because of the low cost of admission than why are the Brooklyn and Queens theatres where you can see any first fun release for a couple of dollars less still listed in the ads? Also, I've never heard about this "policy" that the newspapers have or had about not advertising movies on 42 street. I'm sure if I look at any old issue of the New York Times there will be an ads for movies playing on that street. I mean there were even ads for pornos up until 1976, so c'mon.

In many cases the 42nd Street theatres would play the same film as the Broadway houses at reduced prices. Case: In August of 1968, "Hang 'Em High" plays at the Victoria (46th & B'way) and at the Lyric 42nd St. The "exclusive engagement" ad lists only the Victoria, Loew's Orpheum and Loew's Cine theatres.

This is just one case. Now, when the film hit wide or showcase release, sometimes the 42nd Street house would be listed, but never in the "exclusive engagement" listing.

I think it is because a movie usually plays in only one theater per neighborhood; when it plays on both 42nd Street and on Broadway, it is then playing in two houses in the same area, so the discount house gets left out of the advertising and the prestige booking gets the ads. But both bookings get listed in the movie clock.

Hey saps and Don
Come to think of it I do remember sometimes the Movieplex would run a film that was also playing at let's say the UA Critirion which was just a couple of blocks away on B'way but it was the Criterion that would get listed in the ads and not the Movieplex. So my bad. Although I did remember wondering back then that if Movieplex ran films that were also booked at the UA then something must be wrong with the version of the movie they are playing. Possibly reject prints that the studios didn't want showcased at the major bookings? hum...

I saw Sin City there last week and Assault on Precint 13 a few months ago. I was so amused at how big one auditorium was. I live in Brooklyn and Linden Blvd Multiplex cannot compare to AMC Empire 25. I just love it.

I saw Sin City there last week and Assault on Precint 13 a few months ago. I was so amused at how big one auditorium was. I live in Brooklyn and Linden Blvd Multiplex cannot compare to AMC Empire 25. I just love it.

Is the AMC 'plex a 25-'plex (which I thought it was) or a 24-'plex. I just finished the book "Box Office: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession" and the authors mentioned that the AMC 'plex was a 24-'plex.

And if you think the 38 screens between AMC & the 13-screen Sony E-Walk on the north side of the deuce is big, there is a pair of mega-plexes in California. One has 30 screens, Regal I believe, and an Edwards 'plex with 22 screens. Ouch.

A mistake on the authors' behalf, hardbop. (I think the title of the book you're referring to is 'Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession'.) The Empire indeed has 25 screens.

How large are the screens and auditoriums in this place? Wondering if it's typical AMC standards (4 big auditoriums and 26 shoeboxes)...

The 10 or so auditoriums in the Empire are of impressive (approximately 500 seats in at least one of the auditoriums, I think) to O.K. (not shoebox, but not exactly expansive) size, Chris. The aspects of the theatre which are most notable are the lobby, which utilizes the former original auditorium space, and the windows on the upper floors which look out onto 42nd Street.

Not sure how long you'll be in NYC, but the theatres I'd personally recommend visiting, in descending order of worthiness (if I can think of any others, I'll post them), would be:
- The Ziegfeld (the most notable venue 'Star Wars, Episode III' will be playing at come May 19th);
- The Beekman (at 2nd and 66th; a classic single-screen cinema, scheduled to close for good, barring a last-minute reprieve, at the end of the month);
- The Paris, on 58th near 5th, a plush, medium-sized cinema (with a balcony), specializing in art-house fare;
- The Loews Lincoln Square at Broadway and 68th, where each of the auditoriums pay homage via plaques and unique architectural features to Loews movie palaces of days gone by;
- The Metro Twin at Broadway and 99th, a two-screen, Art-Deco venue, which has recently been given an impressive clean-up and restoration;
- The five-screen Sunshine Cinema on East Houston Street in Soho; just a very cool place to see a film...
...and, even though it's not currently open for business (although it is, at present, being restored) the Loews Paradise on the Grand Concourse in The Bronx; you'll be able to catch more than a glimpse of some of the work which is being done.

I remember the lobby of the Laff Theater having fun house mirror's.
If I'm not mistaken it appeared as if the lobby was primarily
stainless steel in appearance with the fun house mirrors.

Watching MIDNIGHT COWBOY last night with a lot of great shots of the Empire, Victory, Lyric from 1967. Great example of Empire's programming in the shot: FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD & TARZAN and the VALLEY OF GOLD. Went back and froze the DVD in several spots for a lot of great detail.

Silver Screens website has some of the images
http://www.silverscreens.com/cinesaucine/en/midnightcowboy.html

Still looking for booking info for the Empire in 50s & 60s.
Jerry the K

I wonder if the 25-'plex is having trouble finding material for all those screens? Last week -- when the new films opened on 5/6 -- AMC was screening, exclusively, FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY; UP FOR GRABS, a documentary about the contretemps involving the Barry Bonds home run, which also played at Cinema Village (already gone); and A HOLE IN ONE, which also played at City Cinema's East Village 'plex.

Kind of obscure fare for a Times Square megaplex.

They put the art fare on the top floor and call it "Top of the Empire" or something like that.

Here is an undated photo from the NYPL digital collection showing the Eltinge as a burlesque house, with the Liberty's marquee on the left and in the background on the right is Wallack's Theatre (later renamed the Anco).

Holy cow, what a collection of vintage photos at that link above. Thanks so much, Bryan. The first 24 photos are of 42nd Street theaters, which I hadn't seen before. Quite a treat.

I remember reading that when AMC first opened they didn't know that Loews was going to put up a '13 'plex right across the street. That is why they opted to put "art films" in the cinemas at the top of 'plex because there isn't enought product for the two 'plexes.

Interesting that AMC got the new STAR WARS film and the Loews 'plex across the street is going to make do without. I bet AMC will be an absolute zoo this weekend.

I'm sure it will, but then again, just about any theater showing Star Wars this weekend will probably be a zoo. I will probably wait a week or two before going to see it.

I presume, hardbop, that any of the more obscure titles AMC books into the Empire, hardbop, are just gravy; that is, any money they gross is welcome and the business they don't draw is negated to some degree (whether or not to an overall profit for all 25 screens in total) by the Hollywood product they show in the other auditoriums. Some of the indie-type/specialty films do fairly well (I remember 'A Mighty Wind' selling out several shows during its opening weekend a couple of years ago and seeing 'Better Luck Tomorrow' around that time with a near-capacity, very enthusiastic group of fellow moviegoers) but the more obvious niche films are likely just there to fill space (and screens).

Yeah, I remember going to AMC for the obscure NED KELLY back in '04. It was in one of the smaller theaters and when I got there I was flabbergasted that it sold out. I thought I would outsmart myself and buy a ticket to another movie and then just attend NED KELLY. Well I did that and as I approached the auditorium a flustered manager stormed out and grabbed one of the employees and said "you are going to have to start checking tickets; start in the front row." People either did the same thing I did or snuck into the auditorium after seeing something else.

In any event, seeing all the kerfuffle, I opted to see the movie I bought the ticket for, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND.

According to the ad in today's NY Times, the Empire is showing "Sith" on a whopping 11 screens (including two with digital projection).

visited NY last weeks and was very impressed with this screen, especially screen 1. good stadium seating and a reasonable screen. shame that everytime we went atleast 1 of the sets of escelators was broken, huge waits to get out.

AMC Empire 25 started its second phase at life on April 21, 2000, opening night attractions were: U-571, Gossip, Mission to Mars, Ready to Rumble, Pitch Black, Being John Malkovich, Beyond the Mat, Boiler Room, Drowning Mona, Family Tree, Ghost Dog, Price of Glory, Three Strikes, Tigger: The Movie, Trois, The 9th Gate, Cotton Mary, Me Myself I, All About My Mother, Casablanca, 10 Commandments, 42nd Street, and Topsy Turvy.

In responce to the other posters who claim AMC's art products are just there to fill space, I assure you they fequently sell out and/or at near capacitity. Although most of the screens on that top floor (except for #25) are quite small, I'd say some as small as 80 or so seats. Still, this monster plex is the best in Manhatten, even though I hate Times Square.

I saw several of those opening attractions, including Casablanca and 42nd Street, which were great to see on a brand new screen with bright projection and the Eltinge auditorium as lobby, all on 42nd Street itself.

The art films booked into the AMC Empire are, for the most part, a success, John, but their decision to show such films is driven by having a major competitor for and not being able to book every major studio film. If they could and they had the run of the Times Square booking zone, AMC would drop the specialty product - with maybe select exceptions - in a heartbeat.

Actually 'Top of the Empire" isn't even always the case with those art products, AMC in their efforts to streamline will move a picture around during diffrent showtimes- fequently there are Hollywood movies playing on the top level and indies playing on the bottom levels, it depends on the movie, time of day, and antispiated audience.

The "Top of the Empire" was just a catagory in their showtime ads for their first year of operation, still most of the films I see there are art movies and I do have to travel up all those escalators to get there (I think 7, if I counted correctly, its unreal). I think though, that by being in Manhatten a theatre, especially a multiplex has to carry some exclusive bookings- even the Loews State in Times Square (the new 4 plex, when it first opened before E-Walk and Empire) would play a new art pictures as well as mainstream pictures, although I do agree if Loews E-Walk wasn't a factor you would see less and less art pictures at the Empire.

The merger of AMC and Loews has just been announced. Will be interesting to see how the deal affects bookings for the Empire and E-Walk.

I imagine that the combined entity will have to divest itself of some theatres similar to the way Cinemaplex Odeon & Loew's sold some of their theatres to Clearview when they merged.

In Manhattan, AMC only owns the 25-plex while Lowe's has a number of 'plexs, including W. 84th St., Lincoln Square, the E-Walk, the underattended W. 34th Street 'plex, 19th Street, the soon to be closed State and the East Village 'plex. I can't remember if Kipp's Bay is Regal or Loew's and I can't remember if Loew's has a 'plex on the Upper East Side.

I imagine AMC/Loew's will have to divest itself of either the E-Walk or the AMC 25-plex.

The Kips Bay Theatre is a Loews property, as is the Orpheum at 3rd and 86th.

If AMC/Loews is forced to divest itself of either the E-Walk or the Empire, I suspect it's the Empire they'd let go of, just on the sheer basis of its size. (Not that that wouldn't represent a goldmine of an opportunity in the eyes of Philip Anschutz, the principal owner of Regal, or, they're willing to make the investment, the Dolans and Clearview Cinemas/Cablevision/Rainbow Media...)

Clearview wouldn't go for it. Sell off the E-Walk, that theatre sucks. I hope this means Loews will start offering Moviewatchers. Loews theatres quality has declined shaply after they were sold off from the Sony Empire. I look foward to the AMC changes.

I found it interesting that THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY has opened at the AMC and at the Quad. AMC must be desperate for product to fill all those screensif they are booking a movie that is also playing at the Quad.

On the other hand, given all the screens downtown, Angelika, Landmark and IFC, I am surprised that the Quad was able to get TBC. I would have thought that Sony Pictures Classics, which is distributing TBC, would have had the clout with those other, more high-profile downtown art houses to place TBC there.

CRONICOS is also opening at AMC, but it is opening downtown at the Angelika.

The AMC 25 is the highest grossing theatre in the country so I do not think AMC would give it up. The E-Walk is another matter.

42nd has always had some fun, creative programming. Here's an Empire double bill when Liz Taylor broke up Debbie Reynolds' marriage to Eddie Fisher:

http://photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=42Empire1958Liz-Eddie-Debbie.jpg

With their wonderful lobby from the old EMPIRE theatre, the new AMC 25 screen complex is a good place to BUY A TICKET but methinks NOT a good place to SEE A MOVIE. Their near 5000 seats divides up into 200 per auditorium. Broom closets. But I give credit where credit is due: the 3 story lobby and entrance is both historic and beautiful --- in contrast with the new LOEW'S complex directly across the street, which offers little at the entrance and little inside.

The sizes may vary but the rooms all seem pretty big, with large screens, stadium seating, high ceilings and great sound.

Talk about "broom closets". I saw a screening of "Ben-Hur" a few years back. Figuring they would play such an epic on the Big Screen as it should have, they played it in one of their "broom closets". On top of that, the picture kept loosing it's framing and they didn't turn the lights off. I had to get out of my seat 3 times to tell them. (High schoolers who know nothing of theaters as well as people who know nothing about movies)

I had that problem last time I was at AMC. I had to leave the auditorium and find someone and tell them to turn off the lights.

I disagree. AMC is a great place to see a movie and it is disingenuous to divide the 5,000 seats by 25. Some of the salles are huge and others are tiny, but all have stadium seating and fairly large screens.

In the days before AMC:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/133-3382_IMG.jpg

Fantastic photo.

the AMC/Loews combine will most likely sell off the E-Walk 15. The AMC Empire 25 is one of AMC theatres top theatres, along with the AMC Neshaminy 24 (in Bensalem) and the AMC 30 In The Block (in Orange, CA)

Modern photo is here and another is here.

The international scandal over Eddie Fisher dumping Debbie Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor prompted the Empire's management to assemble this double feature:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/empire.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/362943p-309144c.html oops...

