Symphony Space/Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre

NPR's "Selected Shorts" originates here.

The original Thalia was located around the corner. The interior of the theater was strangely sloped.It apparently followed the slope of the street outside.It was very small inside but no one seemed to mind because the revival films were great.

The Thalia is now known as the Leonard Nimoy Thalia, as the former Mr. Spock was evidently a significant benefactor of the theaters renovations. It is located at Broadway and West 95th street. And the strange slope of the auditorium was that it sloped UP TOWARDS the screen!!! I do not know if this peculiarity survives the renovations.

This listing seems a bit cockeyed. The Thalia may have opened in 1938, but it was beneath and around the corner from the Symphony Theatre, which dates back to the 1920s, if not before that. The Symphony had about 1,400 seats and was a subsequent-run movie house for much of its life. When it was first converted to Symphony Space, the Thalia was still operating as a cinema, if I recall correctly.

For many decades the amazing Thalia on 95th Street had daily changes of double bills: they showed virtually everything: foreign films, recent American movies, classic revivals, silents, educational film programs, cartoon programs, films from private collections, films forgotten, films dumped, films rarely or never programmed. I submit that, from the viewpoint of programming alone, this paradise for film lovers was the greatest commercial movie theatre in the history of the United States, if not the world.

The Symphony itself...a noble second run house was on Broadway...my best memories of it were in the mid 60s seeing unmemorable kid's pictures from Universal Studios ie Tony Randall in Fluffy, Andy Griffith in Angel in My Pocket

Warren is correct; the Thalia was still operating as a cinema at the same time Symphony Space began hosting programs out of the old Symphony Theatre. The Thalia closed in May of 1987 (and was immortalized in a Newsweek article the next month, chronicling the struggles revival houses around the country were facing in the wake of the VCR boom at the time). It sat empty until a neighborhood businessman bought the lease to the Thalia, gave it a slight renovation (including the installation of a new marquee), and reopened it in July of 1993, offering double-feature changes, if I remember correctly, three times a week (unlike during the former run of the Thalia which Gerald makes reference to, where the bills changed six - and, occasionally, seven - times a week). The revival programming at the 'new' Thalia, however, failed to catch on, perhaps due to a lack of originality in comparison to what was booked at the Thalia during its heyday, and the booking policy changed sometime around the spring of 1994, focusing exclusively on releases distributed by Fine Line Features (the dependent offshoot of New Line Pictures). That, however, didn't last long and the Thalia went through several fallow periods and a handful of different lease-holders, all whose efforts to keep the Thalia running failed (the programming during this time could probably be best said to have resembled that of the old Bleecker Street Cinemas - an odd fit for the UWS, but it may have worked if the Thalia was consistently open for business).

Finally, after all those up-and-down periods, Symphony Space renovated the Thalia, which, if the times I've attended programs within its walls are to be judged as the rule as opposed to the exception, is more than holding its own. Unfortunately, none of the original architectural elements - including that beloved-by-some, despised-by-others upwardly sloping floor in the auditorium - remain.

The Symphony Theatre has a rather interesting history. Occupying land that once belonged to the super-rich Astor family, the building first opened as a food market in 1915. Two years later, it became the Crystal Ice Skating Palace, which soon went bust due to refrigeration problems. In 1918, architect William H. Gompert converted the rink into the 1,500-seat Symphony movie theatre by adding a shallow balcony that ran along three sides of the rectangular auditorium. Built underneath the Symphony Theatre, with an entrance around the corner on 95th Street, was a dance palace, which later would be converted into the Thalia Theatre.

The Thalia is open but sadly I dont find the programs exciting enough to drive into the city for. The old Thalia used to run everything and anything. I remember a triple bill of Zsa Zsa Gabor in Queen of Outer Space, Plan 9 from Outer Space and the one with Beverly Garland where the creature looked like a giant Asparagus, damn I cant remember the name. Those were fun times.

Dosent the Thalia deserve it's own listing?

Yes, the Thalia does deserve its own listing, since it was originally a separate theatre from the Symphony. In fact, it may still be. I don't know whether the two are now physically connected or not.

No still 2 seperate entrances.

Hi, Gerald. Forget what I said about CRIA. Agree with u 100% on the Thalia. their film noir series were something. Now can u, or any body else out there, show me the way to the Playboy, the one that was located on 57th between 7th and 6th. Could nt find it on the list.

