Gramercy Theater

This theatre has changed ownership and policies many times over the years. The last chain to operate it was City Cinemas which previously had been Cinema 5. At one point they tried revival here after the closure of the Regency and then the Biograph.

The Gramercy Theatre is located at 127 E. 23rd Street and the original seating was listed at 600 people. Weren't they only using this theatre till their theatre was ready after the refurbishing was done. This is a Temp local for them.

yes, moma is using this as a temporary theater until they moved back from lic

So the Gramercy may be doomed when that happens

The site should change the listing to Gramercy Theatre, since that's more of the original name of the theatre.

RobertR wrote "So the Gramercy may be doomed when that happens".
What kind of turn outs has the MOMA series of film been getting???
So if someone could keep that kind of bookings going maybe the theatre could operate in that area of the city.

This should be filed under Gramercy. I remember that they were on the Disney-Touchstone run for many years under Cinema 5 and City Cinemas. Roger Rabbit opened here. I am not sure in the 40's and 50's if it was first or sub run.

The Gramercy has 574 seats. At one time (before all the multi-plexes), the Gramercy was one of the busiest cinemas in lower Manahttan. It did record breaking business for the Kevin Costner film "No Way Out". I believe City Cinemas closed the Gramercy in 1992. Cineplex Odeon opened the 9-screen Chelsea Cinemas down the street from the Gramercy. After the Chelsea opening, major film bookings and large audiences disappeared from the Gramercy.

Simply because it wasn't really in my neighborhood only remember seeing one picture here in the 60's the rather forgettable Marlon Brando comedy Bedtime Story (remade in the 80s as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)...great aqua seats and interiors

