Anco Theatre

This theater was the westernmost theater (closest to 8th Ave) on the south side of 42nd street located more or less on the spot where the shell of the old Empire Theater was relocated

I was a frequent patron of the 42nd Street "grind houses" of the '70's and early '80's where blaxploitation, grade Z horror, Charles Bronson action and kung-fu flicks ruled the roost (oh, yes -- and the occasional porn theater). I don't recall the Anco too much, except that it was the western most theater on the south side the 42nd street strip between 7th and 8th Avenues... It stood on the spot more or less occupied now by the AMC Empire, opposite an adult theater that was called The Harem (which is roughly where the new 15 screen Loews EWalk Theater and Westin Hotel now stand).

According to Sleazoid Express, a great book on old Times Square theaters, this cinema (ha-ha) showed a lot of gender-bender stuff, like Ed Wood, etc.

The ANCO of the 50s & 60s would show a lot of creative re-released double bills, and like most of The Deuce specialized in action films. If a recent double bill did well one week at the New Amsterdam, it spent a week at The Harris and a 3rd at the Anco. The ticket seller was on the right hand corner and the left side of the entrance was filled with 8x10 stills. Jerry the K

Is there any way to retrieve the bookings information on the 42nd Street Theaters, back in the 50s-60s, especially the Empire, Anco, Times Sqaure, 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

The 42nd Street movie theatres were infrequently advertised unless they were part of "showcase" bookings. The New York Post often listed them in their "Movie Clock." You might also try Cue Magazine, which was eventually taken over by New York Magazine. The Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center has back issues of Cue. You can find their holdings in a periodicals search at www.nypl.org

Why was the theater renamed Anco?

This was my least favorite of the 42nd Street line-up, and I was not sorry to see it close. It stunk to high heaven and because of its late run bookings and rock bottom prices it seemed to attract an even lower class of patrons than the other houses, if that's possible! When I was here there was no balcony, only a raised rear mezzanine, like at the new Ziegfeld. But that's where the similarity ended.

Back in my time, the 50s/60s, the Anco had some cool double bills. If a double feature did well at the Harris, after a week at the New Amsterdam, they would bring it here. Made sense since it was a smaller theater and the booking fees by then were probably close to nil. Other than that, The Anco & Empire had some great programming of re-issues. Usually action, of course. Haven't found an image of it yet. ANyone know where I can find one? Jerry 42nd Street Memories

I've never been able to find an explanation of the name Anco. But the "An" may have come from the ownership company, Anfin Enterprises, and the "co" from the last name of its president, Max Cohen. The company was a subsidary of Cohen's Cinema Circuit, which also ran the New Amsterdam and Harris in the same block of 42nd Street. When Cohen took over the theatre in June, 1940, it was still called Wallack's. He announced at the time that it would be demolished and replaced by an ultra-modern building designed by Thomas Lamb, with a 600-seat theatre and adjoining stores. Those plans apparently proved impractical or too costly. Instead, Cohen just made some renovations, including a new marquee, and re-opened the theatre as the Anco.

The Sleazoid Express book describes a frightening acount of watching movies at the Anco, including "bodily fluids" on the floor! I remember a "UA Premiere" showcase engagement at the Anco for the double bill of "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" and "Death Rides a Horse", in 1969. The Anco was actually listed in ad for this booking in the NY Times. Are there any photos of the Anco 42nd St.?

I have since found quite a few "Showcase" ads in the NY Times for the Anco. I guess, from time to time, they let the Anco join the big boys with first run showcase attractions. I have a photo aimed east on 42nd St from 8th Avenue. There is a marquee, next to a Blimpie sign, across from the street from the Harem. Is that the Anco?

Don,
The ANCO would show a double feature that had "legs" and did well the earlier two weeks at the New Amsterdam & Harris. Sometimes it worked to their advantage when the word would spread about a double feature like "Night of the Living Dead - Dr. Who & The Daleks" and they would keep it indefinitely.

I have a 1967 ad showing Doctor Zhivago at the ANCO (hard to believe, eh?)with the banner HELD OVER which means it probably followed the New Amsterdam-Harris bookings.

When a film didn't have legs, the ANCO would put some fun action double features together and these were not advertised since the ANCO did not pay to advertise, they were only listed when the film's distributor listed them among the other NYC theaters.

Still searching for that booking info from the 50s-60s if anyone knows where to find it, please let me know.

