55th Street Playhouse

The premises were converted from a horse stable! The 55th Street Playhouse had 253 seats and was located at 154 West 55th Street. It ended its days as a showcase for male porno. Prior to that, it had specialized in "foreign" and American independent movies. The feature documentary, "Jazz on a Summer's Day," had a long and successful run there.

They also in their time premiered such honorable films as Cocteau's ORPHEUS, Fellini's I VITELLONI, Rossellini's THE FLOWERS OF SAINT FRANCIS.

The 55th Street Playhouse first opened in June, 1927, and had Treanor & Fatio as architects. The previous horse stable was built in 1887, with Bassett Jones as architect. The exterior shell of the theatre still exists, but the interior was gutted for office and storage space.

I believe this was part of the Avon circuit when it showed porn.

I always remember this as an all male porno house. Does anyone know when it stopped showing regular films? Had to be before the early 70's.

I have a listings magazine dated November 1976 which shows the 55th Street Playhouse still operating as a gay male porno theater.

It must have gone male porn in the very early 70's.

I believe in the very early seventies this was the home of some of the Shaw Brothers Chinese films. I saw a fim there called Dynasty which could have been '72 or '73.

This place became legend with the opening of Wakefield Poole's "Boys in the Sand." It made headlines.
It became part of the porn empire of D Mamane, owner of PM Productions, a lesser of the gay porn production/distribution houses.

May of 1938 the 55th St Playhouse was showing a comedy called "The Slipper Episode". The ad proclaimed SPECIAL REDUCED SUMMER PRICES, I wonder if this was a policy in theatres that had no air conditioning?

"Boys in the Sand" (1971) starring Casey Donovan (aka Cal Culver) was produced for $8,000 and went on to gross $400,000 when it played at the 55th St. Playhouse, New York's biggest gay porn cinema. Producer Wakefield Poole placed ads in, and got the film reviewed by, both the New York Times and Variety.

Just for veracity - Marvin Schullman was the producer of "Boys in the Sand" -- Wakefield was the director.
I believe the huge box office receipts gave it a Variety front page.

I saw 'Bojou' and 'Boys In The Sand' here perhaps even on a double bill.

Wakefield Poole's "Bijou" (1972) starring Bill Harrison was the $22,000 big budget follow-up film to the hugely successful "Boys in the Sand". Both had their World Premier's at the 55th Street Playhouse. "Bijou" became another gay classic and was named the 'best film of 1972' by the hetro Screw magazine.

Isn't this now used as the freight entrance for the Rihga Royal Hotel on the next block (151 W. 54 St)?

Here’s a Showbill program from the 55th Street Playhouse in April, 1960:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/petrarch/cinematreasures/jazz1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/petrarch/cinematreasures/jazz2.jpg

“Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, was every college kid’s (read: every college boy’s) idea of a cool film. I can’t count the number of beery conversations we slurred thorough as we debated the merits of Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan and Dinah Washington and Jack Teagarden and Mahalia Jackson and more. As it happened, my best friend in college came from Tiverton RI, just across the bay from Newport, so that the following July 4 weekend I visited him and we attended the 1960 Festival.

As it also happened, the event that year witnessed the first college-student riot of the 1960s. 20,000 or so fans grew restive at the slow pace of bringing on the acts, and that (plus the beer and the sun and a bunch of people who scaled the walls after not being admitted when the attendance reached capacity) generated a rapidly escalating pandemonium. To contain the madness, the good citizens of Newport urged police to close the bridges to and from the island, which the police did. And then things got worse, because all the out-of-town collegians were pent up on the island with no place to go. My friend had friends who lived in Newport, so we walked to their house and crashed out on the floor for the night.

Little did we know then of the riots that would ensue throughout the rest of the ‘60s, nor how by the decade’s end we’d be gassed, maced, jailed, hooted at, pestered, pursued, threatened, and otherwise harassed for our convictions about civil rights, social justice, and an ill-advised war. And all so that four decades later we could wonder once again about the fate of affirmative action, civil liberties, and the quest for weapons of mass destruction. Today's news about corporate insider John Roberts leaves us with no cheer. Plus ça change. . . .

Here’s a Showbill from the 55th Street Playhouse in July, 1960:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/petrarch/cinematreasures/dreigroschenoper1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/petrarch/cinematreasures/dreigroschenoper2.jpg

The print of GW Pabst’s 1931 version of Brecht-Weill’s “Threepenny Opera” had been struck from copies recently found in Germany more than two decades after the Nazis had attempted to destroy all traces of the film. The showing understandably created a stir in 1960, all the more so since its original release in the US had been compromised by lawsuits brought by Brecht against the German studio for altering his script.

