New Amsterdam Theatre

I will be attending the Lion King MAy 13, 2001 at 1pm show. It is a very special day since I will be proposing to my girl friend that day. I bought front row tickets and would like to speak to someone at the theatre to possibly do something special there. Please call me at 917-968-6986. thank you

This past Sept. my husband and I took our children to see Lion King. My daughter got the stuffed Nala bean bag. This past Wed. Feb 13th I went with her on a class trip to see it again. This time I bought her Simba. The very next day, Valentines Day, I had to rush my daughter to the emergency room and she had surgery. While in the emergency room someone actually stole my 8yr old daughter's Simba & Nala. When she woke up after surgery they were the first thing she asked for. She is devasted someone stole them and I am desperate to replace them. I have searched for a phone # to try and contact someone at the theater or for merchandising to no avail. I found one number but it was disconnected. If anyone has any information on how I can get these replaced please email me at trisha_anne311@hotmail.com Thank you.

Architects were Herts and Tallants who also designed the Lyceum which is I believe older than the New Amsterdam and is a few blocks up in Times Square Area. I believe the New Amsterdam opened in 1903

In my opinion, this absolutely amazing space is the most beautifully stunning theater still in existence in NYC. The attention to detail during the restoration is astounding. The theater itself is every bit as much an attraction as is The Lion King (or whatever show might happen to occupy it's stage in the future). The only debateable decision made by those who oversaw the theater's refit may be the decision to refurbish the boxy marquee and art-deco vertical sign and clock that rises above it rather than restore the facade to it's original 1903 configuration. The signage was put in place after the theater converted from legit theater to movie house in the 1930's and obscures some pretty intricate architectural flourishes on the exterior.

To see what this theater looked like before the Disney organization restored it for "The Lion King" Broadway show, watch the Louis Malle film "VANYA ON 42ND ST.", which is a fascinating version of the Chekhov play "Uncle Vanya" where actors such as the not-yet-famous Julianne Moore, Wallace Shawn, and some other great actors, meet on the sidewalk, and go inside the decrepit theater, where they segue into the play seamlessly from their everyday dialogue, wearing their modern-day clothes.
They actually met for years before this film was made, rehearsing this play as they all loved it, but i'm not sure if they met in this very theater, or was the decision to use it only for the movie? Regardless, it is cool to see a movie palace in between its decrepitude and restoration....in a movie!

The NEW AMSTERDAM theatre is, of course, named after the first name the Dutch colonists gave to the island of Manhattan, which the British later changed to New York, but the history of the city is not what distinguishes this notable vaudeville theatre; it's unique decor is. It is possibly the last of the Art Nouveau style theatres in the nation, but unquestionably the best in any case. So notable is this design by Herts and Tallant, that in 1978 the Theatre Historical Society of America resolved to do one of their ANNUALS about this achievement. As if the appurtenances of the physical theatre were not enough to distinguish it, there is the fabulous decor using the sinuous forms of the style to create a mythical garden of allusion and illusion. Central to this design are the many wonderful murals which are fully featured in close-ups in this ANNUAL, as well as many photos of the rich ornamentation, both in the main theatre and in the roof garden theatre: the "Aerial Gardens." Acquaint yourself with Art Nouveau and its artisans through this wonderful exposition in the 42 pages of the booklet.

PHOTOS AVAILABLE:
To obtain any available Back Issue of either "Marquee" or of its ANNUALS, simply go to the web site of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA at:
www.HistoricTheatres.org
and notice on the sidebar of their first page the link "PUBLICATIONS: Back Issues List" and click on that and you will be taken to their listing where they also give ordering details. The "Marquee" magazine is 8-1/2x11 inches tall ('portrait') format, and the ANNUALS are also soft cover in the same size, but in the long ('landscape') format, and are anywhere from 26 to 40 pages. Should they indicate that a publication is Out Of Print, then it may still be possible to view it via Inter-Library Loan where you go to the librarian at any public or school library and ask them to locate which library has the item by using the Union List of Serials, and your library can then ask the other library to loan it to them for you to read or photocopy. [Photocopies of most THSA publications are available from University Microforms International (UMI), but their prices are exorbitant.]

Note: Most any photo in any of their publications may be had in large size by purchase; see their ARCHIVE link. You should realize that there was no color still photography in the 1920s, so few theatres were seen in color at that time except by means of hand tinted renderings or post cards, thus all the antique photos from the Society will be in black and white, but it is quite possible that the Society has later color images available; it is best to inquire of them.

Should you not be able to contact them via their web site, you may also contact their Executive Director via E-mail at: execdir@historictheatres.org
Or you may reach them via phone or snail mail at:
Theatre Historical Soc. of America
152 N. York, 2nd Floor York Theatre Bldg.
Elmhurst, ILL. 60126-2806 (they are about 15 miles west of Chicago)

Phone: 630-782-1800 or via FAX at: 630-782-1802 (Monday through Friday, 9AM--4PM, CT)

The NEW AMSTERDAM theatre is one of the finest theatres in the nation, and we are blessed that the Disney organization performed a remarkable restoration of this beauty for us all, but in one quarter it has been labeled as the **first** Movie Palace, and that is simply not true. In the VHS video "America's Castles: Movie Palaces" produced in the year 2000, detailed at Amazon.com: (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767015363/qid%3D1088697989/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/002-8565079-4721607), several theatres are shown as examples of the American movie palace, and the impression is given that it was the NEW AMSTERDAM that was the first. Contrary to this idea (which suited the aims of the producers of this originally cable-TV program), the idea of what was the very first Movie Palace will depend upon just how one defines that phenomenon. When the producers of the 2003 PBS TV series "History Detectives" (viewable as a PDF file at: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/case/midwest.html ) were asked if the AL RINGLING THEATRE in Baraboo, Wis. was the very first movie palace, they turned to the nationally recognized authority on the subject for the answer: The Theatre Historical Soc. of America (www.HistoricTheatres.org ) and asked their Ex. Dir. what the Society's standard was. Ex. Dir. Richard Sklenar replied that for a theatre to have been a movie palace it had to have been (1) built as a movie theatre, (2) have a workable stage, and (3) have more than 1,000 seats. By that composite standard neither the NEW AMSTERDAM nor the AL RINGLING qualify, and they determined that the CAPITOL THEATRE of New York City in 1919 was the first. Therefore, while the NEW AMSTERDAM did show movies for part of its life, it could not be called a "movie palace" by the usual and customary definition of the term, even if it is shown in a commercially produced video on the subject.

In New York City, the Regent, Strand, Rialto, and Rivoli pre-dated the Capitol as purpose-built "movie palaces." There might have been others as well. And that's just in NYC. I can't speak for the rest of the nation.

In the 50s & 60s, the New Amsterdam & The Lyric on the north side of the street were the only two showing first-run fare (usually following their Broadway debuts). They would show the same double features as the RKO & Loew's chains but at discounted prices. Beautiful, beautiful theater and I was delighted to see Lion King there, thirty years after my last visit. Jerry the K

There was a Sam Elliot film (it began with an "S", I can't remember the name) where they show the verticle New Amsterdam sign crash onto 42nd Street. How did they do it?

The Travel Channel just aired a special on Times Square. They showed film footage of the New Amsterdam before the Disney makeover. What a mess! They said mushrooms were growing in the orchestra section. Then, they showed the makeover. You get to see footage of the Mayfair (DeMille) and most of the 42nd Street theatres in all their seedy glory.

Thanks for the heads up, Don. I checked and it will be shown again Sunday Dec 26 at noon EST. Jerry the K (42nd Street Memories)

It was a mess really only after it closed, with a leaking roof that no one repaired for years. It was my favorite place to see double features, and even in those days there was a remarkable amount of detail still existing. Of course it's gorgeous now, but then it was a pretty decent grind house. It was a thrill to come up out of the subway on Wednesday (and later Friday) mornings, make the U-turn onto 42nd Street, and see all those wonderful marquees with their breathless descriptions of the double and triple bills awaiting inside. I loved seeing 9:00am movies at rock-bottom prices instead of going to college classes!

The New Amsterdam's and various other 42nd Street marquees can be seen in this photograph dated 1969.

Bryan,
Great shot. Thanks. Where did you come by it? I've been trying to accumulate photos of the Deuce from the 50s - 60s with little luck. Jerry 42nd Street Memories

I just did an image search on Google for "42nd St" and "New York" and there it was, among the many current views of the area.

