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 178 comments found
This was a small issue at the Sutton as it didn’t even have a concession stand until the eighties.
Back in the 60’s — the theatre owners DID NOT clean the theatres that is why they could schedule manymore showings than today!!
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).
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.
In many cases, no one cleaned between shows. Audiences were also more conscientious and drink/popcorn portions were smaller, so there was less waste.
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.
These small theatres had no concession stand in 1955, so turnaround was easy.
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.
Hey CAptblood was The Blue Max a roadshow engagement?
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!!!!!!!!
By the time I caught Queen of the Damned there in ‘02, the theater had slipped into a bit of disarray, sloppy housekeeping, disrespectful patrons, etc. My companion looked at me and said “Sutton Place has changed, no?”
Featured in this 1967 trade ad: Boxoffice
Hello-
does anyone know if the Sutton had any
exclusive roadshow engagements other than
“The Blue Max”?
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!