I went to it already primed by a long-running off-Broadway (at the Theater de Lys on Christopher Street) adaptation of it by Marc Blitzstein with glossed-up production values. The live cast included Lotte Lenya thirty years after she’d originated the role of Pirate Jenny, as well as Bea Arthur and Jo Sullivan. The movie, by comparison, seemed a downer to me at the time, though images of its fog-bound streets, leering faces, and shadowy depths continue to haunt me to this day.

Wow whern I lived in NYC it was a male porno theater.

Open in 1927, this was one of the first ever fulltime arthouses. This place was specialising in Far East martial arts films (think Kurosawa, not Bruce Lee) from 1965 until 1969 when it switched policy for Andy Warhol's LONESOME COWBOYS. The success of that film sealed its fate and like many other Manhattan arthouses, it switched to increasing graphic sex films, this one eventually specialising in gay product and then gay grind porn.

In 1929 it premiered Abel Gance’s NAPOLEON which received bad reviews in its abridged form and was replaced a week later with a re-release of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.

In 1930 it opened TWO HEARTS IN WALTZ TIME a German film and the first foreign language film subtitled for U.S. release. The novelty paid off and the film ran for a year. In March 1931, during that run the theatre was renamed Europa, a name it kept until late 1933 when it started to also show more mainstream films.

In 1952 it premiered Jacques Tati classic JOUR DE FETE, 1956 Fellini’s I VITELLONI, in 1957 John Ford’s THE RISING OF THE MOON, in 1958 Kim Stanley’s THE GODDESS, in 1961 the Russian DON QUIXOTE (MGM Soviet cultural exchange).

The theatre was notorious for poor projection and was often featured in the press as an example of the lost art of quality of cinema presentation. Sound familiar?

(Cinema Treasures did not invent that particular bitch-fest hobby of attacking projectionists, union or otherwise, which dates back to the silent era.)

The trajectory of the 55th Street Playhouses’ life certainly started in the head and ended in the groin.

This is 154 West 55th Street today:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/davebazooka/55thStreet.jpg

It is a few doors up from the Ziegfeld's butt.

There was a c/o issued for a 280 seat motion picture theater at 154 W 55th St on May 20, 1927. The architects were Treanor & Fatio of 3 East 44th St.

"The incredible Roger in his farewell to motion pictures":

Hunk Post 3/8/82

So... still all-male porn in early 1982.

Anyone remember the Rendezvouz across the street?:

Rhinestone Cowgirls Post 3/10/82

Found another ad for the 55th Street at the bottom of the "Stir Crazy" ad from December 1980:

Read Clive Barnes - Post 12/11/80

There is an ad here for the 11th week of "Boys in the Sand" which played here forever.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/TalesFromtheCrypt.jpg

Ed, in the Stir Crazy ad, they have it in CinemaRadio at the Loews 83rd Street - I can't make out the small type on the CR slug to see the details, can you see it on the original paper? I knew CinemaRadio as a sound system in drive-in theatres - the soundtrack was broadcast over a low power frequency to the car radios, thus eliminating the need for (and maintenance of) the speakers on the posts next to each car. Any of the projectionists on here know why they would have it in an indoor theatre?

Dave-Bronx, CinemaRadio allowed people with hearing problems better access to the soundtrack by bringing earphones and a transistor radio and tuning in to a specific frequency. Modern cinemas have loops or infrared devices that do the same thing through multichannel hearing aids.

How about that little add for the mysterious Camelot Twin in the East Village? Did anyone ever confrim if it was indeed The Gate?

Here's an ad from 1985:
Preppy Summer - Daily News 9/23/85

I wonder what the "second surprise feature" was?

By this time, fewer and fewer porn ads were found in the local papers (and only the Post and News had been publishing them since the Times ditched them entirely in the late '70's). By the early '90's, only the greatly diminished "Neighborhood Movie Guide" feature in either paper featured listing for porn theaters.

The ad for the above mentioned "Bijou"
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/?action=view¤t=LoveUnder17.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

"Jazz On a Summer Day" day and dating with the 5th Avenue Cinema
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/JazzonaSummerDay.jpg

1975 porno "art"
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/AdamYves.jpg

1969 a Warhol double bill
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/55stdoublebill.jpg

NY Times Jan 14, 1933

"MORE THEATRES CUT RATES; Strand, Europa and Little Carnegie Playhouse to Reduce Admissions.

Following the lead of the Paramount, Roxy, Capitol, Rivoli, and the theatres of Loew's circuit, other theatres announced reduced admission prices yesterday. They were the Strand, the Europa and the Little Carnegie Playhouse. Prices at most of the Broadway film houses have been reduced from 20 to 30 per cent during the last week, and smoking is now permitted in the balconies of several of the largest theatres".