I remember that just about every marquee in the late 60s had "save free tv" on it.

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

Is anyone aware of the Cine 42nd theatre which was exactly to the right of the new amsterdam. I know that it is still intact but yet has been abandoned for over 13 years now. I know the New amsterdam has a rooftop theatre which has been abandoned for even longer, the rooftop theatre is actually in the biography of the new amsterdam but the Cine 42 is not besides a picture of its marquee from the 80's. What is Disney doing sitting on these two treasures and does anyone have any information on either one?

About the rooftop at the New Amsterdam, I read somewhere that there are no viable entrances and exits that would comply with the current fire codes. There's one or two small elevators that wouldn't be able to handle the audiences, so Disney is not really able to use the space.

As to the Cine 42, where I spent many happily intoxicated hours watching some wild triple bills, I too wonder what is up there. Although I was a frequent patron here, it was my 2nd least favorite grindhouse (the Anco was worse); the seats were molded plastic without any cushions or padding, which I guess cut down on vandalism. As it was, my friend Anthony and I used to joke that it seemed Rondo Hatton (or his spawn) was always in the audience!

First of all, the new amsterdam main house had the same problems. They decided to solve the problem by installing mezzanine and balcony lobbies, which in fact block all natural light which used to shine through the orchestra skylight. Secondly, I am quite sure that if Disney wanted they can accomodate the fire codes. Their is 3 elevator shafts in the buildings orchestra lobby. Which all are capable of reaching the rooftop theatre. The biography of the theatre clearly states that.
Also, about the Cine 42, what about a private screening theatre for any Disney/Miramax or whatever other release they decide to come up with. And you say there were two screens, any idea of the layout and maybe how to get our hands on the blueprints to the space. IM quite intrigued. I am just kind of in awe at how they are just doing nothing with these spaces on the most famous street of all time!!

During the late 1970s when everyone was trying to figure out how to save 42nd St., a number of civic organizations held symposia, etc. discussing the problem of 42nd St./Times Sq., and some of these events including tours of the theaters on 42nd St. -- tours that included the interiors of these theaters.

Looking back, I feel so privileged that I was able to take some of these tours and especially to take the tour of the New Amsterdam and to see it all lit up but empty in its "ghostly" downtrodden state. (I believe the New Amsterdam tour took place not long before, or just after, it closed as a functioning movie theater.) The tour was terrific and included not only the auditorium, but various lobbies, the backstage areas AND the fabled rooftop nightclub.

(I also went on interesting tours of some of the other theaters on the street, but don't remember offhand, if they were all included on one big tour or if the New Amsterdam tour was separate.)

Although I've seen the Mary Henderson book about the restoration of the New Amsterdam, I'd like to share my much fuzzier recollections of the theater as I remembered it from this tour. (Somewhere down the line I'll have to take a closer look at the Henderson book to see how well my memories correspond to reality.) So here's a quick run-down of the tour as I remember it now -- kind of like a report about the tour 25 years, or so, after the fact!:

We entered through the main entrance and went down the long entrance corridor (which has an office building above it). This corridor lead to the back of the orchestra level of the auditorium proper. Don't have much recollection of how the theater impressed me from this viewpoint. In the years before it was renovated, I read a newspaper article that said, I believe, that the theater had a beautiful asbestos curtain -- don't remember if we saw it or not on the tour.

Eventually we went up to one of the balconies, and, if I remember correctly, I was surprised to see that they were supported by columns from below or from rods from above.

The three big highlights of the tour for me were as follows (in no special order):

1) A visit to a very handsome lounge. Don't remember which one it was but, as I remember it, it had an unusual shape with some very thick columns. Could it have been a lounge for one of the balconies -- or was it in the basement?

2) A visit to the stage and backstage area. I think we were told that this was the largest stage on Broadway -- at least when it was built. To this "civilian" (with no real experience of other stages to compare it with) it didn't really seem all that big to me. (Years later, the same held true, more or less, with my impression of the stage of Radio City Music Hall. The only stage I've ever seen on a tour that really impressed me as huge was that of the Metropolitan Opera House which, along with it's side stages, seemed to be more like a movie sound stage or an aircraft hanger!)

I think this stage also included a turntable and maybe even stage elevators? But the big thing about the visit to the stage was to think about and reflect that I was standing in the same wings that so many famous entertainers had once stood in. If I remember correctly, I think Fred Astaire stood in those wings before going onstage in one of his last Broadway shows. Also think Bob Hope played in "Roberta" in this theater -- so he too would have stood in these wings waiting to go on.

3) A visit to the fabled New Amsterdam roof! We took the elevators which were on the eastern side of the long entrance corridor? Again, if I remember correctly, I was a little "disappointed" in that the roof garden seemed smaller than I thought it would be. I also think, as small as it was, it had some sort of small balcony around it. Still it was just amazing to be in this space that I had heard so much about.

As mentioned earlier, I also got to go on tours of some of the other theaters. While memorable, these tours were not as "eventful" as that of the tour of the New Amsterdam, though.

(Since I hadn't seen "Follies," I don't think the aura of "Follies" entered into my thoughts of the tour at the time. Plus, I don't think the New Amsterdam was seen as ripe for renovation rather than demolition -- maybe this is another reason I don't really recall thinking of "Follies." But looking back on the tour now, the theater would probably have been a visually PERFECT setting for a film version -- which is not always true of real life places that are, more or less, being depicted in a movie.

Two strong impressions of this "other" tour:

1) In one of the theaters -- it was on the north side of 42nd St. -- we got to tour what had been a suite of offices upstairs. The suite of offices -- which in my recollection was really large and spread out -- was absolutely empty and thus gave off a very ghostly aura. One -- one could image these offices as a beehive of activity in the heydey of 42nd St. -- just like in the movies, with actors and chorus girls camping out to get an audition, and the Broadway bigwigs scooting in and out of the offices to avoid them or the bill collectors or to work on a big deal.

Don't know when the offices were vacated, but lending credence to the aura that they had been vacated not long after 42nd St.'s heydey (which, in reality, is probably unlikely) was the fact that amongst all the emptiness there was a book left on one of the inbuilt bookcases(?) -- a large format pictorial guidebook to New York in 1939!

An acquaintance that I had met on the tour (he was a grad student in theater history at the Grad Center of CUNY, which may have been the sponsor of the tour) said I should take it -- but I felt funny about it. Later, after we had already left the building, he pulled it out from beneath his coat and gave it to me! So I took it. (I've since given it away in a fit of apartment cleaning.)

2) The other stong recollection from the tour of these theaters was how just how badly they all smelled! Not only did they seem to have a musky smell of unwashed people, I believe they also smelled from the cats that were kept in them (to keep the mouse problem under control).

One of the symposia also published a small book and informative brochure, both of which I've kept. When I get the chance, I'll have to take a look at them to see if they mention these tours and anything interesting about the theaters.

Here is a circa-1925 view of the pre-Art Moderne remodeling 42nd Street entrance of the New Amsterdam with the Ziegfeld Follies on the marquee.

The very handsome lounge, The present day New Amsterdam Room. A rectangular lounge with columns in the shape of an elipse giving the room a circular type feel. The theatre has 12 stories of office space, the 8th floor being the lobby to the rooftop theatre. The rooftop gardens I believe are non existant anymore due to air conditioning and heating systems that were installed on it during the renovations. The rooftop theatre is however still their and again along with the Cine 42nd st theatre, are still yet to be touched by any renovations or plans of any sort. As for the Cine, how did Disney end up taking control of this space, it was not a part of the original New Amsterdam blueprints.

I found the announcement and the exhibition catalog from the event. So in case people are interested, here is some additional info (and a correction):

The series of programs, the tour and an exhibit was called, "42nd St. -- Theatre and the City." It was indeed sponsored by the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and took place in the fall of 1977.

The Graduate School was then located on 42nd St., on the north side of 42nd St., between Fifth Ave. and the Ave. of the Americas. The building had an "arcade" almost the width of the building that was used as an exhibition space. It also had a fair-sized basement auditorium where the panel discussions were held. By the way, I believe the building was originally the Aeolian Building, and there was originally a theater/auditorium on the second floor that was used as a concert hall, Aeolian Hall, where Gershwin premiered "Rhapsody in Blue." If I recall correctly, while the graduate school was there, this space was used as a large, casual auditorium/lecture hall. I think the building is used as a dental school these days.

