Apollo Theatre
223 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
223 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 143 comments found
I wonder to what extent the original Bryant Theatre was remodeled (if at all) when the Selwyns purchased the site and built the Times Square Theatre around and adjacent to the original entrance. Perhaps the auditorium was preserved and only the lobby foyer reconstructed with the new colonnaded structure? The foyer still exists, seemingly intact from its Apollo days, at least. It serves as an alternative exit from the Foxwoods.
Posted today by bigjoe59 on the Embassy 1,2,3 page:
My original post was about whether the ornate B.F. Moss Regent and the moderate-sized Bunny, both from 1913, were the first theaters built brick-by-brick from the ground up specifically to show to photoplays or flickers as they were called at the time. I asked this because since movies exploded like fire works after their debut at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall in April of 1896 i simply couldn’t believe that no theater built expressly to show movies were built until the Regent and Bunny in 1913.
Well, they say if you search long enough you’ll find what you’re looking for. I had always assumed that the Apollo on 42 St.(which was torn down with its neighbor the Lyric to built the theater now known as the Foxwoods Theater) was built from the get-go as a “legit” house to use an old term. Guess what? It was built from the get-go to be a combo movie and vaudeville theater.
So, since the Apollo bests the Regent and the Bunny by 3 years, it takes the crown as the oldest theater I’ve found to date that was built from the get-go to show movies.
Yeah… Well, I suppose it is rather difficult to take a photo of the Apollo’s 42nd Street entrance without including the Times Square, since the Apollo’s entrance foyer ran right through the Times Square building. To get a shot of the Apollo alone, I believe one would have to go around to 43rd Street and photograph the auditorium side wall and old exit doors. Rivoli157, you should browse the images in the photo tab above, where you’ll find a few shots that focus solely (at least as much as possible) on the Apollo itself.
This pic is actually a picture of the Times Square Theatre, -the actual building with the columns. The marquee for the Apollo is the only thing Apollo about it.
Other shows that played the Apollo after a return to legit, “5th of July” with Richard Thomas and “Bent” with Richard Gere and I believe Michael York
The female lead is accosted by a masher while looking at Brigitte Bardot displays at the entrance to the Apollo in the John Cassavetes film “SHADOWS”. The scene is a magical snapshot of 42nd street, circa 1959.
It would be great if Foxwoods could install slot machines and gaming tables in the lobby and lounges, but that ain’t permitted under NYC law.
Seems as tho' theatres change names as often as banks.
The former Ford Center for the Performing Arts / Hilton Theatre will be renamed the “Foxwoods Theatre” soon. Foxwoods Resorts Casino has won the naming rights to the theatre.
In 1936, the Apollo was presenting “live” burlesque shows, with some tickets priced as low as 25 cents: View link
I don’t know when the last movie played, but I do remember when it returned to showing movies after its stint as a legit playhouse. It was an odd joy to be in a restored 42nd Street theater, including carpeting, drapes, chandeliers and quality seating, to see “DC Cab” (released 12/16/83).
Does anyone know the last year it showed movies?
Well, the walls may have been standing but the roof and every single thing in the place that wasn’t removed beforehand were completely demolished — it was a just a very big hole in the ground before the Ford Center was constructed.
The Apollo returned as a Broadway theatre with On Golden Pond after a renovation which included changing the entrance to 43rd Street to get away from 42nd street which had yet to be revitalized. As a result the lobby was very tiny since it was basically the “secondary lobby” which a few Broadway houses had when they ran from street to street. The Imperial is another one which immediately comes to mind. The 43 street entrance was retained when this became a concert venue. The theatre was never actually demolished. The exterior walls, along with those of the Lyric next door were used in the final Ford Center, now Hilton.
Some posters who were regular Apollo patrons found my previous suggestion that the theatre played art but sold sleaze, was offensive.
That photo is a perfect example. “THREE FORBIDDEN STORIES” was never advertised this way anywhere else except perhaps drive-ins.
Cool shot.
Here’s a view of the Apollo Theatre’s entrance in February, 1954: View link
It’s a shame most of the theatres on 42nd street are one. Fond memories of going to the Apollo in the early 80s. Price of admission was 75 cents at 11am and would rise to $1.25 in the afternoon.
They left the lights on inside and I always thought it was because they were afraid people were going to kill each other. One day a guy ran down the aisle and sat next to me with a toaster in his lap!
Moments later the cops came in and dragged him away.
Another time they were jackhammering in the back and no one complained!
It was a wild time but if you were a poor HS student, you could see a first run flick with an older film for next to no money. I was always convinced some people lived there!
A full page movie ad in the New York Times, rare for 1922.
View link
Robert, that photo shows the Anco Theatre, not the Apollo Theatre, which was on the north side of 42nd Street.
Near the end
View link
This 1922 image of the Apollo is incorrectly identified at the New York Public Library website as the 125th Street Apollo. But it actually shows the 42nd Street Apollo at a time when William Fox had taken a sublease for movies: View link
Wrong Apollo page.
This is a Life Magazine photo taken in Harlem in 1958. I believe the Apollo is in the foreground, with Loew’s Victoria in the background. Neither theater is identified.
http://tinyurl.com/6auxaf
Always loved this theater — as a run-down cinema, as a playhouse, as a lovely, post-playhouse cinema (it was funny to see something like “Beat Street” here, with chandeliers and red velvet trimmings!) and as a rock concert venue. Broke my heart when they tore it down.
Well To All: I am disabled and housebound so that’s why I have a large collection of classic films——-so I don’t think I will ver get there——-The Apollo was on 42nd st———Grey had a couple of homes, but Catalina was his main abode since he loved the sea as well as the wild west——-Joe From Florida