Ambassador Theatre
411 N. Seventh Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
411 N. Seventh Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 51 comments found
We might as well ignore the fact that Stanley Warner’s five-year sublease of Ambassador ended in February 1959. Besides, what other Cinerama films were in the can after “South Seas Adventure”? The theatre was hardly abandoned and reopened in August with a subrun of “South Pacific.”
As for the Lindell Blvd. Cinerama house, it was not even announced until May 1962 that it was to be erected.
“In 1960, the Cinerama, the first major theater built since the Fox Theatre in 1928, went up at 4218 Lindell…”
That theater opened in 1963, not 1960.
The Ambassador Theatre annual of the Theatre Historical Society (Copyright 2007) includes: “No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of THS.
Sad loss to the US along with the Fabulous Fox in SF and the Roxy in NY. Terrible losses – there were others too, but these 3 were the most important.
Has anybody ever compared the Ambassador to the Chicago Oriental? Many architectural lines in the auditorium are identical.
Chuck1231, could you re-post the Dr. Zhivago picture you added on April 10, 2005? Right now in order to see it one has to log into your photobucket account.
The National Register of Historic Places nomination form was most interesting to read….did the Ambassador receive that honor before it was demolished? The written description of this theatre was very complete and gave one a sense of actually seeing it with their own eyes. And to read the words of one reporter was a sad commentary about the demise of a great theatre….“theaters don’t die in St. Louis, they become parking lots”.
Thanks goes to a lady photographer by the name of Toby Weiss who took photos that can be viewed @ http://www.builtstlouis.net/ambassador01.html
“The area the Ambassador once stood on is now a plaza for a large bank that was next door.” Such a shame!
Interesting to read about the signature wall of fame. Was it saved during demolition?
Howard B Haas: My source for saying the Ambassador was Spanish Renaissance was, among may others, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of August 22, 1926. Rapp & Rapp did have a French Renaissance style theatre in St. Louis, the St. Louis Theatre, now Powell Symphony Hall.
Yes Chuck, I should have specified which Fox Theatre I meant. Since we were discussing a theatre in Saint Louis I figured it would be taken for granted. Thanks for clarifying that.
JAlex, what’s your source for that assertion? All sources that I read online state French Renaissance. Naylor’s hardback book specifies the lobby is “French palatial.”
Seymour, thank you for posting that photograph, but that is the box office of the Fox Theatre. You can tell by the gryphons on the door handles, and can faintly make out the word “FOX” painted on the box office glass. If you could re-post the photo at the Fox page it would be a nice addition to the comments there.
“French Renaissance” was not the style of the Ambassador. Spanish Renaissance is the correct style, with the theatre having a flavor of a Spanish festival.
May, 1957, boxoffice view from LIFE Photograph Collection,
View link
If anyone has access to the THS Annual No. 33 2006 the entire book is dedicated to the Ambassador Theatre. It pretty well covers its history from beginning to end with tons of detail and photos from cover to cover.
Speaking to trying to get interior photos: In the late 70s we asked to be able to get in and do so, but were refused as “there was no insurance.” The owner at the time: Equitable Life Assurance of America!
This is the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places.
I also went to the owners in the mid 1980’s and asked to look at, and photograph the interior. They said,“No”. I always thought they were trying to hide something. I don’t think they wanted the public to see how salvagable this theatre really was.
I recall that the building’s owners in the 1990s wanted to put a shopping mall in the theater space, then auctioned off as many furnishings as they could get out of there in order to turn it into a parking garage, then decided to sell the entire building to Mercantile Bank to tear it down. I went to the owners' office in the building one day to ask for permission to take pictures of what was left inside the theater. They said, “There’s nothing left in there to see.” Not so, according to the photos posted here of the demolition. An old friend once told me he never liked that theater because the lobby was to shallow and you could hear the outdoor traffic in the auditorium. But it certainly was beautiful.
The Ambassador was a roadshow house in the 1960s, at which I had the pleasure of viewing several films in 70mm, including Cleopatra, My Fair Lady, Dr. Zivago and The Bible. Great 6-track magnetic sound and a splendid screen image.
The Ambassador was much harder to sneak into than the Loew’s State around the corner on Washington. One vivid memory I have of the Ambassador is that it ran the first Kung-Fu flick to be shown in St. Louis, “Five Fingers Of Death” in the spring of 1973. Ahh, those were the days….
Shame this beautiful theatre is gone forever. Saw Lawrence of Arabia & The Longest Day there as a youth, and as an adult worked there in the late 60’s & 70’s. Loved poking and roaming around the theatre between shows. Did this when they had a single run, first run and you had about 2 hours between shows. Crying shame it’s gone.
This website has additional photos.