I worked for Cinema 5 from 1977-1981, during college. Starting at The Sutton, I then split time between the Murray Hill on 34th Street and the Gramercy. Before I worked there, the Gramercy had been a dollar-theater in the early 1970's, showing third run movies. I can remember seeing an enormous line for some Glenda Jackson movie in 1974 or so, when the admission was $1.00 or $1.25. When I started in late Summer, 1977, it still only showed second run movies. I remember "The Spy Who Loved Me," "New York, New York" and "3 Women" playing. That winter, the Cinema 5 release "Outrageous!" played for a long time, second run. It was one of the first positive gay movies, starring Craig Russell and Hollis McLaren. It was a joy to have there, and I never got tired of it. The title was never put on the marquee, just quotes from the critics, and I learned how to spell "exhilarating" from the marquee. The Gramercy was a relatively small theater (500 seats?), wedged between a bank on the Northwest corner of Lexington and 23rd Street, and a doughnut shop. The marquee was chrome or stainless steel, extending out over the street and nearly the entire width of the face of the theater. The cashier's both was Thirties art deco, and sat like a toll booth on the left hand side of the entrance. You had to go out of the theater to get into the booth. In the winter there was a portable electric heater. A bank of glass doors extended across the front. The lobby was mirrored on both sides. The small snackbar was on the left hand side of the lobby. There was a working popcorn machine, but business was usually so slow, the popcorn would be bagged up repeatedly at the end of the night. It was rare that popcorn was made fresh during an evening shift. Cinema 5 contracted with a small entrepreneurial bakery called "Incredible Edibles" and sold cookies and brownies and apple cider of all things. The cider dispenser used to smell a little fermented because this was not paseurized, but the good old raw cider. Sometimes the cider would take on a little zing of carbonation when it sat in the machine too long. The lobby was carpeted in red and sort of threadbare and dirty. The theater was at the bottom of the theater chain and was not very clean or in particularly good repair. It was generally the policy at Cinema 5 that only women cashiered. There were doormen and ushers, usually men, but at the Gramercy there was a woman usher named Theresa. She was an older Spanish lady. Someone told me that she had come to America with a man who promised to marry her, but who never did, or who left her afterwards. She had worked at the Gramercy for a very long time. She always wore a black, nylon usher's dress, or waitress' dress. Although she was probably in her sixties, her hair was completely black and I don't think she dyed it. She was full of advice for anyone who would listen and encouraged me to eat ruffage to "escrape de intesteens." She would gripe when she had to do the doorman's job, whom she called, "De doormeng." There was a doorman she was particularly annoyed with named Peter Tan, who spoke very fast and punctuated everything with the word "man," through his Cantonese accent. None of the managers was particularly memorable. Gail Freund was one of the snack barkeeps. She was kind of New Wave-artsy (she went to Parsons School of Design) with a Cupie doll face. She was very sweet and droll and would shave the "Incredible Edible" brownies when I begged her to. The brownies sold for $1.00, a pretty high price at the time, and I remember one time, after cutting off slivers for me, one brownie ended up looking worth about 50-cents. We laughed hard. I believe the bank of metal doors into the auditorium (and the lobby walls, for that matter) were painted red or a maroon. Going through the doors you entered straight into the auditorium, up a brief incline, under the balcony, the way a football team enters a playing field. You would go left or right to go up to the balcony, and then there was a center aisle on the main floor, with two aisles along the side walls. The screen was draped with one of those old-fashioned scalloped curtains. I cannot recall the color of the seats, but that theater always seemed very dark, so the comment above about it having aqua colored seats and interiors does not ring a bell with me and may have to do with a post-1981 time. If you didn't go into the auditorium, you could go to the right and down the stairs to the waiting lounge, a fairly spacious room, where the pay telephone was. The manager's office was down off the lounge, to the left of the bottom of the stairs. I believe the restrooms were at the top of the stairs, just inside of the doors into the auditorium, on either side, the men's on the right as you entered and the women's on the left. They may have been downstairs, but I cannot recall for sure. The signs for the restrooms were pieces of etched plexiglass ("Men", "Ladies") set into a brass fixture that lit them from above. Art deco styling. I used to get paid $25.00 to do a marquee change, dragging a huge ladder out onto Twenty-Third Street, praying a cab wouldn't turn the corner and knock it over as I put up the metal letters, which were kept in a scary room in the basement. You had to go out of the exit in the front of the auditorium, to the right of the screen, to get there. An alley would take patrons out to Lexington Avenue from there, but there was a basement entrance outside, behind where the screen would be. I'd go down this metal ladder to get to the cellar door (always thinking of "The Poseidon Adventure" as I went) and I remember always being afraid I'd see rats and waterbugs. The marquee letters were kept down there. I don't think the marquee ladder was because I can't imagine how I would have gotten it out, so my memory is fuzzy about that. The letters were black and heavy, like iron and would clip onto horizontal metal tracks on the marquee. I remember finding the pre-formed words "Technicolor" and "Cinemascope" down among the letters and I admit I purloined them. Someone eventually stole "Cinemascope" from me, but I still have "Technicolor." Sometimes the company would buy professionally made cut outs that were in the same typeface as the movie poster. These were foam-core letters, painted, and then nailed or stapled onto wooden frames, that were then wired through holes in the little tracks on the marquee. These could be as wide as the marquee and, while not particularly heavy, could be unwieldy, especially in the wind. They looked very spiffy and were used in the last years of the 1970s and early '80s, when the Gramercy went first run. There must have been a contract with 20th Century-Fox, because it started with the Fox movie "Magic," ("A Terrifying Love Story") starring Ann-Margret and Anthony Hopkins, about a ventriloquist and his dummy in a sordid love triangle with Ann. It was from the William Goldman novel. After that there were several Robert Altman films first-run, his poorly received ones: "A Perfect Couple" and "Quintet" are the ones I remember. I thought "Quintet" was fascinating but people hated-hated-hated it and would complain about the focus when actually it was filmed in a soft focus, as though the edges of the screen were frosted by ice. When I would try to explain this, they would argue. I think the doomsday tone of the movie really bothered people. I remember second-run "Saturday Night Fever" running there, forever it seemed, and then later still, the PG-rated version of "Saturday Night Fever" for younger audiences. The profanity was dubbed out. You could still read their lips saying the "C" word and uttering "pig." It was hell. I clearly recall a Russian movie called "A Slave of Love," also released by Cinema 5, playing second-run at the Gramercy, and I remember I would go in to watch the last few minutes, with the image of a woman on the back of a train, being chased by soldiers. The woman is an actress who has been frivolous and silly and now has understood the need for the Revolution. Her face is in close-up and she keeps saying, "Soldiers, soldiers," and asking why they are doing what they are doing. The train goes on into the distance, but you know the soldiers are going to capture her and it ends with a shot of the cold, white sun above the tracks and no end titles. In about 1980, Cinema 5 shipped the custom lounge furniture from the Beekman Theater down to the Gramercy, for use in the basement lounge. There had been red, 1940s or 1950s style love seats and chairs down there before. The Beekman furniture was extremely modern, sleek, amoeba shaped, dark upholstered stuff, that looked incongruous. Like putting 1960s Italian furniture in a church basement. The last time I was there was to see Drew Barrymore in "The Firestarter," in about 1984, years after I'd stopped working there. It was on a Saturday night, and I remember the theater was full.

The Museum of Modern Art website (www.moma.org) says that there will be no more movies at the Gramercy after April 4.

I was the manager of the Gramercy in 1975. I worked for Cinema-5 for several years as a theatre manager, and old Mr. Rugoff who ran the company, liked to change all the managers to different theatres, all at the same time. Sort of like 'musical chairs'.