I heard that story too on the 10 o'clock news on Fox 5. What a shame that the theatre that was supposed to show a kid's movie showed a horrible movie. Thankfully the patrons got a refund and saw another showing of chicken little. Thank god it didn't affect the theatres where i live. New York is known for its great movie theatres, but showing an adult movie in front of a auditorium full of kids? That's crazy. The sky is really falling at AMC Empire 25!

It happened because AMC is ultra efficiant in moving a picture around to a diffrent theater at a diffrent time, I've noted that. While it may apear a movie should be playing in the same theater all day (even if it apears to only be on a single screen) it'll play in a larger house when its in a higher demand. It apears that since Andrea shows at 6:20 and 10:45 they slipped in Chicken Little at 8:45 and forgot to change over the reel.

To Whom it May Concern:-

In the past couple of hours I've been reading all about the
"old" movie palaces. It fascinates me. I only wish that something
could be done with the "ones" that are still standing! Namely the
former Loew's Kings, on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn. The theatre has
been declared a "landmark" & therefore can't be torn down. I have passed the theatre many times, & each time that I did so, I wanted to
"cry". The theatre which has been closed for 28yrs now-is slowly
deteriorating! I shutter to think of what it now looks like inside.
I was such a beautiful theatre, & how it could of been allowed to
deteriorate the way it has, is way beyond me.
With everything that I have read about the theatre, there's not
a single person that get's the capacity right. The theatre has a
capacity of 4,200 seats! Isn't there a person out there that will
come-forth and revitalize this "magnificate" theatre. I also shutter
to think that several yrs ago, Magic Johnson was supposed to come & make a "multi-plex", out of it. I'd rather see the place torn down!!



Sincerely,


Carmine Opramolla-cofilms@aol.com

Carmine, great post....perhaps though, you should copy and paste it in the Loew's Kings page instead, as more people looking to read about the Kings will probably see it there as opposed to here under the Empire.

I've always been surprised that the Loew's King hasn't been converted into a live performance theatre. Yes, it probably would have difficulty competing with other venues in Manhattan, but it might be great for niche markets. NYC has a large Spanish-speaking immigrant population. It seems to me that there would be a market for live plays and musical performances done in Spanish for that specific population. I'm sure there are a lot of immigrants that would love to see performances in their native language, and a lot of Spanish-speaking talent from Latin countries that would benefit from having their work seen in NYC. It's not like there is a lot of that content being exhibited on Broadway.

Yes, it's sad that the city has landmarked the building, but left it to rot. However, it is up to the surrounding community to rally up and make it known that they want to retain the asset.

A rare view of the theatre's entrance as the Laffmovie:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/laffmovie.jpg

Anyone know the exact years of the Laffmovie? jk

Boston also had a Laffmovie in the 1940s. Was this once a common name for a movie theatre?

The Laffmovie appears in the New York Times in August 1942 and disappears in 1947.

A second Laffmovie opened In December 1942 on 46th Street. That one advertises until 1943.

Two theatres with the same name, four blocks apart? How did they distinguish from each other in advertising?

Apparently there was also a Laffmovie in Baltimore, and another in Newark. Wondering now if this was an actual chain in the 1940s and 50s.

The second Laffmovie was the ex-Gaiety, later known as the Victoria. The second Laffmovie was opened after the first on 42nd Street proved so successful. It played the same programs, but a week later. But it was too much of a good thing and the second Laffmovie closed after about a year. See my posts in the Victoria listing for more...The Laffmovie concept was popular and widespread during the World WWII era. They were comparable to newsreel houses and depended largely on passers-by who needed to pass an hour or two at a cheap price.

They just listed the two locations under the large LAFFMOVIE banner in the ads. This is not uncommon in many markets where the chain name is the name of every theatre they own. I guess being guaranteed a laugh had huge appeal during the war years and there would have been comfort knowing these sites were there anytime you needed one.

I don't think that "Laffmovie" was a circuit, though the theatres under that name might have used the same booker/buyer. In NYC, the idea was started by the Brandts at their 42nd Street Eltinge. They then took a lease on the Gaiety for the same policy, but found there was not large enough an audience for two such theatres in the same area. The Brandts owned interests in theatres beyond New York, so it's possible they were involved with some of the Laffmovies in other cities.

A current view of the AMC Empire 25 foyer. This area was originally the auditorium of the old Eltinge/Laffmovie/Empire Theatre

OOoops sorry here is the foyer view link I omitted above:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/346424294/346424294uRctNx

This is a horrible, HORRIBLE theater. I have had exactly ONE good experience here (Shopgirl in their largest house - #6) since they opened.
The sound quality is inexcusable for a new theatre. And the sad thing is that the management of AMC KNOWS it is horrible. They blame it on the fact that their screens are "nonperforated," that their surround speakers are all at ceiling heght and on the bare concrete construction, all making for a terrible echo effect - particularly in their larger houses - and that in turn makes dialog pretty much unintelligible unless they turn the volume WAY up - which is what happened with Shopgirl. Apparently, in house 6, they run the trailers low and the movie high. Supposedly because house 6 is the only one with a Dolby processor. (AMC = SDDS) Still, they ONLY do this in house 6. Beware.
Here's a fun thing to do next time you visit one of the large houses in this plex... stand in the corridor leading into the theater - notice that the sound is clearer in the corridor than it is in the auditorium. Shameful.

Movieguy718... Have you sampled all 25 screens here (plus the 13 across the street at Loew's E-Walk)? That must have been quite a project. Thanks for sharing your findings. I've only seen a couple of movies here and haven't been back in a few years. The only film that jumps to mind is the Disney much-belated animated sequel to its own 1967 "Jungle Book" - I had taken my young son and his friend to a show up the block at the New Victory Theater and thought I'd extend the evening's entertainment with the movie. It was my first opportunity to see a movie here and I was impressed with how they constructed their ticket lobby within the shell of the old Empire auditorium, although its a shame none of the detail under the balcony overhang was preserved. I've still not been up to the mezzanine area. Were there two balconies in the original theater? The upper level shown in KenRoe's photo doesn't appear to have any facade ornamentation at all. Perhaps it was stripped during its life as a grind house. Anyway, the film was projected nice and bright and the sound was loud and clear - and the stadium seating comfortable with excellent site lines all around. Perhaps things have deteriorated since then or I just wasn't paying particular attention.

The flow of traffic in the theater is well maintained and - fittingly for the "new" 42nd Street - a bit reminiscent of an attraction at Disney World. The main lobby is basically one way going in to the theater with most of the escalators and exit routes leading patrons into the adjoining space to the east where they can dine at a neighboring restaurant (Applebees) or continue through a gift shop (where they'll hopefully be stimulated to make an impulse purchase) on their way back to the street. Very calculated.

Movieguy's comments today about the screens being non-performated would seem to imply that the double-curved tourus screens are still being utilized. Is this a fact, and are the screens in all the auditoriums tourus? I remember when the first tourus screens began to appear in the Philadelphia area sometime in the early 90's or late 80's - cant remember which - it was kinda funny if you sat dead center in the auditorium, you could clearly hear nearly every conversation going on. It was as if the screen acted as some sort of audio "cone" which amplified every sound and focused it on this one point. At this time, pre-SDDS, the tourus presentations actually didn't look too bad if you sat in the "sweet" spot. I remember now: "Godfather 3", whatever year that was, ushered in a giant tourus installation at the AMC Marple ## in the western suburbs of Philly.

Ed, I have to agree. While I have only seen three movies at the Empire, I must say that my experiences there those time were pleasant each time, and my comments on the place would probably mirror yours quite closely.

There are plenty of worce theaters in New York. The lack of leg room at the Quad Cinema (as well as the lack of stadium seating with screens low to the ground...not fun since half the movies there are subtitled!) pops to mind. The Empire is probably the best mainstream mutiplex in Manhatten despite the fact there are hidden levels too it (theaters 7 and 8 are located on a half level that can throw you if your not paying close attention, but they have overstuffed leather seats, my guess is they are hidden away for special screenings). The presentation has always been good, Most of the time I'm ussually in one of those small upstairs theaters, but I have been in a few of the larger houses as well and I can't complain about it...okay, one complaint, but not against AMC - that food court closed, I miss CPK ASAP.

> hidden levels ... theaters 7 and 8 are located on a half level that can throw you if your not paying close attention

Sound like a good place to show Being John Malkovich.

Re: The balconies at the original Empire. There were indeed two. I worked a week there as a relief projectionist in an asbestos booth at the back of the top balcony. It was so steep there were hand guide rails at the ends of the seating rows (not really all that unusual in those houses). In addition there was an observation port cut into the booth at floor level so you could stand in the rewind room area inspecting film and look out and down at the top of the screen. They kept losing their intermission music tape decks because audience members would punch through the asbestos wall, get into the booth and take anything that was of interest.
Interestingly, I was in the theatre while the Empire 25 was under construction with a fellow co-worker, and he mentioned to the construction foreman that I had worked in the original Empire. The foreman asked if I would like to go "up top" to where the booth was, and I found myself in a hard hat going up stairs in construciton scaffolding. There is a picture taken of me in the hard had staring at one of the sculptures in the relief work at the top of the balcony. The foreman said that the original top balcony was dismantled and moved down to the position of the original first balcony and a new top balcony constructed in its place, which explains the lack of ornamentation on the top balcony. Since the orignal first balcony was much deeper, it would probably have interfered with the escalator paths crossing from the lobby under the proscenium. It was a revelation to see both the Eltinge mural over the proscenium restored and the work at the top of the auditorium. When I worked there the top balcony was locked off and kept dark. I would take the elevator up to the Brandt offices located above the the curved window you see at the front of the theatre to start my shifts, but at night the manager would have to unlock the gates leading to the balcony to let me down at the end of the show since the offices were closed. While I worked relief shifts up the street at Cine 42, the Empire was the only REAL 42nd St. theatre I got a chance to work in, and I remember it fondly when I see the restored auditorium at the Empire 25.

Thanks for sharing that REndres. I saw some double features here back in the '80's, but could not recall if there was an upper balcony. However, what the foreman told you about moving the more shallow top balcony into the location of the lower balcony, does explain why the space seems more open now then I recall. My freinds and I always had our favorite seating location in these theaters which was typically dead center orchestra, just a row or two back behind the lip of the balcony overhang. We tried sitting a row or two ahead of the balcony on occasion, but once felt the back of our heads pelted with popcorn and cany (and Lord knows what else) from some rowdies above and had to revise our plans.

Thanks so much for your description rendres.

Here's a few more links that show the interior of the Empire:

This one is for the cafe in the balcony area:
http://radler.com/restaurants/timessq.htm

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/288/1130/1024/amc-empire25-hall.jpg

And from upstairs looking out to 42 St:
http://www.nycjpg.com/prenycjpg/Archives/20011104.htm

Bway... the 2nd link isn't working.

I've seen many films here and I think AMC has actually improved. I remember once having to run out of the theatre over to the concierge to tell them to turn the lights down. Another time there was a mistake in the film listings in the paper. I think one film was sharing an auditorium with another (why they would have to do that in a 25-'plex I'll never know) and they showed the wrong film. I remember complaining to the concierge and she was so snotty I actually wrote a letter to AMC's corporate parent. They forwarded the letter to the theatre manager who told me the woman who was snotty was canned (evidently she wasn't snotty just to me) and he included several comp tickets. All in all I was satisfied.

AMC is also the only Manhattan chain that rewards frequent movie goers with free screenings and food. The Regal 'plex I frequent in Astoria has a frequent movie goer program but I don't think I can get credit at the Regal 'plexes in Manhattan such as the one on 14th Street that I do patronize and the one Battery Park City, which I don't frequent.

The main problem I have with the AMC Empire 25 is the sound. Every time I've seen a movie there, at every splice during the feature. It losses the digital soundtrack (SDDS) and reverts to the Dolby SR analog track for a few seconds and then back to the digital SDDS track. In doing that it goes from a full sound field to a sound field that you can tell your missing channels.

Hey ED... at the AMC, I have seen movies in theatres 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23 and 25. Wow - that makes me look like a geek ;-) The sound is better in the tiny theatres - less echo, I imagine.
I have seen movies in all the theatres at the Loews E-Walk across the street. It's a far superior experience at the E-Walk. Their small screens are not that small and their big screens are really big. Plus, in their two big houses, the rows of seats are gently curved (unlike AMC) which lets even the aisle seats have a view of the screen as opposed to a view of the black masking and the wall (like the AMC). Additionally, even when the volume is too low or there is some sort of sound problem, you can always make out the dialog, it never sounds like mush - again, unlike AMC where I have seen entire movies that might as well have been in Hungarian or some ancient long forgotten language.
The E-Walk, the Ziegfeld, the Regal Union Square and the Regal Battery Park are the best theatres in the city based on consistently good presentation.

A current photo (courtesy of woody) of the ceiling and two balconies. Note the rectangular space in the ceiling above the window is where the vents from the projection box were located and the two semi-circular 'balconies' each side of the window indicate the original floor level at the rear of the second balcony.
http://flickr.com/photos/woody1969/87959464/in/pool-83469653@N00/

An identical view, taken in 1989 before the theatre was 'moved' and showing the projection box still in position is in the book 'Lost Broadway Theatres' by Nicholas van Hoogstraten (page149)

The vents you see in the rectangular space are new. The projection exhaust fan vented through one of the curved windows where a pane of glass had been removed. The booth was asbestos and just plunked down in the space behind the top row. The lamp rectifiers were either mounted outside the booth on a bracket or on the top of the booth. I can't remember for sure where they were, but I remember walking outside the booth to see what was behind it and seeing the units. That always amused me, since the New York code required that the D.C. motor/generator sets or rectifiers be mounted outside of the booth itself usually enclosed in another room next to the booth. I always thought the rectifiers at the Empire were more of a fire hazard where they were, since they couldn't be seen from the booth itself, and were sitting there covered in dust. There was a space between the back wall of the booth and the curved window, with the exhaust duct running out of the booth to the window. If you see pictures of the front of the theatre before the move, you'll see the exhaust grill in the window.

