Loew's State Theatre
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
26 people
favorited this theater
Loew’s State Theatre opened on August 9th 1921, with vaudeville and movies, and the adjoining office building that became Loew’s headquarters.
Many World Premieres were hosted here including “The Three Musketeers” on October 20, 1948. Loew’s State Theatre was closed in 1958 for modernisation. The theatre reopened on March 28, 1959, with the World Premiere engagement of “Some Like It Hot”. The theatre was very successful in the 1960’s with reserved-seat road shows such as “Ben Hur”.
World Premiere’s of 70mm movies at the Loew’s State Theatre included “Ben Hur”(November 18, 1959 and played for 74 weeks), “King of Kings”(October 11, 1961), “Mutiny on the Bounty”(November 8, 1962), “Becket”(March 3, 1964), “The Agony and the Ecstasy”(October 7, 1965), “The Bible in the Beginning….”(September 28, 1966) and “Paint Your Wagon”(October 16, 1969 in Loew’s State 2). In 1972, “The Godfather” had its World Premiere here.
Partly due to the loss of Loew’s Capitol Theatre, Loew’s twinned the State Theatre. The balcony overhang was extended to create State 1 (1,172 seats) in the downstairs auditorium, State 2 (1,214 seats) used the upper portion of the original proscenium arch, was designed in a more ornate fashion, and had some original side wall and ceiling decoration visible. The theatre reopened December 1968, with “Oliver” in State 1 and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in State 2.
The Loew’s State Theatre closed February 19,1987.
In the 1990’s the State Theatre and the adjoining office building which had been Loew’s headquarters were demolished and replaced by a Virgin Megastore. A replacement four-screen multiplex, the Loew’s State 4, opened in the basement in 1996, but closed in 2006 after the opening nearby in W. 42nd Street of two stadium seated megaplexes; the AMC Empire 25 and the 42nd Street E-Walk(13-screens opened by Loew’s in 1999 and operated by Regal since the AMC-Loew’s merger)
Contributed by
William Gabel, Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 556 comments)
There are at least two movie palaces in the New York City area: the Lafayette in Suffern NY (opened in 1924) and the Loew’s Jersey in Jersey City NJ (opened in 1929). I’m happy to say they are both still showing classic movies on a regular basis.
Well, it is far away from New York obviously, but the Seattle Cinerama sure tried to evoke the showmanship of yore with its Big Screen Cinerama and 70mm Film Festival just recently held. Most of the films had their overtures, intermission, and exit music intact and the curtains were used for every show.
Some projection details were a little disappointing occasionally and the print quality varied, but that was to be expected given how rare and hard-to-find some of the 70mm prints were. Also they probably had no way of locating the instructional material for projectionists that the studios provided during the heyday of the roadshow presentations, so the in many cases the lights did not go down at the point they originally would have when the films were first shown in theaters.
Thank you David…. It was worth the wait….I felt I was almost there. The powers of presentation sure knew how to show a special film like this one. I remember seeing “The Robe” in Chicago for the first film in Cinemascope at my neighborhood Balaban & Katz Marbro theater and had the same magical feeling. The theaters where these epics played were just so much part of the whole experience…
As a young kid from LI,I had a chance to experience this theatre,a summer camp trip to see The Bible.Huge, huge theatre. Years later I was here in either Loews State 1 or 2 for various screenings of Oliver!, Love Story, The Owl and the Pussycat, and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Sixty-seven years ago today, MGM’s Technicolor spectacle “Kismet,” starring Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich, moved to Loew’s State after a record-breaking run across the street at the Astor Theatre. Trumpeter Lee Castle & His Orchestra topped the State’s vaudeville bill, which had Dean Martin, a rising young nightclub and radio singer, as “Extra Addded Attraction.” Who knew?
Here’s a link to B&W newsreel coverage of the 1962 premiere of “Lolita.” And whatever became of Sue Lyon? britishpather
I’m sure that was more of a rhetorical question, Tinseltoes, but I’ll follow up anyway: I remembered that she was in the John Huston movie version of Tenessee Williams' “Night of the Iguana” because her role in it was rather similar to that in “Lolita.” I searched her on imdb.com and see that she also appeared with Frank Sinatra in the 1967 detective drama “Tony Rome” and with George C. Scott that same year in “The Flim-Flam Man.” There were other film roles in lower budget films and a number of guest appearances on TV dramas into the 1970’s, but nothing of note. Her personal bio page on imdb is brief, but fairly interesting.
What a wonderful link…Thanks Great Movies in Great Theaters!!!
Fifty-five years ago today, Dean Martin’s first solo starring film, “Ten Thousand Bedrooms,” opened its exclusive NYC premiere engagement at Loew’s State. Photographed in CinemaScope and Metrocolor, the MGM romantic comedy took place mainly in a luxurious hotel in Rome, Italy, and featured Anna Maria Alberghetti, Paul Henreid, Walter Slezak, Eva Bartok and Jules Munshin. On opening day only at 12:45pm, sex bomb Monique Van Vooren made a special guest appearance in the State’s lobby to greet her fans and sign autographs.
Seventy-three years ago today, Judy Garland, described as “MGM’s adorable young singing star,” opened a week’s engagement at Loew’s State at the top of the vaudeville bill, with support from swing fiddler Joe Venuti & His Orchestra, the comic Gaudsmith Brothers, and Stafford & Louise. On screen was Mickey Rooney in MGM’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” a “move-over” from its initial Broadway run at the Capitol Theatre. Later that year (1939), Garland and Rooney would be teamed at the Capitol Theatre in a special stage revue accompanying the premiere engagement of MGM’s “The Wizard of Oz.”