There were five Tuesday evening panel discussions beginning on October 18th and ending on November 22nd. 1) History; 2) Problems; 3) Human and Economic Solutions; 4) Future Reconstruction; 5) Future Showcase. Participants included "names" from different walks of life: academics (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Mary Henderson); actors (Dorothy Stickney); producers (Herman Schulmin, Alfred de Liagre, Jr.); businessmen (Vincent Sardi); critics (Jack Kroll, Brendan Gill); etc.

There was a two film "film festival" ("Reunion in Vienna" and "Once in a Lifetime") that showed films ". . . of the 1930's, based on a play of the same period that opened in the 42nd St. area . . ." (Stanley Kauffmann is listed as the discussant [don't ever recall seeing this word before]).

The exhibit was 85 photographs ". . . featuring interiors and exteriors of the area's major theatre structures as they were in 1927 and as they are now . . ."

The walking tour was on Sunday, October 23rd. Here's the blurb from the announcement: "Opportunity to view first-hand examples of the old playhouses, including the new Amsterdam (built 1903), a new off-off Broadway theatre center, a performing arts housing complex, among others."

The announcement itself has some interesting photographs and a particularly interesting juxtaposition of photographs: the original facade of the New Amsterdam (without any advertising whatsoever) and the facade in the 1970s (with advertisements for "The Deep" plastered all over the place).

The facade, sans marquee, etc., is fascinating because it shows the entrance being only four doors wide (stone facing taking up the rest of this very, very narrow facade). Looking at the two photos side by side it's hard to believe they are the same structure -- it's hard to imagine how the entry of four doors in the photograph on the left could be enlarged to the building wide entryway shown in the modern photo on the right.

(P.S. -- I am somewhat new to the internet. If it is technologically possible, and legally permissible, to send in scanned copies of these photos (and others), I'd be delighted to give it a try. I can get access to a scanner and the appropriate software (I think), but I'd have to find out how I could get it to Cinema Treasures.)

The announcement also has great photos of the original facades of the Empire (with glass and iron canopy), the Liberty (with almost no advertising); the Belasco (now the Victory?); etc.

My favorite photo is a "wide-angled" one that shows the Lunt-Fontanne (which was a movie theater at one time, and is listed on this site, I believe) and the Helen Hayes. It gives a really nice feel for how well they worked together to create a nice "feel" to 46th St.

The exhibition catalog (text by Josephine Dakin, Megan Lawrence and Ray Ring) has nice pictures (interior, exterior, historical) and text on all the 42nd St. theaters and a few others off 42nd St.: New Amsterdam; Harris; Liberty; Empire; Anco; American Theatre (demolished in 1932); Times Sq. and Apollo; Lyric; Victoria (replaced by the Ra\ialto); Lunt-Fontanne (with a terrific photo of the way it looked when it opened); the Palace; the Astor; the Hudson (including a contemporary photo showing "For Rent" on the marquee); etc. (I've tried to list only those theaters that were also movie theaters. But a few other theaters are also included.)

Correction: The catalog mentions that the New Amsterdam ". . . is said to have been the first theatre built with a cantilevered balcony." (Something I had thought I had heard about the Hudson.) So apparently the balcony I saw that was held with rods from the ceiling was in another theatre on the tour, not the New Amsterdam.

Fascinating fact: The Hudson, the New Amsterdam and the Lyceum (a landmarked "legit" theatre that was never, as far as I know, a movie theater) were all opened within weeks of each other -- two of them even opened on the same night!: 10/19/03, the Hudson; 11/2/03, the New Amsterdam; 11/2/03, the Lyceum. WOW! New York, in those days, WAS really jumpin!

- - - -

I also found a terrific Hagstrom "detail" map from the late 1950s that shows the approximate building lot outlines of the various theaters in the theater district, including the bunched up ones on 42nd St. On this map you can clearly see where the actual auditoriums for the various theaters on 42nd were located. Again, if it's legally OK, and if someone tells me how, I'd love to be able to share this with Cinema Treasures.

P.S. -- I think the New Amsterdam's roof "garden" and roof "theater" are the same thing. I believe at the time the New Amsterdam was built, the word "garden" had more connotations than it has today. For example: Madison Sq. Garden (an arena); and the Winter Garden Theater (a name that was given to the theater, which I believe was at one time decorated with trellises, to evoke those places like the lobbies of grand hotels that created a "garden" of potted palms, etc.).

I believe in those pre-air-conditioned times, a number of restaurants and "night clubs" (or their equivalent) were built on roofs (especially the very large roofs of theaters that were otherwise economically useless) and that many of them had a garden-like theme. (Oscar Hammerstein's "Victoria," on 42nd and Seventh Ave., had a famous one with cows and milkmaids. There's a photo of it, empty, in the exhibition catalog.)

Before the skyscraper to the east of the New Amsterdam was built, you could clearly see the very large windows of the rooftop theater. I believe they were "French door" type windows that, when opened wide, gave one the illusion of being outdoors. (Over the years, unfortunately, I think they were painted over in black.)

In the years around the time I took the tour, I think the roof garden/theater space was used as a rehearsal hall for Broadway plays and musicals.

While I don't believe this is that easily visible these days, I think the jumble of firescapes needed for both the roof theater and the rest of the New Amsterdam are still visible on 41st St.

100% percent ablsolutely their was a roof garden which was seperate from the roof top theatre. It was actually referred to as the aerial gardens and their is a double doorway in the rooftop theatre which leads to where this garden used to be. However behind the doors today is nothing but airconditioning systems, heatings units and a water tower. The aerial gardens were on the roof of the backstage area which is a roof I would aproximate at 35-45 feet, I am sure of this. The rooftop theatre indeed did have those windows to the east and i would love to be able to see what that side of the theatre looked liked before the earnst and young skyscraper.

This 'rooftop' theatre was outdoors? What did they do if a show was scheduled there, but it rained? Wasn't there so much ambient noise aruond 42nd street that it would cause acoustical problems for the performers and audience?

Ron, the theatre was enclosed with walls of windows.

Caspers42: are you asking about what the side of the building itself facing east, or the side of the rooftop theatre facing east, looked like prior to the construction of 5 Times Square (a.k.a., the Ernst and Young Building)?

From my recollection, the rooftop theater atop the New Amsterdam was indoors -- but with big windows. It may -- or may not -- also have had some kind of sliding roof that allowed you to see the sky in good weather.

I know this sounds modern, and I'm not sure about the New Amsterdam having such a roof, but Christopher Grey in the "Times" -- a pretty reliable source -- said that the original Lunt-Fontanne Theater had such a "moon roof." And I believe the Waldorf-Astoria (the current one, from the 1930s) had some kind of retractable roof for it's "Starlight Roof" nightclub. (I was in this space once for a function -- it's used for events and receptions -- but I believe the retractable roof feature was removed long ago.)

The roof garden / restaurant on top of Hammerstein's Victoria seems (from the one or two photos I've seen of it) to be mostly in the open air -- but with some sort of covered area along the sides also. (From photos, it seems to be "multi-leveled" also, with the open air section up a few steps.)

Re: ambient noise

While I assume 42nd St. was not really quiet even then, in 1903 or so when some of these theaters were built, the area was built up differently than it is today. It was mostly low, rowhouses ("brownstones"), churches and horse and carriage manufacturing / trading facilities. So I suppose the kind of noises produced were different -- for instance, no loud diesel truck and bus v-a-r-o-o-m noises, no garbage truck compactor whines and, obviously, no car alarms! Also maybe the height (six stories or so above the ground) might have helped distance people from some of the noise?

(Also, maybe the whole thing seemed like a better idea than it was, and the noise helped contribute to the demise of such places -- along with the growing city around them!)

Not to spook anyone but the New Amsterdam is haunted by the spirit of one of the Follies girls. Her name is Olive Thomas and she died very young from an illness and over dosed on her medication. Former and some present maintanance people and performers have seen her. Mostly in the balcony and in the so called Garden Roof section. They say she looks so real and solid you'd think she was alive. Well, that's the legend of the New.Am.

I have an exterior photo of the New Amsterdam (circa early 90s). I'll e-mail it to some if they want to post it.