There is a long shot of the ANCOs marquee in Marc Eliot's book, Down 42nd Street. It features the marquees of The Harris, Liberty, Empire & Anco. From 1966. Nice shot of the "south side"

Jerry

Jerry:

Did the Movieplex 42 use the Anco's auditorium? If not, what did they use for their 5 theatres?

The Movieplex 42 was carved out of one of two Roxy Twin Theatre sites on the Deuce (this one being located to the direct right of the space the Empire formerly occupied).

I wasn't aware that there were two Roxy sites. I knew of the one to the left of the New Amsterdam. But, now that you mention it, I do remember reading that the Movieplex 42 was a converted porno house.
Do any interior photos of the Anco exist?

I received an email from a gentleman whose dad managed the ANCO. Here is a composite of our correspondence. The fact that he mentions the Cinema Circuit ownership backs up my recollection of the ANCO following the bookings of the larger New Amsterdam & Harris theaters which I believe were also owned by Cinema Circuit. I smiled reading about Chris the ice cream vendor. I do remember that the theater was too small for a refreshment stand and the ice cream hawker did a great business. Here goes:

"My Dad was the manager of the Anco theater during the mid to late 1950's. There was a robbery there in 1959 during a showing of Shootout at the OK Corral! He also managed the Prospect theater in the Bronx before that for Cinema Circuit!
As far as I can remember, the ANCO played mostly action and adventure films with some Sci-fi mixed in. It didn't have a candy stand, just vending machines. I think it was painted pink inside!? The usher Chris sold Ice Cream from a tray during the intermission.
I looked up the ANCO at the theater site online. They are making posts trying to guess what it is named after! It was owned by Cinema Circuit. The partners were Mark I Finklestein and Max Cohen. Cohen's daughter was ANNA COHEN! So they named it AN--CO after his daughter!"

Jerry

It's amazing. Out of the many photos I've seen of 42nd Street between 7th & 8th Avuenes, I've never seen a shot of the Anco. The Victory, Lyric, Times Square, Apollo, Selwyn, New Amsterdam, Cine 1 & 2, Harris, Liberty, and Empire, all there, but never the Anco. I know it was at the 8th Avenue end across from the Harem, but you never see it.

According to a book on the New Amsterdam Theatre, Max Cohen, who owned the New Amsterdam as well as the Anco, named the Anco Theatre for his wife, ANn COhen.

An undated, circa-1930s view of the Anco's (then called Wallack's) exterior can be seen here, with the Eltinge and Liberty visible on the far left.

Another exterior view of the Wallack, circa-1936, can be seen here.

Bryan, I'll thank you on every page for the beautiful link you have provided to us.

If you were to walk down West 41st Street going from 8th Avenue to Bway- the side closer to 42nd...there is an old movie theatre...sort of in the back of the Empire monstrosity, its near a hotel.I seen the interior of the theatre one day as daylaborers were doing some sort of work and had the doors opened up...there was a stage and a lower level of seating and a small set of upper balcony seating- The seats seemed to be a dark brownish/burgundy type..I noticed some ornate plasterwork beneath the balcony section.

my spanish being bad- I could not communicate properly the need to go in and explore....

Could this be the Anco...or does anybody know what theatre that was.
there might be a clock on the facade?It has perplexed me...

The Anco was demolished, razed, destroyed to make room for the Empire move towards 8th Avenue.

That theatre you saw the interior of, Greenpoint, was the Liberty; it's currently being converted into a Cipriani corporate event space. However, as is true with the Times Square Theatre, it cannot be altered to the point where it cannot again be converted into a performing arts venue.

The Anco was demolished several years before AMC's redevelopment of the Empire; I often parked my car in that lot when I was in the area.

Don is correct; the building which housed the Anco was demolished to make way for the new location of the Empire. According to Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's book, 'Lost Broadway Theatres' (from which Bryan's initial description above is culled from), the Anco's interior was gutted to its bare, brick walls in 1988 to make room for the various tenants who later occupied the space.

So the now former parking lot at the corner of 8th Avenue & W. 42nd was the former site of the Anco theatre.Thats amazing I too parked my car in there. I never even knew or even thought that a theatre could have been on that spot.After reading this its completely plausible.

Greenpoint, the land currently directly next door to the Empire 25 was a parking lot long before the building which housed the Anco was torn down. The Anco building came down in '97 and I remember the parking lot being in existence as far back as '91 (and, as I know, it was there for several years before then).

The parking lot on the southeast corner of 42nd St. and Eighth Ave. was the site of one of those columned classically styled bank buildings until around the mid- or late-1960s when the bank that owned it tore it down and moved the branch to a modern concrete/brick building on the northwest corner of 42nd St. and Eighth Ave. (This bank branch is currently a Duane Reade drug store.)

