Strand Theatre
1579 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1579 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
32 people
favorited this theater
The Strand Theatre was opened in 1914 for the Mitchel Mark Realty Company and was under the early direction of Samuel “Roxy” Rothapfel as the Mark Strand. It originally had a seating capacity of 2,989.
The Strand Theatre began its life with stage shows in addition to movies and also had one of the largest stages in the city in 1914. After stage shows were dropped in 1929, seating was reduced to 2,750. In the late-1930’s stage shows (and vaudeville) were brought back.
After dropping stage shows on July 3, 1951, the Strand Theatre was renamed Warner Theatre, and opened with “Stangers on a Train”. During 1952 to 1953, the theatre closed, was renovated and renamed Warner Cinerama. Cinerama films moved here from the Broadway Theatre, starting with “This Is Cinerama” in 1953.
In 1963, the auditorium was equipped with a 81 foot wide, 30 feet tall screen to show “Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. World Premiere’s of 70mm films included “Porgy and Bess”(June 24, 1959), “Exodus”(December 15, 1960), “The Greatest Story Ever Told”(February 15, 1965), “Grand Prix”(December 21, 1966 and “Camelot”(October 25, 1967).
On July 30, 1968, the theatre reopened as a triplex. The Warner Cinerama theatre with 1,000 seats occupied the main floor. The former balcony became the 1,200 seat Penthouse Theatre. A third theatre built in the old Stand’s stagehouse was also opened, called the Cine Orleans, which had its own entrance on W. 47th Street. In the early-1980’s the Cinerama and Penthouse were remodeled and renamed the RKO Warner Twin.
Unfortunately, on February 8th 1987, after a long and eventful life, one of the greatest movie palaces of New York City closed and was demolished.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures, Warren, Orlando Lopes
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Recent comments (view all 365 comments)
The Orleans did close first about a year before the Warner.
Sixty years ago today, the Warner resumed the stage/screen policy that was dropped in 1951 together with the theatre’s original name of Strand. Most of the Warner’s film bookings had proved unprofitable, so on April 7, 1952, the Warner Theatre unveiled an Easter holiday program with “live” adornments. On screen was Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s first color film, “Jack in the Beanstalk.” Performing on the Warner’s stage were Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, singer Ella Mae Morse, comedian Harvey Stone, Hollywood dancer Gene Nelson, and other acts. On opening day only, Abbott & Costello themselves appeard on stage at 12:10pm and 9:45pm. During Easter week, tickets for children were 50 cents at all times. After this engagement, the Warner brought in three more stage/screen programs before closing for the summer. During that closure, it was decided to convert the Warner into a showcase for Cinerama.
As to the illustration currently shown above (Broadway Comes to Broadway) I saw Oklahoma during that series. It was in the upstairss theater, formerly the balcony with a nicely tapered rake and a gorgeous ceiling.
The Oklahoma print, however, was atrocious — completely faded to pink as (Eastmancolor?) tends to do. What a disappointment, as it was my first time seeing the movie. I didn’t go back for any other films in the series.
My question — what year was this series shown?
Seventy-one years ago today, WB’s “The Great Lie,” which gave Bette Davis sole star billing above the title and in equal-sized type, opened its NYC premiere engagement at the Strand Theatre. Directed by Edmund Goulding, the B&W melodrama featured George Brent, Mary Astor, Lucile Watson, and Hattie McDaniel. Headlining the Strand’s stage show were saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra, with support from singers Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell, drum phenomenon Buddy Schutz, and dancers Tip-Tap and Toe. The Strand’s doors opened at 9:00am, with last complete stage/screen show starting at 10:15pm.
I also attended the series mentioned above (Broadway comes to Broadway) I was working my way through film school as a projectionist in Boston. My union card got me into the both projection booths. They ran Oklahoma in the upstairs theater because that booth had the Todd-AO projectors and were able to run 30fps. They had to replace a couple of projector motors and some amplifiers to do it. They later found that they could run the century projectors in the downstairs booth at 30fps but that was too late for Oklahoma. The print of South Pacific was okay but the movie isn’t that good. The most impressive show was the print of My Fair Lady, it was incredible. Camelot was so grainy that some scenes looked like golf balls and it was bad if you were sitting close to the screen (like in the first 20 rows this was a huge theater). It looked okay if you sat in the back row of the theater. Of course Camelot was a blow up. The films that used 65mm negative were clear and sharp. The blow ups were grainy some more than others Camelot being the worse of the series. There is no question that the downstairs theater had a huge screen. The projection booth for downstairs had two century jj’s and 13.6 mm carbons running at over 180 amps so there was a nice bright picture.
I love carbon arc projection (as long as the projectionist is on the ball!)
Does anyone have photos of the INTERIOR of the theater at different times in its history?
Buffalo, when you find some, please post them here! Thanks in advance.
There are several interior photos displayed right here: cinematreasures
Here’s a 1980s tax photo showing the Strand Theatre’s corner with 47th Street: lunaimaging