In July, 1941, the New Amsterdam had a "Special Limited Engagement By Popular Demand of Thousands" of a double-feature of Rudolph Valentino's "The Eagle" & "Son of the Sheik." The silent films had been updated with musical soundtracks. The New Amsterdam operated continuously from 8AM until 2AM, and boasted of a "modern cooling plant now in operation."

Re: Benjamin's comment of Jan 14 on the balcony support rods--your memory is correct. The Upper Balcony of the New Amsterdam has the support rods running up to the ceiling, but they do not actually support anything. Because no one had seen a cantilevered balcony back then, people were afraid it would collapse....so, the owner put the rods up to reassure people. They are still there, and supposedly cannot be removed because they are covered by the landmark ordinance. Under the main balcony there are some columns, so that would have reassured people back then that it had support.
As far as the upper theatre, the current line is still that they cannot meet code and have performances up there.

rooftop theater

http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/index.html

old photo

sorry, corrected link:
http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/usa/images/usa_nyc_newamsterdam.jpg

Since its magnificent restoration, I've brought folks here three times to see "The Lion King." It is truly a theatre of orgasmic beauty. I'm not from New York but I saw a movie here once upon a time and didn't register any reaction then.

A tiny individual ad in the movie section of the NY Daily News of April 14, 1944 has the New Amsterdam showing "Jane Eyre" (Joan Fontaine & Orson Welles) and "Mr. Muggs Steps Out" (with The East Side Kids). The booking was simultaneous with first-run neighborhood theatres, though those of the RKO and Skouras circuits were presenting "Jane Eyre" with a different second-feature--"Career Girl" (Frances Langford-Edward Norris). Perhaps the New Amsterdam picked the other to attract the tough guys (and dolls) who resided in nearby "Hell's Kitchen."

That's funny, Warren. How did Jane Eyre ever make it to The Deuce? I'm surprised they didn't pair the East Side Kids with Career Girl.

I'm still looking for booking information of the 42nd St theaters in the 50s-60s. Newspapers did list some of the New Amsterdam-Lyric-Harris-Selwyn programming but not the others. If anyone can help, please let me know.

Jerry Kovar: Perhaps Cue Magazine listed them if it was around then. You might be able to find copies from that era at a library. Just a suggestion.

Thanks, Gerald but as a kid I was given subscriptions to Cue as a Christmas gift by a neighbor. I still had to call each theater to get the programming. And with one phone line at the theater (before recorded messages), this took a while. The New Amsterdam, Lyric may have been listed but definitely not the Empire, Victory, Anco.

I still may try to hunt down Cue archives for other theaters. Thanks.

The Billy Rose Theatre collection at the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, NYC, has bound volumes of Cue Magazine, but they are of the Manhattan edition only and do list movie theatres in the other boroughs. They also usually don't list 42nd Street theatres except for the NA, Lyric and Apollo...Also, it's possible that Cue is now stored "off-site" by the Library due to lack of demand. That means that if they don't have it when you file your call slip, you will have to return several days later, after it has been shipped from one of their warehouses...If you go to www.nypl.org
you should be able to find the exact holdings of Cue in the periodicals index.

Here is a 1966 shot of the New Amsterdam and a partial view of some of the other theaters on The Deuce. Note the COOLED BY REFRIGERATION sign under the marquee. And CONTINUOUS to 4 AM above it. Grant's bar & Nedicks to the left.

I won the item on ebay and will be loaded it on to my website soon. Here's the temporary link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6166608315

For those interested, the films showing are:
HARPER & SWINGER'S PARADISE (Lyric), OUT OF THE PAST & TENSION AT TABLE ROCK (Times Square), TROUBLE WITH ANGELS & MYSTERY OF THUG ISLAND (Selwyn), WEEKEND AT DUNKIRK & THAT MAN IN ISTANBUL (New Amsterdam); Apollo appears to have a Gina Lollobrigida film.

Rosalind Russell (as a nun) Hayley Mills on 42nd Street! I guess the times did change after 1966.

saps,
I guess in order to get more 42nd St-ish type fare like Columbia's 1966 Matt Helm flic, Murderer's Row and The Professionals (seen in the front of Marc Eliot's book Down 42nd Street), they had to book Columbia's 'Roz & Hayley as nuns' tripe.

The programming of Out of the Past & Tension at Table Rock was what made 42nd special to me. And those double features were the ones not advertised in the papers, so it was a treat to come up from the subway and scan the marquees. Jerry

New Amsterdam Theatre circa 1980's
http://www.kilduffs.com/theatre_NYC_Newamsterdam.jpg

Restoration information & photos:

http://www.hhpa.com/projects/project_details.php?section=theaters&ID=156

Tallulah played here on showcase in 1965.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/DieDieMyDarling.jpg

I don't know if this link has been posted before but there are some photos and alot of history about this theater at this link:
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID113.htm

Here's that picture that I mentioned earlier and a classic from 1958....with EMERGO! Hey, it seemed at times, that all of the theaters on the Deuce had some kind of audience interaction. j

http://photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=421965.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/a56/42ndStreetMemories/?action=view¤t=42nd1958HouseonHauntedHill.jpg

This is a 2004 photo of the New Amsterdam Theater.

Such a disappointing facade. Disney did a magnificent restoration but the front of the house is so bland. I know they restored what was there but when you compare it to their El Capitan it just pales. The neon under the clock is out a lot too which just makes it look cheap.

The "Movie Clock" in the October 18, 1948 issue of the daily newspaper PM lists the programs for four of the 42nd Street "grind" theatres:
Apollo, "The Damned" & "Blood Red Rose"
Lyric, "Seven Sinners" & "Sutter's Gold" (reissues)
New Amsterdam, "Dream Girl" & "So Evil My Love"
Selwyn, "Walls of Jericho" & "Deep Waters"
Also, just around the corner on Broadway, the Rialto had the NYC premiere engagement of "16 Fathoms Deep."
The double bill at the Selwyn was simultaneous with RKO neighborhood theatres in Manhattan; the one at the New Amsterdam was a week behind the top Loew's nabes in Manhattan.

An Austin organ Opus 345 Size 2/15 was installed in the New Amsterdam Theater in 1911 at a cost of $5,000.

BobT... I agree with you. A magnificent interior restoration, but - as I commented way back in Feb of 2003 - the decision to go with the refitted art deco marquee rather than replicate the original 1903 exterior facade ornamentation and signage was highly questionable. Perhaps they figured that the clock and illuminated vertical sign have been associated with the New Amsterdam for so long now (at least back to the mid-30's, no?) and fit in better with the current environment of 42nd Street. The folks who run the New Victory across the street did a wonderful job of recreating the original 1900 entrance while incorporating appropriate modern-day signage. Disney should have taken a cue from them.

Thanks EdSolero, buzz on The Rialto is that "The Lion King" is moving to The Minskoff in the spring after "Fiddler On The Roof" closes in January and The New Amsterdam will be the new home of Disney's London smash "Mary Poppins".

I have to agree with Ed on this one. While I think Disney did a fantastic job on the theater in general, the one thing they should have done differently is restoring the exterior to the original appearance rather than the 1930's look it has now.
Bob, thanks for the info on the Lion King. I didn't know it was moving to the Minskoff.

It surprises me very much that they left the "modern" clock and vertical as part of the restoration. It certainly doesn't match the art nouveau interior at all, yet personally I favor it. There are so few vestiges left of the old 42nd St., and it is one of them.

I was on 42nd Street last night (I attended a concert in the old Astor Plaza, now the Nokia Theater that opened up Oct 1), and I haven't been there in about a year. I couldn't even recognize Times Square! Nothing's familiar anymore, it seems to be changing by the day!

Stevebob... you make an excellent point. There is something about that clock and signage that tugs at my heartstrings -- as a veteran of the Deuce's grindhouses from 1979 to '86 or so. But I find it completely at odds with the magnificent restoration within. I think it would have been nice to have the restored art-nouveau exterior of the New Amsterdam as compliment to the vintage exterior restorations to the New Victory and Lyric facades directly across the street.

Bway... do you feel claustrophobic when you walk around the area these days? Besides the blinding barrage of lights and video-feeds from all the modern signage and displays, Times Square has completely lost its sense of scale at street level. It's all so vertical now... they're just developing everything straight up. Think back to the Square and 42nd Street about 15 or 20 years ago - even amidst the shuttering of the grind houses, the squalor of the uncleaned streets and the come-ons from the live-porn barkers there was at least a sense of space and scale. I miss the days when you didn't have to crane your neck to appreciate the character of the place.

