Theatre 80 St. Marks

This was originally an off-Broadway playhouse, possibly also known as Theater 80. It first opened as a cinema in the early 1970s, with Hollywood movie buff Howard Otway as owner-manager. To attract publicity, he started a concrete gallery similar to Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood, and arranged for NYC resident celebrties like Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Myrna Loy, Ruby Keeler, Lauren Bacall, Alexis Smith, and many others to come to the theatre to put their footprints, handprints and autographs in cement slabs. Some were displayed out on the sidewalk, others in the lobby. Because of its small auditorium, which had only about ten rows of seats if that, the theater used rear projection. After watching a double feature there, you needed eye drops to relieve the strain. The advent of VCRs spelled the end for Theater 80, even before Howard Otway died.

The Theatre 80 St. Mark's ceased operations as a moviehouse during the summer of 1994.

In spite of the rear projection I loved seeing movies here. I remember a Marlene Dietrich triple bill where we waited on a huge line that went around the block. What happened to those days? The film forum does revival on one screen but its just not the same. The Thalia is back but nothing has played there yet that makes me want to trek to the city.

"...nothing ... that makes me want to trek to the city." Funny you should say that here, because Theatre 80 St Marks (and the great, but always empty, Indian restaurant across the street, now closed) DID inspire many treks to the city. In fact, it was just about our only destination whenever we needed to get off Long Island.

I love the fact that Theater 80 is still there. I too used to schlep from Long Island on the weekends to see classic films here. Saw "Smiles of a Summers Night", Goddard's "Masculine/Feminine" among others.

This was without a doubt the worst movie theatre I had ever been to. In the early 70's I used to go because of the rare films they showed, but the films were mostly unwatchable because of the rear projection used. I remember walking out of the 1936 version of show boat because it was just too unbearable. When I went to get my money back the owner gave me a hard time, was rude told me I knew nothing about movies etc. When I got home I wrote a nasty letter back to him and received an apology. Needless to say that was the last time I ever stepped foot in that dump.

A dump! Wow. I couldn't have a more different opinion of this amazing place. It was, without a doubt, the most special theatre in which to see a movie. How can you beat eating a homemade brownie to Billie while waiting to see Bergman in Notorious? Sure, I could have seen Cagney and Bogart any number of times at home (and have), but it was much more than the movie that drew me there. Sitting in that small room, intimate and seemingly carved out of stone, with a group of like-minded movie enthusiasts, and preferably on a date, was electric. I still retain hope that the theatre will some day return to showing movies. If (when!) they do, I'll be among the first to pick up the long list of coming attractions, circle the many dates I won't want to miss, and tack it up on my refrigerator.

skeeelz
I agree 100% this was a true New York institution, I had many happy times here seeing double and triple features. I would not want to see a wide screen stereo epic here, but all the old classics played well here since they were filmed in the old academy ratio. Plus the brownies and coffee and people talking to each other in the lobby between features. Sadly these days are gone forever, at least in NY.

As much as I liked the programming and the idea of the theater, I have to agree that Theatre 80 St. Marks is probably the very worst movie theater I've ever been to -- and not only because it seems to me that rear projection is a very bad way to experience a movie. ("Breakfast at Tiffany's" was terrible -- the image seemed all washed out.)

The other problem with Theatre 80 St. Marks in my opinion is that the "auditorium" itself (which appears to be in a very long, narrow "brownstone" or rowhouse) has a very unorthodox, uncomfortable set-up. Rather than using the "logical" seating arrangement for such a space (lots of short rows facing towards the rear of the house), they decided to use a very unconventional one (a few very long rows that face the side of the house) apparently in order to allow them to place the rear projection system in the adjoining rowhouse to the east.

In addition the few, very long rows of seats were steeply banked stadium style, but very close to the screen.

The result was that in the whole theater, there were only maybe four seats where you weren't seeing a very washed out image on the screen from some very weird angle.

Plus, I think the few times I was there (in the mid-1970s) some of the best positioned seats were broken.

All that negative stuff being said, I was happy to see the theater succeed as long as it did. It was a really charming idea -- in the abstract!

(I loved the idea of a miniscule Grauman's Chinese Theater forecourt in front of the theater. By the way, I think at one point Theatre 80 St. Marks got into trouble with the City because the concrete blocks with the footprints, etc. on them were considered to be a pedestrian hazard.)