Look under Directors Guild of America Theatre, which is the current name for the onetime Playboy.

Thanks, Warren.In general, is there an easy way to find a movie theatre that changed names?

Nothing to forgive, David S. It's just that I was utterly certain about that and checked the New York Times microfilm to confirm. You may note that the Playboy was a theatre that I submitted and have had great times there over the decades.

I worked at the Symphony theater for quite a few years as a projectionist. At that time I believe that it was owned by Columbia University (I could be wrong but that's what I heard) and was managed by a man named Sam Figler. Sam was an interesting person that used to be the personal assistant for the Shuberts. I understand that he created the Gregg shorthand language and sold it to Gregg for almost nothing. I was there until they closed it as a regular theater in the 70's. They reopened it briefly as a spanish theater and had some live shows there as well. I still have an old oak coat rack that was in the theater and I used to have the twin 78 RPM players that they used for silent film. I gave it to a friend of mine that I lost track of. What a shame.

I wonder what "bringing the Thalia back to life by incorporating the old theater into its newly redesigned complex" means. If the photo's suggestive, it doesn't bode well. When I lived in the Village (West & East) 1962-69, the Thalia was Wonderful! I was very poor, saw theater mostly standing room, got most of my entertainment browsing bookstores. But I'd travel a million miles for the old Thalia just the way it was then.

Someone should make a seperate page for the Thalia. This theatre was too important to be an afterthought on the Symphony Space page.

The Thalia was a great repertory cinema in the seventies and
eighties. It was run by the late Richard Swartz. Although the theater
was small and contained the bizarre upwards curve (which obscurred
the screen with heads if a tall person sat in the front row), they
did show some rare movies. It had a nice art decor design. It was a fun place to attend which I went to NYU in the seventies. In the eighties they installed selzin
motors and a silver screen so they could show 3-D movies. Swartz
hunted down rare dual projector prints of "The French Line" (in Technicolor with the cut bubbble bath sequence) and even borrowed
a print of "Carnival of Souls" from Herk Harvey. At one point they
advertised an uncut print of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" but
this turned out to be a regular cut print. After Richard Swartz died of AIDS, the theater folded along with most of the great NYC
repertory cinemas,

Briefly it was an Indian cinema run by Malik Tirlok that played films from that country. I booked my own 3-D movie, "Run for Cover", in it before it shut down again.

I remember the Thalia well and made the trek up there many times in the 1980s. I remember a "Smile"/"Carrie" double-bill that was pretty good and the Thalia had a funky attitude.

And I remember going to the Thalia when the local businessman -- a hardware store owner I believe -- renovated and reopened the theatre. I used to buy those books of tickets where you got a discount and the owner sent me a refund for my unused tickets, to his credit.

BR91975 says it was Fine Line that booked the theatre to show its films exclusively, but I think it was Miramax that moved in there as a way to keep its films in theatres, but it never took off. I think the Miramax films played there after they had closed at other theatres.

Last time I went there, before the new renovation, was '98 when someone tried to make a go of it by booking films that hadn't received commercial distribution. I remember seeing an atrocious film called "Crossing Fields" that played there in '98. That didn't last long either.

Richard Schwartz seems like an interesting guy and I'd like to know more about him.

It was Fine Line who booked the Thalia for a time, hardbop. (I had an article somewhere - think I tossed it long ago - which made mention of a booking relationship between Fine Line and the Thalia; among the films which screened there during that time were 'Household Saints' and 'Naked in New York'.)

br9175,
I could be wrong, but I thought that I remember reading an article where Harvey Weinstein was interviewed and he talked about the (then) shortage of screens and how he was renting the Thalia to give his films a longer theatrical shelf life. Maybe, I'm conflating that with Fine Line. Or, maybe, Miramax also took a shot at this. In any event, I didn't seen any Miramax, or Fine Line, films at the Thalia.

A 1935 photo of the Symphony's exterior can be found on page 37 of the recent "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," published by Aracadia. In those days, the parade started much further uptown than it does now. The photo is a bit too fuzzy to read what was showing at the Symphony, but people, probably employees, are standing on the top of the marquee to get a better view of the parade.

October 5, 1952 the Symphony advertised 2 New MGM Suspense Thrillers..."Talk About A Stranger" starring George Murphy and Nancy Davis and "Shadow in the Sky" starring Ralph Meeker and Lewis Stone. The Thalia had the Academy Award winning best foreign film "Rasho-Mon" paired with "Under the Paris Sky".