It looks like pictures I've seen of Tokyo. It all seems so fake and calculated. The thing that's most disconcerting to me is that there's absolutely no sense of any kind of organic development from what used to be to what it is now.

What I just said is specifically in reference to the Times Square/Duffy Square intersection. (Now that I think about it, it doesn't hold quite so true for the Eighth Avenue corridor -- yet.)

Bway - "While I think Disney did a fantastic job on the theater in general, the one thing they should have done differently is restoring the exterior to the original appearance rather than the 1930's look it has now."

I personally would have preferred the Art Nouveau tower of Ziegfeld's regime that predated the Art Moderne tower, but I believe the retention of the current tower was dictated not by Disney, but by the preservation board.

The New Amsterdam is definitely on my list of favorite theatres, though I will confess more for its Ziegfeld connection than as a movie house. Ironically, the only glimpses I've been able to have of it in real life were in the late 70s as a grind house and in the 80s when it was shuttered. I have not yet had a chance to get to New York and see it in its restored glory.

Photographer Andrew Moore has 2 color photos of the interior of this theatre prior to restoration at www.andrew-moore.info
(Just click on Photography and then Times Square 1995-2005 to bring up the theatres)
The New Amsterdam photos are on the third row.
One is at the far left and another on the far right.
There are also other shots of the Selwyn, Times Square, Liberty and an extrior shot of the Lyric.

As I posted on other 42nd st theatre sites,I would always marvel at the beauty of all those magnificent marquees, the people who changed them week after week were true artists,the lettering was always perfectly spaced and centered.
Truly a lost art form

Some of the movies i saw here in the '60's when I was home from college were "Gypsy", "Bye Bye Birdie", "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", and after I graduated and went for my army physical, I took in Bette Davis in "The Nanny." frankie from Brooklyn

Exploitation mania (1962):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/newamst.jpg

I agree with many of the members'opinion that the exterior of the New Amsterdam should have restored to its original appearance. It would have been more consistent to the overall appearance of the renovation.

This is a before and after interior photo.

In her reminiscence Moments with Chaplin, Lillian Ross recounted her walk with Chaplin around Manhattan, after his long absence from the city, at the time his Limelight was opening in 1952, and before circumstances would induce him to take up permanent residence abroad.

(Quotation follows):
An old woman in a torn dress was standing in front of the New Amsterdam Theatre selling pretzels from a battered baby stroller. "I don't think the old girl would know whether this is where Ziegfeld had his 'Follies,' or whether it had a roof garden," Chaplin said. He stopped walking. He looked puzzled, a bit hurt.
An elderly man with a pale, freckled face, who was bald except for reddish hair at the base of his skull, came along and stopped beside us. He wore a dirty white shirt open at the collar, and he had a bundle of old newspapers under one arm. "Visiting your old haunts, Charlie?" he said to Chaplin.
"Why, yes," Chaplin said. "Yes. Yes, I am."
""I used to come in as a kid, fifteen years old," the man said. "I used to see you. They were good old days."
"Wasn't this where Ziegfeld had his 'Follies'?" Chaplin asked. "And didn't it have a roof garden upstairs?"
"You're right," the man said. "And it still does have a roof garden."
"You see, I was right, wasn't I?" Chaplin said to me.

In the made-for-TV movie "Gypsy" (starred Bette Midler, broadcast on CBS-TV 12/12/1993), an black & white image of the New Amsterdam's facade and marquee is prominently featured and colourfully animated in the opening montage and credits.

Is there a significant connection with "Gypsy"? Did the play ever have a run here, or perhaps just a film version? If so, was it a premiere or exclusive engagement?

Was it ever a major Vaudeville or burlesque venue?(another possible reason for the reference)

Just curious.

Alto, in the 30s The New Amsterdam was home to the Ziegfeld Follies where Gypsy Rose Lee appeared. jerry

The last Ziegfeld Follies to be staged at the NA was the one for the year 1927. The next one, which turned out to be Ziegfeld's last, was presented at his own Ziegfeld Theatre in 1931. He died the following year. In 1936, Gypsy Rose Lee performed in an edition of the "Ziegfeld Follies" at the Winter Garden Theatre, which was produced by the Shuberts under license from Ziegfeld's widow, Billie Burke. To the best of my knowledge, Gypsy Rose Lee never performed at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

Is the Lion King still playing at the New Amsterdam? I heard it may be moving to another theater, but don't know if it did or not.

Until June 4th. Then they start work on getting it ready for Mary Poppins. It moves to the Minskoff on June 13th.

"The Lion King" is still at the New Amsterdam. Disney announced the move to the Minskoff a few months ago. My recollection is that the move will take place in early summer. "Mary Poppins" opens at the New Amsterdam in November.

I received this in my company e-mail - I thought it would be nice to share. A GREAT opportunity to get what APPEARS to be a FREE peak at this theatre! (I would call to confirm eligibility to attend - corporate affiliation may be required - this looks like a promotion to push group sales to companies)

Date: Tuesday, February 21 2006 12:54 pm
From: Joe Tropia <jtropia@broadway.com>
Subject: A Special Look at MARY POPPINS

You are invited to a special behind the scenes look at the newest production from Disney Theatrical and Cameron Mackintosh.

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006
5:30 p.m. at the New Amsterdam Theatre
The event is general admission seating and will last approximately one hour!

Her carpet bag is packed, her umbrella is unfurled, and come the fall, MARY POPPINS takes up residence at Broadway's magnificent New Amsterdam Theatre. Based on P.L. Travers' cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, MARY POPPINS - currently one of London's biggest sensations - features the Sherman brothers' original Academy Award*-winning songs, and Oliver*Award-winning director Richard Eyre leads a dream team of vision and stagecraft, bringing to life the story of the Banks family and their magical nanny.

MARY POPPINS marks the first collaboration between Disney, producer of the acclaimed THE LION KING, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and TARZAN®, and Cameron Mackintosh, legendary producer of the record-breaking THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, CATS and LES MISÉRABLES. The result is a new musical so extraordinarily enchanting that you'll have just one word for it: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

GROUPS ARE NOW ON SALE for what is certain to be one of the hottest tickets of 2006! Special Early Bird Discounts are available for groups (minimum 15 persons) booked and paid prior to May 5th, featuring Orchestra and Front Mezzanine seats for $88.00 and Balcony seats as low as $20.00 and $32.00 for most performances! Call us today or visit us on the web for more details! Previews begin October 14th toward an opening night of November 16th!

Please fill out the following information and either
e-mail to RSVP@Broadway.com or fax to 212-541-4892:
NAME:
COMPANY:
MAILING ADDRESS:
PHONE NUMBER:
FAX NUMBER:
E-MAIL ADDRESS:
NUMBER OF TICKETS: 1 or 2
_____________________________________________________________________

All information must be filled out for your request to be processed! Tickets will be mailed in advance! Seating is limited and all requests will be filled on a first-come/first-served basis!

All requests must be submitted no later than Friday, February 24th. Confirmations will be sent shortly thereafter. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thanks!

Best,

Joe Tropia
Sales & Marketing Coordinator
Broadway.com/Theatre Direct
1650 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10019
1.800.BROADWAY
212.541.8457 x177 direct
212.541.4892 fax

Yes... hdtv267 has the correct information about The Lion King's closing and re-opening dates. Mary Poppins begins previews at the New Amsterdam on October 14th with an opening night of November 16th.

Gypsy Rose Lee might have never played the New Amsterdam, but she did play across the street in burlesque at the old Victory Theater when it was known as the Republic. I visit the renovated and rechristened New Victory several times a year with my kids and was there this past Friday when I snapped this nighttime photo of the New Amsterdam's illuminated marquee and blade sign:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/42nd%20Street%20Theaters/IMG_1707.jpg

So, The Lion King moves from a fabulously ornate and historic 1903 gem to a cold, utilitarian, modernist 1970's house. Quite an extreme move, in terms of architecture and ambience.

Thanks Ed for the photo. In a previous life I worked for the marquee company and I hung the signs that hang below the marquee. Called underslings, they weigh about 50 lbs and it was always a challenge to try and hang them them on a busy 42nd Street. With two guys and two ladders, you'd be surprised how oblivious people would be to what's going on above them! As I stated before, by looking at the plain facade, people would be really shocked how magnificent the interior of this show palace really is.

