Trans-Lux 85th Street Theatre
1144 Madison Avenue,
New York,
NY
10028
1144 Madison Avenue,
New York,
NY
10028
3 people
favorited this theater
The Trans-Lux 85th Street Theatre opened on November 1, 1937 as a newsreel theatre.
Closed in the mid-1980’s it was demolished in the 1990’s
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
posted by BobMaar on Sep 19, 2005 at 2:12am
“The film "Deep Throat” did indeed play at this theatre for four weeks and did record business. There was no neighborhood pressure to remove the film."
According to a Variety article there were petitioners in front of the theatre demanding that the film be removed and protest organizer William Diamond insisted that the film belonged on 42nd street.
I remember “Deep Throat” playing at the United Artists East 85th Street on First Avenue in the early 1970s, but not here at the Trans Lux on Madison.
“DEEP THROAT” actually went from the the Trans-Lux 85 to the 86th Street East. It did not show at the UA East 85th Street unless it was years later when it was making the rounds with “THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES” as a second feature.
This 1937 photo is part of a New York Times article in today’s Real Estate section:
View link
This debuted as the Trans-Lux 85th St. Cinema Cafe on October 12th, 1960, when it shared the NYC premiere engagement of Stanley Kramer-UA’s prestigious “Inherit the Wind” with the midtown Astor Theatre. “Cafe” used the French spelling, with an accent mark over the final letter, which I don’t know how to type in here.
I grew up around the corner, and what I remember about the theater is that, perhaps between first-run movies, there were certain movies that they showed at the same time of year, every year, mostly for kids, I assume. Every year I saw: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown & A Charlie Brown Christmas; The Christmas that Almost Wasn’t; National Velvet; and some more I can’t remember now. As I recall, in the 60’s & 70’s when I was growing up in NYC, they didn’t change the movie every week or constantly open new ones — they might show something for a while, or bring back favorites, like this place did.
There were also matrons, and if the matron was there you could go in without your parents. They were incredibly strict.
I think Gristedes was still across the street, on the NW corner of Madison & 85th. Across Madison was the flower store that is still there, and next to that was Baskin & Robbins.
I saw movies here as a kid, in the 70’s it was a GREAT theatre. I grew up on the West side, and on Saturday’s, I’d trek across the park to this Trans-Lux.
I remember when you walked in, there was like a ‘path’ – my memories a little fuzzy, but, it was a BIG theatre inside.
I saw movies here as a kid, in the 70’s it was a GREAT theatre. I grew up on the West side, and on Saturday’s, I’d trek across the park to this Trans-Lux.
I remember when you walked in, there was like a ‘path’ – my memories a little fuzzy, but, it was a BIG theatre inside.
Everything looks BIG when you’re a kid. This rated as one of NYC’s “small” cinemas, with not even 600 seats.