REndres;Many thanks for your clarification and insight into this. It's always good to have someone with 'first hand knowledge'.

Saw "Akira" when the remaster premiered here March 2001. Don't recall any sound issues, but it's been years and from the sound of it we were in one of the better auditoriums. Haven't been back since because it's not exactly local.

I am surprised that they allowed this merger to go through without forcing the combined entity to shed some theatres. I don't quite understand why Cinemaplex Odeon & Loew's had to shed cinemas when they merged, but AMC and Loew's didn't have to shed cinemas, particularly in Times Square where AMC is now the only game in town. There are what 25 screens at AMC and I think 14 at Loew's across the street. 39 screens controlled by one company? At the least AMC should have been forced to sell one of those two theatres.

And speaking of AMC, there clearly isn't enough product to go around to fill 39 screens during the dog days of February. They are desperate to fill those screens. "The Tenant" opens exclusively at AMC this week. They also opened the equally poorly reviewed "Tamara," which is also playing in Manhattan at the often second run City Cinemas E. Village 'plex and the New Coliseum in Upper Manhattan. Finally, to complete this sorry-assed trifecta, also opening at AMC today is an, ahem, art film, "A Good Woman," which is also playing at the less than A-list Clearview Cinemas' E. 62nd Street 'plex and the higher profile Regal 14th Street 'plex. "AGW," like "Tamara" and "The Tenant" were all poorly reviewed.

Another weird booking at the AMC was "Bloodrayne," a horror flick that opened at AMC on January 13. It also opened in the boroughs as well, but AMC was the only theatre showing "Bloodyrayne" for the first week anyway. What was odd about "Bloodrayne," in addition to its exclusive Manhattan booking at AMC, was the fact that it wasn't reviewed in the "New York Times" even though advertising appeared in the Times.

AMC has 4 months to sell off E-Walk

In fact, they are required to sell off 10 theatres, including E-Walk.

NEVER AGAIN.
During my visit here today I encountered: drug use AND selling in the mens room, filthy toilet stalls, endless concession lines with ONE person working and several other employees just standing around, sticky floors in the auditorium, sticky substance on the armrest, the stench of booze in the auditorium, someone smoking in the auditorium, a screaming match over the use of a cellphone AND a fist fight over the use of some sort of electronic device that was playing music (loudly) all DURING THE MOVIE. And there were MAYBE 30 people in the theater. It was like watching a movie at the old Harris on 42nd St on a Friday night (except this was Wednesday and AMC is supposed to be a decent place.) Ironically enough, the presentation was OK (a rarity here.) And no, it is NOT the neighborhood - this does not happen at the Ewalk across the street - no matter what kind of obnoxious movie they are showing. I seem to recall that there were a couple shootings here as well. Now that AMC owns everything, is THIS what we have to look forward to? In addition to their generally lousy presentations!?!

PS - I was wondering where all the people from the concession line went. Perhaps they have a crack den in there someplace??

I've been here several times recently and have not expereinced anything like that at all.

What was the movie? I have never experienced this, but I hope you e-mailed the AMC people. I had a problem there and e-mailed the national HQ and they were all apologetic and I received some passes. The best thing to do is go right to national HQ because that let's the manager of the theatre know his superiors are aware of the complaint. They'll forward the complaint to the AMC's manager and he'll respond.

Hey Hardbop,

The movie was Final Destination 3. And like I said, there were maybe 30 people in the auditorium (#6).
I also experienced a fist fight here during (appropriately enough) Gangs of New York and had a group of people smoking pot during (of ALL things) Pride and Prejudice.
I found two managers and told them about my experience - they didn't seem very surprised or concerned. They offered me a refund and said that someone would be in to check the auditorium (which of course didn't happen.)
I've seen plenty of horror/slasher movies at the Ewalk across the street and NEVER experienced anything like this over there. Maybe because the Ewalk has patrolling security guards and ushers checking the theaters...
In any case, I never liked this place because of their generally crappy presentations - but I certainly am not going to put up with feeling like I might gat slashed in the mens room or assaulted during the movie. And I don't feel that way even up at the Magic Johnson Harlem USA.

Hey Movieguy718, Sorry about your experience at this theater. I have seen scores of films here since it opened and I have Never had an unpleasant experience. I think it is a wonderful theater. I know the frusration you feel though because I have had nothing but awful experiences at the Regal Union Square. I can't stand that theater. I find it filthy, overcrowded, bad concessions and inept concessionaires and employees who don't seem to care. Though I personally haven't seen them, people have posted on this site that rats are rampant! Even so, when I ranted on that theater's posting many people defended it and said they love it. p.s. I love the Loewe's E-Walk as well!

I had the opportunity to visit this great megaplex during my
spring break of 2005. It was truly awe inspiring. If I remembered
correctly, I saw Assault on Precinct 13.
PS. Don’t remember any drug dealings tho.

I was on 42nd Street the other night taking in a show at the New Victory down the block with my kids and I took a couple of shots of the Empire. Nothing Earth-shattering, but I thought it was cool how you can see the original auditorium dome through the arched array of windows on the facade of the building.

Facade at night
Through the windows

Wow, very nice Ed! Thanks for sharing.
I always liked this theater. I have been there a few times, and think the old theater interior is fascinating. I had never experienced anything close to the description given above.

Here's some great photos of the Empire in the "old 42nd St" from the 70's and 80's. I really don't think I'd want to go back to that:

http://www.digeronimopa.com/projects/42nd.htm

I appreciate what AMC did to preserve the facade and the front of the old Empire theater. I wish more theaters facing demolition would be fortunate enough to survive with such a similar compromise.

I, for one, enjoyed the hell out of the "old 42nd Street" and, while it could indeed be a scary place to visit (particularly the theaters on the south side of the street), I'd have some of those old double and triple features again! I particularly miss the showmanship and the flair with which many of these theaters tried to lure us in. I always found any trip there to be a thrilling event and the proactively involved patrons of those grinders usually guaranteed your money's worth regardless of the quality that actually showed up on screen! And some of those features on the bottom of the bill (in ragged prints that seemed to have been kicked around up and down the block for years) were pretty spectacular in their audacious perversity. This was the real avant garde of independent film making in the pre-Mirimax days of the '70's and '80's.

Ed,
When we crank up that Time Machine, drop me off on the "old 42nd Street" in the late 50s to late 60s. It was more "mainstream" than your time in the 70s-80s but with some of the most creative programming in town. Mostly, geared for the blue collar audience. (With the exception of the Apollo).

The Empire was already known for eclectic double/triple bills even before The Undertaker & His Pals/Corpse Grinders days.

Check out my July 2005 posting for their double bill celebrating the Debbie Reynolds-Eddie Fisher-Liz mess.

I can recall individual films that I saw back then but piecing the double features together is tough. I've checked all of the NY Times from the 50s-60s and Cue Magazines from the 60s and cannot find any listings for the Empire. Too bad but the quest continues. Any leads are appreciated.

I cut school in the mid-70's and was walking up 42nd Street. Imagine my shock when one of the theaters had a double-bill of HORROR OF DRACULA and CURSE OF FRANKENTSTEIN, 2 films from the late 1950's!

If the street wasn't riddled with bums, hookers and drug dealers, I would have thought I stepped into a time machine.

Hey Ed, I used to miss pieces of the "old 42nd St." as well. Then, about 2 years ago I was in San Francisco on business and one night I went out for a walk. I wound up in the Tenderloin District. There were few people on the street. Those that were there were ominous looking. There were prostitutes, drug dealers and homeless people lurking about. I've lived in New York all my life and don't scare easily, but I was extremely uncomfortable. When I passed a couple of porno theaters it reminded me of the "Old Times Square". I quickly realized that I don't miss it at all. I now live less than a mile from Times Square and I feel safe at all hours of the day and night walking in that area. There are theaters I love going to rather than theaters I avoided at all costs. There are restarants, retail and attractions. Yes, there are lots of tourists and there's a lot of cheeziness, but so what! This is a vast improvement over what was. I never want to go back to that time. Ever! If you still miss it, go to San Francisco!

Well... we all tend to romanticize our youth, I suppose. But then, I don't remember the area ever being as desolate as you describe the Tenderloin district to be. It seems there was always plenty of foot traffic along the Duece and around the corner on Times Square proper, there were always crowds. I don't particularly miss the come-ons from the pimps and drug dealers and phony ID guys or the three card monty games... but I do miss the honky tonk atmosphere and the grindhouses. I miss the colorful displays in the outer vestibules and the cheap double feature thrills they promised (and often delivered). I guess I'll have to be content with my memories. And I too have enjoyed legitimate productions at the gleamingly renovated Selwyn and New Amsterdam theaters in recent years, not to mention that I've been a subscriber to the children's theater program at the New Victory for several years running now. Yes, it's very nice to be able to take the kids to see shows on the Duece. But when I stare around before the curtain goes I up, I can't help but drift back to the days of my youth and recalling with a smile some of the demented sights and sounds I watched unfold on the big soda-stained screens in those creaky old grinders.

This comes from a bio on Julian Eltinge:

"Producer Al Woods built the Eltinge theater in 1911 to honor the nationwide success of Julian Eltinge. The Eltinge theater opened September 11, 1912, with the show 'Within the Law'. Surprisingly, Eltinge himself never performed in this theater, though Woods had planned at least one production for him in the Eltinge".

To Jerry Kovar: Thanks so much for posting the 42nd St. pictures on your Photobucket site. They're all great, but I especially enjoyed the William Castles and the Liz-Eddie-Debbie one. All those amazing double features - it reminded me of when I first got "Midnight Cowboy" on video and spent so much time freeze-framing and slow-motioning, trying to see what all the double features were.

Thanks, Bill. I just loaded 7 new ones about 5 minutes ago. I'll be posting them on the appropriate theater site but if you head back to my photobucket site they should all be there. Also, if you are interested in double features, as I am, I have an excel spreadsheet that I can email you. Many of the "misspent childhood" double features that I caught in my NYC days in the early 50s-late 60s. These are the ones that I have been able to document over the past few years. I know....get a life. But it's been a fun hobby. Genealogy for movie nuts. email me at 42ndst@tampabay.rr.com

Still looking for a way to research the Empire and Victory theaters (pre-porn)and the Terrace down on 23rd St during that time period (early 50s-late 60s). They're not listed in the NY Times or Cue magazine. jerry the k

Jerry... I don't know how the listings ran in the '50's and '60's, but I seem to recall that the NY Post used to list most of the Duece grindhouses in their Movie Time Clock during the late '70's and '80's. They used to clump them all together with the prefix "42St" near the beginning of the column. So you'd see "42St Liberty" and "42St Lyric" etc... I don't think they always listed both (or all three, as the case may be) features, which is why going down to the strip in person was always the best way to select which particular bill of fare to attend.

Ed,

I'm sure they weren't there since I remember calling the theaters. And as I mentioned on one of the sites, that wasn't easy, since they had one line and a person answering the phone. Imagine that!

Sometimes, Dad would be working up that way and he'd come home with a written list of the films.

But you're right, part of the thrill was coming up the subway on 8th Avenue and feverishly scanning the marquees. Can't remember too many times, where one of the ten didn't have something to see. Great times. jerry

The architectural firm which designed the AMC Empire 25 and the adaptation of the Eltinge Theatre as its entrance and lobby was Gould Evans Associates, the Lawrence, Kansas based firm which has designed the majority of AMC's recent megaplex theatres.

Here is an interesting page about Forest City Ratner's 42nd Street development, at the Cooper Union School of Architecture's web site. It gives a good description of the way this complex development is put together.

Great post, Joe. Naturally, it also mentions how the Liberty Theater was retained within the complex. Unfortunately, the beautiful Harris Theater was pounded to dust to clear space for Madame Tussaud's.

What exactly is the Liberty Theater part of the complex used for today?

Is the firm responsible for building the new theatre in Rockaway TOwnsquare Mall (the building firm)?

The Liberty auditorium is sitting vacant waiting for a new tenant to come with a plan for adaptive re-use. Visit the Liberty page here for more info and some recent photos I took of the surviving 42nd and 41st Street facades of the theater.

Meanwhile, I've reorganized my photobucket albums and the links I previously posted above no longer work. Here is the link to my new Empire Theater album on photobucket where those photos may be found.