The Anco was the very last theater on the south side of 42nd St. as one walked west between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. According to my Hagstom's, the major theaters along the south side of 42nd St. were (as one walked west) the New Amsterdam (entrance to theater only), the Harris (entrance only), [the Hubert's Museum], Liberty (entrance only), the Empire and the Anco.

If I remember correctly the Acno had a mostly blank, extremely plain facade. And in my opinion it was the Anco's overly plain facade, along with the ugly, bricked-up facade of (I believe) the Hubert's Museum that were the chief culprits in making 42nd St. look ugly and menacing. (And the parking lot to the west didn't help either.) Further to the east, by the way, the two other main culprits in my opinion were the ugly Crossroads Building and its perpetually unoccupied six-story cinderblock column for billboards and the windowless 20+ (?) story tower of the Allied Chemical Building. (The windows were eliminated when Allied Chemical remodeled the building, which was originally the ornate "New York Times Building.")

I don't think the Acno was torn down until the early- or mid-1990s, in order to make way for the more architecturally distinguished Empire Theater.

P.S. -- When I wrote my post, I hadn't noticed that br91975's had already given a more specific date for the demolition of the Anco. The 1997 date sounds right.

There's a terrific profile of the theater that eventually became the Anco in one of those inexpensive Dover paperbacks. (Brand new copies of the book, "Broadway Theaters, History and Architecture," by William Morrison were $12.71 each at the Strand Bookstore on Bdwy and 12th St. a month or two ago.)

The profile of the Lew Fields Theatre includes a wonderful photo of the south side of 42nd St. around 1905. At that time 42nd St. was still basically just a "regular" crosstown Manhattan street, lined with brownstones, churches, etc. The photo shows that between the Anco (Lew Fields) and the bank on the corner was a (25'or 30' wide) "tunnel entrance" to another large theater, the American Theatre, which was actually located on 41st St.

Going from left to right, here's what's in the photo:

A brownstone with a metal "stoop" that goes almost out to the curb. (The paved roadbed of the street seems really wide, and the sidewalk seems rather narrow).

The handsome original facade of the Lew Fields Theatre. The theater has what I guess you'd call a vestibule "extension," and this little ornate "shack" of a structure goes out to the street as far as the stoop of the neighboring brownstone. Then, after that, there's a metal and glass canopy, for continued weather protection, that goes out to the curb.

Next to the Lew Fields theater is the tunnel entrance to the American Theatre. This tunnel entrance has what looks like a large townhouse or small apartment house above it and it has an apartment house-like canopy that goes all the way out to the curb. (Except for the illuminated vertical handing off the front of the facade, this building doesn't really look like a theater entrance at all.)

After the American Theatre is the Beaux-Arts styled bank that was on the corner of 42nd and Eighth Ave.

The American Theatre, the theater next door to the Lew Fields (Anco), is also profiled in the Morrison book. According to the profile in the book, " . . . in 1911 [William] Morris sold his interests [in the American Theatre] to Marcus Loew's organization. Under the name Loew's American Theatre, both [of] the theatre's auditoriums were converted to a film-and-small-time-variety format. After a fire in 1930, the American was demolished."

There's an even more remarkable photo of the south side of 42nd St. in the American Theatre chapter of this book. At the time of this photo, neither the Lew Fields (Anco) nor the bank had been built yet. So there are brownstones that still appear to be used as residences on either side of the American Theatre's tunnel entrance! In this photo the tunnel entrance to the American Theatre really does look like a large townhouse or small apartment house. In this chapter, there is also a picture of a rendering of the much more imposing 41st St. facade of this theater. It looks like a mini-version of the much later Roxy. (When it was built, the American Theatre was the fifth largest theater in Manhattan.)

By the way, the Morrison book has many other wonderful photos of old Broadway theaters. Although the primary focus is on Broadway "legit" theaters, many of the theaters in the book also showed movies at one time or another and are thus listed on the Cinema Treasures website.

One Amazon reviewer said the book contained a good number of factual errors, which may be true since I believe I was able to detect a few myself. (But to be fair to the author, I don't know how the number of errors in his book compares with the the number found in other books -- all these books seem to have at least some errors. And the pictures alone are well worth the price, in my opinion.)

Better days at the Anco
http://photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/?action=view¤t=Anco.jpg

I just looked at all 112 photos in that photobucket link above; I am exhausted but satisfied.