P.S. -- Some relatively minor quibbles about the description posted at the top of this listing. I would consider the location of this theater to be the "East Village" or the "Lower East Side" -- not Greenwich Village. (A personal note: perhaps one reason I didn't go to this theater more often -- viewing issues aside -- was that it always seemed like a really long haul from where I lived in Greenwich Village.)

I wouldn't consider it to be one of the city's oldest revival houses. In fact, I think of it as one of the "last" of the City's revival houses. I think Mr. Otway started in up in the early or mid-1970s. At that time there were plenty of (much?) older revival houses (Thalia, Elgin [haven't noticed a listing for it here yet], New Yorker[?], Regency [?], -- even one in Washington Heights!) that eventually closed, I believe, before Theatre 80 St. Marks. Don't really think any appreciable percentage of the true "revival" theaters opened after Theatre 80 did. (Although places like Film Forum and the Angelika Center, and others, may also show / have shown revival type films as part of their programming.)

- - - - -

Although what follows is not about really about Theatre 80 St. Marks, and I hate to clutter up it's page with questions about other cinemas, I'm not sure where else to put these comments/questions.

Is there a page on this site where one can ask about cinemas that don't already have a page (or cinemas that one might have a hard time remembering the proper name of)?

Reading about Theatre 80 St. Marks makes me think of a few other Manhattan cinemas for which I can't find pages and/or don't know the proper names for:

Thousand Eyes Cinema (W. 43rd? St., between Ninth and Tenth Ave.) -- A magical experience: went there in the early 70s on a snowy Christmas eve. It was located in a large "brownstone" (rowhouse) and had, I believe more than one screening room. All the screening rooms together had a seating capacity of 500 -- hence the name Thousand Eyes Cinema.

It was a very "artsy" place with really obscure cinema treasures that were really beyond me and my friends.

The evening we went, my two friends and I were almost the only people there. Saw a double bill of Douglas(?) Sirk, light drawing-room type comedies. Don't recall seeing his films before. He seemed to specialize in very WEIRD set decoration -- his films LOOKED like they were taking place on stage sets on a sound stage (which of course they were).

The Heights (?) (In Washington Heights near the GW Bridge) -- After being a very, very early (1913?) neighborhood cinema, so it seems to me, it became an art / revival house (before becoming a porno theater). During it's art house/revival phase, I think they actually had printed flyers that listed the films that were being shown for the next few months, something I associated with the "downtown" revival houses like the New Yorker (?) and the Thalia.

The Elgin (Eighth Ave. in the high teens, now the Joyce Dance Theater). Surprised that, the last time I looked, I don't recall seeing a listing for it here. It seemed to me to be a "biggie" on the revival house scene in the early 1970s. Great, funky lounge -- with barber chairs, etc. -- in the downstairs lounge. (Saw the classic revival house double bill, Citizen Kane and the Lady Vanishes, here.)

The Charles (Ave. B) -- I'm not sure that this was a true revial house, although it might have been. It was a good place to catch up with non-current movies at a cheap price and on a double bill.

The theater on Second Ave., just north of Eighth St. I saw "Turning Point" and "All That Jazz" here on a double bill. May also have seen "Sleuth" here months, or years, after its initial run.

Is there a listing for the St. Mark's Cinema, which was on northwest corner of St. Mark's Place & Second Avenue. I assume it is listed under another name. I remember going to this theatre in the early to mid 80s. It closed and became a Gap Store. The opening of a Gap store in the East Village kind of announced that the funky East Village had either arrived as a neighborhood or declined depending on your viewpoint.

I think the St. Mark's Cinema was a "moveover" theatre and you'd get to see double-bills for a discount price. They also had midnight screenings I believe.

The St. Marks Theatre (later Cinema) was situated at 133 Second Avenue and had 470 seats. With that basic information, you can enter a listing if there isn't one already.

One other memory I have of this place was seeing a late afternoon/early evening screening of "The Men" here the night the Rodney King verdict was announced. What a day that was. There was a demonstration in NYC that terminated in the East Village. Tower, on Broadway in the Village, had its windows broken. Many businesses closed early, boarding up its windows and people bailed out from work early. It was a Friday I believe.

I first went to this theatre in 1992- I seen a billing of Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy for like $8 dollars- maybe even cheaper as I was a High School student in my junior year. I also seen a double billing of Five Easy Pieces and The Last Detail around then also.

In my senior year of high school my English teacher Bobby Glynn, assigned us Chauncer's Canterbury Tales...there was a showing of
the filmed version of Canterbury Tales with Bonnacio's (sp?) Decammeron Nights..that was in 93. That was awesome.