"NEVER AGAIN.
During my visit here today I encountered: drug use AND selling in the mens room, filthy toilet stalls, endless concession lines with ONE person working and several other employees just standing around, sticky floors in the auditorium, sticky substance on the armrest, the stench of booze in the auditorium, someone smoking in the auditorium, a screaming match over the use of a cellphone AND a fist fight over the use of some sort of electronic device that was playing music (loudly) all DURING THE MOVIE. And there were MAYBE 30 people in the theater. It was like watching a movie at the old Harris on 42nd St on a Friday night (except this was Wednesday and AMC is supposed to be a decent place.) Ironically enough, the presentation was OK (a rarity here.) And no, it is NOT the neighborhood - this does not happen at the Ewalk across the street - no matter what kind of obnoxious movie they are showing. I seem to recall that there were a couple shootings here as well. Now that AMC owns everything, is THIS what we have to look forward to? In addition to their generally lousy presentations!?!
posted by Movieguy718 on Feb 23, 2006 at 12:05am"


Wow, all that happened to you in one visit???? Are you sure you didn't experience a drive by shooting through the lobby too??? Sounds like to me you just have a beef with AMC. I know alot of problems are prevelent at E-Walk and it's not the paradise you paint it to be. Sorry, I just think you have a score to settle with Empire and this is your way of paybacks.

I was at AMC Empire last week and there was no sound. I went out to alert any staff member to tel the projectionist or manager, and of course there was nobody around, even the concession person was missing, I had to go down to the lower level to find a human being to complain to. The remarks above by Movieguy718 may be an exaggeration, but alot of unpleasant things do happen when there aren't any employees visible. AMC Empire was much better staffed when it first opened, I'm afraid there's alot of apathy and staffing issues today. I hope management gets their act together.

I've added a few shots I took in 1993 of the Empire to my photbucket album. At the time, all of the Duece grind houses (except the Harris) were closed and stripped of their signage. Their bare marquees were being used for some sort of public poetry project. The Empire still had the set dressings on its exterior left there by the makers of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Last Action Hero". The Empire was featured in that flick as "Arcade's Pandora Theater" and a pair of ornamental cartouches on the lower facade (at either side of the marquee) as well some intricately carved shields on the theaters doors were added and left in place by the set decorators:

Empire facade
Faux \"Pandora\" cartouche
42nd Street Focus Group sign
\"Pandora\" door shield

That sign in the 3rd picture is interesting, albeit a bit hard to read in the print due to the glare in the display case glass. Here's what it reads, as best as I can determine (guesses on illegible words in parentheses):

"We are in the middle of an experiment to find out how to control an element that we don't like. Maybe this element that we are all so frightened about will ultimately, when social realities change, participate in finding new places to go. We can't plan this whole thing (wondering) about whether or not these people are going to continue to stand (on the corner) or not. It's self defeating in my opinion. We have to take 42nd Street and assume with the proper control those people will go away. 42nd Street Focus Group."

A war time ad when it was known as the Laffmovie
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/259e17e9.jpg

Great ad, Warren! You think anyone could get away with such a racist Al Quaeda caricature today as the Japanese one seen in the center of that block of ads?

Sorry for the misidentification, Robert R. Thank YOU for that ad! By the way... what is the Stanley on 7th near 42nd? I presume the Manhattan Theater listed above it at 51st and B'way is the old Warner that was next door to the original Roseland Ballroom?

Ed, was that a movie playing at the Empire, "WHat will save us now that sex won't", or was that something to say that now that porn is out of the theater, what will keep it alive?

I believe that was part of the poetry project that hung on almost all of the marquees while the city was trying to figure out how to reivive the area.

Bway... LuisV is correct. After most of those theaters closed and sat vacant for a few years, the city allowed some artists to display these short phrases on the marquees of all the Duece grind houses. Only the Harris was spared, as it was still in full operation during the project. I can't recall if the Harem was still in operation at the time. The Roxy Twin adjacent to the New Amsterdam was still advertising porn, while the other Roxy Twin by the Empire was in mid conversion to the shortlived Movieplex 42. The Anco had been converted to retail for a number of years by this time. All the others, however, had these sayings on the marquees. A different saying on each face of each marquee to boot. Check out the other CT pages for the Victory, New Amsterdam, Selwyn, Lyric, Liberty, Harris and Times Square theaters for other shots I took at the same time.

Hey Steve Marcus... I WISH it was an exaggeration - and if you recall, there were already a couple shootings here.
A friend of mine dragged me here again for DaVinci Code (she had a bunch of free passes from HER last disasterous trip here) - at the auditorium entrance we were frisked, scanned and my gym bag was thoroughly searched for video eqipment by a couple of goons. When we got into the auditorium, the stench of pot ALMOST overwhelmed the stench of vomit (or sewage or whatever it is.) It was a 10:40 PM showing - we walked into the auditorium at 10:40 maybe 10:41 and the movie was well underway. They had started EARLY. I asked one of the goons when and why the movie had started early: "Maybe ten minutes ago - it's a long movie and we want to go home" was the reply. Would he do something about the people smoking? He would try to find security. Exactly. Consequently, people were still coming in at 11:00. Since we are usually innundated with 20 minutes of commercial and trailers, everyone knows that the movie never starts on time, much less EARLY!!!
The smoking and almost constant use of cellphones was of no concern to the goon who was standing right at the edge of the screen using some apparatus with a blinking red light to scope the audience. To be completely fair, the blinking light at the screen didn't seem to concern anyone in the audience except me.
To end our most recent Empire experience: neither of the two toilet stalls in the mens room had a lock, one of them was stopped up. No paper towels, no water in one of the two sinks. No paper towels in the ladies room either. A bum was sleeping on the little bench by the restrooms. ALL the escalators were off on the way out.
The presentation (in theatre 6) was fine though.
I don't have a beef with AMC. The Empire is the only AMC I have ever been to. However, it sure doesn't make me wanna run out to find others just like it.
I never said the E-Walk was a paradise; merely that it is a more pleasant and reliable experience (in a good way) than the Empire. And quite honestly, since AMC has taken over the E-walk, there have been some improvents there (theatre 13 has had "ghosts" for years, it's finally been fixed.)
I don't think that my problems at the AMC have anything to do with the AMC corporation. I think it's the people working at the thaetre level that are clueless and careless. They KNOW what kind of crowd they attract, and should staff their theatre accordingly. It is something the E-Walk has done since day one. Whenever they show slasher/horror/"urban" movies there, the place is overrun with security.

That gadget with the blinking red light sounds like a night vision goggle. When a bootleg DVD is traced to a particular theatre, the goggles and bag searches can help track cam corder pirates on new movies.

I don't think we can hold AMC Empire responsible for Times Square audiences but their staff behaviour and absence of duty managers is indeed often unforgivable.

I don't know if this was ever posted here or not but this is a March 1998 story about the Empire theater being moved.

I have to say that I'm kind of shocked at the posting of Movieguy718. I have been going to the Empire 25 since it opened and have NEVER had an unpleasant movie going experience there. I have a large circle of friends who also go there and I never hear anyone say anything negative. I'm not disputing his experience, but it totally hasn't been mine and I still very much look forward to going there. I live in Chelsea and now that they have finally upgraded the dumpy Chelsea Cinemas I will be going there more frequently but only because it's closer. p.s. I feel the same way about Regal's Union Square. I absolutely hate that theater and have never had a good experience there. But that's me! :-)

I remember all the hooplah when they had that giant inflated Lou Costello "tug" the Empire down the block to its present location. The process made it to segments on all the local news channels at the time as well as all the daily papers. I remember thinking back on my days seeing films on 42nd Street when I read the about the plans to have the shell of the theater used as an entrance to a large multiplex and how escalators would transport ticketholders through the old proscenium, thinking what a great idea that was. The original Empire was a pretty cozy place and had virtually no lobby space. Converting the old auditorium to one of the multiplex's screens would have been impossible unless the complex's lobby was built adjacent to the theater and one entered along the side wall of the auditorium. As far as returning it to legitimate use, it might have made a nice companion to the jewel box Victory at the other end of the Duece and surely would have been re-fitted to under 500 seats in order to expand the lobby and skirt the union demands of legit B'way houses. I wonder if it would have found a niche as the New Victory did.

I have been to this location three times in the past week and the presentation and audiences were all good experiences. The concession stand and other staff members were excellent although I saw no sign of a manager.

That blinking red light must must be night vision CCTV and it is truly distracting. The bathrooms just need a good thorough cleaning. Daily staff appear to be doing a good job.

This 1947 ad neglected to mention that the feature movie was nine years old, and also misspelled the last name of sultry songstress Gertrude Niesen:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/laff47.jpg

Here's a 1993 article I found on the NY Times' online archives. The link should work indefinitely as the article is free - at worst you may have to register on the website which is free. Anyway, it's an interesting piece about how the Empire's facade was dressed up (and then distressed) for filming of the Schwarzenegger movie "The Last Action Hero." The article was written at a time when re-development plans for the Duece had stalled for a couple of years and most of the old Duece grind houses sat empty in a state of advancing decay awaiting their fate.

This is a recent night view of the AMC Empire 25.

This link features an early Diane Arbus photo entitled "42nd Street movie theater audience, NYC, 1958" which is part of a travelling Arbus exhibition ("Revelations" is the name of the exhibit and the accompanying book). If you click on the photo, you'll get a larger image.

I first came across this image on another website, but it was very small and not expandable so I thought it might have been taken in the Liberty Theater. But then I found this larger image and a look at the ceiling ornamentation left no doubt in my mind that it is a shot of the old Empire's 2nd balcony and projection booth. If Robert Endres checks into this page, maybe he can confirm that - harking back to his post of January 18th, 2006, about a relief gig he once pulled here. Notice how the projection booth was built out over a good portion of the shallow and steep upper balcony -- there are seats up around the sides of the booth. I wonder if that was common in some of the taller and shallower playhouses that were converted to cinemas. The Liberty was very similar.

In any event, it is a great shot. And right from Jerry Kovar's favorite period on the Duece!

While I'm harking back to old posts, RobertR posted this newspaper clipping back in May and I was wondering if anyone could identify the Manhattan Theater at 51st and B'way where "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is playing and the Stanley on 7th Ave near 42nd Street where the seemingly racist wartime propaganda film "Ravaged Earth" is playing. Would these be AKA's for the old Warner and Rialto Theaters, respectively?

I beleive that it was the Mark Hellinger aka Times Square Church

Ed, that's the Empire booth all right. That's one of the steeper balconies (note the handrails at the end of each aisle). Also notice the light coming through what looks like a hole at the bottom of the booth on the right hand side of the picture. That hole (which I remember as being squared off and neater) is at floor level. You could stand in the rewind "room" at the bench which ran at right angles to the front wall just next to the entrance door at that end of the booth and ran to the back wall, and look through an opening in that "wall" at bench level, across the booth and through the floor level opening to see at least the top of the screen. It may not be the steepest angle booth I've ever been in, but it was close. Notice also the conduit run on the outside of the booth. Since it was an asbestos booth, the "walls" were just asbestos panels probably around an inch thick, thus there was no place to bury the conduit in the walls. A lot of the booths built in former legit theatres were of similar construction, just dumped in at the back of balconies, in this case on a platform built up over the seats a few rows out. It hadn't changed any from 1958 when I was there in the 70's, but the upper balcony wasn't open and was kept locked up until the show was over, and the staff unlocked the gates to let me out. Great shot!

Ed....The Mark Hellinger is listed on CT as the Hollywood Theater.

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/312/

Mike... I just checked the Warner's Theater page and there seems to be a "Manhattan" aka for that house. I don't see one for the Hellinger/Hollywood. I also found this CT listing for the Stanley Theater on Seventh Ave.

I went here with a friend to see the horrible "All The King's Men." The black couple behind us wouldn't shut up, so we had to change our seat.

Great shot, Ed. Classic image of the Deuce in general back then, especially the guy sleeping 2-3 rows from the top. Usually a relatively calm audience, except when the snoring started, most likely more than one guy at a time, with others screaming for them to "shut up". Great stuff.

I wonder what was playing. jerry the k

frankie --youcould have said the couple..........no need for black

I was thinking the same thing, longislandmovies.

This page has a nice shot of the by-then long-closed Liberty and Empire Theaters in 1996, with their vacant marquees all lit up during a snow storm. You can see the "Pandora Theater" sheilds on the doors to the Empire as well as the faux lower facade elements that were left over set dressings for the location shoot of "The Last Action Hero" in '92.

When this photo was taken, the New Victory Theater had already been re-opened as a children's theater the year before and Disney's restoration of the New Amsterdam was well underway. Nineteen Ninety-Six would also see the last porno establishments on the block permanently closed to make way for redevelopment, including the entire stretch of storefronts across the street from Eighth Avenue to the Selwyn Theater building which housed a number of peep-shows, adult book shops and the XXX Harem Theater.

You can just make out the glow from the lit-up marquee of the Movieplex 42 at the right edge of the photo - which would also finish out its short life before the year was out.

Here's another shot from the same site but taken in 1994 when that "poetry project" was still adorning the marquees of the Duece's vacant grind houses. That block was like a ghost-town during that time, except for the Grand Luncheonette still operating and the old Harris still showing double features. All it was missing were some tumbleweeds rolling around the place - and some Ennio Morricone music!

Every week in the movie listings in the "Times" weekend guide there are words in the AMC listing under almost every film are the words "AMC SELECT; Special Engagement." What does that mean?

It's their art film select program. As they put it: "AMC SELECT Special Films for select tastes". Most of the films are independent films from the big studios and smaller studios and film makers.

http://amctheatres.com/amctheatres/user-controller/select

I've encountered the problem of homeless people using this theater as a shelter in recent years. After getting fed up with snoring, talking to themselves and leaving bodily fluids behind (I won't give details)I asked the staff about this and they said very nonchalantly.
"They buy a ticket and go from theater to thetaer and stay here all day." Is this acceptable? Can I do the same, or will I be stopped? Should they have such an apathetic view about homeless people hanging out in the theater? And where do homeless people get $10.75 a day anyways?

