Acme Theater
50 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
50 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
2 people
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The Acme Theater was built in 1870 as a variety theater called the Union Square Theater. In 1893 Keith and Albee purchased the theater for use as a vaudeville theater. It became a movie house in 1908.
In 1921 the name was changed to the Acme Theater. The Acme closed in 1936.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
A 1908 NYT article names the Keith & Proctor on 23rd Street as being renamed Bijou Dream, not this one.
View link
This link is for 1905 story of fire at theater.
The 14th Street side of this theatre site is now part of the parcel that includes Circuit City and Virgin Music. Directly behind it, with entrance on Broadway near the corner with 13th Street, is the Regal Union Square multiplex.
I seem to recall there being a really nice Marquee Magazine article on the Union Square back in the 80’s.
Here is a New York Times article on the theatre in the 1980’s:
View link
This site will soon be vacant again due to the closures of Circuit City (last weekend) and Virgin Music (May 31st). Perhaps Regal will expand its adjacent multiplex, whose entrance could easily be moved to the corner of 14th Street and Broadway.
Here’s a new link to an aerial view of the remains of the Acme before demolition. 14th Street is at left, and Fourth Avenue above. Property to the west of the Acme had already been demolished: View link
There are some old pictures of the theater as the Union Square here on this web page well as some history: View link
On this day in 1932, the Acme Theatre had a small ad in The New York Times for its current engagement of Fritz Lang’s German-made “By Rocket to the Moon,” described as even more fantastic and futuristic than the director’s “Metropolis.” All seats were 15 cents from 9:00am opening until 1:00pm on weekdays. Midnight performances were held on Saturdays.
Sorry! The year of the ad was 1933, not 1932. The movie was originally released in Germany in 1929 as “Frau im Mond” (“Woman in the Moon”).