Crown Gotham

I was fortunate to see a re-release of "El Cid" in 1993. Why are all the great theaters dying off?? Could it be because the movies of today stink?

I saw the 25th anniversary release of "Sound of Music" here in 1990. The house was sold out and the 70mm print was projected superbly. When you think of what an upscale movie area the east side was and now even Cinema 1 and 2 run shlock the same day it opens all over the state.

One reason some theatres close is because the company does not own the property. The theatre was on a long term lease that may have been signed some 10-20 years ago. And most of the times the lease is about to end and the landlord wants to jack-up the rent. In todays times the single screen theatre no longer can make a profit like the larger theatre complexes. The landlord can make more money if he turns the property to retail use.

The theatre's address was 969 Third Avenue.

The Crown Gotham closed in the spring of 2001; its final booking actually was the Natasha Richardson comedy 'Blow Dry', of which a one-sheet remained on display in one of the exterior poster cases for months following the Gotham's closing and, if memory serves, even for a time after the space had been gutted.

this theatre if I'm not mistaken had a simmular set up as the Paris a few blocks away wherin you enter on the balcony level and orchestra seating was in downstairs. The Tower East(72nd st east) has the sane set up although the balcony is split with the projection box in between. Can anyone confirm this.

The Paris auditorium is on the street level with the balcony on the 2nd & 3rd floor, restroom and candy stand in the basement. The Tower East is the only other one I can think of with the Gotham's set-up.

I remember seeing Bertolucci's electifying "Last Tango in Paris" here in March, 1973, during its classy-treatment reserved-seat engagement at the Trans-Lux East. The film had been slightly trimmed by the director after its New York Film Festival premiere the previous fall, which I had also attended.

The heading states this was part of City Cinemas - this is not correct - it was originally owned and operated by Trans-Lux, and later Crown. Since this was Crown's only New York location they had City Cinemas book the films, because they had a little more clout in the Manhattan film market, but Crown was still operating it up to the end.

Crown currently operates the New York 1 & 2 at 66th and 2nd, booking it with an odd pastiche of top-run and second-tier major studio product (with a heavy Paramount and Miramax accent), minor indie product, and move-overs from other Midtown East houses.

br1975 you are right about the heavy Paramount and Miramax accent over at the ny 1&2 I think it used to belong to Loew's not to long ago and at that time they also featured A lot of Paramount product as well. And thanks to Dave-bronx for the update on the Paris the first and only film I saw there was the Woody Allen film Alice with Mia Farrow. that was quite some time ago.

I always liked this theatre. THey showed some good arty movies there, like "Enemies, a Love Story," and "Remember the Paradise." I used to have a friend next door who worked for Fox, and she gave me passes to premieres, and most of them were at the Gotham. It attracted a nice, well-mannered crowd that went well with the carpeted swankiness of it all.

I remember this place and I caught "El Cid" when it was revived in '93 and also caught that "Sound of Music" revival here in '90 as well. Sad how the whole 59th Street/Bloomindale's Area is no longer a movie center the way it was up to the turn of the century or so.

Saw 'Last Tango In Paris' here. They used oversized 'souvenir' type tickets for this engagement.

Here is a photo of the Gotham Cinema from around 1999.

This was a nice little house, not up to the Baronet or Cinema 1 & 2 in the 70's. I saw the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" back in the 70's on a sold out Saturday afternoon. Years later to an empty house, "The Doctor and the Devils" a sorta homage to Hammer films starring Timothy Dalton. I remember the unusual balcony being very small that jutted out on the sides by the walls.

The theatre first opened under its original name of Trans-Lux East on April 11, 1963, sharing the NYC premiere engagement of "The Ugly American" with the Rivoli Theatre. Drew Eberson was credited as the architect and interior decorator. The Trans-Lux East was reportedly the first NYC cinema to be erected as part of an apartment building, due to a relaxation of safety laws.

When this originally opened as the Trans-Lux East, the interior decor was a modern interpretation of ancient Greek. A replica of the Winged Victory stood in the lobby. Decorative sculptured panels on the auditorium walls depicted works of Myron, Paedias, and Praxiteles. Wall coverings in the lobby and lounges were created from rubbings taken from the ruins of the Acropolis. The color scheme throughout was red and gold. A mezzanine section had only 95 seats. At the rear of it, patrons were able to watch the projection machines in operation through a glass-paneled booth.

I saw "The Towering Inferno" at The Gotham in the 70s, and the last movie I attended here was "Hamburger Hill" in the 80s. It is one of those theaters that I remember well, saw a number of movies in, then stopped going to, and suddenly it's years later and the theatre no longer exists and all I have is the memories!! Maybe sometime in the future it will be chic and profitable to reopen all our lost neighborhood movie houses in the same spaces, if the spaces have survived. Or maybe we'll demolish apartment towers to build single screen theatres!!! ;-)

Here's an ad for Guccione's "Caligula" from December 1980 boasting of the film's "11th record-shattering month in NY!" Huh? Didn't roadshow films in the late '50's and early '60's run well over a year in a few instances?

For Mature Audiences Only

The film was still being four-walled at the temporarily re-christened "Penthouse East", but the movie clock from that day's paper (check out the "Movie Directory" at the bottom center of the image below) clearly shows that it had already widened its distribution to a number of nabe houses like the Center in Sunnyside and the Walker and Kent in Brooklyn:

Movie Clock Daily News 12/14/80

Interesting how the Penthouse East listing says "Exclusive Engagment" even though the movie was in several other NYC theaters. Perhaps exclusive to Manhattan?

Guccione also four-walled SRO's Holly Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. for the Hollywood engagement of "Caligula" which at the time charged around $7.50-$8 for admission.

Did he call it the Penthouse West in some sort of pornographic answer to Bill Graham's great Fillmore rock venues?

A November 1971 reissue
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/1971re-releaseDrZhivago.jpg

This confirms what Warren has already posted:

NY Times Apr 12, 1963

TRANS-LUX EAST IS OPENED HERE; New $500,000 Film House on 3d Avenue Seats 600

"A lavish, new movie theater, the Trans-Lux East opened yesterday morning, with the premiere of "The Ugly American," at 969 Third Avenue, on the east side of the street directly between 57th and 58th Street".

Exterior picture whilst still operating here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/422477381/

Penthouse East should be an aka name here.

The "East" was most likely used to avoid any confusion with the Penthouse in Times Square which changed its name in 1975 to the Cinerama-2 and had no affiliation to Guccione.

As the Gotham.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=25&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31008

Architect was Drew Eberson. The Greek sculpture were copies from the ruins of various Greek buildings of the fifth century. They were executed by Mr. Shirley W. E. Simmons, a noted sculptor at the time. The 600-seat house actually cost $350,000 by one report. Other credits were:

Air cond: Carrier
Carpet: Alexander Smith
Decorator: Peggy Eberson
Draperies, curtain track: Novelty Scenic
Marquee: Adler, Artkraft Strauss
Lamphouses: Strong
Projector/soundhead: Century
Rectifiers: Ashcraft
Screen: Trans-Lux (of course)
Seats: Heywood-Wakefield