Cinema Studio

The Studio Theatre was located at 1931 Broadway and had about 600 seats. It first opened right after the end of WWII and was built by Leo Brecher, whose other Manhattan theatres included the Plaza and 68th Street Playhouse. The Studio originally played late-run mainstream movies, but was switched to an "art" policy in the 1950s, when it was re-named Cinema Studio.

My first memories of this theater in the 60s were of it showing Spanish language films and eventually some soft porn before switching to an art house format...Its glory years as an art house came under Dan Talbot of New Yorker films who later developed the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas...Remember seeing AMARCORD there in the 70s, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, LA PETITE VOLEUSE there in the 80s

Before this was twinned it had a very nice wide screen for such a small house. Saw Star Is Born there. When this building was torn down it revealed a large ad for Omega Oil from what seemed the teens or 20's. What was so remarkable was that it had been so well preserved in the darkness for those many decades that the deep green was still vibrant. From all those black and white photos of life at the beginning of the last century it sometimes comes as a shock when you see how colorful life really was back then.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown played over a year here, most of the run on both screens.

I remember this great little place from my college days in the late 70's. I saw The Marriage of Maria Braun, Taxi Zum Klo, Nosferatau, Remember My Name, just to name a few. It got the best domestic and international art films at the time.

The exterior of the Studio Cinemas/Cinema Studio can be briefly glimpsed in Woody Allen's 'Manhattan'.

Before becoming an art house venue, in the "60's the Cinema Studio had a first-run Spanish language policy, attempting to showcase the best of movies from Spain and Latin America.

Before and during WWII, the Studio was called, the Arcade. (I grew up on West 65th Street, between Amsterdam and Broadway.) The theater burned down and was rebuilt as the Studio. (The theater was between 65th and 64th Streets on Broadway.)

When known as the Arcade Theatre in 1930 it was listed as having 550 seats. The same seating capacity is given in 1941, and in 1943 its listed as having 542 seats.

In 1950 it is listed as the Studio Theatre with 560 seats

Figures taken from editions of the Film Daily Yearbook

Astyanax: The excellent Spanish film "La Tia Tula" with Aurora Bautista played here in an exclusive run in 1965. To my knowledge it was not acquired for general U.S. distribution and was exhibited virtually nowhere else, not even in big cities, despite very good reviews.

I remember seeing Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It Here" on a Sunday night and standing in a line that ran around the block. And I remember seeing Steven Soderbergh's "Sex, Lies & Videotape" here the day after it opened.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/gottscho/gscquery.html

Above link should take you to the Libary of Congress site. Type in Studio Theater and then match all the words.

They have two photos of the interior.

Gerald A. DeLuca: I agree that "La Tia Tula" deserved wider exposure. We were fortunate that the Studio picked it up, but where are the venues, 40 years later to showcase art-house Spanish language films? The Cinema Latino certainly isn't doing it. I'm very much in favor of niche marketing as a strategy to sustain more theatres.

Saw Fassbinder's 'Despair', Herzog's 'Nosferatu', the German 'Taxi To The Toilet' and 'El Super' here.

The original theatre on this site, the Arcade, was in operation by 1919.

I answered a resounding "NO" because of what I perceive to be the real intent behind this question: the issue of censorship and public opinion.

If a theatre decides to pull or never show a movie for legal, economic, demographic or public safety reasons, that's one thing. However, if it books a movie and then cancels because of pressure exerted by closed-minded individuals or special interest groups, then I say "shame on them!"

In my line of work, censorship is a dirty word. If I committed to showing a film, I wouldn't cancel it any more than I would pull a controversial book from a public or school library shelf, regardless of how many complaints it gets!

If people don't like it, they don't have to see it, hear it, or read it. If a theatre in my neighbourhood is showing a movie that offends or conflicts with my values or has the potential to attract an undesirable element or unruly audience, I would just avoid it and stay away.

I did not post the message attributed to "Warren" on 2/20/06, nor do I even know what it refers to. Are gremlins at work?

Two 1948 views of the auditorium, which had a stadium section at the rear:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio482.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio48.jpg

In 1948 wasn't it unusual for a theatre to have no curtains?

The last name of this theatre was Cinema Studio.

Warren... gremlins may indeed be to blame for associating that message with your CT account, but it appears to be a response to the old news item about that Utah theater that cancelled a scheduled engagement of "Brokeback Mountain" a few months back.

If the Theatre St. Marks rates a listing under the name THEATRE surely this should be changed to Cinema Studio.

Grand opening as Studio (September 23, 1946):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio46.jpg

In 1971 with the studio on the verge of bankruptcy and its new releases tanking MGM rushed out its all time diamond for Christmas 1971. The only Manhattan screen they could get the first week was Cinema Studio, although in week 2 they picked up Guild 50th, UA East, UA Riviera and New Alpine. It took till week 3 for them to realize that this ad was from the 1968 70mm engagement and that all of these prints were 35mm Metrocolor.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/1971re-releaseGoneWithTheWind.jpg

Publicity from 1988: The Family by Ettore Scola.