Mr. Rugoff believed that any manager that stayed in a theatre too long was apt to become crooked (and he was pretty close to the truth on that one). I had previously managed the Paris Theatre on 58th Street, across from the Plaza Hotel. Late one Saturday night, near midnight, I received a phone call from the circuit's general manager, an old gent named Mr. MacMann. He said that the manager of the Gramercy had been caught cheating the company, and Mr. Rugoff wanted me to take over running the Gramercy. He wanted me to fire the entire staff, and clean the place up. After changing most of the crew, I had the screen painted (it had yellowed-- painting that screen --with a special reflective paint-- in 1975 cost $5,000), I had most of the seats recovered, new carpeting put in, and most of the public areas re-painted. I also had the new crew all refitted with tailor-made uniforms, and bought myself three new tuxedos.

It was no small task. I had fired almost 90% of the crew, as they were also in on 'the take' as participants in the fired-manager's scams.

The only personnel we kept on were the porters and operators (because they handled no cash, nor did they have any direct contact with the public. We also kept on an elderly African-American woman, who's name (I believe..) was Millie Brown (???). She was the only member of the crew who would take a polygraph test.--And, of course, she passed the test. She was a lovely, sweet old dear.

I kept a Philippino young man named "Topino", first as doorman & sometimes usher, and I trained him to maintain the marquee, and almost act as an assistant manager (even though I had several assistant managers, none whom were worth a darn).

The Gramercy was a dollar-theatre in 1975, and the house was always packed. It was a rough house to operate, nothing like the Paris Theatre, where I had been in 1974, nor the Art Theatre (on E.8th St) which I managed in 1976, nor the Beekman in late 1976 thru 1977. Nor the Sutton, or Murray Hill, or any of the other houses in the circuit.

I managed every house that Cinema-5 operated in Manhattan, at one time or another.

Cinema-5 owned some of them, but just operated others for their owners. We operated the Paramount for Gulf & Western, and we ran the Paris, which was independently owned by a quiet and distinguished gentleman name Mr. McGregor. He maintained an office in the building ABOVE the Paris Theatre-- though there was no way into the theatre from his office. In fact, he rarely ever came to the theatre, nor did he ever call.

I so loved working in the theatres that I often took on extra shifts in other theatres (when their managers were on vacation, or on sick leave, etc.)

The Gramercy was unique in that it was a 'depository' of sorts for the entire circuit. For example, all of the operating supplies (tickets, timecards, and every other type of paperwork) were stored at the Gramercy. If another theatre needed cashier's logs, or payroll forms, they had to fill out a requisition form and send it to the Gramercy's manager to "fill" for them. Usually an usher was sent to the Gramercy to run those errands.

We had huge locked-up sub-basements in the Gramercy where publicity stills and posters were stored from all the theatres, going back to the 1940's. I still have 8 x 10 stills and framed movie posters that I was free to take (with Mr. Rugoff's OK) adorning my walls to this day.

The Gramercy was a theatre of many surprises, some of them bordering on catastrophic.

One Sunday matinee, while we were running an almost-3-hour film (RYAN'S DAUGHTER, if I remember correctly-- in it's umpteenth run) it rained torrentially all day long. A large (and HEAVY) pool of water formed on the roof, in the "V-Shape" formed by the auditorium's slant down toward the screen, and up flush to the next building over.

I was in the box office helping the cashier count out the show's take after we had just moved in a line of people numbering about 500, when an usher came running into the tiny box office and said to me: "There's a leak inside!" I brushed it off with: "Put a bucket under it" (a standard Gramercy-Theatre-fix). He excitedly said, "NO, that won't work, you had better look at this."

I went into the auditorium and found that the weight of the huge pool of water on the roof had broked a great gash in the ceiling above the stage. The water was cascading in like Niagara Falls. The 30 foot wide wall of falling water totally obscured the screen.

I realized that we had to clear the theatre. The patrons, all of whom had been standing outside in the pouring rain on a "ticket-holders" line for a couple of hours, and were very touchy about it, did NOT want to move. --Even though viewing the picture through the wall of water was impossible. Plus the noise of the water hitting the wooden stage simply drowned-out the soundtract (no pun intended!)

After evacuating the theatre, I wound up having to spend the night in the theatre, as it was the manager's responsibility to not leave the premises unprotected and unwatched while there was a "gaping hole" in the building.

To make matters worse, I had tickets to a James Brown concert at Madison Square Garden at 10PM that night, and of course, was unable to go. Instead, I invited several of my friends to come to the theatre for an all-night party. I still have a photo (which I'll have to dig out, and scan for you) that a friend of mine took of me, seated in the 'open-sky' auditorium at about 3AM. I had to stay in the theatre until a repair crew came in on Monday to begin work on the roof. We were closed for a few days because of 'the flood'.

