RKO Jefferson Theatre
214 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
214 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 90 comments found
There was a brief mention of the theater in this week’s East Villager. Apartments are going up in its place and it said it was demolished 15 years ago.
I love how the apartments are in “North West East Village.” And that would be in the southern half of Manhattan…
The vacant lot will soon be apartments.
http://thejefferson.com/site/home.php
George Burns mentions this theater many times — on his TV show, in his books, in his act. Apparently there was a real tough crowd in this house.
This was still showing movies in 1977.
On this night only in 1948, the RKO Jefferson presented five acts of vaudeville (no specific names listed) in addition to MGM’s B&W epic “Green Dolphin Street” and UA’s “Fabulous Joe” (a Hal Roach “streamliner” in Cinecolor). The films were second-run for the area, having played two weeks earlier at Loew’s Commodore.
But the ads mention that the they had vaudeville acts at a certain time and date, don’t they? This would just confirm how old I must have been when seeing them. The details would be helpful but I have the general vaudeville productions in my memory. I can see in my mind the pianist who served as the band director conducting the performers on stage and the musicians in the pit. It was a small band of some five to six pieces but they were excellent, enormously dynamic.
The NYT ad would be only an inspiring memento as I work on possible vaudeville productions on the Oregon Coast. I could make a poster collage of varied vaudeville ads.
Anyway, that’s kind of my imaginative game that I would really enjoy. I do produce many shows out here but vaudeville has been in the back of my mind for decades, all because of the wonderful experiences I had at the Jefferson Theater and occasionally at the Academy of Music a block further west on 14th St.
Thanks for any mementos I might receive. Thanks to anyone who can provide newspaper clippings or posters of Jefferson Theater vaudeville.
Joe, the ads are New York Times RKO directories and do not include any details about the Vaudeville acts themselves. I am not sure this will help you much.
Wow! I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if I was there. How do you get this information and is there anyway you could send me a digital photo these ads?
It’s a significant part of my early life and it’s leading me to try and produce some vaudeville shows as I remember them.
Thanks for any help you can offer in this.
Joe, I found some more. The last mention is Sunday, February 25, 1951. The show included the features “The Glass Menagerie” and “Grounds for Marriage” plus ‘Vaudeville All Day’.
Do you have an actual date for the ad?
Thanks.
Sorry, I don’t have a link. I have the ads themselves.
Thanks AlAlvarez. Do you have a link for that?
Joe, RKO stopped advertising Vaudeville in the NYT here in early 1950.
I live in Oregon now but I spent a lot of my youth in that theater, even seeing numerous vaudeville shows which I enormously enjoyed, sitting right by the orchestra pit. I’d be fascinated to know what was the year the last vaudeville show was performed as I might have been right there. I know it was just on weekends.
Tinseltoes, you mentioned they were still doing vaudeville into the 1950’s. Maybe someone can come up with an actual last year.
Thanks.
The theatre’s name honored Joe (Joseph) Jefferson, one of the greatest and most beloved American stage stars of the 19th-early 20th centuries: en.wikipedia
Hey Guys! Interesting stuff here. I used to live at 212 East 14th Street, on the top floor, which you can see in many pictures. I moved there right out of college (I guess 1997-2003). I loved NYC, loved my apartment, the neighborhood, all of it.I miss it greatly and still consider myself a “city person”.I actually saw the theatre get taken down by hand, brick by brick. Spring of 1999 I’d say. At the time I didn’t know (or I guess even care) about the history. And it was a total eye sore and figured it housed rats, etc so I didnt mind seeing it go. Now, I have several old pictures of the theater, along with other East Village pics in my house (in SC). I have two questions and am hoping someone that perhaps visited this theater might be able to answer:
1) why was it named “Jefferson” 2) were there any pictures of anyone perhaps named “jefferson” inside the theater, a bust, etc?
Thanks and Happy, Healthy New Year to all of you!
Hey Guys! Interesting stuff here. I used to live at 212 East 14th Street, on the top floor, which you can see in many pictures. I moved there right out of college (I guess 1997-2003). I loved NYC, loved my apartment, the neighborhood, all of it.I miss it greatly and still consider myself a “city person”.I actually saw the theatre get taken down by hand, brick by brick. Spring of 1999 I’d say. At the time I didn’t know (or I guess even care) about the history. And it was a total eye sore and figured it housed rats, etc so I didnt mind seeing it go. Now, I have several old pictures of the theater, along with other East Village pics in my house (in SC). I have two questions and am hoping someone that perhaps visited this theater might be able to answer:
1) why was it named “Jefferson” 2) were there any pictures of anyone perhaps named “jefferson” inside the theater, a bust, etc?
Thanks and Happy, Healthy New Year to all of you!
I’ve been watching The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show currently running on Antenna TV, and he mentions this theater many times.
there is a building next to 54 West 14th Street Manhattan that looks very much like a former theater. I cannot find any info. it is on sixth avenue. i cannot link to the picture.
The Jefferson ad made no mention of “Scared to Death” being in color, but even if it was, the film was still a low-budget programmer, distributed by Screen Guild. Trade annuals give an original release date of May, 1947, a full year before the Jefferson booking. By that time, SG might have run out of color prints and switched to B&W. But I’m just guessing.
Interesting post, but “Scared to Death” was in 2 color Cinecolor and was Lugosi’s only starring color feature. I restored it and released it on laser disc many years ago.
On this night only in 1948, the RKO Jefferson presented nine acts of vaudeville and a talent contest for amateurs as a bonus to its current screen dounle-bill of “Scared to Death” (with Bela Lugosi) and “Gas House Kids in Hollywood.” Both B&W films were from minor “Poverty Row” studios and booked for a two-day engagement. The Jefferson often played such fare because it held subsequent-run status to that neighborhood’s two leaders, the Skouras Academy of Music and Loew’s Commodore.
I used to work in the Gramercy Park area and on nice days would venture down to 14th to get an ice cream sandwich, with freshly cooked waffles, at Mc Clellans. The Jefferson was closed the entire time I worked there. I remember thinking it odd that the name was right justified. Aha! When RKO left the owner took down those initials just leaving the Jefferson part. A slow decline. Sad.
The vaudeville at the Jefferson became increasingly inconsequential in terms of “name” performers and sporadic in bookings from the 1930s onwards. By the 1940s and into the 1950s, it was usually weekends only or one night per week, or not at all. Newspaper advertising rarely if ever mentioned names on the bill. You might be able to get more detailed information in the vaudeville sections of weekly Variety during those years. Also, if you reside in the NYC area, you could check the press clippings file for the Jefferson Theatre at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center (third floor, Billy Rose Theatre Collection).