Fine Arts Theatre
128 E. 58th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
128 E. 58th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
6 people
favorited this theater
A small art house on 58th Street between Park and Lexington. It was built and first operated by Richard Davis, who later became a film importer. The theatre had a plain nondescript interior.
The Fine Arts Theatre opened on October 15, 1951, with the United States premiere of “The Lavender Hill Mob” (Alec Guinness), which ran for more than eight months and established the theatre as a formidable rival to the nearby Sutton and Plaza. Fellini’s “The Nights of Cabiria” had its US premiere here in October of 1957. The Fine Arts was one of the premier art houses in New York City during the 1950’s and succeeding decades. In 1964, Davis sold a long-term lease on the Fine Arts to the Walter Read Circuit for $1.5 million. It eventually became a chapel, under the jurisdiction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in 1978. The chapel has since closed, and the building appears to be boarded up.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 40 comments)
Samll photo of front of Fine Arts Theatre, with marquee. Also a discussion of the “Curtain at 8:30” (not 8:40) idea.
From Boxoffice magazine, April 5, 1952:
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Any update on what is in place of this theater now since the church closed
Registering.
its interesting the Fine Arts is the only art house in
Manhattan to have hosted 3 roadshow films-A MAN FOR ALL
SEASONS, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE and THE TROJAN
WOMEN. all three films also had souvenir programs.
It’s fascinating that the filmgoing economics of 35-40 years ago allowed for the specialized handling of serious films on a roadshow basis. The major studios backing those films must have made reasonably good business to have gone through with such arrangements at a small venue such as the Fine Arts.
I think the failure of the latter two may explain why they stopped doing it more often.
i liked the Fine Arts. one thing that the theater did in the 70s and maybe early 80s was offer free coffee in the downstairs lounge from i think 5p.m till closing. i believe other Walter Reade theaters did so as well. can you imagine that being done today?
Was just commenting yesterday standing on line in the freezing winter to see “They Shoot Horses Don’t They”. Back in the 60’s the Rugoff theatres were serving coffee in most of their lounges.
i remember the Walter Reade theaters serving coffee so its nice to know the Rugoff theaters had a similar policy. i’m guessing the primary reason they were able to pull it off was because of the manageable size of the theater’s audience.
The coffee service in the art house chains was only practical when they were specializing in the showcasing of foreign language art films. When they started day & dating the Broadway houses with mainstream product and broad appeal, the free coffee was no longer practical.