And that was not an isolated incident-- The Gramercy was one surpise after another. The next time Mr. Rugoff did his "musical manager's" switcheroo (the following year), I was indeed grateful to find myself managing the delightfully intimate Art Theatre in the Village (where I lived, so I could walk to work). Of all the theatres that Cinema-5 operated, the Art Theatre was my favorite.

I'm Glad I could share this with you...

Bruno
(username only-- anyone who was around in those days probably knows my real name. I was very well known in the business during all of the 1970's)

Now that it has been announced that MOMA will be returning film to the original location whats going to happen to the Gramercy?

Maybe plays again. Its hard to make any money with a single screen right now.

I just hope its not gutted, this would be the theatre to make into a Cinemateque type thing if there was financial backing. It's in a good area and a size that is workable. As much as restoring the Demille might sound great, think of just the heating bill for a place like that.

I used to pass by the Gramercy Theater everyday when I was in college (I used to go to Baruch College). That was back in the early 90's. I always enjoyed seeing the marquee at that time, because at that time, they usually had the actual font used in the title of the movie that was playing there. For example, "Fantasia" was displayed on the marquee, just like Disney wrote it on the movie posters. I remember movies playing for weeks on end at the Gramercy. (Disney's Fantasia must have played for almost one whole semester!). I also rememer seeing "Three Men And A Little Lady" up on the marquee for many weeks.
In my three years of walking past the Gramercy everyday, I never saw a movie there (and really wish I had). By my last year at college, they were playing pretty weird films there. I was really sad a year or two later when I went by, and the theater was closed and abandoned (and looked a mess). That was probably in the late 90's. I have not been by there in quite a while, but apparently, the museum was playing films there, but now they are also gone, so i guess it's closed once again.

I saw the restored print of My Fair Lady here a few years ago, and both it and the theater were gorgeous.

The Gramercy will once again serve as a theatrical venue when it plays host to the musical 'From My Hometown' starting July 12th.

The day after Katherine Hepburn won the academy award for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the marquee of the Gramercy had in big letters CONGRATULATIONS KATE.

Pete, your comments brought back lots of memories...I remember selling the Incredible Edibles with either Archie or Herb(managers both)from a portable cart(!)around the Gramercy Park area.

In the 80s The Gramercy was playing second-run film. When the ceiling at the Murray Hill collapsed 2 days before they were supposed to open Alien 2, the new film was moved to the Gramercy, and it remained first-run until City Cinemas closed it.

The theatre was originally known as the Gramercy Park to avoid confusion with the already existing Gramercy Theatre, which had 521 seats and was situated at 310 First Avenue. After the old Gramercy succumbed to TV competition in the early 1950s, the newer theatre dropped "Park" from its name.

my office was on the 3 rd floor of that building but the theater i never liked , had no charm

Those ridiculous amoeba-shaped sofas in the lower lounge came from the Beekman - cliche 50s modern furniture that I'm sure looked better uptown in it's original setting - it was too big for that small room at the Gramercy. Perhaps MOMA added them to their cliche-50s-modern architecture and furnishings collection.

When MOMA gets through with it, isn't it going back to off-bway productions with Roundabout? I thought they sub-leased it to MOMA.

I think there a live show in there now.

The theatre first opened in 1937 and had Charles Sandblom as architect.

It was Frank Rowley, the former programmer of the Regency and the Biograph, who ran the Gramercy during its brief run as a rep house in '93-'94. If I were Albert Bialek, the owner of the soon-to-reopen Metro Twin, I'd track Frank down, see if he's interested in getting back in the game (that is, if he's fully been out of it), and, if he is interested, give him free reign with one of my two screens.

What an absolute charmer this theater is!!! I loved this place and would go out of my way to see something here even if it meant it was playing in a "better" venue.

How this place is still up and running I don't know but I hope somehow it gets landmarked. What a cute place! One of the best theaters in NYC.

This theater has been through several incarnations in just the past decade, including a first-run film theater, a Bollywood theater, a live theater, an art film/revivial theater for MOMA (until last spring) and currently, alas, a live theater once again. Who knows what it will be next year? The MOMA partnership seemed like a great deal for both parties - there were crowds there all the time, even for weekday matinees. I can't fathom why MOMA had to end it several months early; something about their staff needing to concentrate on the November midtown reopening. As a film theater it is a large, single screen theater, slightly run down, with sub-par ventilation and air-conditioning. I ran into several of the people profiled in "Cinemaniacs" here right after that film opened, so I knew it must be a good theater.

What was MOMA doing that drew such good crowds? What was the admission policy?

