Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre
586 Lexington Avenue,
New York,
NY
10154
586 Lexington Avenue,
New York,
NY
10154
1 person
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Opened in 1940, this East Side newsreel house-turned-art house is where the Fellini film “La Strada” premiered in 1956.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Of course the “original Italian version” has Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart dubbed in Italian. You hear their own voices in the English version.
A C/O was issued to a new building at this address on June 5, 1940. On that date there is a 554 seat motion picture theater located here. 404 seats on the main floor and a 150 seat balcony. In February of 1966 there is a C/O issued for a parking lot with attendant at this same address.
There is a small ad here for “The Shaggy Dog” day and dating with the Odeon.
View link
There is a 1955 ad here:
http://tinyurl.com/mxm5dt
I’m pretty sure this theater is demolished, not just closed. There is a modern office building in it’s place. I don’t thing I have ever even seen a photo of this theater. Has anybody?
The Trans-Lux at 52nd and Lexington was a Thomas Lamb design. A picture of its streamline moderne auditorium was featured in an ad for Anemostat air diffusers that appeared in Boxoffice, January 5, 1946.
This theatre was already operating as a newsreel site in December 1938.
The 1953 release of “Lili” ran for almost two years.
It closed in 1965 after a run of “cat Ballou”.
A picture of the exterior from 1952 appears in Boxoffice Magazine, April 19, 1952. Go to page 26.
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_041952
I live on 1st and 51st. The Trans-Lux was the theatre that Marilyn Monroe walked over the subway grate in front, which blew her skirt up.
The night they filmed it, there were huge crowds, and a (very) angry Joe DiMaggio.
Sixty years ago today (3/10/53), MGM’s Technicolored “Lili,” a sentimental fantasy with Leslie Caron in the title role, opened its world premiere engagement at the Trans-Lux 52nd Street. Thanks to favorable word-of-mouth and the popularity of the theme song, “Hi Lili, Hi Lo,” the run extended into a second year.