Directors Guild of America Theatre
110 West 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
110 West 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
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favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 79 comments found
A few mouse-clicks down into the DGA’s website is this photo gallery, which features excellent views of the theatre’s current interior. It appears that the first few rows from each orchestra section were removed in order to bring the screen wall forward (allowing for a wider sheet) and add a small platform stage. Apart from that, the layout of the theatre looks much as it does in the vintage photos Warren posted on May 22, 2008. Not sure when the red drapery was added.
I’m positive this is where I saw a brilliant new (at the time) 35mm print of Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” in the mid 1980’s. The DGA’s page also includes information regarding the technical facilities, along with a diagram of the theatre. Click on the images to enlarge them.
Sadly, it appears that the 70mm projector’s have been removed. The technical specs skew towards all manner of digital presentation with only a passing mention of “35mm composite” capabilities. The DGA’s Los Angeles facilities (which appear to have been purpose-built) include both 35mm and 70mm capabilities.
Fifty-three years ago tonight, “Stage Struck,” director Sidney Lumet’s second movie, and his first in color (by Technicolor), had its gala world premiere at the Trans-Lux Normandie in a benefit for the Actor’s Fund of America. The drama about an aspiring actress was a remake of Katharine Hepburn’s early “Morning Glory,” now a vehicle for Susan Strasberg, who co-starred with Henry Fonda and Christopher Plummer. The movie was produced by floundering RKO Radio, which assigned the distribution to Disney’s Buena Vista. Continuous performances started the next day at noon at the Normandie.
In 1964 the Little Carnegie and the Cinema Rendezvous showed these two related films at a single price under the title “ANATOMY OF A MARRIAGE”. The experiment was not a success.
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The premiere attraction for the 1952 opening was Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, a film that has been drawing a lot of attention lately.
As some of the comments above have said, this theater was designed by architect William I. Hohauser. An article about the new Normandie, with three small photos, appeared in the March 8, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
I have the DVD set of I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW) and (BLUE). They are really incredible timecapsules of the sixties.
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Cinema Rendezvous in 1969, courtesy of Warren
As the 57th St. Playhouse.
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Renewing link.
On March 26, Swann Auction Galleries will be offering the original 1971 signage design for Playboy Theatre iteration of this house. An image can be seen at View link
I used to go to this theater a lot when I first moved to the city in ‘88. I was 16 and I worked at Tower Records at Lincoln Center and would frequent most theaters in that general area. I remember seeing Shame, Kansas, Chicago Joe & The Showgirl, and one one of my first dates in the city, Miles From Home. I used to frequent it a lot between 1996 and 1998 after it was bought by the DGA. I used to love the year end marathons they would hold- a double feature almost every night of the week and four movies on Saturday and Sunday. I remember going to a very bizarre double feature of a pre-release The English Patient and Bill Murray’s circus movie Larger Than Life. The theater was packed for English Patient and within 45 minutes, the whole audience was asleep. You could just feel the energy drain out of the crowd. I remember thinking at the time what a huge bomb it was going to be. After it ended, everyone but myself and five other people left and we had an almost private screening of the Bill Murray film.
Here are operating dates I have found.
Dec. 1951- Oct. 1964 as the Normandie
Oct. 1964- 1971 as the Cinema Rendezvous
1971- 1978 as the Playboy.
1979-1998 as the 57th Street Playhouse.
1966 ad for the Italian film La Visita, when the theatre was known as Cinema Rendezvous.
Yes, understood, Warren. Thank you. I typed my earlier comment too hastily and wasn’t as clear as I might have been. But it was based on the fact I’d discovered that “Pandora” had opened at the Normandie.
Ed, it was at this very theatre where “Pandora” had its NYC premiere engagement. Please see my images posted above on 5/22/08.
I love all those interior and exterior shots and the ads that contain plenty of detail – but especially those that show surrounding ads to we can see again which pictures were running concurrently. We had MOVIES then.
It was interesting to me to learn a few days ago that when “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” opened in New York, MGM premiered it in a new art house, several blocks from the heart of Broadway. In my hometown of Pittsburgh it went into Loew’s Penn (now called Heinz Hall), a 3300-seater that was MGM’s main outlet in Western Pennsylvania.
The Puccini opera TOSCA at the Trans-Lux Normandie in 1958, reserved seats only.
Here are new links to images described above on 9/5/05:
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This theater, under its various identities, has yielded an eclectic variety of bookings over the years. I saw Disney’s “The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit” on one visit and “I Am Curious (Yellow)” on another – both first-runs. My fondest memory is of a period when the theater was running double features of great contemporary films at midnight on weekends. I caught a bill consisting of “A Thousand Clowns” and a great personal favorite, “Lord Love a Duck.” – Ed Blank
Have many of you noted that many/most of the photos and newspaper pages entered into Cinema Treasures under Photobucket.com expire, or for whatever reason become inaccessible, after a year or two? I’ve found that’s true in a hundred different moviehouse blogs on the Cinema Treasures site. – Ed Blank
WH… “Add a Photo” hasn’t worked in ages. You can go to photobucket.com or some other image-hosting site and get a free account. From there, you can post a link to your image here in your comment – just as RobertR did back on Jan 28th of this year.
I would like to add a photo since I have discovered some material of my grandfather’s theater work but unfortunately the “Add A Photo” function has been off line for over a year.
Early 60’s summer film festival
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Early 60’s summer film festival
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Designed by William I. Hohauser. It’s was one of his last theater jobs.