I cannot imagine MOMO continuing to run films here on a regular basis. It's way to far away from their main venue in midtown.

I was in this theater a lot during the mid 80's. The best words to describe it are cozy and cute. And RED. Lots of RED, I remember. No, it wasn't big at all but it really felt like a classic NY movie theater. Not overwhelming but nicely urban and comforting. I loved this place and was happy to hear from this site that it's still up and running.

If and when some rocket scientist developer realizes the potential for this space for retail, it's a goner like The Guild.

The Gramercy seemed to epitomize the uniqueness of the Rugoff/Cinema V legacy: a small, intimate setting, identified with its neighborhood, and setting a trend in the exhibition and distribution of quality films. Don Rugoff & Walter Reade Jr. were a special breed. Only Dan Talbot and New Yorker films remains. Now that City Cinemas and the Australians are intent on cashing in on real estate rather than show movies, an era will soon come to an end. Does anyone know what became of Rugoff and how he lost control of this remarkable company?

Good question - and post - Astyanax... and does anyone know why the Walter Reade Organization sold off its theatres (and, perhaps as well, the history of the Walter Reade Organization and how it came to be involved in motion picture exhibition)?

Both Rugoff's Cinema V distributing arm and WRO's Continental Distributing had a distinguished library of cutting edge films. Cinema V distributed the Fireman's Ball, Loves of a Blonde, Putney Swope, the Two of Us, Accident, Z, State of Seige, among others. Continental released Kwaidan. What became of those film collections?

Companies like Cinema V and Continental usually contracted for distribution for a limited number of years, after which the films reverted to their producers and/or owners.

The Gramercy of the 50s-60s was considered an "art house" due to eclectic programming, no admittance near the end of a film (unheard of back then, coffee (expresso?) served in the waiting area. The advertising in the narrow windows on both sides of the entrance was usually hand printed with an 8x10" still framed at the bottom. Some of the programming that the NY Times lists in the 50s for the Gramercy (a Rugoff-Becker theater)switches from single bookings to double features, a mix of foreign, sub-run mainstream, Disney, revivals, etc....."Some Came Running" (Frank Sinatra sub-run)but paired with Jacques Tati "My Uncle"....Stendahl's "Rouge et Noir".....Emile Zola's "Nana"....."Conquest of Everest" with Richard Todd in "The Assassin"; Disney's "White Wilderness" & "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"....."Blue Murder at St Trinians"....."Wuthering Heights & Grant-Hepburn "Holiday".....DeSica's "The Bed" & "Tonights The Night".....sub-run western "Broken Lance" (Sept 30, 1954), mid 60's: aforementioned "Two of Us" with "Heart is the Lonely Hunter".......The Gramercy would switch between single bookings ("The Pawnbroker", "Cleopatra", "A Hard Day's Night") and double bills("Secret War of Pvt Frigg" & "Games"). It was a neat alternative to our local RKO on 23rd St and Loew's Sheridan. Jerry

I remember going here when it was a first-run house and then I was a regular attendee when it was run by Frank Rowley after Cinemaplex Odeon pulled the plug on the Biograph Cinema on 57th Street (now a supermarket). Frank Rowley, by the way, works for Dan Talbott at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on the West Side or did until fairly recently.

I knew the Gramercy wasn't long for this world when it reopened/was turned into a revival house. Opening day I believe was 4/13/93 and there was a double bill of "Forty-Second Street" and I think "The Gold Diggers of 1933." I was there for the Saturday night screening on 4/14/93 and the place was empty on its opening weekend. I knew it was doomed then.

I remember when Cinemaplex Odeon closed the Regency, the beloved West Side revival house (it is now a lingerie store)run by Rowley, and turned it into a first run house. The outcry caused Odeon to let Rowley run the Biograph, but after a couple of years they pulled the plug on that and there were petitions et al and Rowley surfaced at the Gramercy after a hiatus (I forget how long it was) between when the Biograph shut and the Gramercy reopened.

The Biograph closed sometime in September or October of '91, hardbop. (I have, somewhere in a box in my closet, an article which ran in the Village Voice at the time, discussing the end of the Biograph's run and the unpopular reputation Cineplex Odeon was either gaining or cementing at the time amongst NYC moviegoers.)

For several months after Cineplex pulled the plug on the Biograph, Frank Rowley tried to gain traction on a plan to operate a non-profit rep house somewhere in Manhattan; whether or not the manisfestation of that was his operation of the Gramercy I can't, however, speak to.

I believe that the Gramercy was a non-profit. However, they didn't sell memberships like the Film Forum, MoMA, AMMI and quickly ran into financial difficulties. That was one of its mistakes. I know you could buy books of tickets at a price lower than what you would pay if you bought a single ticket.