RobertR,

That's the best shot of the ANCO that I've seen. Where did you find it?

I too went through all of your photo album, great stuff. j

EXHAUSTING is the perfect word for viewing all 112 pages...but I loved 'em! Thanks RobertR!!

Loved the Ali-Frazier ad with Radio City Music Hall listed in a "showcase type" ad with other theatres. You never saw that before.

Thanks, if you go to the Corbis photo album you can find a lot of theatre pictures

EXHAUSTING is the perfect word for viewing all 112 pages...but I loved 'em! Thanks RobertR!! ..this is a comment by don rosen on the ANco site ...may i ask someone how to get all 112 photos???i tried ANCO photo but no help many trhanks

It's not 112 pictures just of the ANCO. If you go to the Corbis site there are a few hundred theatre pics. In the search type "Movie Theatres", "Theatre Marquees", "Theatres", "Cinerama" etc. Some of them are cross referenced and some are not.
http://pro.corbis.com/

thank you very much i was able to access the corbin site metz

Hello - does anyone know the date that the Harem was closed for business?

thanks and Happy Holidays,
Kelly

From the heydey of the Duece
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Bi0ftxxpHg&search=double%20feature

Brilliant Robert... Thanks! That's a double bill I might have seen at the old Times Square Theater! Well, I was a bit too young to have visited the Duece in '74, but I know those two films were still kicking around in the early '80's on the bottom end of double and triple bills up and down the block. The Anco - I believe - was XXX during the time (and a bit too close to 8th Ave for my liking and that of my teenaged pals from Queens)!

I don't think the Anco ever went porno.

Oh, yes! The Anco was heavy duty XXX at the end. I've seen the marquee shots to prove it.

I recall it being XXX also, but I just found an old newspaper from December 1980 (I saved the papers the days after the killing of John Lennon) and there is an ad for a 2nd run of "The Blues Brothers" on a double bill with "The Jerk" - a pair I saw at the Sunrise Cinemas multplex in Valley Stream - and the lead theater in Manhattan is the Anco (listed as "Creative Cinema's Anco" in the ad). I'll scan the ad and post here when I get a chance.

This shot is geared toward the Empire but if you look down the street, the ANCO is showing Jimmy Stewart's Far Country and Chief Crazy Horse with Victor Mature. A pairing of two U-I westerns from 3-4 years earlier.

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=42Empire1958Liz-Eddie-Debbie.jpg

Jerry... That "Fascination" sign looks very familiar to me, but I seem to recall seeing one just like it actually on Times Square (somewhere on Broadway or 7th Ave). I could be mistaken. It was some kind of topless dancing joint, wasn't it? Or an old dime-a-dance ballroom? One of the Roxy Twin porn houses (where I understand they played video projection only) was located between the Empire and Anco back in my day. The other was down by the New Amsterdam.

"Fascination" was a popular game featured in several "penny arcades" around the Times Square area, as well as in amusemart parks and such all over the world. I don't recall the exact logistics, but you had to bounce a ball into one of about 25 holes that had values as "points." If you chalked up 500 points or whatever, you received a prize.

Ah, thanks Warren. I remember the Playland arcade that ran between 7th and Broadway (open to the sidewalk on both ends) up around 48th street (I think it was the block south of the Rivoli). Perhaps there was a Fascination sign jutting out from one of its facades. There was also an arcade on 42nd street, but I think it was on the north side of the street, not the south side as depicted in Jerry's photo.

Here'a a shot of Fascination (I think). 15 games...$.50!

I seem to remember another one, Ed, on the west side of Broadway. Around 48th sounds right.
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=Fascination.jpg

jerry

Forgot to add this marquee image from the Anco, around 1961.

Crank up the Time Machine, I'm going back! jerry

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=1960sAncoMysterians.jpg

Jerry, great album. I looked at all 24 pics. In a word, wow.

Thanks, saps. It is a labor of love. If anyone has any images of the Deuce in the 50s-60s, please contact me. jerry the k

A snow covered Fascination marquee; shot from the Anco. 1968. jerry the k

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=1968inthesnow.jpg

This website has photos of this theater when it was the Hackett and Wallack's theater. Click each thumbnail to expand the photo.

Here's an ad from December 1980 for the double feature re-release of "The Blues Brothers" (originally released the summer of that year) and 1979's "The Jerk" that played the Anco and Criterion as well as a number of neighborhood theaters:


Daily News 12/12/80

Also... Not sure I've seen this photo posted here, but it shows the Anco in it's latter days as XXX grind:

1985 Anco XXX

This is how I recall the Anco, even though I was already visiting the Duece houses by 1980. As I stated previously, I tended to avoid this end of 42nd Street.