The screen was a squared 1:44:1 Full Frame- (as Kubrick would say) and I believe there was rear projection- because I used to sit kind of close and never noticed my shadow on the screen- no handpuppet action there.

I recall the upcoming features were always printed on colored legal lettersized paper (8.5x14)..each month was a different color...I recall Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green and White.

And yes Hardbop, the King verdict was announced on a friday.

I first went to this theatre in 1992- I seen a billing of Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy for like $8 dollars- maybe even cheaper as I was a High School student in my junior year. I also seen a double billing of Five Easy Pieces and The Last Detail around then also.

In my senior year of high school my English teacher Bobby Glynn, assigned us Chauncer's Canterbury Tales...there was a showing of
the filmed version of Canterbury Tales with Bonnacio's (sp?) Decammeron Nights..that was in 93. That was awesome.


The screen was a squared 1:44:1 Full Frame- (as Kubrick would say) and I believe there was rear projection- because I used to sit kind of close and never noticed my shadow on the screen- no handpuppet action there.

I recall the upcoming features were always printed on colored legal lettersized paper (8.5x14)..each month was a different color...I recall Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green and White.

And yes Hardbop, the King verdict was announced on a friday.

forgive the double entry- aol was cracking out on me (site not found...blah blah)

There was a double feature of It Came from Outer Space and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which was in 3-D. I am amazed that the three-D was able to work in rear projection, but as I recall, it did.

That double-feature showing would shown the films converted to the anaglyph (red & blue glasses) format in 16mm rather than the original 35mm polarized dual-strip projection format. That's why the rear projection worked with them (as well as anaglyph can work, which is barely acceptable).

When Theatre 80 first opened as a revival house in the early 70s, it showed only musicals (its newspaper ads featured a drawing of a chrous line and the words: "The Movie Musical"). I don't recall exactly when Howard Otway expeanded his repretoire, but I do remember seeing Hedy Lamarr in "Ecstacy" here in '74 or '75.

When Theatre 80 was a legit house in the 60s, the musical "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" had a very long run here.

I believe these days it is the home of the Pearl Theatre Company.

I also loved and miss this theater. Saw many Marilyn Monroe double features here and they all seemed clear enough; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes practically leapt off the screen into my lap (if only!); I also enjoyed the long snack bar with the homemade goodies.

A charming and cozy theater with alot of character. I've seen several retro double features in the 1980s, it was one of a kind in NYC. It was a bit cramped, especially if the show was filled, and a few of the seats had a bad angle. But you could tell it was run by people who loved the place. And you couldn't beat the homey snack bar. The celebrity cement blocks up front are still there. I'm glad it's still functioning as a Theater Company.

I walked by the theatre last Tuesday night on my way to catch a flick at Two Boots. It is absolutely amazing what is happening to the East Village in terms of the gentrification. It is like the East Village has been moved to Williamsburg.

Theatre 80 is still there and it is still being used for live theatre. The seedy bar across the street is still there, though. One of the few real places left in NYC it seems.

Meanwhile, I remember Howard Otway and how cantankerous he was. I asked him once if I could make a request and he told me he didn't take requests, but I could make a suggestion for a film to show. It was clearly a labor of love for him because shortly after he passed, the family folded the tent. I remember they were criticized because they closed in the middle of a calendar. (Remember those Theatre 80 calendars!)

The last double bill I caught there was DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and RANCHO NOTORIOUS on 7/24/94. I was also there on 7/20/94 for a Billy Wilder double-bill of SOME LIKE IT HOT & THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH.

It is hard to believe it was over a decade ago that Theatre 80 stopped showing films. It was such an institution in the 80s and 90s and I assume in the 1970s, before I moved to NYC.

Never been to this theater. Is this on St. Marks near 1st Avenue? Hardbop, is the bar you refer to the St. Marks Bar on the south east corner of that intersection? This is where the Stones filmed part of their "Waiting on a Freind" video. I've had a few drinks in there. Usually followed by a slice at Stromboli's pizzeria diagonally across the way. Is that place still there?

Here's a nice article from March 13,2002 from Columbia News Service regarding the imprinted square blocks that are on the sidewalk of Theater 80 St. Mark's, and other NYC locations.

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-03-13/337.asp

It's not Hollywood on the Hudson
By James Dean

On a late summer night in the East Village, limousines pulled up to the curb outside Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place. Photographers snapped away as stars of stage and screen, including the cast of the Ziegfeld Follies, arrived while klieg lights swept the sky.