I was also baffled by the lack of the success by the Gramercy. After all the hoopla about the closing of first the Regency revival house and then the Biograph, you would have thought there would have been more support for the Gramercy. I remember being surprised that first weekend the Gramercy opened and seeing a mostly empty house.

The guy who ran Cineplex Odeon was a crook and I don't believe he can step foot in the U.S. without being arrested. His name is Garth Drabinsky and he is Canadian and after getting into all sorts of trouble when he ran Cineplex Odeon into the ground, he resurfaced with Livant, a live theatre company that also got into a lot of hot water. Mike Ovitz, the former head of CAA and "most powerful man in Hollywood" was involved with Livant/Drabinsky as an investor and lost millions. Talk about a guy who lost his karma.

I thought City Cinemas had the Gramercy when frank was running revival there? Am I remembering wrong?

Garth may have mismanaged or overspent, but he put tons of money and love into his Cineplex Odeon houses, and it shows. They had curtains and wall decorations and lots of neon and other touches. They weren't palaces but they were showplaces; Garth was an exhibitor and a showman. Compare him to the bureaucrats who run UA/Regal, with their lack of imagination and dreadful designs. Everytime I'm in the UA 14th Street I expect to hear bus departure announcements.

Ughh - don't make me barf! Hardbop is right - the guy was a flim-flam man and was scamming the stockholders - and when the company was nearly insolvent and had accumulated $800 million in debt, they threw him out. He was very impressed with himself (and probably still is) - everyone else in the business just thought he was a dork.

Does anyone know who owns the Gramercy now?

The Gramercy, run as a Frank Rowley-run revival house, opened I believe on 4/16/93 and closed on 11/14/93 with a double bill of Olivier's (and Shakespeare's) "Henry V" and "Waterloo Bridge." The cinema closed in the middle of the advertised program. I remember "Ship of Fools" was supposed to screen as were those obscure Hitchcock films that he made during WWII. I never did get to see "Ship of Fools" on a big screen. I remember I was at the venue the weekend it opened as a Frank Rowley-run revival house and the weekend it closed. And there were rumors that the theatre was closing before it closed. I still have a Gramercy Theatre T-Shirt too.

I am running a small theater company in Chelsea and we are looking for an abandoned or run down theater to perform our next show in this coming Fall. Does anyone know who to contact about the Gramercy Theatre, or any other theater for that matter? check out our website at www.vortextheater.com and hopefully we'll hear from you soon. thank you.

Anybody know what happened to Frank? He was a wonderful programmer.

I recently heard that he had been working with Dan Talbot @ New Yorker Films; not sure if that's still the case or not...

jrand412:
if you check with the pizza parlor just to the west of the theatre entrance, they will probably be able to tell you who the landlord is - they are also tenants of the theatre building.

Drove by the theatre this past weekend, and a "For Sale by Owner" sign has been posted on the marquee. Someone hurry-up and buy this gem before we lose another one.

The Roundabout Theatre ran it's off-Broadway productions at the Gramercy for a couple of seasons around 2000-2001 after Moss evicted them from the Criterion Center in the Bow Tie building on Times Square to make room for Toys 'R' Us. The Roundabout has since made a permanent off-Broadway home in the re-dubbed Laura Pels Theater on W. 46th (formerly a complex called the American Place Theater) since the 2002/03 season. Roundabout more famously (on this site, anyway) has made the restored Selwyn Theater on 42nd Street (now dubbed the American Airlines Theater) it's flagship Broadway house and also maintains a permanent legit stage in Studio 54 (the former Gallo Opera House), which it plans on refurbishing and modernizing while keeping its "distressed" ambience preserved.

Anyway... I drove past the Gramercy the other day and did not notice the "For Sale by Owner" sign on the marquee - which is not to say it still isn't there. Was the marquee always that sort of faded blue color?

When we operated it as a movie house the marquee was stainless steel, Roundabout 'antiqued' it - like a piece of furniture.

The Gramercy was also a motion picture theater at 310 1st Avenue that seated 540 people. I wish there were more information on this theater!

The Available / For Sale sign is still on the marquee of the Gramercy theatre.

I hope they are able to save this little theater, as opposed to it being converted to retail space.

The introduction needs to be changed. I think that MOMA stopped using the theatre when the museum opened its new facilties on West 53rd Street.

This website has some 2004-05 photos of the Gramercy Theater.

I think this theater status should be changed to closed! It looks abandoned and nothing has played there in well over a year.

Any news? The For Sale sign is no longer on the marquee.

Live Nation is in the process of renovating the former Gramercy Theatre in NYC into a 600-capacity nightclub that will begin hosting concerts in January, according to the New York Times.