This theatre also played the most controversial gay porno of all time. Anybody ever see this at the 55th?
http://bp0.blogger.com/_hjqB7Xyk64Q/Rf7nqmAy5UI/AAAAAAAAAAc/thPzM8OZFH4/s1600-h/him.jpg

Several days ago, I happened to pass this site while the entrance was open. I could see no evidence that a cinema had ever existed there. Just bare walls and a concrete floor strong enough to support the two trucks that were parked there.

" Can anyone with any knowledge of this era end something of a debacle for me? There has been conjecture for years as to a film called "Him," concerning some guy's fixation on Christ. This has made it to such illustrious heights as becoming a faux legend with Michael Medved and his book about "Golden Turkeys." People have looked at me like I am from Pluto when I have told them that, YES!, I have seen this film. I oft thought that the aforementioned advertisements in Boston After Dark or the Phoenix might lend some versimilitude to this conundrum, but I am 3,000 miles across the planet. Absolutely nobody can give so much as a 'maybe' on this. And a thanks to Mr DeLuca for knowing so much as to ownership of said theaters. Verify! Thanks!
posted by sinclair on Mar 22, 2005 at 10:38pm"

Thank you for posting this time capsule fraught with validation!
Can anyone go that one step further and tell me where or how to locate a copy in any form?
Had this been posted on Easter, I would've been forced to attend a church servive in response.

Sinclair- You are the only one I have heard of who has seen this movie (with the exception of Medved). The ad I posted looked so real, I knew it couldn't be a fake. I will continue to search for a copy of this but even the folks at Bijou Chicago (who own most of the gay porn pre-1980) say the movie doesn't exist or never existed. You should write a review of the film and post it on the IMDB so people will finally believe the most truly exisits and was exhibited.

Here is a NY Times review for a 1984 film by director Wiktor Grodecki called HIM.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=95227

Don't think this is the same movie.

The ad displayed on April 15th strongly suggests that "HIM" could be Jesus Christ. I don't see that reflected in the NYT's review of Grodecki's work. Surely the critic would have mentioned it. Perhaps they're two different films. What theatre is cited in the NYT review as presenting Grodecki's movie?

The ad copy for the 55th St is from the mid-early '70s, I am sure.
I saw HIM in Boston (South Station Cinema) at that time and posted, as shown above, as to that fact.
It is indeed a porn film about a guy with a Christ fixation, not the Grodecki film mentioned of the same name, years later.
Today, talking with an ex, he told me of seeing a trailer for this very old porn while watching a roommmate of mine's video collection, some 15 years ago. I, myself, never saw that and was astonished.
Oh by the way, anyone intersted in Wakefield Poole's films and career may find this interesting:

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

2007 Film/Video Program
Organized by Donnell Media Center
New York Public Library

ADMISSION FREE
All Programs held in the Donnell Library Center Auditorium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wakefield Poole
Presents and discusses his dance and film work:
THE TWO FACES OF WAKEFIELD POOLE

Saturday, April 28, 2007 at 2:30 PM
At the Donnell Library Center
20 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019

The program will include video excerpts of Wakefield Poole’s dancing on the television programs THE GARY MOORE SHOW with Gwen Verdon and LAMP UNTO MY FEET; his choreography for the “end credits” for ONCE UPON A MATTRESS that featured dancer Michael Bennett; and DO I HEAR A WALTZ. In addition, there will also be examples of his work as a filmmaker, including his first film HEAD, a light-hearted parody of a cooking program featuring a voice-over by Julia Child, a clip (featuring nudity) from his breakthrough vision BOYS IN THE SAND; and a joint interview with Mr. Poole and Casey Donovan, the star of BOYS IN THE SAND on the early cable access program “Emerald City.”

Wakefield Poole began his dance career in Salisbury, North Carolina. After high school, he became a professional dancer with the internationally renowned Ballets Russes. He then became a Broadway chorus dancer appearing in such hit shows as FINIAN’S RAINBOW and THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN as well as dancing on television for Perry Como, Ed Sullivan, Gary Moore and Jackie Gleason. Over time, he developed into a choreographer, first assisting the legendary Joe Layton, before working solo on DO I HEAR A WALTZ and being reunited with Joe Layton on BRING BACK BIRDIE. At the end of the 1960’s a new career evolved when he asked himself, “Why can’t someone make a good porn film that’s not degrading?” That summer he decided to make one himself BOYS IN THE SAND became the first gay film to have a display ad in The New York Times and be reviewed in Daily Variety. For the next decade and a half, the name Wakefield Poole was synonymous with quality both in technical execution and artistic interpretation, as well as a trailblazer for gay culture with his quality erotica.