So what is the Symphony doing now?

Steve, you can find the current and forthcoming programs at the website link listed in the introduction above.

AIP at the Symphony

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/LittleGirlWhoLivesDowntheLane.jpg

Check out this ad for "The Stripper" in 1963. Has anyone heard of Cinema 181?
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/TheStripper.jpg

Recent photos:

http://www.polshek.com/perf_symphony.htm

Used to go here quite often in lte late v70s and early 80s. A very small, yet comfortable theater. The audience were film buffs, and I always managed to have interesting conversations with them. The double features were always interesting, or united by a theme. Among the many great shows I saw here were " The Blue Angel" and "Cabaret" "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Big Sleep","White Heat" and "The Roaring Twenties","Cninatown" and "Five Easy Pieces", The Original "War Of The Worlds" with "The Day The Earth Stood Still"" Mutiny on the Bounty"-1935 and "The Caine Mutiny". "Captain Blood" and "The Sea Hawk", Etc. etc,It would de nice to go again, but I cannot interest amy friends or my girl to go. They rather stay home and watch DVDs!

The introduction is very confusing. The entrance and address of the Thalia were on West 95th Street, not on Broadway. The color photo shows a conversion of that West 95th Street entrance, and is also not on Broadway. The Thalia's architect was Benjamin (aka Ben) Schlanger. Here are three small images. The auditorium was notorious for a gradual UPWARDS incline of the rows of seats:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/138-3886_IMG.jpg

The street address of the Thalia was/is 250 W. 95th Street.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Symphony Space and the Thalia cannot be separate listings!!!

The problem seems to be that no one ever bothered to start a listing for the Symphony Theatre, which had about 1,400 seats and was considerably larger (and older) than the Thalia. I haven't been in the area recently, so I can't say whether the Symphony entrance on Broadway is still there. The color photo in the introduction above shows a conversion of the Thalia entrance on West 95th Street.

The color photo in the introduction above actually shows a conversion of the Symphony Space entrance, which is still there and is separate from the entrance to the Thalia.

The color photo in the intro is of the former Thalia entrance at 250 West 95th Street. You can tell by the downhill slant of the sidewalk. The sidewalk on Broadway in front of the former Symphony Theatre's entrance is flat.

I'm certain the color photo in the intro is that of the main entrance to Symphony Space (or, what was at the time, THE entrance to Symphony Space). The Symphony Space marquee was boxy, as is the marquee in the photo above (the two Thalia marquees of recent vintage were both curvy in form) and the first image within the Peter Jay Sharp slideshow on the Symphony Space web page (http://www.symphonyspace.org/institutional/rental.php) illustrates both a downward sidewalk slant and an entranceway similar in form to that of the original Symphony Space.

Somehow, Symphony Space and the Thalia began to be listed togeyher in the early 1980s.Prior to that, the Thalia was its own entity.

This listing apparently started as one for the Thalia Theatre. There is no mention in the introduction of the original Symphony Theatre, which had about 1,400 seats and was a subsequent-run mainstream cinema for much of its life. The word "Symphony" became attached to the Thalia when it was incorporated into the complex known as Symphony Space, which originally consisted only of the ex-Symphony Theatre. The address for the listing Symphony Space/Thalia Theater needs to be changed to 250 West 95th Street, and a new listing should be added for the Symphony Theatre, which had an address of 2537 Broadway. The main name for this new listing should probably be Symphony Space, with aka Symphony Theatre above it.

I have enough history about the Symphony Theatre to start a listing for it, but can't until the address of the Symphony Space/Thalia is corrected. The theatre discussed above was at 250 West 95th Street. The Symphony was at 2537 Broadway. They were entirely separate theatres and built at least 15 years apart.

NYC lists this building as 2527-2537 Broadway and 250-256 West 95th Street. In 1922 there is a 1365 seat (1180 main level and 185 balcony) motion picture theater on the first floor and a Dance Hall in the basement. In 1932 the first floor still has the motion picture theater and now there is a 294 seat motion picture theater in the basement. I agree that they are two seperate theaters and each should have its own listing. In 1922 the owner is listed as Thomas Healy.