Very nice! it's a shame it's not going to be a movie theater anymore, but at least it will still be a theater, even if a concert hall. That's gotta be better than another Walgreens on the marquee....

Here is another modern photo of the Gramercy Theater.

Thanks for the photo. I used to pass under that marquee everyday when I went to college (I went to Baruch for a few years). I used to get out of the subway at Madison Square and 23rd St, and walk to Lexington and 23rd....
That year, movies spent so much time there. Instead of the normal standard letters on the marquee, they would use actual logo letters from the film they were playing. For example, I rememer "Three Men and a Little Lady" playing there for almost a month, and it had the actual font and style of the movie name as it appears on the posters on the marquee. Fantasia by disney also was there for over a month that year. i think it was 1990.

The studios use to pay for those special marquee designed signs. They where the norm for the first run theatres located in Hollywood and Westwood, California from the mid 70's to today.

There is work being done at the Gramercy - went past there today and they were working on the marquee and also on the interior. A new box office has been built. I couldn't see much from the door. One of the construction guys came out for a bit of air and I asked what are they doing to the place, he said it's still going to be a theatre they are just fixing it up a bit. He was not a fountain of information, unfortunately.

In a survey of new music venues in today's NY Daily News, critic Jim Farber describes the sound quality at the 600-seat Gramercy as "Solid." Farber claims that the auditorium "still looks just like what it was before: the Gramercy movie theater, but with the seats ripped out of the orchestra and a few bars thrown in." He describes the ambience as "Saturday at the local bijou." Forthcoming attractions include The Knitters, May 2; Babel Gilberto, May 22-23; and Rufus Wainwright, June 5-9.

This theater is now a venue for concerts. Its new name is the Blender Theater at Gramercy. Here is a recent photo of the Blender Theater at Gramercy.

It appears the main title of this theater should be changed above to "Blender Theater at Gramercy".

This theater also houses a church on sunday called Forefront, a non-denominational protestent younger church with a full band.

Do you mean a musical band? I've attended churches that had choirs, organs, pianos, and harps, but this would be my first exposure to a band...And I think that the introduction to this listing needs to be changed. I believe that the association with the Museum of Modern Art ended when MOMA opened its new facilities on West 53rd Street.

No this is more contemporary, talking vocals, lead guitar, bass, keys and a full drum kit. Plus the bars in the back have coffee, juice and bagels. It is a pretty fun and laid back service.

Isn't a non-denominational Protestant church a bit of a contradiction?

Warren... have you ever attended a Baptist service with gospel music? In addition to the choir, there is often a small electric combo of varying size providing the music (bass, drums, organ, guitar).

ken mc - sounds like you are calling a religion a denomination. Just like Judaism, Hindu, and Catholicim, Protestant is its own religion. Under the Protestant religion there are many many denominations (just like other faiths) including Baptist, Lutheran, Evangelical, and Methodist. Non-denominational/Interdenominational doesn't directly associate with a denomination. Instead they have the basic Christian beliefs and accept all denominations.

EdSolero - This is a little different than gospel. No choir, no organ, its more faith based rock/folk music, the speakers are huge and the bass can be heard from the street. The band is centerstage and the main act at the beginning and end of each service. Plus you can stand in the back and dog bagels and coffee throughout!

A recent color photo of the marquee and entrance can be seen in The Arts Section of today's New York Times, page E5. It's also displayed on the NYT website as part of an article headlined "Neither Arenas Nor Dives," written by Ben Sisario. If you enter his name in the search engine, you will connect to it: www.nytimes.com

This is a recent night view of the Blender Theater.

Here is the Blender during the day.

Wow, I used to walk under that marquee everyday in the early 90's...
I remember Disney's Fantasia being on the marquee for at least 5 to 6 weeks (and it was in the actaul movie letters logo). After that, "Three Men and a Little Lady", which also lasted a few weeks, and also in the actual movie letters logo. I used to walk up 23rd St from Broadway towards Lexington after getting off the Broadway subway at 23rd St.

This currently has one of the dopiest names that I've seen for a theatre. Is it a tribute to someone named Blender or to an electrical appliance?

The owner of Blender magazine purchased the naming rights for the theatre, Warren...

here's the press release:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=194146&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=989517&highlight=

I should have mentioned: Blender is a music magazine which features the types of artists and performers who have and are being booked into the theatre...

While I have an nostalgic feeling towards this theater, so I like it a lot, I have to say, after looking at the photo, it's exterior is one of the ugliest exteriors I have ever seen for a theater.
It's truly an ugly building unfortunately. Is that the original architecture for it's exterior facade?

Here is a photo of the interior of the Blender Theater at Gramercy. Does anyone know of any historic interior or exterior photos?