Some of the famous guests, such as Gloria Swanson and Lillian Roth, pressed their palms or feet into square trays of wet cement, then signed their names and the date, Aug. 26, 1971.

It was hardly in the league of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where nearly 200 stars, from John Wayne to Marilyn Monroe, have made impressions in the sidewalk. But the gimmick dreamed up by Florence and Howard Otway to celebrate the conversion of their theater into a revival film house produced one of New York's few sidewalk tributes to entertainers. And perhaps its most enduring such tribute, despite imperfect cement, intervention by the city and Broadway's occasional plans for a "walk of fame" to rival Hollywood Boulevard's.

"We were imitating Hollywood," Florence Otway said. "It was a spontaneous, tongue-in-cheek, fun thing to do." Several of the Otways' friends, including the actresses Joan Crawford, Joan Blondell, Myrna Loy, Kitty Carlisle and later the comedian Dom DeLuise, added handprints and footprints to the pavement.

Not all the stars' squares survived opening night. A porter who drank too much fell and smeared several squares before the cement had dried. In later years, Otway said, street workers damaged others.

But the biggest threat came in 1998, about five years after Howard Otway's death, when the city Department of Transportation decided that the sidewalk impressions posed a potential hazard to pedestrians and threatened to pave over them.

"It was nonsense," Otway said. "No one ever tripped over them."

She said that Paramount Studios, the owner of Grauman's along with Warner Bros., offered to pay for shipping the squares to Hollywood and for repaving her sidewalk, but that she declined. The public outcry over the city's threats made plain how much New Yorkers loved the sidewalk signatures, and Otway eventually won a reprieve when she paid to realign them.

A few other pockets of pavement stars have cropped up over the years. In 1985, the Second Avenue Deli began a series of 30 stars honoring Yiddish theater performers. In 1999, just as Theatre 80's plot was preserved, the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street built a sidewalk studded with stars outlined in bronze, more closely approximating Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

"It was Lortel's last project while she was alive," said George Forbes, vice president of finance and administration at Lortel Theatre Foundation. "She felt a need for a monument to playwrights that was lasting."

Just over half of the Lortel's 72 stars are filled, including the names of Eugene O'Neil, David Mamet and Wendy Wasserstein. While the stars' creation was a triumph for Lortel, who died a few months after the stars were installed, Forbes said the project was costly and difficult.

"We had to jump through a lot of hoops," he said about getting the required permits and assuring the transportation department that the stars wouldn't cause pedestrians to slip. A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed that obtaining a Distincive Sidewalk Special Treatment Permit can be a "lengthy process."

Based on Lortel's experience, Forbes said he was not surprised that Broadway had yet to realize its own walk of stars, though several have been proposed.

"This is certainly much easier for one private landlord to do," he said, compared with the dozens that would be involved in any Times Square project.

"Everyone thought it was a great idea until you delved into the practicalities and the cost of it," said Richard Basini, president of the Broadway Association, which comprises 100 local businesses.

With all the pedestrian traffic around Broadway, the sidewalk is barely visible anyway, not to mention the hazards caused if poeple stopped to look down. Besides, with Times Square's dazzling neon lights overhead, almost everybody looks up.

"It's a dead issue now," Basini said.

As recently as October 2000, the Marriott Marquis had plans to turn its alley linking 45th and 46th Streets into a Walk of Stars honoring New York stage actors. A large photographic mural now lines the alley, but a spokeswoman said there were no concrete plans for further development.

Many Broadway theaters are named after actors, playwrights or composers (the O'Neil, the Gershwin and the Barrymore), but only a small independent theater, the Helen Hayes, has merged its name with sidewalk symbolism. Near the curb outside the theater on 44th Street lies a small bronze plaque. Hayes' neat signature runs above the outline of two shoes that are barely the length of a hot dog.

Susan Myerberg, the theater's general manager, said the bronze was created about 10 years ago after the original blue cement impression began collecting dirt and the occasional piece of chewing gum. Hayes, who was no longer in good health, simply sent a pair of shoes to the engraver.

"It was done as a respectful thank you to a first lady of the theater," Myerberg said. "We felt very privileged to be associated with her. And those tiny little shoes

Here's a nice article from 1999 about Theater 80 St. Mark's, with photos of the theater, and several of the cement blocks.

