Palace Theatre
1564 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1564 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
22 people
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Library of Congress Collection, December 1953 photo credit Angelo Rizzuto.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2020636064/?fbclid=IwAR2xsrQZdMI91sbhd_J19zkfBTrCf1doiGuK–VKrpiJhf9PiS_AANVWupo
When you entered the Palace on Broadway you were in a long outer lobby and box office. That will now be retail. The theater will be raised up to the third floor of the new construction so there was no place to have the entrance on Broadway. New construction of an entrance on 47th Street with an 80-foot-long marquee, will lead up to the third floor like the Marquis across the street.
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they are changing the entrance of the Palace from 7th Ave. between 46th and 47th Sts. to 47th St. between 7th and 6th Aves. the entrance to the Empire(originally the Eltinge) wasn’t changed its still on 42 St. between 7th and 8th Aves.
We’re talking location. Big bucks for 7th Avenue frontage. As far as the move is concerned they relocated the facade of the Empire on 42nd Street. And elsewhere on CT there is the tale of the theatre that was rotated.
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to vindanpar-
I guess great minds think alike. a few years ago when I heard what the Nederlander Org. was going to do all I could think of was the Palace collapsing onto 7th.Ave. I sincerely hope no other theater organizations have similar plans.
Are they hoping that vast very old space collapses or is considered structurally unsound after the raising so they can build condos or offices?
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why in God’s name are they changing the entrance to 47th St.? the
entrance as always been on 7TH Ave.
The $50 million renovation will fast track in October when the building will, literally, be raised. The process should take two weeks. The new entrance will be on 47th street with an 80 foot marquee. There will be additional wing space, a larger lobby and twice the number of bathrooms. I have seen nothing to indicate major changes to the 105 year old auditorium.
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on page 2 of the photo section is an ad for the continuous performances at popular prices engagement of Cleopatra. this was after its lengthy roadshow run at the Rivoli. now the ad does not contain the often used catchphrase “nothing cut but the prices”. so I’m guessing this engagement used the same 3hr. 15min. edit that I saw at the Valentine Theater in the Bronx.
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thanks to Cine Tech for your detailed post. though I saw the 1969 re-issue at the Palace twice I don’t remember how different it was from the Nov. 1959 cut which premiered at the Loews State. was the fact that the June 1969 roadshow re-issue the Palace was an edited version ever mentioned in the publicity prior to the engagement?
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in fact I saw the 10th Anniversary Re-Issue of Ben-Hur twice. I remember the size of the screen was large and the sound was great but I can’t be sure how the picture and sound related to the technical specifics you asked about.
they did sell a souvenir program that was the same as the 1959 original expect is was softcover rather than hardcover.
also this site is acting really odd. you posted your question on May 21 yet I didn’t get the notification from CT until today Oct. 6th.
How was that presentation of Ben Hur? Large screen? Excellent 65mm print? Sound? Was screen slightly tilted up as somebody said it was for Kwai? I’ve only seen musicals at the Palace so though it was a movie theater for decades it’s hard for me to imagine it.
First time was 5th row on the center aisle for Bacall in Applause. More than a year after it opened and she played it like it was opening night. Pure electricity. Years later I was helping her in a store and she was kind of unpleasant so I decided not to tell her how great she was. I thought she would have bitten my head off.
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I had tickets for a matinee of the Ben-Hur rerelease the day after Judy Garland died. when you entered the lobby right before the theater proper they had portraits of all the great stars that had played the Palace. Garland’s had a black wreath around it.
Comment added on photo of roadshow booking of Ben-Hur
Stripping it down and making it a multiplex.
Just kidding, I believe it’s landmarked, so there will be no interior changes.
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as I asked a while back what changes if any are being
made to the auditorium itself?
1953 photo courtesy Library of Congress.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.200186339.0?st=gallery
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thanks to robboehm for your reply. my astonishment was not so much on the length of TDOAF’S reserved seat rum at the Palace but that in S.F. it wasn’t even a roadshow run at all. it has always fascinated me why a studio would open a film on a roadshow run in one city but not others. I always assumed if a film opened on a roadshow run in Manhattan it did so I every city it opened in.
bigjoe59-NYC has a large Jewish population. That was probably a factor in the level of popularity.
YouTube link with the premiere of “Citizen Kane” in 1941, and a link with one exterior photo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Yxv_jik_k
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/premiere-citizen-kane
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I find it fascinating how classic Oscar winning films faired in different markets. for example The Diary of Anne Frank played here on a two performance a day reserved seat engagement for was it 6? months. in San Francisco the film’s sole 1st run engagement was a 2 week one at the Fox where it ran on a continuous performance basis.
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what changes if any are they doing to the theater’s
auditorium?
Palace Theater photo added to gallery, circa 1940 NYC Tax Photo.
Blah…!
Dozens of photos and renderings in that link to IMBY but I didn’t see any of the proposed new 47th Street entrance and marquee…