What I always wondered is why since Disney spend such a fortune on beautifully restoring the interior of this theater, that they left the remuddled exterior as it was. Why didn't they restore the exterior fascade to the way it was built since they did so much of that on the interior? Why would they leave this exterior?

The exterior was retained to honor the theatre's long service as a cinema, which might have been longer than as a "legit" house.

I agree, Bway. The interior is magnificent 1903 Art Nouveau opulence and the exterior is 1930's grind-house honky tonk. I suppose the Art Moderne blade and clock have their charms (and reminds me of the tawdry 42nd Street I knew and loved from the 80's), but its certainly an extreme clash of architectural styles. A restoration of the original facade would have been much more appropriate and a nice compliment to the restored Lyric and New Victory facades across the street.

One of the big decisions in preservation is what "date" to do a restoration to, and one of the things that complicates it is more recent alterations are part of the history of the building. I'm not familiar with NYC's landmark laws, but I would not be surprised if there would have been restrictions, or at least complications, on restoring the original facade, since it was landmarked with this one.

I agree Ed. The theater was a movie house for most of it's life, but it's interior was the interior it has now. I just don't feel the 1930's exterior is appropriate considering what the interior is like. The restored the theater to it's original design, and that should have included the exterior too.
As for a tribute to the former days of cinema, that's all well and good too, however, let's think of a legit theater (take your pick) that was multiplexed, and it spend most of it's life in that multiplexed form showing movies. Then it closes, and it comes time to renovate the theater. Just because for most of it's life it was multiplexed, would that mean you don't restore it to it's former glory, and just leave let's say the balcony walled off or something, just because that's a "tribute" to the cinema days?
I feel that's the same situation here. Why not restore the theater to it's ORIGINAL glory, even if it spent most of it's life with it's bland plain, cinema exterior?

I'm assuming that $$ was the deciding factor, not paying tribute to its cinema days. Replacing an ugly modern marquee with something more appropriate is outrageously expensive by itself.....redoing the facade entirely is very expensive....and Disney is well known for counting their pennies. What would be nice is, now that the theatre is reopened and an obvious success, that a further restoration be done for the facade. But I wouldn't be surprised if it would be complicated by landmark law....even though it looks stupid in tandem with the interior, but it does qualify as an "historic" exterior.

Disney doesn't do anything small, so I don't really know if "counting it's pennies" would be what is the problem here. Look at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, and what they invested in that.
They invested so much on the interior of the New Amsterdam, it just boggles my mind that it would just be "cheapness" that would stop them from doing the exterior. It has to be something more.

I love the exterior. All the flashiness and lights and that big vertical sign. Even though it is again a playhouse, I am glad they kept the cinema's extravagant signage. We don't have much of that left in New York, and I appreciate it every time I walk by. It's an eye-popping throwback to a time I miss. While I admire the authenticity of the Victory and Lyric's exterior, they are just a bit dull.

I suppose I can see both sides of this debate. As an architecture buff, I would have loved to have seen the original ornate facade restored to its 1903 appointments, but as a movie theater fan I have to admire the retention of the marquee and blade. With the restoration of the Victory and Lyric, the new Selwyn/American Airlines entrance, the conversion of the Times Square Theater to retail space, the flashy AMC marquee on the relocated Empire facade and the loss of the Harris, Liberty, Rialto and Anco facades, the New Amsterdam presents us with the only remaining physical vestige of the Duece's good old bad old grind house days. I still think it is at odds with the splendor that exists within, but I can live with and appreciate it for what it is.

And the New Victory facade dull? The reproduction of that magnificent torchiered exterior staircase is a vast improvement on the plain facade and boxy marquee that had replaced the original entrance all those years ago. There's enough color on the block with Madam Toussad's, McDonald's "marquee" and the battling AMC and Loews marquees at the western end of the block.

Meanwhile, the Ecko Unlimited conversion of the old Times Square Theater is still ongoing. As of last Friday night, the building remains obscured behind construction netting and a plywood shed. No word on when the store will be opened, other than the "early 2006" announcements made a year ago.

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

Actually, I loved the strip during those days! I've always had mixed feelings about the redevelopment of 42nd Street. Here's a quote from that page:

"Mid-block off 42nd Street are nine(9) historic theaters. These turn-of-the-century architectural treasures are being restored to their original grandeur. Repertory, non-profit and legitimate theatre productions will be presented. Disney is a major theater player in the area."

If only that had been the case. Only the New Amsterdam, Victory and Selwyn theaters were restored to their "original granduer" in the end. The Lyric and Apollo were dismantled with certain elements incorporated into the new now-named Hilton Theater, the Times Square is going retail, the Liberty is sitting there waiting for lord knows what, the Empire is a multiplex lobby, the Rialto, Harris and Anco have been pounded to dust. Hmmm. That's 10 theaters. I assume they didn't mean to include the Rialto in the counting. Still, only 3 of the 9 were eventually restored to original purposes.

I guess the more I think about it, the more I understand that there is a part of me that is happy that at least one bit of that dirty ole street still stands tall and proud over the entrance to the New Amsterdam.

I hope that this photo wasn't posted already. This is a 1960 photo of 42nd St and Broadway showing the various theaters on that block. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Look at this great ad for the neighborhood run of "Glenn Miller Story". I wonder if the first show was at 5:30 pm on the opening day at all the theatres or it was just a catch line.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/ba5531b1.jpg

Had to reorganize my photobucket account so the link to the photo I posted above has changed. A couple of recent night shots of the New Amsterdam marquee can now be found here.

Below are a few shots I took in 1993 of the New Amsterdam facade and entrance. It appeared at the time that some work was going on within, as one of the doors was ajar and some lighting and light construction equipment could be seen down the outer lobby hall.

The front door
Marquee and blade sign
New Amsterdam and Cine 42

I think its interesting to compare that first shot of the theater entrance with the somewhat wider angle view of the same area (from almost the same vantage point) taken some 30-plus years earlier that Warren posted a while back:

Exploitation Mania

Double feature ad from the Daily News (12/12/80) listing the New Amsterdam as well as the RKO Cinerama and a number of neighborhood grinds:

Steel/The Children

Of course, all three Manhattan theaters opted for a different 2nd feature. I saw this pairing as advertised either at the RKO Lawrence or the Studio 1 in Lynbrook.

I remember STEEL as one of those "so bad, it is good" films. It is the story of construction workers putting up a high rise and fighting all kinds of silly problems, personal or otherwise. The soundtrack treated the climax as if it was a ROCKY type triumph with a lot of whoppin' and hollerin'. A real redneck saga from the "who cares?" genre.

Yes. And Lee Major's film career really took off after that, didn't it? Remember "The Norsemen", the ridiculous Viking epic he starred in with Mel Ferrer and an aging Cornel Wilde? I also seem to recall some sort of horrible killer piranha movie he was in around this same time. I guess they made for a few decent paychecks between the end of "Six Million Dollar Man" and the beginning of "The Fall Guy"!

I saw Connie Stevens and Vincent Price in "Two on a Gillotine" plus another picture here in the 1950's. The New Amsterdam charged the highest price on 42nd Street, 99c at night (compared to $1.80 to $2.00 at Radio City, Rivoli, and other Broadway first run houses.) Like all New York theatres, patrons could smoke in the balcony. (Yeegads!). The theatre was run-down then, but plenty of moviegoers always. Shows ran from about 8 AM continuous to about 4:30 AM.
Don't let anybody tell you TV closed down the 42nd Street theatres, or the beautiful movie palaces on Broadway. It was bad government, and New Yorkers' blind determination to re-elect bad government at every opportunity. If drug sellers, pimps and prostitutes take over a neighborhood and are not interfered with by the legal system, then family entertainment dies. They had crack whores by the dozens on Broadway and 7th Avenue in the Times Square area in the 1970's and not even police-in-pairs entered 42nd Street in those days. It was New York's choice to let their beautiful city go straight to hell back then. New York lost 20% of its population and literally went bankrupt, to be bailed out by loans from Uncle Sam. Happily New York came to their senses and cleaned up their act --- but the loss of virtually every great movie palace was part of the price of their insane foolishness.