Ha... That sounds like the Duece movie-going experience I remember from the 1980's!!! Of course, back then, tickets were only a $2.50 and once nestled in a favorite seat in the rear corner of the auditorium, one could settle in long term without having to move from room to room!!!

Anyway, Fever Dog, I doubt any one homeless person plunks down the $10.75 per day. Spending whatever money they scrounge up on a movie ticket is just a rare treat to deluxe accommodations for them. I'll bet this is more of an issue in the cold winter months than during the rest of the year.

AMC has these movie money cards that debit the amount at each use. I suspect homeless people get these from charities who fear giving out cash to alcoholics and drug addicts.

Every time I have been to this theatre I have found bag ladies and eccentrics around (one brought had a cat in a bag) although they were probably not homeless.

Here is a recent photo of the AMC Empire 25.

This is a recent night view.

A few more images I took the other night while on the Duece with my camera:

The face in the window
Standard shot
Blade sign

I guess I never noticed before that the long time Duece retailer from the good ole-bad ole days, Modell's, was back on the block - relocated across the street from it's old spot just down from the Harem XXX theater.

A close-up view from 1948 of the Laffmovie's marquee can be seen here.

A photo just before opening here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/422477379/

What a dump this place has become! I suspect poor management and uninterested workers are the cause. The seats are becoming worn out, the movies do not start on time, house lights remain on, and nasty and stupid workers take your money. Wish there were alternatives, but as you know , theatre choices are getting less and less!

The management is not interested in comments about this dump. Keep away if possible!

I guess it's return to what the area once was known for.

"AMC Empire Grindhouse 25"

All the above for the price of $11.00 a ticket.

I don't know where all of the negative comments above are coming from. I used to be a frequent patron of the theater before Chelsea Cinemas upgraded their theater on 23rd St. I still come to this theater periodically and have never had an unpleasant experience here and I will continue to patronize this theater when the movies I want to see are not playing in Chelsea. The only theater that I refuse to go to in Manhattan is the god awful Regal Union Square where I have never had a pleasant experience, but that's for anothere theater site! :-)

If the above negative posts are true, then I suspect the 42nd Street Development Project did exactly what was written in the EXCELLENT book "Times Square Red Times Square Blue"...they took the money and ran. SAD! Capitalism at its very worst.

As a regular visitor at both the Empire and the Regal E-Walk I can assure you they are no different than any other New York theatre and better than many.

The 42nd Street project did its best. Putting things in perpective I pay $10.00 to see Russian import DAYBREAK at the AMC with comfortable well spaced seats and bored staff at minimum wage going through the motions.

I pay $111.00 (including $2.50 "theatre restoration charge") and sit on miniature seats with no leg room or air conditioning while handed a program by some nasty bitch who does it for free show but cannot be bothered to learn the theatre's seating, to see the bored cast of TARZAN sing Phil Collins tunes. THAT is capitalism at its very worse and masquerading as art to boot!

I pay $10.00 at Lincoln Plaza to see German import THE LIVES OF OTHERS in a tiny screen with abstructing columns and tiny seats while senior citizens chat away during the film and NO usher is on duty at all.

Unpopular as it may seem, I'll take the two remaining 42nd street movie theatres anyday. Unless the movie is at the Ziegfeld, of course.

I agree with you AlAlvarez. For me, the two best movie theaters in the Rockaway area where I live is the AMC in Rockaway, and the Clearview in Parsippany, both with great sound and picture and decent pricing.

This is my favorite house in the city, apart from the Ziegfeld. (Regal E-Walk is next.) I've never had the problems others have encountered, and the presentation and ambiance are first-rate. My only caveat is that they used to play more art films here, on the top level, but now it's mostly run-of-the-mill multiplex fare.

I agree with you, that art house fare AMC likes to call as select. They also used to show old movies, which Clearview probably stole the idea from when they showed classic movies at some of its theaters. BTW, which theater is the largest in terms of size and seating?

Considering the size of AMC and Loews is hard to believe they only have to get rid of 10 theatres. I know there are a lot of theatres from both that are in compition of each other. This would also include all the theatres they got from General Cinema. I know that AMC isn't the only one to get away with buying out the compition and not being require to have compition as antitrust laws state.

There was a post about Sony selling Loews but Sony always owned Loews. It had started as Loews but then they changed the name to Sony but changed it back to Loews only a couple years later.

I think the laws are different now taking into account that almost all theatres are first run. AMC was mostly forced to sell those that monopolized a booking zone.

During the Cineplex Odeon buy, Sony's stake in Loews became diluted.

This place is a real downer. I have had bad experiences here the last 4 times I went to see a film there. Poor mangaement is the reason. Keep away if possible!

I was here Wednesday night; saw two movies and visited the box office, concession stand and the restroom. Everything was just fine.

A few vidcaps from some video clips I found on YouTube:

1990 marquee neon
1990 under canopy
1970 night shot

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is running here for one week only, a move-over from the Ziegfeld. In digital projection. I saw it at the Ziegfeld but may see it again here.

The one-week engagement of "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" has not only been twice extended, but - as of this past Friday - is now day-and-dating at the Sunshine Cinema. And the movie has also been given midnight only showings back at the Ziegfeld for the past couple of weeks. What a great success story this has been! What started out as a two-week, two-city engagement has been extended into its 5th week (at least here in NYC) and has expanded its number of screens. I understand that an engagement at the Seattle Cinerama began on October 26th.

I just found an image from the LAFFMOVIE days. Does anyone know when it converted to the EMPIRE name. I think the image is 1954.

Laffmovie seems to disappear in 1948, so it either became the Empire then or reverted to Eltinge.

....

recent photos taken nov 2007
restored mural over proscenium
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008778492/
exterior daytime
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2007752381/
side boxes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008490140/
balcony front detail
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008496556/
stalls side exit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008501508/
exterior nightime
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2007827319/

this is not the only amc theater to have two screens with digital projection. The AMC in Paramus has two and the clifton commons has two.

this theater will be the first in times square to have a new version of the IMAX 3D system, scheduled for launch sometime in the summer of 2008.

You have to wonder why they would bother. Every time I have been to Lincoln Square IMAX (the only one in Manhattan) it is empty and this is within walking distance.

Only 25 short blocks up Broadway.

42nd Street now gets a tremendous influx of tourists from all of the world, so the new IMAX installation may do better than the one at Lincoln Square, which probably draws most of its partronage from NYC residents.

Where do they have a space big enough to accommodate an IMAX auditorium? Are they building up our out into an adjacent building? Or are they combining existing auditoriums and reducing the overall number of screens? I'm with Warren on this issue - I think IMAX will draw bigger in Times Square than it does uptown.

It's a watered down version with a much smaller screen. IMAX is going the way of Cinerama by getting less spectacular every year.

When I saw WINGS OF COURAGE in IMAX 3-D with headphone sound to augment the speakers I felt I was seeing the future of the movies. When I recently saw an edited version of HARRY POTTER with ten minutes of lame 3-D effects I felt ripped-off.

IMAX has been struggling mostly by discounting school groups. Why would tourists buy tickets to something almost every town in the world already has?

The IMAX in Charleston by me just went out of bsns.

Tourists visiting Times Square flock to Red Lobster and The Olive Garden, so an IMAX screen at the Empire is probably a safe bet on AMC's behalf.

Simple. You have to eat before a Broadway show.

The Empire crowd are mostly locals and Lincoln Square usually outgrosses the Empire on a film by film basis.

The AMC Empire and its rival across the street draw many tourists who can't afford the high prices of Broadway shows. A family of four might go to a Broadway show one night of their NYC visit, but not every night.

I am there practically every week since I moved into the neighborhood and the tourist element is insignificant at the movies unless you consider people from The Bronx tourists. The 'burbs crowd also pack Red Lobster, and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

AMC has no down side if the IMAX projectors are free, no screens are lost, and regular films can still show in that screen. In the future if I have a choice between IMAX 3-D and 35mm I will choose the latter as I hate it when they edit the films to accommodate the format and the 3-D gimmick wears thin five minutes in, even when they keep throwing things at you as they do in BEOWULF.

If others think like me, it will soon be KISS ME KATE at Radio City Music Hall all over again.

But where are they putting these IMAX screens? Are they raising the roof any maybe losing one or two of their terraces? I love those terraces.

So, it'll be IMAX shoehorned into a standard multiplex box? What do you mean by "edited" for IMAX - is that due to a difference in the aspect ratio? Or do you refer to different editing choices to maximize the 3-D sequences? Aside from that, isn't IMAX on a standard multiplex screen basically a 70mm presentation? Or is that too simple a comparison?

Hey... Never mind my last post. I just read the article posted on the CT home page. I just waxed over the fact that this is IMAX digital and NOT the 70mm film prints.

It can just be a larger clearer image on a standard screen as they have done in Florida before. They used to project with wide stock film that needed the film to be shorter in order to fit the platter. As a result the early IMAX blow-ups of THE MATRIX and BATMAN films were shorter versions.

They now project on digital 3-D but still play shorter version. I suspect it is to buy time for the headphone distribution and collection.

In either case it is a deterioration of a concept that never worked at the boxoffice. The incredible WINGS OF COURAGE presentation I mentioned above was undermined by the fact the film was less than an hour long, the plot was porn light and the heavier speaker head gear gave some people headaches. Still, it was a virtual reality treat to hear Elizabeth McGovern whisper in my ear and the surround sound and giant images of the Andes were breathtaking.

That showing had no similarities to what is now called an IMAX presentation any more than the last few movies advertised as “Cinerama” did.

IMAX is broke. They needed the AMC cash flow. Very few AMC Theatres will have the tall IMAX screens like the current IMAX houses have. It will be the poor mans Cinerama (Cinemascope) a little taller and with video digital 3-D. IMAX needs to come out with a new name for these makeover theatres. People will think they are going to get the big square tall IMAX experience. What happens with all the towns that have the IMAX license for the area and AMC comes in with the IMAX logo on a small screen? Just because it's in 3-D it won't be the same as the HUGE IMAX 70mm 3-D screen. Can anyone come up with a new name for the AMC/IMAX 3-D experience? AMC is not going to spend the money to cut off the ceiling or take out another cinema above to make room to put in a true IMAX screen. They just want the extra $$ they can get for useing the name IMAX. If IMAX can fit in regular theatres lets get the Pacific Cinerama folks to get on the band wagon and bring back a new digital curved single projector Cinerama type movie experience. 3-D or regular on a huge wide curved wrap a round curved screen will look great in many CineMark or Regal large Theatres. If you don't have the tall space for IMAX, curve the image around the cinema and put in curtains ect. How many new AMC Imax 3-D Theatres will bring in some showmanship with curtains. I can tell you 0!

Do they still include the IMAX introduction at the original tall IMAX facilities (such as the Lincoln Square)? There wasn't a curtain, but there was an interesting and slowly changing lighting scheme to mask the vast whiteness of the blank screen before a show. As well, just before the feature, a voice would come over the loudspeaker to give a brief overview on the specs of the IMAX screen, film guage and projection process - during backlights would be brought up behind the screen to reveal the massive steel framework on which the screen was hung. After the show, audiences were invariably asked to exit at the rear of the auditorium and would be led around the back of the glass enclosed projection booth where they could glimpse the massive platter and projector on the way out. I'm not sure if this last glimpse behind the curtain was a part of the Lincoln Square show - I might be remembering that particular bit of showmanship from my earlier experiences with the format in Las Vegas and Niagara Falls. In the version I saw in Las Vegas way back in 1980, the format was advertised as "Omnimax" and was presented in a dome at Caesar's Palace.

The Lincoln Square announcements are still there including notice of a flashing set of glasses on the screen telling you when to put them on for the 3-D sequence. William Castle would be proud. (Maybe IMAX 3-D horror will work on 42nd street!) I never noticed a platter view.

They still undersell the screen on tall IMAX documentaries due to serious sightline problems. They also used to over-report grosses to the trades but I am not sure if then can still get away with that as EDI collects them electronically.

I did see a Mount St. Helens volcano eruption film in Vegas many years ago when IMAX was just starting. That may have been at Caesar's Palace.

That's the show I saw, Al. The Caesar's Palace OMNIMAX dome is gone, but I believe there is a standard IMAX theatre in the Luxor Hotel. I think the difference between IMAX and OMNIMAX was that latter's curved dome presentation. The films geared towards dome presentation were in more of a fisheye perspective with the viewer's peripheral vision seeming to extend up and over one's head as well as below the point where one's eyes would naturally fix their focus - that is, assuming one was situated among the very few "sweet-spot" seats about 1/3 of the way up the stadium and dead center on the screen's vertical axis.

Hello. I am sending this message to the CEO or President of AMC Empire 25. I am seeking advice and possible guidance to starting/developing my business within the Movie Theater Career. If you are able to speak with me or able to give any support in my study of climbling to excellency, I can also be reached at 252-217-6408(C). I am doing studies and searches to any company that are willing to assist. Again to the President or CEO of AMC Empire 25, thank you for time. If this message is unabe to reach the President or any CEO I would love to hear from their associates and members that is willing to help me make this dream a reality.