The 95th Street space was originally a restaurant and dance palace known as the Sunken Garden, which was eventually gutted and replaced in the early 1930s by a small cinema called the Thalia. This Thalia proved unsatisfactory and was replaced circa 1938 by a somewhat larger and much more modern Thalia designed by architect Benjamin (aka Ben) Schlanger. I posted some pix here of that Thalia on 9/11/05.

Warren; I have notified the site managers of amendments to this page on the Thalia Theatre. Looking forward to you posting a new page dedicated to the former Symphony Theatre. Thanks.

So the 294 seat theater was the first Thalia Theater. I haven't found any documents from the later 1930's yet but I did find a C/O dated February 27, 1918. The building is not new. The building contains a 1000 seat main level with 500 seat balcony motion picture theater, restaurant and dance hall and a skating rink. Owners name is Thomas Healy. There was a movie theater here at least as far back as 1918.

Healy was a major property owner on the Upper West Side, including the entire square block between 94th & 95th Streets and Broadway & West End Avenue, which he developed into a residential and recreation area in the early 1900s.

Still haven't found anything for the late 1930's. The next document jumps to 1947. At that time, the large theater is still there and so is the little 294 seat basement theater. There is a note on one of these C/O's that reads "This C/O is granted on condition that the southerly portion of the basement adjoining the motion picture theater will remain unoccupied". It doesn't give a reason. Maybe the furnace was located there and the smaller theater couldn't be expanded. Next C/O is April of 1954 and the 294 seat theater is still in the basement. The reason for the 1954 C/O was the installation of an oil furnace and sprinkler system. I guess that they burned coal prior to that. The only difference I see in 1954 is, there is no balcony listed for the larger theater. It only lists 1015 seats. No owners name is given either.

Yes, for Pete's sake, these are three (3) separate entities:

Originally and as "renovated" and their interiors incorporated into a new luxury high-rise, two separate entrances and (in the old days) separate marquees: Symphony on Broadway, Thalia on 95th street around the corner from it.

(1) Symphony movie theater (yes, I think I saw a movie there while it and the nearby Riviera(?) (Riverside?) (west side of broadway, 96th-97th street) were both showing movies. (Saw "Yellow Submarine" with my daughter at the now-gone theater on Broadway 96th-97th street.)

(2) The Symphony (movie theater) transformed into "Symphony Space"; same INTERIOR but deprived of a proper marquee, with a luxury apartment building complexly built on top and around it, and used exclusively for STAGE productions. Wonderful. Dance and music from all over the world, readings (e.g. Bloomsday), etc., etc. [I think the site's http://www.symphonyspace.org ]

(3) The Thalia: "essential" part of NYC cultural life for decades as _the_ place to see foreign films and occasional US "art" films. And then the closing and eventual reopening(s). My last sustained viewings were in 1984, I think, seeing that German serial, week after week (Potzdammer Platz?) during a difficult love affair.

Went once to double feature of excellent old (B & W) Japanese films after renovation (and 2nd new management?) and upward-slant was reassuring, but...

Might pick up again; slightly better programming now?

But yes, puh-leeeeze--separate listings for Symphony and Thalia!!

Is the Thalia the theater that showed HAROLD & MAUDE during the late sixties, early seventies for what seemed like forever? This was the theater (the only one in the tri-state area at least) to recognize this film and helped it become a cult classic.

In 1959 the Thalia revived this early John Barrymore film "Topaze". They said it was the first showing since the original release.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/Topaze.jpg

On an afternoon off in maybe the '80s I went to the Thalia to see my girl Dottie Lamour in "Slightly French", and I brought my lunch ! How we film buffs depended on the Thalia before video ! My sister & I went to the Symphony to see "Barbarella."

Disney must have finally struck a new 35mm print of "Mary Poppins" because I just realized they played it here Feb 26th. Wish I had known in time to attend.

Disney must have finally struck a new 35mm print of "Mary Poppins" because I just realized they played it here Feb 26th. Wish I had known in time to attend.

I was at the Thalia yesterday for STEAMBOAT BILL JR. and I must say that I feel that since the Thalia was renovated & reopened the revival has been half-assed. I saw only three films here in '05 and one of them was projected video (PIXOTE). My visit yesterday at a lightly attended 4:30 screening was my first in '06.

One other use for the Thalia, which I don't think anyone mentioned, was that in the late 90's someone was running the theatre and using it as a showplace for films that didn't have distributors. I caught only one film in that series in November '98 called CROSSING FIELDS.

