Coliseum Cinemas
4260-4261 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
4260-4261 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
11 people
favorited this theater
Located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, on the northwest corner of West 181st Street and Broadway, the Coliseum Theatre boasted to be the third largest theatre in the United States, with 3,500 seats, when it opened in 1920. B.S. Moss was involved with the launching of the theatre as an entity and it later came under the management of RKO. The architects were DeRosa and Piera, who designed other movie palaces of that period.
In its heyday many of the most famous vaudeville acts came to the stage of the Coliseum. The Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Uncle Don’s Kiddie Show, and Gertrude Berg of television’s “The Goldbergs” were among the performers who had been there.
In the early-1980’s, the theatre was made into a triplex. The orchestra seats were one theatre and the mezzanine was split up into two theatres. At this time the ornate ceiling could be seen and appreciated by those who have a passion for nostalgia. The ornate marquee was taken down at this time. The theatre was later reduced to a duplex by eliminating the orchestra seating area and stage to make way for retails stores, such as New York & Co., Bravo Supermarket, Radio Shack and Easy Connections. The Coliseum Cinemas was closed due to financial problems and was re-opened under new management as a quad theatre in July 1991.
The theater closed in 2002, but reopened in July 2004, as the New Coliseum Theatre and by 2009, was named Coliseum Cinemas. It was closed in October 2011.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 137 comments)
Website for folks interested in saving the Coliseum has changed – now please go to http://www.ColiseumArts.org! Thanks!
Or, on Facebook, join us at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ColiseumArts/
I remember the RKO Coliseum from 1951 and it was still going strong in 1957.
There are no cinemas close and still they cant make it?
I saw “Giant” there with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Sal Mineo early one February, there was a heavy snowfall and Broadway was blocked. It was James Dean’s last movie. Can somebody tell me who played the younger boy in “Knock on Any Door” with John Derek?
Mickey Knox?
Knox
Yes, thanks. Sal Mineo in “Rebel without a Cause” reminded me of him.
Guarina, “Giant” opened at the Coliseum and other RKO neighborhood theatres on January 30th, 1957, for one week as a single feature. It did such big business that RKO decided to hold it over for an additional four days. This was only the second time in its history that RKO had extended a neighborhood circuit run (previously with “The Robe”), advertising claimed. Your mention of a blizzard suggests that weather might have also been a reason for the extension.
I never knew the neighborhood run was that rigid on one week playdates on the first tier. I guess when pictures still had strong legs the second and third tier really benefitted.
Tinseltoes, That was on my birthday. That was the last winter we lived in New York. We moved south in March.