I would describe that as "advertising," not publicity.

How was the Cinema Studio twinned?

The twinning was more or less down the middle, if I recall correctly. See my post above of 2/20/06 for photos of the original auditorium.

If the Arcade was replaced by the Studio due to fire shouldn't these be separate listings instead of alternative names?

Is 1931 Broadway the correct address for the Cinema Studio? Isn't it uniformly true that odd numbered addresses are on the left side of Broadway and even numbers on the right?

Here are new links to 1948 views of the auditorium:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio482.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio48.jpg

Wasn't this the first Manhattan home of "Cinema Paradiso." Can't remember if it was one of the last here or one of the first at Lincoln Plaza.

Renewing link.

1982 exterior image.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=studio+new+york&ProductID=30954

Is the introduction address correct? A current Barnes & Noble store south of this location has an address of 1972 Broadway. Also, buildings on the east side of Broadway have even numbers, not odd numbers.

The introductory address is incorrect, placing Cinema Studio south of 65th Street and on the west side of Broadway. The theatre was actually just above 66th Street on the east side of Broadway. Barnes & Noble currently occupies that corner and uses an address of 1972 Broadway. The next store up is a Banana Republic at 1976. So perhaps we could settle for 1974 for Cinema Studio? If not, then just Broadway & 66th Street, which it used in advertising.

How it have been above 66th street when called Studio 65?

65th Street is known to many New Yorkers as the route for a crosstown bus, which is probably why the number 65 was once used as part of the name. Management hoped to attract patronage from the East Side. I don't think the 65 was used for too long. It might have caused more confusion than it was worth.

Warren, since the 1931 Broadway address is listed as the address for the Arcade Theatre in Film Daily yearbooks I suspect it was possibly caused by Lincoln Square Arcade access perhaps changing traditional east and west assignments.

Since the Studio Cinema was built from the ground up in 1946 (the first post-war new build in NYC according to Brecht) it may have inherited the number from the Arcade but, you are correct, I cannot find anything with that number attached to the Studio Cinema, or in fact any number.

Here's a grainy newspaper photo showing the twinned Cinema Studio just before closure in March, 1990. The final bookings were "Too Beautiful For You" and "Cinema Paradiso." It first opened as a twin under the direction of Daniel Talbot in December, 1978, with "Dossier 51" and "Rain and Shine."
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/cinstud12.jpg

The Colonial Bank (1964 Broadway) became Bank Leumi Trust in the eighties. The Cinema Studio was located just next to it at 1968 Broadway.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=studio+new+york&ProductID=30955

http://www.communityheritagemaps.com/manhattan1909/repros/04_nyc_1909_3_adj.html

Another movie that had a long run was Shoah. And due to its running time, it played on both screens and $10 admissions were charged for each part.

Here's some curious advertising from April 4th, 1947. At the right, there's a small ad for the Studio in its final day of the sub-run "They Were Sisters." For the next day's American premiere engagement of "The Bellman," the name becomes Studio 65. Figure!
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/studio447.jpg

Despite being a Long Islander I actually attended the Studio One Thanksgiving Day, probably late 40s, after the Macy Parade, with my parents, killing time to go to my aunts for Thanksgiving Dinner. The whole program was comedy. Didn't get thru the whole program before we had to leave. The movie we left during was a Laurel and Hardy and I remember there being a goat on a boat, or raft, drifting out to sea. Wonder whatever happened to the goat? Anybody know the name of the movie? Never actually saw the auditorium since we entered and left in the dark. That was usually the case with continuous performance theatres.

It might have been an L&H short entitled "Towed in a Hole," but I can't vouch for it.

Sounds more like "SAPS AT SEA".

http://www.cvtreasures.com/vintage-movie-posters-comedy-vintage-movie-posters-c-66_75/laurel-hardy-saps-at-sea-vintage-movie-poster-one-sheet-p-1838

Definitely sounds like "Saps" from the description you posted Al. Thanks.

"Saps at Sea" was a feature. I got the impression from "rvb"'s post that the film was a short, and part of an all-comedy program similar to those at the "Laffmovie" on 42nd Street. However, those programs usually consisted of features and shorts, so it could have been either.

Warren when you read the synopsis in Als posting it certainly sound right. How many movies have a goat drifting out to sea.

I don't know. But neither the synopsis for "Saps at Sea" nor one for "Towed in a Hole" mentions a goat. If you can remember the year of that Thanksgiving, you might be able to find a newspaper ad with details of the Studio program.

The posting from Al specifically mentioned a goat that chewed a rope so it floated out to sea.

New book on Talbot theatres.

http://www.amazon.com/Yorker-Theater-Other-Scenes-Movies/dp/0231145667/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0