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/ST%20MARKS/sidewalk.html

A June 2006 photograph I took of the Theatre 80 St. Mark's:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/198017626/

Was LADY IN THE DARK the first feature to be shown at Theater 80 St. Mark's? If so, what was the co-feature?

This from the New York Times August 21, 1971.

EAST VILLAGE THEATRE TO SHOW OLD MUSICAL FILMS EXCLUSIVELY

A refurbished playhouse in the East Village is about to offer something new in vintage screen fare. Starting tomorrow, Theatre 80 St. Marks will become what may be the only showcase ever devoted entirely to movie musicals.

The opening bill ...is Jerome Kern's SUNNY (1930)... and LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING (1949)...

The 199 seat theatre, whose longest previous tenant was the show YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, will charge $2.50 admission for the double bills...

At the theatre there will be some other reminders of the past- resplendently attired ushers, a lobby decorated with movie memorabilia and free penny candy.

LADY IN THE DARK and ANYTHING GOES start August 26.

"Sunny" was the second of three movies that Broadway's legendary Marilyn Miller made for WB in the early days of talkies. She never made any more films after those three, and died in 1936 at age 37 of complications from a sinus infection. "Look For the Silver Lining" was a highly-fctionalized account of her life and career, with June Haver as MM.

I believe that the theatre's name in the main entry is incorrect. There should be no apostrophe after "Marks." The name of the street on which the theatre faces is St. Marks Place, not St. Mark's Place.

Here is a 2007 photo of Theatre 80 St. Marks.

I was a projectionist at Theatre 80 for about a year. It was a great experience because I saw so many films I had never seen before.

The pay was awful, and Howard could be cantankerous as some have mentioned, but the experience of putting films together while trying not to lose frames (many prints had been spliced and damaged so many times that we often had to remove a frame here and there), watching the films with subtitles in a large mirror behind the screen (rear-projection the words appeared backwards to me), all the free snacks I could eat, and listening to the audience shout and moan when a splice broke or the projector lost a loop, all of that made it well worth the crappy pay.

It was also interesting to be buzzed by Howard (we had an intercom system between the ticket booth and the projection area) and told to chase people out of the restroom who would use it to shoot up their drugs. I usually let them pack up, then politely told them they needed to go elsewhere.

Glad to see others have some fond memories of that theatre.

What I remember most about the place were the gorgeous framed black and white shots of stars like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and others. I went for a double bill of Fellini Satyricon and La Roma. It was sensory overload! Fun memory.

For the sake of consistency, this name should be changed to The Pearl Theatre Company.

The name of the theater is still Theatre 80 and The Pearl Theatre Company is the name of the company that performs here. I don't believe that the theater name has changed.

This link might not last too long. Here is a NY Times story from July 20, 1994. It claims that "On July 31, its last day as a movie house, Theater 80 is to show a western double feature: "High Noon" and "Shane". I assume that those were the last movies ever shown here.

I have innumerable happy memories of this theater. And since I first ventured down there to see a live show, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," with its original cast, I have to admit mixed feelings that it's a legitimate theater again. It certainly never was ideal for movies.
I'd seen dozens of double bills of classics there over the years before I arrived early enough once - and with no other patrons behind me in line - to get the gentleman in the box office (presumably Howard Otway) - to explain about the peculiar rear-screen projection process.
I was introduced to countless old movies there, always in imaginatively designed double bills.
My single fondest memory: I had seen "Sudden Fear" when it was new in 1952 and about eight years later on Pittsburgh TV. Then the picture disappeared - totally - even though it was never on those lists of films that had vanished from Planet Earth for decades back then ("Porgy & Bess," "Annie Get Your Gun," "The Manchurian Candidate," the 1956 version of "1984," etc.)
Anyway, I phoned either Howard Otway or his son once to ask if he could send the next schedule a few days early to me in Pittsburgh because I feared missing it in transit as I headed for NYC. Somehow the subject of "Sudden Fear" came up (I no doubt was cataloging movies aloud), and Mr. Otway said, "But we've got it! We're about to play it for the first time. It's on the next schedule." Turned out it was to play the day before I arrived with 100-some theatergoers I was shepherding to Broadway. I could not change my arrival date. Damned if he didn't say, "Look, the schedules don't go to the printer for a day or two. If you promise you'll come to `Sudden Fear,' I'll postpone it a couple of days for you." He kept his word, and I got to see it for the first time in 30-some years. Not too long later, the film became available on laser disc and then DVD, both of which I bought. But what a kick that he made so kind a gesture for an out-of-towner. - Ed Blank

