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 165 comments)
“Gigi” was a move-over from the Royale Theatre. Most likely it was the same 35mm print. There is an ad above that shows it playing at the Sutton in it’s 45th. week.
The Sutton Theatre was equipped with 70MM projection and Dolby Stereo (CP-200 with SR cards).
The Sutton only played afew 70MM films.
“Gremlins 2: The New Batch” (June 15, 1990)
“Arachnophobia” (July 18, 1990)
“Fantasia” (Oct. 5, 1990)
“The Bonfire of the Vanities” (Dec. 21, 1990)
“The Rocketeer” (June 21, 1991)
“Beauty and the Beast” (Mar. 20, 1992)
“Beauty and the Beast” (Apr. 24, 1992)
Before being acquired by the Rugoff Becker circuit and becoming the flagship of the Cinema 5 chain, who were the orignal owners?
The developer of this new building destroyed the exterior prior to demolition to ward off any possibility of landmarking by LPC.
Astyanax, the take-over goes back to 1943 so it may have been independently owned before that.
i know 20th Century Fox’s THE BLUE MAX had its premiere exclusive NYC engagement at the Sutton and a souvenir program was sold in the lobby. but there seems to be some debate as to whether is was a traditional two show a day roadshow engagement or a continuous performance engagement as they were called in the day. so which was it? the fact a souvenir program was sold would leave me to believe it was a traditional 2 show a day roadshow engagement. its my understanding that back in the day it was highly unusual for continuous performance engagements even exclusive in one theater to have a souvenir program no matter how “big” the film was.
“The Blue Max” was a two shows a day Roadshow at the Sutton.
Only saw one flick here as the Sutton was a bit out of my way, Bladerunner, June ‘82.
Status needs to be changed to “demolished,” and totally!
Fifty-seven years ago today, the movie version of Paddy Chayefsky’s acclaimed TV play, “Marty,” opened its world premiere engagement at the Sutton Theatre, where it had a record-breaking run of 39 weeks and helped to establish that area of East Side Manhattan as a movie-going destination for residents of other boroughs. The Hecht-Hill-Lancaster production for United Artists release went on to win Academy Awards for best picture, leading actor Ernest Borgnine, director Delbert Mann, and scripter Chayefsky.
And at 95 Ernest Borgnine is still going strong. I got to meet just a few years ago and I was thrilled he signed my “Marty” DVD.