I have read that 42nd street theatres in the seventies grossed as much as the rest of Manhattan put together. Based on the concept of an economy of businesses that pays its own way, these crap houses with their exploitation, sexploitation and blaxploitation certainly appeared to accomplish an economic success model. No matter what one feels about crack whores, the Shuberts, crooked politicians, pimps, Disney, the police, male hustlers, the Brandts or Popeye's Chicken - 42nd Street may have been the first true experiment in undisturbed capitalism. It should have been preserved and studied.

For the Hollywood version, see IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, not ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS.

The Lion King has officially left the New Amsterdam. It is now playing (starting June 13th) at the Minskoff Theater.

So the theatre is now closed? What's the next booking?

I believe Disney is putting Mary Popins into the New Amsterdam.

Disney's stage version of "Mary Poppins" opens November 16th, with previews starting October 14th. Ashley Brown will portray the title role. I never heard of her. Has anyone?

"Ashley Brown is an actress that made her Broadway debut in September of 2005 as the lead character, Belle, in the Walt Disney Theatrical production of Beauty and the Beast. In October of 2006 Ashley will move to star in another Disney on Broadway musical, this time as the title character of Mary Poppins".

I guess the New Amsterdam will be closed the whole summer then? I guess it will take the summer to get ready for the new show.

"Mary Poppins" in next.

Clint at the New Amsterdam in 1978:

The Gauntlet - NY Daily News 1/25/78
A rare listing for a major studio release that includes a 42nd Street grind house booking in addition to one of the big houses on Broadway (in this case the Embassy 2). I remember this style of artwork was in vogue in the late 1970's into the 1980's. I seem to recall the "Conan" movies in particular having a similar look.

Ed,

The artist was the great Frank Frazetta. I have the half sheet from The Gauntlet hanging in my garage. jerry

Here's a couple of websites: http://frankfrazetta.org/ AND http://frankfrazetta.com/

Score one for 42nd Street Memories*Jerry Kovar! In the mid-1950s, the highly-talented Frazetta did a series of covers (including Buck Rogers) for Famous Funnies Comics, a monthly 10-cents reprint book of Saturday/Sunday newspaper continuities. When in decent shape, these FF artwork gems have soared into the low four-figure category. (And that's without decimal points...)

Yes, Jerry... I was going to add that the look is very similar to the Heavy Metal magazine covers that Frazetta painted, but I couldn't think of his name. An amazing artist, Frazetta suffered a stroke some years back and lost a lot of fine motor skill in his right hand and so had to teach himself how to paint with his left! And he seems to have mastered it.

Just got my socks knocked off over on eBay. I put in a search for Famous Funnies Comics. Up pops FF #210, beautiful Buck Rogers cover by Frazetta, CGC 9.6 NM+ condition. Buy It Now price through 8/30 - with no interest until 2007???

$5,700.00

*choke*

Here's an image peeking under the advertising into the outer vestibule of the New Amsterdam, circa October, 1970. Here's another shot from the same image stream showing more or less the same. The movie advertised is Broadway Joe Namath's "CC and Company".

Halloween 1969
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/oblongbox.jpg

I just came back from Opening Night of "Mary Poppins" at The New Amsterdam! Lots of celebs, but the real star for me is this theater. I went with a friend who had never been to this theater and so I was able to see it anew through his eyes. He was awed at its beauty, as was I. This truly is one of the most beautiful and unusual (there are few art noveau theaters) that I have ever seen. While I give the show a "6", the theater gets a perfect "10". A nice touch after the performance....as we were leaving we all got Mary Poppins umbrellas......and it had just started to rain!

This is supposed to be a 1970 view of the New Amsterdam's entrance, but I can't swear that it is. It might be another of the 42nd Street theatres. But in any case, note the discrepancy between the main feature's title on the marquee and on the overhead sign:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/fondaclub.jpg

Is this the "New Amsterdam" which is mentioned in Counting Crows' first big hit single "Mr. Jones" (I was down at the New Amsterdam/Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation...")?

Warren... that's definitely the New Amsterdam. The curvey deco pattern on the box office (to the right under the marquee) is the definite giveaway.

I've seen so many images of the New Amsterdam and 42nd Street that I don't know if this summer 1953 view has been posted here before. If so, I will remove it immediately:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/summer1953.jpg

I don't think I have seen that one before Warren.

I always loved this shot. 3D on the Deuce. Like it wasn't scary enough. Also, if you look at the Lyric, there's an example of how they would frequently alter the titles on the marquee to make them more 42nd Street type fare. Here, a harmless western comedy "ALONG CAME JONES" became "Along Came KILLER JONES". jerry

Some shots I took the other night:

Through a porthole window of the New Victory
Facade 1
Facade 2
Poppins marquee
Outer vestibule

I love that look from the New Victory port hole window (which is in the stairwell going up from the mezzanine to the upper balcony) - it almost looks like the marquee is on fire.

Compare that last shot of the current-day vestibule to this 1962 grind house shot! The wall on the right, which at one time housed a large display case and the rounded corner of the box office, has been broken through to allow passage into the current spacious New Amsterdam box office.

I also cropped this shot of the vestibule from the other night to approximate the view of this shot I took back in 1993. Interesting contrasts, eh?

Also... I noticed that the letters on the blade sign have changed their appearance over the years. The 1953 image posted by Warren above shows thinner and more rounded letters, which had been replaced with squared-off neon letters by at least 1958.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980

New Amsterdam Theater *** (added 1980 - Building - #80002664)
Also known as The New Amsterdam Theater,Rooftop Theater & Aerial Gardens
214 W. 42nd St., New York
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Tallant,Hugh, Herts,Henry B.
Architectural Style: No Style Listed
Area of Significance: Architecture, Engineering, Art, Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1900-1924
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Restaurant, Theater
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater

Re 42nd St. retitlings, my fave was when the Harlan Ellison-based sci-fi film A BOY AND HIS DOG was rechristened PSYCHO BOY AND HIS KILLER DOG. Nothing like a "Lassie"-sounding title to drive customers away, despite the lurid standees, lobby cards, et al to the contrary.

Just got the Mary Henderson book about the New Amsterdam in the mail from Amazon.

Wow!

New Amsterdam exterior from 1998:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/NewAmsterdamexterior1998.jpg

A rare view of the "Movie Street of the World" sign that was once painted on the east exterior wall of the New Amsterdam Theatre can be found near the end of this long article:
www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/astheywere/astheywere.html

The text of the introduction needs to be changed. "The Lion King" proved to be less than eternal at the New Amsterdam, and was replaced last year by the stage version of "Mary Poppins." Disney moved "The Lion King" to the Minskoff Theatre.

Also needing correction is the "function." At this website, "stage shows" is taken to mean what was presented in the heyday of movie palaces like the Capitol, Roxy and Radio City Music Hall. The New Amsterdam is now a playhouse. "Legitimate" theatres do not present "stage shows." The function should read "stage plays" or just "plays." Dramas, comedies, and musicals are all considered within the meaning of "plays."

Warren has a fair point. The function "stage shows" here on CT currently applies to listings that are currently devoted to legitimate theater, such as the Broadway and Winter Garden Theaters, as well as listings that serve a variety of live events, such as Radio City Music Hall. While it may not be the most pressing of issues, in the interests of accuracy, a new function for, say, "playhouse" might might be created and applied to theaters like the Broadway and Winter Garden, while "concerts/live events" might be assigned to venues such as RCMH, or New York's Beacon and Paradise Theaters. "Stage shows" might reasonably be abandoned as a function, if only because - as Warren indicated - that phrase already has its own specific definition in relation to the history of cinematic presentation.

Seems to me that this might be part of some larger project to be undertaken by the editors of this site, with careful consideration given to how categories of "function" should be organized. For instance, what to do regarding a venue like the former Loew's 175th Street - which currently functions as a church yet is now starting to see a number of bookings for rock concerts? A distinction should probably be made between a theater such as the Loew's 175th and one like, say, the former Loew's Metropolitan in Brooklyn which is exclusively used for religious services.

Whatever you call it the front of the New Amsterdam has never looked so bad with the god awful paint sheets for The Lion King and now the even worse Mary Poppins! Everyone knows whats playing there why cant traditional marqees be used

Prime advertising space that gets seen world wide.

I get what your saying but i guess its just the way advertising is going these days. On the other hand both shows get massive media coverage on taxies, tubes, metros, press -everywhere you look people are reminder that 'Mary Poppins' is at the New Amsterdam. What a shame that when they get there they dont see how magnificent the theatre is outside.