I remember playing this double bill in both the Haven and the Drake. Isn't it odd the Anco is listed above the Criterion?

I wondered the same thing, Robert. But it looks like they listed the theaters alphabetically in the ad.

Looking at the Wallack's photo and the ANCO porn days photo, I wonder....What happened to the beautiful facade? Did they stucko over it?

Got these two great 1985 shots from photographer Matt Weber, who has a great little website at www.urbanphotos.com:

Hot Alexandra
Kids playing hookey

Thanks to Matt for sharing these with me and allowing me to share them with the CT community.

Don Rosen... not sure when exactly it happened, but I believe the old Wallack's facade ornamentation was stripped away very early on the Anco's life as a grind house. According to Bryan's introduction above, the facade was "hacked off" sometime in the 1940's - in addition to other architectural indignities this once beautiful playhouse endured.

I posted another pair of Matt's photos on the New York/Big Apple Theater's page that reveal a connection between the Anco and the Big Apple Theaters in the 1980's. In the photos above you'll see a sign that reads "Sweetheart's Anco 42nd Street Theater" just under the canopy. One of the Big Apple photos I posted reveals a similar banner. Anyone know who "Sweetheart" was and if he/she/they operated any other local houses?

Charles Bronson - a staple on the Duece - as a KGB agent:

Telefon - NY Daily News 1/25/78
One of several ads in this paper (see also the Richard Pryor ad in this clipping) that list a 42nd Street grind house along side a Broadway house (the Embassy 2) for a major studio release. Interestingly, the same paper lists Clint Eastwood's "The Gauntlet" at the Embassy 2 (and the New Amsterdam), so one of these ads was a misprint. I assume both films were booked into the Embassy triplex on 47th (former Demille) and the wrong screen # is just a typo.

All of the West 42nd Street cinemas bonded together for the alphabetical ad at right. No doubt War Bonds were also sold at the Globe, as they were at most theatres in those days (early 1944):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/42bonds.jpg

Warren I love the ad for the movie playing at the Globe. I bet it was all tease :)

Here's a vidcap from an A&E documentary on Times Square. Judging from the titles glimpsed on the Anco's marquee ("Ice Station Zebra" and "Where Eagles Dare"), the year would be 1969.

Warren....
Photobucket changed your profile link.
Heres the new link.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz

i couldnt find your 42 bonds pic is that still online.

so this is you..we finally meeet!
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/?action=view¤t=daypalace1.jpg

"Greenpoint," I don't know what you mean. What is my "profile link," and how could Photobucket change it without consulting me first? The links you reported don't seem to work.

Greenpoint, Warren's photobucket account has limited space so he often rotates images in and out of there. When an image is removed, the link for it in his post on CT is disabled. Warren - I don't think any of your links to images that are STILL in your photobucket scrapbook have been changed at all. I think Greenpoint merely stumbled across a link to one of the images you removed and assumed there was a change.

ANCO85
ANCO85-2My name is Michelle Maren. It’s my photo on both the east and west sides of the ANCO THEATER in 1985. That shot was taken for the adult film FLASH PANTS. I was also featured on the box cover. That picture of me remained on the ANCO marquee for a good 3 years! My MySpace Page

Welcome to CT, Michelle!

Thanks for the welcome Ed. I was searching for photos of the Anco marquee that featured my picture and came across this site. My pic was supposed to be a take on this Jennifer Beals shot: Flash Dance
While I am grateful for the 2 pics I found here, I would like to find a shot where my face it clearly visible. If anyone has any pictures of the east and/or west sides of the Anco Theater marquee from 1984-86, please share them here. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Sorry can't help there, Michelle. Coincidentally, the two photos you did find are from my Photobucket scrapbook. The B&W image comes with the permission of the photographer, the talented and gracious Matt Weber. Matt has a website at www.urbanphotos.com and he took many photos of 42nd Street and the Times Square area in the 1980's. You might consider contacting him to see if, by chance, he has any shots of the Anco marquee from this period that offer a cleare view of your image. Good luck. If I come across anything in my own perusals, I'll be sure to let you know about it here.

Thanks Ed. I will definitely try to contact Matt Weber. Thanks for the help.

1983 Photo

1986 Photo

photo i took in dec 1992 in the very last days of 42nd streets sleazy glory
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3508137778/