Gramercy Theater

FILLING IN SOME MISSING YEARS FOR YOU…. I was manager of the Gramercy from when Splash (Darryl Hannah + Tom Hanks) was playing in 1983 until about mid 1986( when i was transferred to Park and 86th St.) This covered the period during which RKO Century Warner AND Cineplex Odeon Corp successively took over. Also during my period the renovation to the beautiful RED interior, inaugurating the Gramercy’s brief Cineplex Odeon “red period” mentioned in earlier posts. I helped design the renovation, however, i wanted an “island” concession stand that turned out not to be electrically feasible. Yes, i remember when Garth came and paced off the theatre. I remember Real Butter. We had Media educators Group every weekend (SaSu moirnings) and also a lot of Richard Brown NYU film classes, usually with guest speakers who worked on the films being shown.When the ceiling of the Murray Hill collapsed during Psycho II, the Gramercy quickly got 70MM projectors installed and we opened with the movie ALIENs, inheriting all the former Murray hill customers and transforming us overnight from a sorta B-run house (getting movies 6 months after they opened uptown)to a Grade A house.
From then on we were always busy. Evelyn P was the elderly cashier also Ida S and Rebecca S. Who could forget Gwen the concessionistwho kept the popcorn bin full and cleaned the kettle so thoroughly every night, and held the staff together?
One of the doormen, William, was an expert film buff. There are many colorful personalities,much more colorful than me, including a spy and a mini-skirted punk-pierced usherette, but I’ll let them voluntarily comment. Out in the front alcove area during the winter you could play the Variety Club Wishing Well, where i cut my teeth as Rhyme Man, but i owe that all to William who began with the rhymes due to his marketing expertise…“Drop a quarter in the glass, help a child, win a free pass.” was the first rhyme (that was his). “Dont walk by give it a try.” “See a movie for a quarter. it must gain speed before it hits the water.” (Those were mine) “ Wouldn’t that be groovy?..to see a free movie?” (that was his)…[i continued rhyming the movies at seveal other theatres until 1997.] The School of Visual Arts held Freshman orientation at the Gramercy every September. When i was at the Gramercy dates all the way back before the days of bag-in-the-box soda..at the beginning we had figal tanks. As a Motion Picture Pioneer, i am credited as bringing the Bin On Wheels to New York (from Houston). Previous to my return to NY, ushers were dragging dripping plastic bags through the aisles to pick up popcorn tubs and drink cups. When Garth came from Canada (bringing his gf’s pink blouses and purple skirt-ed concession uniforms and his required “Real Butter” and “ Cineplex OdeonGift Certificate” posters, he made sure to have all the filled garbage cans removed from being kept in the auditorium fronts of all the “RKO Cinema 5” theatres because having receptacles in the seating area was “treating the customers like garbage.” I never kept any bins on wheels in the audience area. However, in the Gramercy’s case where storage was a -problem we only had 2 non mobile covered trash cans in the back, but he had those removed too the day Cineplex took over. Soon Real Butter was replaced with Butter flavoring (we all said butter-flavored? [consumer affairs was a lot more powerful then]). Later came charging extra for extra squirts of Butter Flavoring.]
One of our first female ushers was a 19-yr old Rosie Perez who had not yet been a dancer on “In Living Color” nor begun her illustrious film career. We used to hire cashiers and concessionists from Baruch College (because they could add and subtract. The school of Visual Arts students became ushers, usually.
The Gramercy was sandwiched between Rivka opticians and a lingerie shop + pizza place who were all tenants of the Gramercy. I had to collect their rent. Nathan Rivka recently moved his eyeglass shop to E 27th St.
If there are any other peeps from my era, please add your reminisces.I would love to hear how YOU remember the Gramercy.

seen here while shuttered in 2005
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/73318461

I lived across the street from the theatre from 1985-1990. Would look out my window to see how long the line was before going out.
Saw Aliens here, also Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Mystic Pizza, The Wizard of Oz and Fantasia. I loved being able to just walk across the street to the movies!

will be here for the BlipFest this weekend.

Saw many films here in the late ‘80s/early '90s, but it just couldn’t keep up with the Cineplex Odeon on 23rd and the row of theaters on 34th. The eyeglasses store had that great pink neon sign next door (seen in the photo above not lit) that could have only been designed in the '70s or '80s.