The review above is re-print from allmovie.com and not an actual NYT review, so a theatre is not mentioned. Wakefiled Poole's filmography does not list HIM although he did film a bible epic released as IN THE BEGINNING in New York.

I can confirm that the ad for HIM posted above ran in the New York Times on March 29, 1974. Later ads included review quotes from Al Goldstein, The Village Voice, Gay Scene, Michael's Thing, Variety, and Where it's at.

It would appear it was not only a real movie but that it ran for around two months at the 55th St. Playhouse.

I'm still confused. Which "Him" (if any) did Michael Medved declare a "Golden Turkey?"

Michael Medved's book addresses the 1974 film and even quotes the ad copy.

This was easy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Turkey_Awards#Hoax_film

Sorry if it was implied that Wakefield had anything to do with "Him." That inclusion of the NY Library date was done because this thread mentions shows of his work at the 55th St. Playhouse.

LOL. Good 'ole Wikipedia!

Wow! That solves a mystery that has plagued me for some 20 years (or however long since I purchased the Medved book). Well, OK, maybe it hasn't plagued me... or even crossed my mind in the last decade or so. But for a number of months, trying to figure out which entry in that book was a hoax certainly vexed me!

This newspaper ad from December 11th, 1937, is slightly larger than the one for Radio City Music Hall, which seated about twenty times as many people as the 55th Street Playhouse:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/55thplay.jpg

Al Goldstein's review of the movie HIM

http://mesmerize.proboards25.com/index.cgi?board=entertainment&action=display&thread=1134712984

Ahh! Al Goldstein - an undisputed authority on taste, culture and the American cinema! - LOL!

Snapped yesterday, the first photo shows the remains of the gutted auditorium. The second is a view of the building from the opposite side of West 55th Street: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/55aud.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/55ext.jpg

Here's from Variety article of 4/17/74 on "HIM:

Pic depicts graphic sex acts involving Jesus Christ and includes a scene in which a priest is seen masturbating while listening to a confession. The gay-oriented film is about a young man with a sexual obsession for Christ.

I thought we were discussing the theatres, not the films that played in them. Let Roger Ebert and Al Goldstein deal with that.

We are discussing theaters and this is applicable to this one in that its advertisement for Him mentioned sheds light on questions raised within this forum. It's hardly a stretch.

"MiracleMan," could you be the same person as "SamSchad?" In your first and only post so far at Cinema Treasures, you seem to be defending him. Multiple memberships are not acceptable at Cinema Treasures, according to the guidelines.

No, I am not SamSchad. I am MiracleMan. I defend no one but I felt a comment was apropos re this particular thread.
Thank you for your concern.

There was a time in the 1960s or 1970s when the theatre began a policy of showing the work of independent experimental American filmmakers (perhaps Stan Brakhage, etc.) I don't believe it lasted very long, but I was wondering if anyone could pinpoint that period and its duration.

Gerald, this was in February 1964 when they opened with Gregory Markopolous' "Twice a Man" and Stan Vanderbeek's "Breath-Death".

Warren, if MiracleMan is indeed new to CT, a welcome would have been in order, not stupid bullying.

This film with Marcello Mastroianni opened at the 55th Street Playhouse at the end of May 1959.

Was this (or the David) the theater across from City Center? With bathrooms on the second floor above the lobby? I had my wallet stolen in a scuffle in a darkroom behind the screen in 1980ish (and I still haven't gotten it back!). WTF?

Hi there. i'm new to Cinema Treasures.i've been reading about the 55th playhouse in new york city because one of my favorite movies opened there on March 21,1970 called MEAT/RACK.i wished i had been old enough then to see the film as well as viewing the movie poster that they must have had on display outside the theater.i collect movie posters and have been searching for MEAT?RACK(the real story about midnight cowboys)since i saw the movie on VHS in 1996.i researched the movie ads in the new york times so i have a few microfilm copies. has anyone out there ever seen the MEAT/RACK movie poster? oh and by the way, the conversation about the movie HIM has got me interested as well.

Can't remember if I was ever here...

This weekend I was watching a documentary film Factory Days by Paul Morrissey. He discussed the period when he was making Andy Warhol produced films. In it he showed two defunked theaters, 55th Street Playhouse & The Garrick - Andy Warhol Theater. I'm not familiar with either one. I looked up the 55th St Playhouse, and saw that it was around the block from The Zeigfeld. Apparently Warhol films had long runs at this theater. I made a few screencaps since I don't see any working links here.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/musicandfilm/films/55thStreetPlayhouse01.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/musicandfilm/films/55thStreetPlayhouse02.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/musicandfilm/films/55thStreetPlayhouse03.jpg

The 1942 Film Daily Year Book lists this (perhaps erroneously)as an RKO location.