When the New Amsterdam was restored, it was decided to retain the cinema marquee and vertical sign in honor of the theatre's long association with movies. The illuminated cover sheets are consistent with the marquee displays used by most, if not all, of the midtown "legit" houses. The New Amsterdam marquee stands out more garishly than most because of the width of 42nd Street and its proximity t
o what is still known as "The Crossroads of the World."

In the movie "CRAZY LOVE", there is a scene of 42nd street and 7th avenue- looking west- from the early 1970s. You can see the New Amsterdam theatre on the left; across the street is a marquee with the title "ALL ABOUT SEX OF ALL NATIONS". I'm guessing this is the Rialto theatre. This is all the information I could get, since the scene lasts only 2 or 3 seconds (about 1 hour into the film). When the movie comes out on DVD, one can study the scene and surely get more details. Not a bad movie,either...

Here's a fleeting glimpse of the New Amesterdam's marquee from 1970. I captured this image from a video clip I found on YouTube (part of an A&E documentary on Times Square). Looks like the Richard Harris western "A Man Called Horse" was the attraction that evening.

Wow! Little things like that are so brilliant. Thanks. Thats Times Sq when it was Times Sq!!!

I will be in NYC Jan 2-4, 2008. Any possiblility of a tour of this theatre or any others.
Thanks Jeffery Walker

I believe that the New Amsterdam conducts guided tours at certain times of the week. Check its website for details...Ditto for Radio City Music Hall.

The introduction needs updating. "The Lion King" didn't play here forever. The show moved to another theatre and was replaced by the still current "Mary Poppins."

Ken Roe's 2006 photos of interior of this grand Art Nouveau theater:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=new%20amsterdam&w=53257210%40N00

Terrific photos of the interior. Too bad that the Beacon has not received the sprucing-up that it deserves.

The Beacon is suppossed to be getting at least a $10MM renovation from Cablevision. I haven't been to the Beacon lately, so I don't know if that has been done, or more importantly, if it was enough.

Night view showing the New Amsterdam and New Victory, 1/23/08

The year given for this photo is 2004.

Can't you be more specific than just the year? Sign for "Aida" says "Last Summer To See." That Disney musical closed at the Palace on September 5, 2004. The time of day of the photo is also shown on the New Amsterdam clock.

Accuracy isn't important according to you, so 2004 is good enough!

I know there's some resentment of the Disneyfication of Times Square, but in truth, we owe thanks for the restorative rescue of this theater.

The New Amsterdam and other 42nd Street theatres can be seen in the left and right backgrounds of this 1981 photo published in yesterday's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/09/12/arts/12streCA01ready.html

Many current views of the area can be found in a new article, "Old 42--More Remains of the Deuce." at this website: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/old42/old42.html

Great page! There are some errors though, one of which says that "the only thing that remains of the Eltinge (Empire AMC25) is the exterior". That is not correct, the interior auditorium survives as the lobby for the multiplex.

Hmm. I thought the Laff became the Anco. The website says it became the Empire.

The Laffmovie was originally known as the Eltinge and later as the Empire. Circa 1942-43, the Gaiety Theatre, at 46th and Broadway, was also called Laffmovie until being re-named Victoria. Advertising called it the Broadway Laffmovie to differentiate from the one on 42nd Street.

As a cinema, the New Amsterdam was rarely advertised on its own, but here's an exception from February, 1947. The booking was a 20th-Fox reissue coupled with a recent British import starring the increasingly popular James Mason. Performances were continuous from 8AM to 2AM: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/newamst247.jpg

Excerpt from a New York Times review dated August 15, 1968:

"THE CONQUEROR WORM," which opened yesterday at the New Amsterdam and other neighborhood theaters, stars Vincent Price, [who] has a good time as a materialistic witch-hunter and woman-disfigurer and dismemberer, and the audience at the dark, ornate New Amsterdam seemed to have a good time as well.

There are lines like, "Take three good men and ride into East Anglia," through which a man behind me snored and a middle-aged couple next to him quarreled viciously, but people woke up for the action and particularly cheered when Price was hacked to death.

In the course of the movie, a thin streak of something soapy persisted. It must have been a watermark across the lens in the projection booth.

We can only hope it was something soapy.

and, saps, there was no extra charge for the "live" entertainment supplied by an audience on The Deuce.

I remember seeing the rerelease of "PSYCHO" there in '64 and the guy in front of me was scarier than Bates.

The aftermath of a 1925 visit to the New Amsterdam Theatre: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/11/01/2008-11-01_who_killed_flossie_.html

Here is a 2008 photo.

Photos I took of the New Amsterdam late 1970's and 2008

http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/category/classic-movie-theaters/

Renewing link.

Here are day and night photos of the New Amsterdam taken last week.

"Still Kicking Up Her Heels on 42nd Street":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/arts/dance/27follies.html?_r=1&sq=Ziegfeld&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1240923702-2Ov0TeUf7zvQXsK4DHsc4A

Here is a photo, circa 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/c6rwmk

This is one of the few times where the current photos look better than the old ones!

photo i took in 1995 while the theatre was being refurbished
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3508126448/
there is a painted sign high on the side of the theatre
MOVIE STREET
OF THE WORLD
The BEST
and LATEST
ENTERTAINMENT
AIR CONDITIONED

In the early 1990's I had a friend who worked as a grip in the film industry. I was working in NYC in construction and he invited me to meet him after work at the Amsterdam where he was working on the film Uncle Vanya. They had built a platform over the orchestra seats and the action was being filmed there at a small set of couches and chairs. The theater was in very bad shape with mushrooms growing up through missing pieces of flooring. The actors each had a camping tent set up in the area behind the orchestra. As with The Victory across 42nd St. these old theaters made excellent sound-stages and movie sets since they were insulated from the outside noise and had very good acoustics. A famous rock group performance was being filmed at the same time at the Victory across 42nd Street.

Here is a February 1994 photo from the NY Daily News:
http://tinyurl.com/l3by8u

Here is a photo circa 1980s:
http://tinyurl.com/kulnnh

This should be the same photo, only larger.

Here is a photo, circa 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/otrnf7

Back in the 1990's when the renovation of 42nd St. started I was on a cross town 42nd St. bus headed East and at the corner of 42nd and 7th Ave there was an old Daily News front page that had come to view since it had been pasted on the wall of a newsstand that was being demolished, it said...Carol Lombard Killed in Plane Crash. I guess no one thought it was worth saving.

Reregistering.

Excerpt from a NY Times review of "Horror House" dated 12/10/70:

"Customers at the New Amsterdam on West 42d Street weren't spared after The End. In a pell-mell rush came three successive previews of coming attractions, retaining the spirit. First we saw a sailor quartering crewmen with an axe. Next was a peek at a goody about the transplanting of living human heads.

"In the third tantalizer, mother was a vampire, bidding her son farewell with a tender chomp on the neck. Deck the halls and run."

Wish I could have been there!

the changing faces of the Amsterdam
1995 closed and waiting for renovation with the Cine 42 and Roxy next to it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/78612802/
the same view renovated and showing the Lion King
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/73312407/
the same view now showing Mary Poppins
day
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008530988/
and night
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2007861285/
the outer lobby
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008522828/

If you can find The Last Action Hero a 1993 film with Gov. Arnold you get a great view of what 42nd St. looked like prior to the Disney gentrification.

Excerpt from a NY Times review of October 19, 1971:

"Also on the bill with "Bunny O'Hare," currently at neighborhood theaters, is "The Velvet Vampire," which is almost as funny as "Bunny O'Hare," though I doubt that it means to be. It has to do with a beautiful, 125-year-old woman, the mistress of a remote ranch in the southwest who stocks her own blood bank with tourists dumb enough to spend the night.

"It is to be recommended only if you can see it at the New Amsterdam on 42d Street, where audiences loudly, freely and obscenely associate with the action on the screen."

Here are some photos I took last month of the New Amsterdam's auditorium before and after seeing a show there.

The New Amsterdam was a full time movie house from 1937 to 1982.

Here's a rare view of the entrance, looking out towards 42nd Street. "The Conspirator" was released in 1950 and probably the next booking, with "Comanche Territory" as co-feature:
http://www.brooklynpix.com/photoframex1.php?photo=/photo2/nyny115.jpg&key=NYNY 115