Sutton Theater
205 East 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
205 East 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 165 comments found
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.
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.
Status needs to be changed to “demolished,” and totally!
Only saw one flick here as the Sutton was a bit out of my way, Bladerunner, June ‘82.
“The Blue Max” was a two shows a day Roadshow at the Sutton.
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.
Astyanax, the take-over goes back to 1943 so it may have been independently owned before that.
The developer of this new building destroyed the exterior prior to demolition to ward off any possibility of landmarking by LPC.
Before being acquired by the Rugoff Becker circuit and becoming the flagship of the Cinema 5 chain, who were the orignal owners?
“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)
Does any one know when the Sutton played ‘Gigi’ was It a roadshow version and did the Sutton have a stereo print of Gigi or even had stereo or 70MM?
Updated — thanks!
On the bright side, Boxoffice got this one right. :)
Ah, I was in a rush last night and failed to read any of the recent comments that revealed the opening date.
As Al Alvarez posted, the Sutton was operating in 1934. The 1935 Film Daily Yearbook lists the Sutton Theater at 205 East 57th Street with 575 seats. The Department of Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy in April of 1934 for a 570 seat motion picture theater at 205-09 East 57th Street. There was also a certificate of occupancy issued in February of 1924 for a bank at this address. The introduction above should be updated.
Joe, the Sutton was already advertising in the NYT as showing movies in 1934.
The Sutton #2 (larger ground-level auditorium post-twinning) was one of the two theatres (gosh, the LA house slips my mind) where Dolby SR-D (Dolby Stereo Digital) was quietly (well, it was loud) beta-tested with the engagement of STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.
If the writer of the item in the April 23, 1955, issue of Boxoffice got the facts right, the Sutton must have opened in the mid-1930s. The article said that the opening week of “Marty” had given the Sutton the biggest gross in its 21-year history.
The earliest mention of the Sutton I’ve found in Boxoffice so far is from the August 28, 1943, issue which said that the house had been taken over by the R&B circuit, and that after being renovated the Sutton would be operated with the same policy as the circuit’s Art Theatre and 8th Street Playhouse, both of which were in Greenwich Village.
Renewing link.
This was the Sutton in 1986.
View link
Renewing link.
Great theater. Saw Moonstruck here as a 16 year old my first few months in the city. Used to trek up 3rd Ave every so often to catch a movie here; Clara’s Heart, The Good Mother, Hardware (after it had twinned) but not too much more after it split. I really tried to patronize as many single screens as I could. I truly miss them.
Growing up on the Upper East Side in the 60s and 70s, this was an iconic venue, running a mix of Universal, Fox and Cinema 5 (own brand) product in its Rugoff/Cinema 5 hey day…Some of my best Sutton memories include Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Sicilian Clan, The Three Stooges, Blazing Saddles, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Young Frankenstein (several times), High Anxiety, Love & Death, Network…Attended a prevue/trailer day as they launched the twin and remember not fondly the uphill sloping in the smaller screen
Like the Beekman, there would have been a decent case for landmarking this, but only as a single screen
Hi, movies534! I wholeheartedly agree with your phrase “Movies have been on film forever! Leave it (them) on film! Frankly, there are times when I absolutely curse the day that VCRs, video, DVD players, and ultimately DVD’s and all these elaborate home-entertainment systems that many Americans own were ushered in.