Princess Theatre
104-106 W. 39th Street,
New York,
NY
104-106 W. 39th Street,
New York,
NY
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing all 11 comments
This showed movies as the Princess in 1915-1916.
The Singing Taxi Driver in 1953.
Flight into France in 1949.
Rossini in 1948.
Shown here at the Cinema Verdi in 1953 was this 1950 Italian film called The Singing Taxi Driver.
This theatre, which at one point was known as the Little CinéMet, ran this lesser-known Italian neorealist film in 1949.
Also known as the Rex Theater?
Old Princess Theatre Leased To Moving Picture Operators
NY Times December 23, 1932
The old Princess Theatre, at 104-106 West Thirty-ninth Street, has been leased by the Estate of Henry G. Silleck to 1035 Sixth Avenue, Inc., motion picture operators. The lessees are now making extensive alterations in the building, enlarging its seating capacity and placing the main entrance on Sixth Avenue. When the alterations are completed next month the theatre will be known as the Rex Moving Picture Theatre.
In 1948, as the Little Met, it was part of the Hyams-Green circuit, along with the City and Irving Place Theatres:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/hyamsgreen.jpg
Casolaro Films, a distributor of Italian films to ethnic houses and some art houses, had its offices at 106 W. 39th Street, in the Princess Theatre building, and might have supplied some of the programs for the theatre under its incarnations as Little CineMet/Cinema Verdi in the 1940s-50s. Casolaro later became Casolaro Giglio Films, moved to Lafayette Street off Canal, and supplied the Cinema Giglio (which they must have leased) with Italian product.
Two photos of the Princess Theatre, one exterior and one interior, can be found in the book “Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture” by William Morrison, pages 84 & 85. The Princess had various names over the years. It was also called “Little CineMet” at one time because of its proximity to the old Metropolitan Opera and “Cinema Verdi” when it ran Italian films exclusively.
I am hoping someone might be able to answer a question for me. I am researching for a catlogue raisonne of work by American sculptor Sally James Farnham(1869-1943). In the Farnham archives, I have found a photo of a work she apparently created for the Princess Theatre in 1913. It depicts a female nude allegorical figure of Theatre with the words “The Princess Theatre of Thrills, F. Ray Comstock, manager New York”. I understand that the Princess Theatre was demolished in 1955. I would love to know if there are any existing photographs of the interior of the theatre or if anyone knows whether any works, such as this Farnham piece, might have been salvaged before the theatre was torn down.