One more memory: It was a revelation to me, in my 20s and 30s, visiting a land of Oz called Manhattan for two or three weeks per year, that you folks not only had upwards of a dozen great (if sometimes dilapidated) revival houses but that the audiences embraced old movies with such passion that they sometimes applauded opening credits. That was especially true at Theatre 80 St. Marks.
I certainly had my own favorite stars, but I was surprised that some stars were in especially great favor (Judy Garland, Ann Miller, Roz Russell - mainly in "His Girl Friday") and even more surprised that other stars might be booed. The main one I can remember that happening to once was June Allyson. I knew that girls next door had gone out of favor, but to this day I like her a lot - a lifelong crush - and was dismayed by the reaction her name drew.
Can anyone think of other stars who received an especially strong response one way or the other? - Ed Blank

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

was a projectionist there 1982-83. I lived a block away, on 1rst and 10th.
Shifts were long and busy from the time you got there, assembled the 3 reels into one, loaded the film, then helped at the bar between the shows. You cleaned-up the theater after the last film, when everyone was gone. You mopped the floor, picked-up the left over trash... man, it was a 12 hour shift, from 12 noon til after midnite, for $5 an hour, cash, with a little bonus sometimes, when Howard was in a good mood.
Jim was tending the bar, invariably drunk by mid-afternoon, his old blue eyes glassy and his mouth foaming at the side. The old black man's hair was all grey. His drink was vodka. He kept it at hand and poured it in a can of coke.
When everyone was in and sitted, I'd go behind the curtain and make the 'fire compliance law...' annoucement; then I rushed to the projector to start the film, and go back to pull the curtain open as the credits atarted to roll... Not a bad job, if for Howard chronically suspicious and caustic nature. I saw all the old Hollywood classics there, in series.
10 years later, funny to say, I became a film composer... www.myspace.com/madloon

Renewing link.

I went there just a few times before it closed, and remember the first time especially: "what the hell, this is 16mm rear projection!"

One of my favorites.

Theatre 80 is back under direct management by the Otway family. In keeping with my mother’s wishes, and my dedication to my father’s belief in small, professional theater, we are once again open to present a diverse program of live theater. “The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side” has been in previews here, and will open tomorrow night, after a successful run at PS 122. In order to keep small theater affordable, we are going to open a small café, to help subsidize theater here. Living on the proceeds of a small theater has been a challenge as early as 1968, when the Manhattan Festival Ballet closed. But, I believe that the best way to resist the Disneyfication of New York Theater is a vibrant and professional pool of small theaters.
I hope friends will stop by, often.
I would LOVE to have film some days, but, until a better way to project in a small house is found, we will continue to live in hopes. There are new wonders every day, so who knows?
But, I do not think I foresee a time when we would only present film. My father built the theater as a place to have an intimate live theatrical experience, and it is perfect for that use.
Today, assisted by the remarkably capable and talented Lori Singleton, we are booking into next year already.
My family and I extend our dearest thanks to all who came, and warmest regards to those who found Dad a wee bit erasable at times… he had a lot on his plate.
All the best,
Lorcan Otway
General Manager
Theatre 80 Saint Marks.

Howard was irascible but never erasable -- he surely left an indelible mark.

Thanks for the proof reading... It has been a month of three hours of sleep as we restored the old gem to her former glow...
All the best
lor

Lorcan, you don't NEED a better way to project in a small house -- the old way was fine! It added to the charm, and was a fantastic way to be introduced to a world of cinema I might otherwise would never have known. Perhaps you should put out feelers, see how many folks would be interested if the theater played movies on, say, one or two nights a week. I bet you'd get a strongly supportive response.
In any event, even if you don't end up playing film there again, I'm very happy that the theater is still in the family and open for business.