Three photographs I took in July 2003:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/197905110/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/197905257/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/197905449/

I was a projectionist at The Thalia from 1975 through 1977 and although it had it's peculiarities, I have fond memmories of the place. At that time, The Thalia had no real focus (no pun intended). We showed everything from mainstream first run films like Woody Allen's "Love and Death," to the more obscure indies like "The Night Porter." Unfortunately, the ticket buying public had lost it's enthusiasm for this tired old art house, with most weekdays barely seeing a handful of characters, I mean customers. Some of the more interesting entertainment often took place in the back rows where many of our regulars seemed to not realize (or care) that their antics were clearly visible to whomever was in the booth! My biggest pet peeve was the postage stamp screen. My friend Steve worked upstairs at the Symphony at that time (see his post from March 2004) and found an old pair of lenses that he thought might work at The Thalia. I cut new apertures and installed the lenses and voila, we had about a 30% larger screen image on flat format films; (although I sometimes had to chop peoples heads off to squeeze the subtitles into frame.) Man, those were great times!

I totally forgot about the lens and aperture change we did at the Thalia. We did a lot of that for one reason only. To have a great presentation. Automation took a lot away from the projectionists ability to give great presentations. We really cared about what quality people saw on the screens where we worked and it was hard to convince management to do something so we went through back doors.

A good 1973 Times article on the Thalia
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/1973Thalia.jpg

I live in Chicago, but around 1980 I flew to NYC on a whim, just to see a Buster Keaton film at the Thalia. I had the time of my life... saw the film, then got on the subway back to LaGuardia and flew back to Chicago the same day.

It was money well spent. I loved those old revival houses, and still miss the Clark Theatre we had here (2 different films a day, 365 days a year).

Here's a B&W photo of the old Thalia marquee & entrance with a nice Eric Rohmer double feature advertised. The photo is mislabled as West 94th rather than West 95th Street. Lots of good B&W photography on this site including theater related shots I've been posting around CT.

Sometime back in the '70s my cousin Bill's wife KAREN FERET was assocaited with the THALIA operation. I was under the impression she was a manager

The place was PACKED last week (Sunday afternoon) for a couple of Marx Brothers films!

Oddly, I found the Matinee Idol tenor's singing...moving. Stirred up something deep from my childhood, I guess.

Intersting ad for a 1930s "Cinema Cavalcade" week at the Thalia and typical of the kinds of programs you might expect to see here. I believe this program dates to the 1970s. Could be earlier.

Does anyone who went to the Thalia in the early 80s, realize (or remember) that Viggo Mortensen was a ticket taker there for a couple of years?

I have many happy memories of catching oup on American and foreign classics on double bills, so often linked by star, director or theme, from 1967 through the 1980s. What an odd little theater with its upward slope and its audience of diehard movie buffs. There was something of an adventure about going there.

I'm looking for first hand accounts of seeing The Night Porter at this theater in connection with film history research I am engaged in. Anyone with memories of The Night Porter, however vague, please feel free to get in touch with me. mail@curious.orangehome.co.uk

1987 was a tough year for revival houses in New York City. The Thalia closed on May 10, 1987. The last double-bill was Paisan and Night of the Shooting Stars.

I saw many double-bills here in the 1980s. I remember seeing Carrie paired with Smile. I wish I could remember what I saw.

The live opera screening of DON CARLO which played here last week made it to Variety's top grossing movies list with a $5567 per screen average. This is an important landmark in alternative movie theatre use and digital projection.

In May, 1941, you could be branded a sissy for staying away from this "Twin Terror Show" at the Thalia: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/thaliatwins.jpg

Was the Thalia Soho that ran in the early 1990s on Varick Street at all linked to the Thalia? It had an ever-changing program. Frankly, a terrible theater, but always wondered if there was a link.

I lived in the neighborhood in the 70s/80s. I remember I always felt disoriented when I walked in. Rather than entering from the back of the house, you'd open the door and be standing in the side aisle in the dark. The screen was on your right, I believe, and I'd feel confused. Every time.

Renewing link.

Is this the Thalia on 95th?

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=31&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31193

It is indeed.

Two more photos here, including one showing how the Thalia was situated around the corner from what was originally the Symphony Theatre. I don't know why the two theatres share a listing here. They should each have a listing of their own, since their cinematic histories were separate and different: http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=thalia&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31191

Thanks for the links, interesting pics of the location.