Loew's Orpheum Theatre
168 E. 86th Street,
New York,
NY
10128
168 E. 86th Street,
New York,
NY
10128
10 people
favorited this theater
Loew’s Orpheum Theatre opened on October 19, 1913. A Kimball 2 manual 20 rank organ was installed in 1915. It was twinned in July 1968, with the former balcony being named Loew’s Cine.
The theater closed in November 1989 and was demolished.
In November 1991, a new 7-screen Loews Orpheum Theatre opened on the site, which remains open in 2010.
Contributed by
William Gabel
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 84 comments)
Loved Orpheum 1 in my childhood during the 70s to early 80s. Remember seeing Star Wars 1-3 (Ep. 4-6), Superman, Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fog (80) and many others big and small. At Orpheum 2 I remember flicks like Start Trek 2 and The Black Hole. After seeing a movie at one of these theaters we would go to Flaming Embers for their salad, burger and baked potato.
I began a ritual of driving an hour into New York to see 70MM engagements ever since experiencing Star Wars at the Orpheum in ’77. During that period, a lot of the old “palaces†were still around and I was fortunate enough to have visited all of them before they were plexed or demolished. The big house 1 at the Orpheum was always my favorite. Perhaps not as plush as some of its contemporaries (I vaguely recall a red curtain and purple upholstery), but it made up for it in presentation. At that time the “biggest†movies usually were booked at the Orpheum uptown and the Loews Astor Plaza in midtown for their 70MM engagements (unless they went to Walter Read’s Ziegfeld), which seemed to be driven by the studios (for instance, 20th Century Fox product always seemed to end up at Loews). Although the Astor Plaza was considered the more “premier†theater of the two because of its capacity and location, I always thought projection and sound to be superior at the Orpheum. I believe they were still using carbon arcs in the lamp houses yielding a pleasing bright image – as compared the Astor Plaza which always seemed under-lamped to me. The Orpheum’s sound system usually sounded great â€" fuller and less strident in the upper midrange in comparison to the Astor or the Ziegfeld. I also recall them as having way oversized surrounds (mostly Altec A-7s) which always lent an impressive sense of envelopment when called for.
PH you make a great point about the sound system at Orpheum 1. Very full sound with lots of impact. I still have fond memories of how great Raiders of the Lost Ark sounded there.
The opening date is still wrong.
It was October 19, 1913.
View link
Here are two vintage views of Loew’s Orpheum: View link
Coll phots Tinseltoes.
in his comment of Oct.22, 2005 Robert refers to the X rated “Inga”
a film shown at the Loews' Cine as “porn”. i am a librarian by
education and vocation as a result am very picky about the use
of language. i do not think Loew’s would have booked an actual
porn film into the Cine. many X rated films at the time “Inga” was
released would probably get R rating today. so please unless its
actual porn do not refer to it as such. refer to it as an
exploitation film to use and old term. thank you.
Chris, when “INGA” was released, it was considered a porn film since graphic sex films were not yet in existence. Loews was the first chain to book X-rated independent Swedish sex films like “WITHOUT A STITCH” and “INGA” into mainstream theatres and was even accused of promoting pornography by MPAA President Jack Valenti.
This photograph of the Loew’s Orpheum Theatre was taken in 1930 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
Thanks Brad for the link.