Dear skeeetz:
Thanks so much for the kind comments... as to a “better way” - I refer not to the audience, or content of the programming, but to the deficits of the combination of rear view projection and 16 mm projection. At the time my father died, we found that - even with three state of the art machines - running full time just put too much wear on them for the declining availability of tech support. Film projectors, next, even to video players, are very difficult machines to maintain. Often film companies coated film with “protective coatings” which would gum up the gate, and even with constant washing between showings, the coatings would bend and destroy the teeth in the gate. So, the quality of our projection declined as fewer and fewer technical repair people stayed with film, and most went into video, now they are into DVD repair…
If someday it were possible to project DVD directly to a storable screen, using a cable rather than through the air projection it is possible to show film here again… the problem with a world of high def and all, is that the expectations of most of the audience change, and the poor quality of an earlier time is much less quaint to most today, and I don’t think we could survive the judgment of a generation grown up on digital projection. Even the comments here show that we suffered from having to project from behind the screen in the eyes of many. But, I am still looking and listening, if a better projection option is found, do email me at, LorcanOtway at Gmail.com

Lorcan, I met and spoke with you briefly a couple of times way back when. Talked with your dad almost every one of the many times I visited 80 St. Marks. (As it happens, my first visit was for the live smash, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.") I subscribed to your dad's film schedules for - whatever - 20-some years.

I appreciate your candid, cogent and articulate explanation of the problems of simply ramping up again. We all remember fondly how it was, not how it could, or couldn't, be resuscitated today. It was not just chance that all of the many repertory moviehouses in Manhattan died one by one in the video era, including the Regency, Thalia, Hollywood, et al.

Your difficulty getting equipment repaired and maintaining it is something we have all suffered with VCRs, laser disc players, 33 rpm phonographs and so on. It's annoying and in some respects inexcusable that we've become such a disposable culture.

Thank you for your insights. Great success to you.

I expect it will be welcome news for the readers of this blog, we will be showing film once more. We are in the process of installing high def, digital (not rear projection) as well as presenting opera, ballet, concerts, and musicals. The screen will be set back much farther than in my father’s day, so the sight lines will be improved for film. THanks to all who have remembered us fondly or otherwise here, and we hope to see you all again soon.
Our web address is Theatre80Stmarks.com . All the best, Lorcan Otway

PS I hear that Jim (mentioned above)- from our coffee bar is alive and well... With any luck, we can bring him back as well... at least for a visit...

Congratulations, Lorcan. I hope you have great success with your reinvention of Theatre 80 St. Marks. If I ever get back to Manhattan, I'll stop by. Will you be doing revival double bills as before? First-run wide release? New art/specialty films?

We will be showing a first run, big budget, Indie film at the end of the month, and are in the process of booking a classic film not seen since the 1960s... as soon as contracts are signed, I will let you know.

This is terrific news Lorcan. Having attended a theater performance there some years ago I'm delighted to hear that you are bringing movies back to the venue. I'm impressed with your strategy of presenting the new along with 60's classics. Let us know if you need programming suggestions.

Is that "first run, big budget indie film" The Road?

No... in a day or so, I will be able to let you know the name of the film... I have seen trailers, and it looks like a really fun film.

Well, here is the news... the projectors are in, there are great sight lines, even from the front side seats, as the screen is set about 14 feet back on the stage, and the immage is wonderful...
So, here is the news about the first showing...

“THE BROOKLYN HEIST” OPENS NOV. 27 AT THEATER 80 ST. MARKS IN NYC’S EAST VILLAGE

Village landmark and one of the city's oldest revival theaters refurbished for theatrical debut of “The Brooklyn Heist” starring Danny Masterson and Dominique Swain

"Pulls out all the stops for laughs and chaos”
- Aced Magazine

"An utterly original and stylish comedy”
- Flixster

"Destined to be a cult hit"
- Culture Vulture

CHATSWORTH, CA, Nov. 4, 2009 – In what is destined to be a comedy-caper smash hit, “The Brooklyn Heist” will be released on Nov. 27 at Theater 80 St. Marks in NYC’s East Village.

Desperate to improve his life, New Yorker Fitz concocts a scheme to rob a wealthy and hated pawnshop owner. Unknown to Fitz, his gang of cheerful incompetents faces competition from two other crews who plan to hit the joint on the same night. Each group has a unique, hilarious style in this satire on heist capers that uses stylish cinematography, editing and art direction to explode filmic stereotypes. A stellar cast including Danny Masterson (“That ’70s Show”), Leon (“Get Rich or Die Tryin’”) and Dominique Swain (“Lolita”) brings to life this stylish spoof of the beloved heist comedy genre.

“The chance to be in a movie that’s completely centered around New York was a big part of what drew me to ‘The Brooklyn Heist.’ This is a hilarious, special movie that I’m very proud of,” enthuses Danny Masterson.

“New York is really another character in ‘The Brooklyn Heist’ and we shot the film entirely within the five boroughs, so we couldn’t have found a better home for our theatrical release than Theater 80,” says director/co-writer Julian Mark Kheel.