Sincerely and Professionally,
Herby J. Hyman

Meanwhile, back on planet earth...

Again, Previous message goes out to the President or CEO of Cinema Treasure. I am greatful and blessed to know that saps is not a President or CEO. Please continue to live here on planet earth and prosper. Who cares if you don't believe. The message is not to you. If saps has become your distraction in responding, Cinema Treasure, thank you for you time. I have accomplish my dream, just seeking as much advice as possible.
Herby

The Empire needs new seats. The cushions are as flat as pancakes! Forget an IMAX screen and put the money into new cushions!

Does anyone know an online source that lists what movie is playing on what screen in a particular NYC theater? For this and other theaters, I hate showing up and then learning that my movie is playing on the dinkiest screen in the theater. The NYT prints this info in its weekend edition, but you can't find it online.

Davis, theatres avoid publishing this information as they often change screens according to demand or accommodate other screenings during the week.

Best bet is phoning the theatre directly on the day you're thinking of going - that is IF you can get a live person on the phone. They should be able to confirm the screen on which any given film will be shown. Be sure to specify the particular screening you wish to attend in case your title is booked into multiple rooms.

Don't go to theaters with dinky screens. Most newly built multiplexes like this one only have decent-sized screens.

though the screen size wasn't tiny, I wasn't thrilled to be in the 120 seaters at the Top of the Empire.

Theaters could Internet post where the movies are, and change the postings if the films change. In Europe, such is identified in print. If it really can't be done in print in the US, it could be done on the Net.

Howard,

For years, I was complaining about this since you and I both know some auditoriums are nicer than others and have better offerings (Digital sound, projection, etc). What I've found out from places like Movietickets.com and Fandango is that it is up to theater management as to how they post the information. I suspect it is the same with newspapers, too. I doubt they (newspapers) advertise auditorium info at a plex as a public service.

So, if management wants to advertise that Movie A is in auditorium #1, with THX/DTS or Dolby Digital EX or Movie B is in DLP, then they need to inform the website of that fact.

JodarMovieFan, in Philadelphia the newspaper "movie clock" is an ad, for payment. I do wish movie theater operators would tell us, but too many don't.

And, as you've noticed, there's much less information even in the actual movie ads as to what kind of sound system, or projection, is used for the movie.

This may sound strange/funny, but at some of my favorite frequented theaters, I have the box office or manager numbers on speed dial on all my phones. So, I end up calling to see if such and such a movie is playing in DP or in my favorite THX one.

I don't them on speed dial, but I do make telephone calls, and check the Net websites for the theaters that spell it out. No shock to anybody that some of us on this website are zealots in this regard.

The listing of Thomas W. Lamb as architect of the AMC Empire 25 is more than a bit ludicrous. While Lamb did design the original Eltinge Theatre, only small portions remain in the replacement multiplex, which was not done by Lamb (long deceased by that time). Some note should be made in the introduction that the architect of the AMC Empire 25 is not Lamb. I don't know the name of the person or firm who did the AMC Empire 25, but surely it can be found in press reports of the multiplex's construction and/or opening.

Here's an article about the Empire moving:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901EEDD1E39F936A35755C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

The Introduction states Lamb designed the 1912 theater. If anybody finds an article with name of the architect who designed the multiplex, post it! then, the info might get placed in the Intro, too.

According to the New York Times the multiplex was designed by the architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle.

Harriet Irgang, the director of Rustin Levenson Art Conservation, restored the mural originally painted by a French artist, Arthur Brounet.

The wonderfully relevant info provided by Al has been integrated into the Intro.

Yes, but it only adds to the confusion. One might assume that Thomas Lamb and Beyer Blinder Belle collaborated. You might consider:
Architect: Thomas W. Lamb (original Eltinge)
Firm: Beyer Blinder Belle (current multiplex)

Warren, you might have missed the new language of the 4th & 5th paragraphs of the Intro. (I suggested it be inserted there) Given the 1st paragraph statement, the Intro makes the architectural contributions clear.

The individual listings of Architect and firm have been subject to debate in regard to other theaters, as you know. I too often find that's confusing. Perhaps there should be categories for Original Architect, Renovations Architect, etc. but that's up to the webmasters.

Many people seeking information about theatres just look at the first few lines and don't have time to read down into the fourth or fifth paragraphs of text...In my opinion, the category "Firm" should be eliminated. Some architects operate under their own names, some under company names. If a theatre listing has "Architect" blank and "Firm" with a name, one might assume that the architect is unknown and that the "Firm" was responsible for the construction work. Some of the listings for Rapp & Rapp theatres give the full names of two Rapp brothers as architects, and then Rapp & Rapp as the firm. That's just being redundant.

Here's a photo taken on March 1st, 1998, when the Empire, which reportedly weighed 7.4 million pounds, was moved 168 feet to the west of its original location. The work was done on a Sunday when midtown traffic was relatively light. The balloon figures "pulling" the structure represent Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, who performed there in burlesque prior to their movie stardom: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/empiremove.jpg

That is a simply amazing feat, and what is even more amazing is that American Multi Cinema was even involved with the undertaking!

I still am amazed every time I walk past the Empire, most recently about a week ago, that it has been moved. I am just also equally amazed that they decided to do that instead of tearing the place down. GREAT photo! I still can't understand how something like this is even possible. The building had to be lifted off it's foundation, and it's a brick building!

Movies that were shown in Digital Projection (DLP) at the EMPIRE 25 from November 2003 to today

11/14/03- Looney Tunes: Back In Action
11/14/03- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
12/5/03- The Last Samurai
1/16/04- Disney's Teacher's Pet
2/6/04- Miracle
3/26/04- Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
5/14/04- Troy
5/28/04- The Day After Tomorrow
7/7/04- King Arthur
7/16/04- I, Robot
8/6/04- Collateral
11/10/04- The Polar Express
11/19/04- National Treasure
12/22/04- The Phantom of the Opera
1/14/05- Elektra
3/11/05- Robots
4/1/05- Sin City
5/19/05- Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith
3/2/07- Wild Hogs
3/2/07- Zodiac
4/13/07- Disturbia
4/13/07- Perfect Stranger
5/4/07- Spider-Man 3
5/18/07- Shrek the Third
6/8/07- Ocean's Thirteen
6/29/07- Ratatouille
7/20/07- Hairspray
7/27/07- The Simpsons Movie
11/16/07- Beowulf
12/14/07- I Am Legend
12/21/07- National Treasure: Book of Secrets
1/11/08- The Bucket List
1/18/08- 27 Dresses
1/18/08- Mad Money

Side view.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtians/2222620101/

Great shot showing escalators rising from orchestra level into the old prosenium arch taking you up to the cinemas.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtians/2223415300/

View from the orchestra level looking up to the two balcony's showing a well preserved auditorium.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtians/2223417322/

I went to this theatre a couple weeks ago, it was like climbing Mt. Everest to get to the theatre. Cannot say I liked the theatre very much, it pretty much has not character. It has been about 20 years since my last NYC visit; and I was disappointed that so many great theatres are now gone, it is worse than L.A.

This is a new direct link for the "moving day" photo that I posted above on 1/14/08. Please see that posting for more explanation:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/empiremove.jpg

While it is true that New York has lost so many of its grand palaces of the past, there are still many that are still with us. The same is true in Los Angeles. While Philadelphia is on the verge of losing its one remaining palace, The Boyd and many other cities have only one or two palaces remaining, New York still has a virtual embarassment of riches remaining: Radio City, The Hollywood, The New Amsterdam, The Beacon, The Ziegfeld, The Paris, The Palace, The St. George, RKO Keiths Richmond Hill, Studio 54, Loew's Kings, Loew's Paradise, Loew's 175th St, Loew's Valenica, The Brooklyn Paramount (mostly intact), etc. Not to mention the two other greats, Loew's Jersey and The Stanley just across the river. In addition, there are many others out of the public eye that operate as churches, especially in Brooklyn.

I don't mean to minize our losses; they have been great and tragic, but all is not lost! We still have a lot left and we need to focus on keeping what we have.

Plus we have about 36 landmarked Broadway playhouses, so we're not exactly lacking theaters. Just operating movie palaces.

Forgot to mention the Apollo and The Victoria in Harlem, though it appears we will be losing the Victoria in its conversion to a hotel/office complex, we are gaining a fully restored and renovated Apollo thanks to Time Warner.

Remind me again which movie I can see today at Radio City or the New Amsterdam or the Beacon or Studio 54.

The New Amsterdam wasn't originally meant to show movies, nor was the Gallo Opera House (Studio 54) when they were built. I am not sure about the Beacon Theater, which originally was a Vaudville house, but may have been meant to also show movies, I dont know.

It's true, NY has lost many theaters, but it also retains many. It had SO many, so obviously the amount lost with that vast number would be higher than other areas, as it had more to begin with.

Isn't it getting a little obnoxious to continually refer to forty second street as "the deuce"? I mean, I like noir as much as the next guy, but Bogie's been dead for 50 years.

Isn't it a little obnoxious to call an actor dead 50 years by his nickname?

Markie, 42nd Street was still being called "The Duece" by those who frequented the area right up until the last movie house was shuttered in the early 1990's. There's absolutely nothing specifically noir about that nick-name.

I'd also like to rebut BradE41's comments about the Empire 25 lacking character. While the auditoriums themselves may lack any charm or unique identity, the lobby features the preserved ornamentation of a genuine early 20th century neo-classical playhouse. One designed by no less than Thomas Lamb! How many strip mall multiplexes can lay claim to that sort of character?

Edward, the qualifications for a Cinema Treasure listing is that the theater showed movies in its lifetime. As such, The New Amsterdam, The Palace, and Gallo (Studio 54) qualify. In my personal opinion, virtually no multiplex should qualify to be on CT because they have no character to them, but I accept them because they showed movies. For me, what makes a theater a cinema treasure is the architecture and atmosphere that the actual building provided to the filmgoer which contributed to the pleasure of seeing a movie. Very few modern theaters apply, yet many banal multiplex entries appear on this site. Yet many of the beautiful Broadway theaters which never showed films, like the Cort, The Schubert, etc, cannot be listed here because they never showed films.

For me it is about the building and so I'm thrilled that legitimate theater has reclaimed and therefore saved The New Amsterdam, Studio 54, The Broadway and The Palace, thrilled that concerts/live performances have saved Radio City, The Beacon, The Apollo, The St. George and Loew's Paradise, thrilled that churches have saved Loews Valencia, Loew's 175th St, The Hollywood and The Stanley and happy that the Brooklyn Paramount is mostly intact though it was converted to a college gym.

Let's face it, movies alone cannot sustain all of the old remaining movie palaces. If they could, many would still be open. As a result, alternative uses must be found which don't destroy the integrity of the buildings. Luckily, we can still see films at The Ziegfeld, The Paris and The Jersey, but it is tough to make a go of it with just movies.

Now we must focus on saving The Kings. Hopefully, it will be able to show films again as part of its redevelopment, but the key is to restore the building to its past gilded beauty. Today the city is hosting potential developers on a tour of the property and I will be there to see if I can find out any additional information.

So, to sum up, no...you can't see a movie at Radio City or The New Amsterdam, but thanks to adaptiv resue, people can go see a live performance at those theaters and get a feel for what it must have been like to see a movie "back in the day" instead of just looking at old photos and wonder "how could they ever have torn that down?". I'm very grateful for that!

I would say that the Gallo/Studio 54 is listed here by the skin of its teeth. Does anyone have a list of the movies shown there? I would guess it's very short.

Warren, I have to agree! The list is probably short, but......it did show films, however brief, and so it qualifies.

I can't find that listing.

??

Do you mean that you actually have such a listing and can't find it, or that you are just looking for a list? I don't know that one ever existed. It was certainly never published at Cinema Treasures.

Al, I think you meant the lising for Studio 54 (Gallo Opera House). I just looked for it myself and it doesn't appear to be listed here. I know that (on other CT pages) it has been discussed that Studio 54 did in fact show films (however briefly). I wish I remembered where I saw it. This web site is the only place where I ever would have heard it. I guess no one has ever added this theater on its own. If someone is able to prove that movies were actually shown here, then it should be added.

I think that to qualify for listing, a theatre has to have continuous operation as a cinema for a substantial period of time, like several years at least. Some "legit" theatres filled in with movies when no plays were available, but that doesn't count.

I guess I don't know what the actual criteria is. Does it appear somewhere on this web site? It's quite possible that movies did play Studio 54 for a few years (as they did in several Bway houses) so it might still qualify, but I wouldn't know how to research that. If in fact it turns out that, yes, movies did play for a few years, we may have just discovered a "New" Cinema Treasure hiding in plain sight!

Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's "Lost Broadway Theatres" has a long and quite detailed account of the Gallo's history, and there isn't even one mention of movies being presented there. When not used for opera or "legit," it served as a nightclub and radio-TV studio. The belief that it showed movies might be due to the fact that in 1941 it was used for one of the first demonstrations of theatre television, via a remote broadcast of boxing at Madison Square Garden.

Please don't tell me that ANYBODY is going to be annoyed if it turns out that The Gallo showed films at one time and ends up getting a listing here! I believe that falls under the "get a life" heading!

Warren, I would love to see The Gallo (Studio) lised on CT. I will try and find out where on this site I saw mention of this theater playing host to movies for a period of time. Hopefully, once I've identified the poster, he will be able to shed some light.

