Charles Theatre
193 Avenue B,
New York,
NY
10009
193 Avenue B,
New York,
NY
10009
5 people
favorited this theater
Originally opened as the Bijou Theatre in 1926. In later years it was one of the early New York theatres to program off-beat and independent films. It showed early Warhol and had open film nights where young filmmakers could get an audience.
Contributed by
RobertR
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Recent comments (view all 37 comments)
I looked in a few years ago between services. The interior appears largely unchanged except that it has been completely painted glossy white.
Locals expect it will be demolished since the Hispanic evangelical church ceased services a couple of years ago, perhaps in response to a violation citation from the Department of Buildings for wrongful use. But Dept. of City Planning records show that the church has not sold the property. So maybe there’s still hope for this unique landmark of New York countercultural theater history.
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine, January 1963:
NEW YORK-Audubon Films has expanded its activities to include exhibition. The company has taken over the Charles Theater in Greenwich Village and will reopen it on January 16, following redecoration and installation of new seats.
Radley H. Metzger, director of Audubon, said the theater would operate on a policy of selected foreign and American films. Opening program will consist of “The Manchurian Candidate” and “A Coming-Out Party”, followed by “Phaedra” and “Lolita”.
Hmmm, so the soft core porn king also owned theatres!
A 1966 double bill
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The Bijou Theatre was vividly described in yesterday’s “Metropolitan Diary” in The New York Times. The letter by a former patron is the second entry here:
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The theater also ran jazz matinees on Sunday afternoons in the early 60s. I remember seeing Jerome Richardson and Les Spann playing flute duets or flute and guiter duets, among other acts. It helped that the theater was diagonally across the avenue from Stanley’s, one of the earliest of the hipster bars in the far east.
Reverend Carlos Torres is working to restore the theater:
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There’s a nice article by Charles L. Mee, Jr. on the Charles in the November 1962 issue of Horizon magazine: “WHERE TALENT IS TRIED AND TESTED, At the Charles Theatre in New York the art of film has found a smoky and uproarious arena for self-criticism.”
Does anyone recall seeing the Wolper documentary “1000 Days” about the Kennedy administration (b+w) followed by a screening of a copy of the Zapruder film in late November/early December 1964?
Is anyone aware of any other early screenings of the Zapruder film, which was not released to the general public until the mid-70’s?
Thank you.
Here’s a glimpse at the interior.
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