Sutton Theater
205 East 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
205 East 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
21 people
favorited this theater
The building, in New York’s posh Sutton Place neighborhood, was originally an intimate ‘legit’ playhouse called the Bandbox Theater. In 1917, it was converted into a bank. When the bank failed early in the Depression, the structure was re-built as a single screen, modern cinema, with Benjamin Schlanger as architect. In April, 1934 the Department of Buildings issued a Certificate of Occupancy for a 570 seat motion picture theatre.
In later years, the theater was twinned and the balcony was turned into a separate theater. This particular conversion was especially unfortunate, as the Sutton’s balcony was too small to yield proper sight lines. The result was an auditorium that placed the audience far too close to the screen.
The Sutton Theater was closed in the summer of 2004, and demolished in January 2005, replaced by a condominium tower.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 178 comments)
This was a most Beautiful theatre! I worked there when it was managed by Rugoff Theatres (c. 1966 –‘67) and again later when it was managed by Cinema V (1970s). There was a long run of the film “The Blue Max”. We had a great crew of young people. As an Usher I spoke with Zal from the Lovin’ Spoonful and the artist who did the Archie Comic in the newspaper. There is no permanence in the United States. The only value is MONEY. Not Tradition. Not History. Not beauty. I guess if they could tear down beautiful and awe inspiring Penn Station why not the Sutton? It was an intregral part of the East Side with a select clientelle. What a SHAME!!!!!!!!
Hey CAptblood was The Blue Max a roadshow engagement?
Hello-
in the photos section i was looking at the newspaper ads for “Marty” when it first opened in 1955. i noticed something quite interesting. nowadays theater owners or exhibitors to use the correct trade term seem to schedule an inordinately large amount of times between the showings of a film. thereby getting fewer shows a day. whereas in the “Marty” ads from 1955 it appears the manager of the Sutton scheduled showings of the film with as little time between showings as he figured the staff could get he old audience out and the new audience in.
These small theatres had no concession stand in 1955, so turnaround was easy.
to AL A.–
thanks for your reply to my post. interesting way of looking at the scheduling of showings.
now the lack of a concession stand in smaller art houses could certainly have accommodated faster turnover hence more showings a day. but the policy was also used in the larger movie theaters in the Times Square area. for instance on the photos page for the Loew’s Capitol there is a newspaper ad for premiere engagement of the original “Planet of the Apes” from 1968. the film is say 1hr.42mins? and the ad states the showings were scheduled every two hours starting at 10a.m.
also when “The Godfather” opened March of 1972 at the Loew’s State I and II is was scheduled every three hours and the film had a running time of 2hrs.50mins.
In many cases, no one cleaned between shows. Audiences were also more conscientious and drink/popcorn portions were smaller, so there was less waste.
Hello to AL A.–
you certainly make a good point in your last e-mail. i’m sure for sometime after it opened at the Loew’s Capitol many screenings of the original 1968 “Plane of the Apes” especially showings on Fri.,Sat. and Sun. were close to sold out if not sold out. this relates to the point in your last e-mail~ i always wondered how the staff of the Capitol got the old audience out, cleaned the theater then got the new audience in before the next screening all in 18mins.
THU25APR2013 There’s a shot of the Sutton towards the end of “The Devil’s Advocate” (to be precise, it’s 1 hour 56 minutes into the film).
Back in the 60’s — the theatre owners DID NOT clean the theatres that is why they could schedule manymore showings than today!!
This was a small issue at the Sutton as it didn’t even have a concession stand until the eighties.