The Gallo is one of my favorite theatres by architect Eugene De Rosa, but until someone can prove that it had a history of showing movies, I don't think that it should be listed as a "Cinema Treasure." The report of activities in Van Hoogstraten's book covers every year from 1927 opening to the current Studio 54. If movies were ever shown there, it must have been very briefly, and not long enough to qualify for a CT listing.

I stand by my comment above.

"MarkieS," I think that we've clashed before. Are you trying to ignite another "flame-out" that will close down this listing?

Warren, calm down.

MarkieS, if a theater hasn't shown movies, it isn't a "Cinema" Treasure and doesn't get a theater page here. I was rather puzzled when I saw the Studio54 reference by Edward Havens above. I didn't think that was a moviehouse.

Studio 54 is a dance hall, not a movie theater. Same could be said for MSG and Yankee Stadium. MSG once had a movie premiere of Godzilla (1998) while Yankee Stadium showed only Looney Tunes cartoons before Old Timers Day games on the tiny screen (soon to be replaced by the widescreen at the new one).

Guys:
24 postings in the past two days, and they have nothing to do with the AMC Empire 25. So Please Stop Now!

If anyone can find proof of film use for the Gallo/Studio 54, then Cinema Treasures will welcome it being added to the site.

The Park Lane/Gracie Square page mentions that it was designed to resemble the Gallo/Studio 54.

Justin, Studion 54 BECAME a dance hall, it was NOT built as such. It was a theater converted to the legendary Studio 54 Dance Hall. It is not like they took a dance hall and converted it into a theater, it's the other way around.
As for the "ever so briefly" it may or may not have shown film at the Gallo Oper House (Studio 54), there are "storefront" porn theaters listed on this site. I would risk to say that even if the Gallo only showed film briefly, it would "still" qualify more as a "cinema treasure" than some of the storefront porn theaters listed on this site. I mean, let's get real here.

I could swear that the Gallo Theater, Studio 54 was once listed on cinematreasures. I seem to recall it, as I remember finding it funny that the theater was listed as "Studio 54" instead of it's original Gallo Opera House name...but then I realized that theaters are lsited as their last known name. But really, I am almost 100% certain it used to be here. Perhaps it was removed when the cinema aspect of it couldn't be confirmed.

No one has yet produced documented evidence to prove that the Gallo/Studio 54 presented movies, even "briefly." Until someone does, why don't we just forget about it and move on?

Bway....I totally agree with you that I kind of remember seeing Studio 54 listed under its own name, but I can't totally be sure.

As for other opinions on whether or not this theater qualifies....why wouldn't you want this theater to qualify even under the most basic terms? It is a beautiful theater. MUCH, MUCH more of a cinema treasure (if in fact movies were shown here) than the many storefront boxy theaters referenced by Bway and the dull multiplexes which are very well represented on this web site. Exactly why is the Regal Union Square 14 a "Cinema Treasure"? It isn't for me, but I accept it. We should want Studio 54 to be listed because it is a beautiful theater and it IS about the architecture and the atmoshpere created by the theater that, for me, qualifies as a true cinema treasure. That is why Radio City and The New Amsterdam (and many more expamples) qualify even though they were built for legitimate theater and subsequently showed films.

p.s. I apologize for talking about Studio 54 on this page, but it doesn't have its own page! :-)

To my understanding, a "Cinema Treasure" needs to have a substantial history as a cinema. Manhattan's Majestic Theatre is as beautiful as any vintage cinema, but it's not listed here because its entire history has been as a "legit" playhouse...Studio 54 is mentioned in the first paragraph of the introduction to the listing for the very similar Park Lane Theatre, so that might be the reason why some members think that they once saw a listing for Gallo/Studio 54.

If movies were shown for six months or sixty years, the theater would still be eligible to be listed on this website.

By the way, I attended a play last night at Classic Stage Company at 136 E.13 St. in NYC. Inside the lobby it said that the theater used to be the "Lyric", which started as a vaudeville house, and then was a movie theater for years. I looked up the Lyric theater on here, and it just lists theaters on 42nd and 23rd Streets that were demolished. Does anyone have any info?

The Lyric on 42nd was paritally torn down. What they did was they took part of the old Apollo theatre and the Lyric and built the Hilton Theatre which is a legit broadway house.

but does anyone have any info about the Lyric on E.13th Street?

Quote Warren:
To my understanding, a "Cinema Treasure" needs to have a substantial history as a cinema.

I totally understand that....but once again, there are many storefront "porn theaters" listed on this site, which I highly doubt should be categorized as "substantial history of cinema", or the "theater" being a "Cinema Treasure". I Still think the Gallo is more of a "Cinema Treasure" if it only showed "film for a month" than some storefront porn theater, which would be on the site.

Quote:
"Studio 54 is mentioned in the first paragraph of the introduction to the listing for the very similar Park Lane Theatre, so that might be the reason why some members think that they once saw a listing for Gallo/Studio 54."

No, I REALLY am almost 100% sure I have seen a page here for "Studio 54" aka Gallo. It was listed as "Studio 54", I remember it so clearly because I remember laughing at the fact that this theater has to listed as "Studio 54" because that is it's last or current name, which of course is the policy. It probably was a few years ago, but I no doubt think it was removed because it can't be proven that it is a "Cinema Treasure". I have never viewed the Park Lane Theater page until today when you mentioned it, so that can't be it...at least not for me.

The 13th street Lyric is listed as the Bijou Cinema.
---
Many of the porno theatres listed here have rich histories in challenging censorship laws and documenting changing social mores, even if they were not born as brick and mortar palaces. They are time-capsule treasures of our film history.

Although designed to look like a movie palace, there appears to be no record of Studio 54 ever showing a single film for a single showing.

Although it also has had a history of insignificant movies, if you really want to define what a Cinema Treasure is, step into the Empire lobby and look up. It costs nothing.

No, the two Bijou's listed were on E.4th, and 3rd Avenue, respectively. This theater is at 136 E. 13th, between third and fourth avenues. It started as a livery stable, then was a vaudeville house, then a movie theater. It was called the Lyric. The info in the lobby says it stood empty from 1965 to 1974 when this theater group took it over.

The believe the third avenue Bijou was between 12th and 13th and was last known as Cinema Village on 3rdA Avenue.

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/8371/

Any chance this place is in danger of closing?

Why do you ask?

"Any chance this place is in danger of closing?"

Isn't this, if not number one, then definitely one of the top grossing theaters in the world? Why would they close? I gotta tell you though, seeing a movie here is just an ordeal. 3:00pm Saturday afternoon matinée. One cashier for twenty five screens, and I'll admit, she was working her butt off and sporadically another cashier would come out from behind a wall behind the box office, but it was a wait. OK, opening weekend of "Journey To the Center Of the Earth" 3D. Of course the theater is so high up, they could sell Oxygen tanks at the concession stand. The escalators up are not for the claustrophobic. Each level has the look and feel of an airport, and if they didn't have standees placed around, you can think you were waiting for a flight. After what seems like five escalators up, the theater was a huge pigsty. McDonald's and other outside food boxes all over. Again, the staff worked hard to get it in shape for our sold out crowd. Great digital 3D projection, crowd well behaved. Absolutely not my first choice to see a flick but the digital 3D is still not available everywhere. Special points for the hard working courteous staff.

Almost sounds like a management issue more than anything else. AMC is one of the world largest
chains of motion picture theatres, and they are simply that movie theatres with a bottom line. Costs are cut to meet bottom line projections. There are theatres which are professionally operated, it all comes down to the general manager and their commitment to the craft, some are excellent and some don't give a damn. It is encouraging that you sought out the 3D experience to enhance your movie going experience, thats a positive sign, but again it will all come down to the personal who operate the theatre and their commitment to seeing how the presentation is done.

Sounds almost as unpleasent as the experience I had across the road at the REGAL when I saw 'Wall-E' last Saturday!

I have never had an unpleasant experience at AMC 25. I love their incorporation of an old theater into their lobby. I like the escalators that seem to go on forever. I haven't been to any megaplex that doesn't look have the "look and feel" of an airport once you get past the lobby so this is an unfair ctriticism of this theater in particular. The individual theaters are comfortable, have great sound and the screens are very large relative to the size of the theater. My only real complaint is the exit. There is one narrow escalator to get out and sometimes the bottlenecks that form border on a disaster just about to happen. I can't believe it was designed that way and that the city hasn't made them change it.

Other than that, I love it!

"I haven't been to any megaplex that doesn't look have the "look and feel" of an airport once you get past the lobby so this is an unfair ctriticism of this theater in particular."

Try the Sony Lowe's AMC Lincoln Square/IMAX or whatever the Hell it's called now up on Broadway and 68th Street. So many names changes for such a young complex. Each auditorium is a tribute to a real "Cinema Treasure". Anyway, there is no doubt you are in a movie theater and it's great, and their escalator can give the AMC 25 a run for their money.

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7222/

Ooops! Yes, I agree that Loews Lincoln Square is an exception, but my point was that modern megaplexes aren't all that different form one another, as a whole and to criticize AMC 25 in this regard was unfair. Thanks.

Yeah, really, what's all the bitching about? If the escalator is THAT horrible an experience for you, take the elevator!These theaters are convenient and pleasant as far as I'm concerned. Then again, to be fair, I only go on weekday afternoons when crowd control is not an issue.

If anything, the 'Stairway to Heaven' escalator at Lincoln Square is more daunting and that only has a mere thirteen screens.

In regards to the exit from the AMC Empire 25: It may have been planed like that by AMC Theatres, Hilton Hotels, and Applebee's Restaurant for the exit to be like what it is.

All those huge airport-like waiting areas and the exit patterns are scrutinized by the buildings department before they issue a permit to open. The inadequate AMC exits may have been dictated by the city.

Why would the city "dictate" inadequate exits? You're not making sense. What you might mean is that the city approved plans that provided the minimum number of exits required by law. For example, if the minimum was ten and the designer provided twelve, I'm sure that the city would not have objected, or "dictated" that two be eliminated.

Whats inadequate about them. The regular escalator sets on the east side of the building and they can turn the ones that you enter on into exits, there are the stairwell exits in the auditoriums and mixed around the waiting areas.

The problem is that there is not enough space at the "turn around" areas where you switch from one escalator to the other on the floor where Busters and Applebees are located. I've seen some very uncomforatable situations when multiple movies let out. I think one escaltor is slower than another resulting in back ups that can lead to a dangerous situation if people panicked. I have never seen this at any other theater.

This comment was posted on another message board, but what exactly dies it mean?

>>Just left the 3pm at AMC of the 42nd showing of "TDK" and naturally, I was chanting like a mantra, "Please no idiots beside or in front of us, please no idiots beside or in front of us." My mantra worked and JUST as the movie was starting a mother and 2 kids walked in and the the kid to my right's excitement was so palpable, it was infectious. He was so cute.

As the movie continued, I noticed the kid kept darting his eyes towards me. I always eat a simple tray of sushi, (no, no chopsticks or anything bitches, I just like it because it's easy to eat) but the kid very stealthily unwrapping his food from his bag and every time I looked he would stop and put it back in his bag and start all over again.

I so wanted to buy the whole family something, but I knew that definitely wasn't the way to go.

The mother was so together, the kids were well behaved. Broke my heart.

.

The escalator exits would be OK if people would walk down them, but hardly anyone does and they're too narrow for passing. I've missed many a bus to NJ at the Port Authority because of people standing still on all those down escalators.

The elevator is an alternative way to get out, but that can take longer than the escalator just waiting for it to arrive.

Those are my only complaints with the Empire 25. Being located practically across the street from the bus terminal is a nice convenience.

Escalators are made for people who don't want to walk down stairs. If you don't like people standing on escalators, then don't take them. The elevators are quite convenient. This drives me crazy in subways too. People get annoyed on narrow escalators because I won't walk up. So take the stairs if you want to walk!

I would take the stairs down to the ground level in the Empire 25, if I knew where they were! Maybe next time I should go exploring and see if I can find them.

The AMC exit escalators appear to have been designed to move the exiting crowd away from the main building in case of fire. The large "holding" areas in between are supposed to handle the overflow when the escalators back up. Human nature is to huddle around the escalator instead, causing a dangerous result.

The buildings department often demand designs that do not conform with human nature. I often experienced this on new builds in NY. Consider the safe distance of the entrance escalators on each floor compared to the exits.

MarkieS, I disagree that escalators are made to stand still. Don't you get annoyed by people who block the people movers at airports with luggage and stand still?

my point is,people who don't want to walk on an escalator, shouldn't feel they HAVE to.

I think what bothers me most about it is that almost all of the Friday night crowd standing still on those down escalators are about 25-35 years younger than me. Walking down an escalator is really easy - no strain at all. If only I had the guts to yell out "Gangway! Move it! Gotta catch a bus!" :)

ok, again I'm talking about when I go there, which is always on weekday afternoons, when nobody is really on the escalators. I can imagine that on a weekend night ( which you couldn't pay me to go to) it gets pretty hairy!

This being 42nd street, I'm not so sure I want to find those stairs.

I'll bet they're alarmed anyway: Emergency Exit Only.

And those stairwells would leave you on 41st. Street across from the Times Building (the one that everyone seems to be climbing these days).

