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 181 comments)
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.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sicilian Clan, The 3 Stooges Review,Network,Cuckoo’s Nest, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety gives you some indication of the quality of the bookings this theatre got in first run
Let’s not forget the exclusive engagement of newly restored and reissued Marx Brothers classic, “Animal Crackers” in 1974 or so.
exactly Ed, thanks. I saw the footage in a Marx Brothers documentary wish I could have been there. But “settled” for seeing Duck Soup and Night at the Opera at my beloved Castro Theatre