Bway....Your link brings me back to this page.

I believe THIS is the link Bway meant to post.

Bway... if you intended to link to that site, the interior photo included there is of a place on West 16th Street and Ninth Avenue called the Highline Ballroom. Or was there some other image that you meant to link?

Thanks Ed. This website has an interior view.

Thanks! I bow my head in shame for never having heard of Blender Magazine. I guess it's because I don't follow the pop music scene.

NY Times September 23, 1936

PLAN GRAMERCY CINEMA; Lessees Get East 23d Street Site From M. Kramer.

A motion-picture house to be known as the Gramercy Cinema has been planned for 127-29 East Twenty-third Street, leased by Max J. Kramer to a group including Arthur Mayer, operator of the Rialto Theatre, and Michael Ruden and Arthur Rapf, operators of twenty motion-picture houses in Manhattan and New Jersey.

Thanks Ed for relinking the photo I meant to link to... I didn't realize that was not the interior, it appeared to be the interior the way the photo was presented.
Thanks Lost Memory for providing an actualy interior view!!!

A friend (A-M) saw movies there 2002 or 2003. He recalls the interior as not ornate, but there was some molding that was painted grey. He recalled good acoustics.
Looking at the photo of the redone auditorium, he says the ceiling looks different (higher) and the proscenium is different if not totally gone. He says there was more molding before.
He's glad the theater is not "dancing with the wrecking ball."

My own comment from looking at the photo of the redone theater, though not having been there, is it still resembles a typical cinema and it is great that it continues for entertainment! Since my friend doesn't recall it ornate before, the changes wouldn't be a big deal.

As I recall, in 1978 this theater played a festival of Katharine Hepburn movies in double bills. I caught up with a lot that were hard to find at the time, including the lesser RKO Hepburns of the 1930s - the ones that got her labled "box-office poison." - Ed Blank

Here is a recent photo of the Blender.

Pretty neat! Thanks! I walked under that marquee so many times when I was in college....

This is another 2008 photo.

Renewing link.

"COLORS" at the Gramercy.

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

Here is a recent shot of the Blender.

Al, I think you lined the wrong image, that's an image of the Gotham Theater.

1981 Photo

1988 Photo

The second image is how I remember the Grammercy every day when I walked under it from 1990 to 1993. I remember they often had the actual lettering of the movie's font on the marquee instead of traditional lettering. I always found that unique on the Grammercy. Most movies played a long time at the Grammercy. I remember Disney's Fantasia was on the marquee for almost two months back then. Also "Three Men and a Little Lady" for at least 4 or 5 weeks, and again, it was always in the font the movie companies used on their posters.

Since the business failure of Blender, this is now being advertised and publicized in the press as the Gramercy Theater. Please see page 64 of the April 15-21, 2009 issue of Village Voice for confirmation.

The date given for this photo is June 13, 2009. Looks like the name on the marquee hasn't been changed yet.

Wow, that brings back so many memories...I walked under that marquee every day for about 3 years....

Here and here are 2009 photos of the Gramercy.

Renewing link.

This has come up in some fo the Hollywood Blvd Theaters in Hollywood, where they planted trees right up against marquees of many of the theaters. But it seems to have happened here too. Who is the "smart" person that decided that it's a good idea to plant a tree right up against a theater marquee?
I love trees as much as anyone, but the placement of that tree is ridiculous.

The city usually does that and then fines the theatres for cutting them back.

Al is right. After the theatre pays for a annual permit to have the marquee structure over the sidewalk, and another annual permit to have the illuminated signs on the structure so your signs can be seen, some numb-skull bureaucrat sends Parks & Recreation comes and plants a tree so your sign can't be seen. And if you so much as think evil thoughts about that tree, Parks is right there with a summons.

Heh, Well, it's no different in California apparently, this is discussed in a few of the Hollywood Blvd Theater pages here too....check out this one of the old Pacific Theater there:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q12/kencmcintyre/more%20photos/even%20more%20photos/HPIM1238.jpg

And of the old Fox Theater there:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q12/kencmcintyre/018-1.jpg

It appears NY isn't the only place where they don't plant trees appropriately!

Truly it's absurd to plant big trees on certain urban business streets. It's no service to anyone. Even the trees don't look right when they're brushing up against marquees and blocking windows. Common sense be damned.

Looking at the recent photo again of the Gramercy with the tree planted against the marquee linked July 27th, I also notice the ridiculous placement of the Dunkin Donuts awning, which renders the first 1/4 of the theaters marquee useless!!

Here's the photo. Between that awning and that ridiculously placed tree, what good with the marquee be in a couple years?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maincourse/3760858242/

Are there any archive links to photos of the previous marquee when the theater was still known as the Gramercy Park?