TIPS FOR RIDING ESCALATORS AND MOVING WALKWAYS SAFELY ;)

AlAlvarez.....the problem at the AMC is that the area originally created to hold the people as they change escaltors has been severely constricted by glass walls that were built to house more restaurant space for Buster and Dave's. The back up (when it occurs) now has no overflow area. That's what creates the potentially dangerous situation especially if people are trying to exit in a hurry as in the case of an actual emergency.

As as adendum to my previous comment....When this theater first opened this escalator area opened into a food court. As a matter of fact, there was a Cinnabons right there and, on several ocassions, I bought one (or more) for the road. At that time,there was plenty of open space and therefore no issue.

Then the food court failed and they took all of the restaurant space and almost all of the food court's open space and rented it to Buster and Daves. The separation being big glass walls so that you can see everyone eating and playing inside. That's why there's a problem now. There is no overflow and I think its a dangerous situation; especially if there is an emergency.

I saw the new Woody Allen here with a quiet sophisticated sold out audience who laughed in all the right places and applauded at the end. There is hope for Times Square movie theatres after all.

Afterwards we all scrambled with the escalator shuffle on the way out.

sometime next month according to iMAX's website, the Digital IMAX Theatre will open at the AMC Empire 25.

I was there the other day and there were signs around, but no signs of construction. I wonder where the screen will be.

They will be converting one of their current auditoriums into the IMAX screen. No new auditorium will be added.

Here is the Empire in 1989.

So they did a good job then!

Although some disagree I believe that it is a tremendously clever reuse of the space. The old theater serving as the lobby to the new allows people to really look at the detail of the old theater as they rise on the escalators up through just under the procenium.

In an ideal world, this theater would have been one of the "screens" in the multiplex. I'm not privy to the complexities of multiplex economics so I can't say why this didn't happen but this theater appeared intimate enough to have accomodated that.

Nonetheless, I'm glad that the theater survived because, for me, what makes a theater a treasure, is the architecture and this one is beautiful and worth preserving. What's even better is that the multitudes of youth who come through its entry have a glimpse of what a true theater was like and not the interchangable multiplex boxes we tend to have today.

p.s. The intro should be changed. The last line about the Times Square Cafe should be deleted as the balcony hasn't served that purpose for many years.

You hit the nail right on the head LuisV. Too bad more theatres were not saved the same way. Thats why I'm glad to here at least something is trying to be done to the Kings in Brooklyn, (a real treasure) as well as the Ritz in Elizabeth N.J. The Empire, along with all those other old grindhouses were special, even if they were run down.

Wow! The CT guys are fast! The intro about the Cafe has been reworded to reflect the fact that its no longer in operation. Grat work guys!

Updating of currently operating theatres seems to take priority over closed and demolished ones. On 8/20, I contributed a specific address for the Parsons Theatre in Queens, but it has yet to be added to the introduction.

Though I am not an official volunteer, I have tried to be of help and I sent in the revisions to the Empire's Introduction. I didn't see the address Comment on the Parsons, but it will get done now (within a day or two). There's no official mechanism for all comments to get read and acted upon. I suppose you could try at the "new theater" or other ways to directly send in updated information to the official webmasters.

Yesterday, 9/3/08, I attempted to see "Dark Night" at a 3:45 PM showing. For at least a half-hour after the announced starting time, digital "film facts" and AMC audio source were repeated and there was no film. No management was in sight, the concession folks were disinterested, and I went down the six escalators to the box office for a refund. They were aware of the problem but unconcerned. Without projectionists or apparent management, multi-million dollar complexes like this are bound to become extinct very soon, even on the world's greatest city's major entertainment street. Farewell, AMC and Loew's.

That AMC still has Union projectionists working the complex.

Here is another photo of "moving day".

The Imax screen is in Auditorium 1. I took a peek on Friday and the screen doesn't seem much bigger than the one that was already there, and certainly smaller than the one at Lincoln Square. I wonder about its exact dimensions.

Hey saps, when the theatre I worked at a few years back was converted to IMAX, the screen was only marginally bigger than the original 35MM screen, however, they moved the screen about 30 feet closer to the audience, so it appeared to be bigger, and of course, they felt like they in the movie.

Weekend NYT article on architect Thomas Lang

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/realestate/05scap.html?ref=realestate

These psuedo IMAX screens are cheapening the format. When will anyone realize they need to once again give the public something that home TV (even the large ones) can't duplicate. Theatre screens need to be huge curved ones like in the 50's and 60's.

FOUR MEN SLASHED IN TIMES SQUARE KNIFE MELEE: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/10/25/2008-10-25_four_men_slashed_in_times_square_outside.html

Here is a 1948 photo by Martin Elkort. Apologies if this has already been posted.
http://tinyurl.com/52gn98

When, back on January 2 of this year, Warren G. Harris wondered about who might have actually designed this multiplex, the answer was already available in my comment from May 2, 2006. That's the problem with long threads. Stuff gets lost. Anyway, to repeat, it was Gould Evans Associates (called Gould Evans Goodman at the time they did this project.)

I see that the "firm" listing at the top of the page now names Beyer Blinder Belle Architects as the designers of the multiplex, and that firm is mentioned in the intro section of the page as well. But the New York Times article to which AlAlvarez was probably referring in his reply to Warren only says that Beyer Blinder Belle "...designed the 42nd Street project." Indeed on BBB's web site, they do lay claim to the Hilton Times Square project, of which the AMC Empire is a part, but nowhere on their site do they claim to have designed the multiplex itself.

That honor (or disgrace, to judge from some of the more irate comments above) belongs to Gould Evans Associates, which does include the AMC Empire among their projects, as featured on their web site (you have to click on "Architecture" then "Portfolio" in the left columns, then "entertainment centers" at page center, then "AMC theatres, national and international locations" to reach a photo- or perhaps three photos- I've never seen the place and don't know if the two interior shots depict this theater or other AMC locations- of the AMC Empire. Why do architecture firms have such Byzantine web sites?)

Presumably, AMC insisted on Gould Evans, with whom they already had an established relationship, to design the multiplex itself, while Beyer Blinder Belle probably took care of the actual restoration work on what was left of the historic Empire Theatre. BBB does specialize in restoration and renovation. In fact, they did the renovation of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, and should probably be credited with that project on the Apollo's Cinema Treasures Page.

BBB also designed the Hilton Theatre (Ford Center) on 42nd Street, built inside the shells of the old Lyric Theatre and the neighboring Apollo Theatre, using bits and pieces of their interiors for the decoration of the new house.

Oh, and there is one other source for the information that Gould Evans Associates was involved in the AMC Empire's development. The firm is among sources of information about the project listed on page 109 of an obscure book called "Cinema Treasures", published in 2004, and written by Ross Melnick and Andreas Fuchs (whoever they are.) I don't suppose anybody here has read it?

"Cinema Treasures"? Never heard of it. :)

Thanks for setting the record straight, Joe!

Smell-o-Vision appears to be back in Times Square with THE POLAR EXPRESS in 4D at Madamne Tussaud's theatre.

http://www.nyc.com/people/broadcast/blog/?p=2

That's cool. Merry Xmas to all!!!

The date given for this photo is August 4, 2000.

I don't understand why the Eltinge/Laffmovie/Empire was tossed into this listing. It should have a separate listing of its own, since only a small portion was used for the multiolex. And during its decades of operation, it occupied the address of 236 West 42nd Street. How can the AMC multiplex have an address of 234 when it is 200 feet west of the Eltinge's original site? Building numbers on 42nd Street increase in the westward direction.

The old Empire/Eltinge Theater fully exists in it's entirety, and is the lobby for the AMC Empire 25 Theater. It's irrelevant if it was moved down the street or not. The entire auditorium is used, and IS the AMC Empire, even if they don't show movies in the old auditorium, and instead it's the lobby of the new multiplex.
It should NOT have a page of it's own, as the Eltinge/Empire Theater IS the AMC Empire now. The whole building is a part of the AMC Empire Theater, it doesn't matter if they show the actual movies of the Eltinge inside the current lobby of the AMC Empire (which happens to be the auditorium of the Eltinge/Empire. You walk into the old Theater entrance, and the old theater to enter the AMC Empire. Of course they should be the same listing, as the AMC Empire IS the old Eltinge/Empire theater...., it's just that they built the multiplex around the old building it after moving it a bit down the block. Just because the entire theater building was moved doesn't mean that that theater shouldn't be this page. All the history of the Eltinge/Empire theater survives within the walls of the lobby of the AMC Empire.

Oddly enough Modell's next door and the old Liberty Theatre are both also 234 West 42nd Street.

Is the 234 West 42nd St the old address or the new address for the Empire? I would assume the current address should be the address given above. Many theaters have had their addresses change over the years, and the current one is usually the one used. For example, many of the theaters in Queens had an old address and a new address, depending on if the theater pre-dated the renumbering of streets/addresses into the Queens numbering system.

234 West 42nd Street is the current address for this theater.

Madame Tussauds waxworks also uses an address of 234 West 42nd Street, so the numbering on West 42nd Street has gone wacko. 200 numbers have always started at Seventh Avenue and ended on the east side of Eighth Avenue. 300 numbers start on the west side of Eighth Avenue...Many reference books as well as the legit theatre database give an address of 236 for the original Eltinge Theatre. If the building was moved west, it should have gotten a higher number, not a lower one.

Reference books can make mistakes. The address given on the AMC website is 234 West 42nd Street and that is the address that should be used for this theater.

Are you now dictating rules? When did you become part of management?

Your the dictator on this site. Or so you think.

Does every disagreement have to get personal?

Warren, what is the need for "Are you now dictating rules? When did you become part of management?"

Lost Memory has a perfect reasonable explanation for the source of the address (which Google Maps confirms).

A couple of wonderful old theaters in Queens and Brooklyn, which are now "adult" theaters, have been removed from this site because Warren instigated inflammatory comments by passing moral judgment on the men who patronize these theaters. That is a shame. His knowledge of old theaters is truly wonderful; it's too bad he sets himself up as such a moral prig.

This is not a forum about Warren. This is about the AMC Empire 25. I appreciate your comment MarkieS, but it is off topic on this page. Please feel free to email me with any additional concerns.

Thanks and I do appreciate all of your passionate interest in the site and these theaters. These interpersonal issues are always the hardest part.

How do I e-mail you, Ross?

I suspect that since these 42nd street businesses all share exits and in some cases some are inside others, they may a share a main postal office.

This is a nice 2009 photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtians/2223415300/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtians/2223417322/in/photostream/

The above were taken about a year ago.

Renewing link.

Thanks for the recent photos.

Here is a photo of the Empire 25 I took last week.

This is a close-up of the Empire.

How many digital projectors does Empire currently have. From what I have read most of you seem to know exactly what your talking about, so do you think that this theater will be one of the 1st to start receiving these digital projectors from this AMC & Sony deal? Will AMC start at there most profitable places and then trickle down? Also when AMC says 'all digital' do they really mean every single one of their screens or will they leave around some 35mm projectors on some screens? AMC has the AMC Select program, that prides itself on independent and some art films, so what affect will this digital plan have on that program? Especially for empire 25 who doesn't get all the mainstream films each week so they run alot of select films. Wouldn't that force AMC to keep some 35mm projectors at the empire, if not it seems to me they would have alot of dead screens due to the fact that they don't get all the mainstream films. Will independent film makers be willing to release in digital and print just for the sake of being able to play in AMCs (if they do mean EVERY screen digital). I understand cost wise the switch for film makers wouldn't be so challenging but the fact of simply changing to accomadate is what I'm looking at here.

I think they use two three, two for 4k/2k movies and one for IMAX (digital). It will take a while before the other 22 screens get replaced by the 4k projection.

The movie I saw here today wasn't great , but the theatre was. I was very impressed.

Don't think this 1953 LIFE view is the same Empire Theatre, but it could be,

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=5eb455ea8efe8a58&q=new%20york%20theatre%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnew%2Byork%2Btheatre%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26start%3D180

I believe that the above photo of the Empire theater was the legitimate theater located at Broadway and 40th street in NYC. I believe it was torn down in the 1950's.

Exactly. That is a photo of the Empire Theater that used to be at 1430 Broadway. It was demolished around 1953. I don't think it was ever a movie theater. Here is a photo of that Empire Theater for comparison.

An Empire on 39th and 9th did show some films in 1923-24.

third digital sony 4k projector coming soon within a month

Here is a photo circa 1930:
http://tinyurl.com/rybx5n

amc is not going to shut down the theatre and replace all 35mm projectors with sony 4k. I think what amc is doing is replacing one screen at a time with 4k. Shutting down would be a big loss. Every month they will keep pushing one sony 4k replacing with the 35mm throughout next year. In this way all 35mm projectors will be replaced with sony 4k throughout the whole circuit at the end of 2012. Thats what their plan is for now. So yeah, expect one projector installed every month or two.

this has happened at rockaway and will continue slowly at every theater. AMC is not rushing out like Clearview but more like Regal and other larger chains.

some older photos i took of the empire
exterior in 1995
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4072626465/
longer shot - does anyone know if the marquee to the right of the empire was a theatre or just a porn house - it says 4 screens of films i think??
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4072620073/
exterior in 1992
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/78605124/
empire doors in 1995 dressed for LAST ACTION HERO in the guise of the Pandora Theatre
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/78605125/

advance showtimes are now up for Avatar at this theater.