The Manhattan community is already primed for a new generation of films to play at Theater 80 after a fifteen year hiatus, and “The Brooklyn Heist” is sure to mark that occasion with a bang as it becomes the first film to use the theater’s brand new hi-def digital projection system.

Under its previous title “Capers,” the film already impressed audiences across North America during its festival run, scooping up the Best Comedy Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and entertaining crowds from the Just For Laughs festival in Chicago to the Cinequest Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival in California.

Theater 80 St. Marks
80 St. Marks Place
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0388
Screeners available on request

Movie information
Genre: Action/adventure, comedy
Year: 2008
Rating: PG-13
Format: Digital Projection
Length: 85 minutes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Website: www.TheBrooklynHeist.com

Theater information
Theater 80 St. Marks
80 St. Marks Place
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0388
Opens Nov. 27, 2009
Showtimes: Daily at 7:00pm & 9:00pm; other than December 2nd when there is a private screening not open to the public.



About Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc is a leading independent licensee and distributor of entertainment programming in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 exclusive CD titles in domestic release and approximately 400 programs internationally via sublease agreements. For many of its titles, the Company has exclusive audio and broadcast rights and, through its subsidiary, Egami Media Inc. has digital download right to approximately 2,000 video programs and over 300 audio titles containing more than 5,1000 individual tracks. The Company is headquartered in Chatsworth, California. For more information about Image Entertainment, Inc. please go to www.image-entertainment.com

About Theater 80 St. Marks
80 Saint Marks Place has been a successful site for entertainment from the height of the Jazz age to the present. Operating variously as a successful 'speakeasy’ during prohibition, a popular night spot, and the jazz mecca the Jazz Gallery, the space was converted to a theater in the early 1960’s. Theater 80 made its name with the 1965 run of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” served as the home of the Manhattan Festival Ballet for three years, and became renowned for its film revival program, which ran from 1970 until 1994. After a fifteen year residency by the Pearl Theatre Co., Theater 80 is poised to once again become the East Village’s destination spot for film and live theater. For more information about Theater 80 St. Marks, please go to www.Theatre80StMarks.com

# # #


Press contacts: Steve Honig Mark Roche
The Honig Company Image Entertainment
818-986-4300 818-534-9340
press@honigcompany.com mroche@image-entertainment.com

How is film projected? 2 k? 4 K? DVD? 35 mm?

Lorcan Otway is a great gentleman, as was his father. I'm sure everyone who cherished visits to Theatre 80 St. Marks, from the theater days of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" to the great classic double bills the Otways ran in the 1970s and 1980s wish him well with his ambitious plans for that homiest of venues.

Did the movie open?

The movie is on and running as I write this, and the next film will be Monpura, a new release from Giasudden Selim, already a classic in Bangladesh and with great reviews in Austrailia and other places it has played.
It is a love story set against the backdrop of the Bangladeshi war of independance. It will play December 21 - 30th 7pm and 9:45.

I am looking forward to seeing it.
All the best
and thanks
Lorcan

Gee, I am baffled by the folks who wrote how "awful" the old Theater 80 was. I guess they are either not from NYC, and/or prefer huge soulless multiplexes. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it was charming and unique.
, Theater 80 was where I was privileged to discover great film. When my mom worked late and couldn't pick me up right after school, I'd go to Theater 80 and go see double features [no child care lectures please, tis was the 70's and a different time.] I was 12 or so, and was enchanted by Astaire and Rogers; Cocteau's "beauty and the Beast (always on a double with "Rules of the Game"), and films like "Citizen Kane", "39 Steps"...oh, so many!!! There were cardboard cutouts of old movie stars in the lobby, and "Grauman's Chinese Theatre" style footprints in the sidewalk outside...for a kid, it was magical. As I grew up, I came to appreciate how very New York City it was, as well: eccentric, stubbornly true to an ideal, individual, cozy and a wee bit cranky.
When it closed, I was absolutely heartbroken.
I am so glad Mr.Otway has taken back his legacy!!

Myt name is Ingrid. I am the house manager at Theatre 80. There seems to be some misconceptions within this particular forum about Theatre 80. The theatre has never changed owners. The Otways have always owner the Theatre since 1964. The Pearl is a theatre company that rented it for 15 years. Lorcan Otway, Howard's son, is running it again. We now show movies & live plays. We also have an opera coming in next year. Please check us out at theatre80.com

..and there is no web site there.

I see Ingrid is using the box office email again... The web site is Theatre80.org ... Lorcan