Embassy 1 Theatre
1560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
6 people
favorited this theater
The beautifully restored former landmark Embassy Theatre on Broadway, which opened in 1925 and closed in 1997, now serves as the Times Square Visitors Center.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 115 comments)
Saps – That’s a very interesting interpretation from Guys & Dolls. Do you also talk to yourself?
I’m sure I saw the original Walking Tall here in the early “70s. I intend to check out the visitor’s center / theatre.
Garth, I know that I ran the original “Walking Tall” with Jo Don Baker at the DeMille theatre around 1972 or 1973.
“Walking Tall” opened here in February 1974. the New York premiere was almost a year after the rest of the country.
Al, while I’m not sure of the exact date, I’m absolutely certain I ran the original “Walking Tall” at the DeMille and I believe it would have to be earlier than 1974. The reason I believe it had to be before 1974 is because in late 1973 or early 1974 is the year of the fire and the theatre didn’t open again until somewhere around June 1974 under the management of a guy named Leonard Clark who also ran one theatre on 42nd Street. When the DeMille reopened after the fire, the first picture was “Once Is Not Enough”, of that I am positive.
techman, “Once Is Not Enough” opened at the Astor Plaza in June 1975. “Walking Tall” was not released in New York until 1974.
The DeMille re-opened as the Mark 1-2-3 in 1976.
Al, that’s definitely not correct. As I said, BEFORE it ever became the Embassy 2,3,4 (or whatever numbers they called them), it was reopened after the fire by Leonard Clark as a SINGLE theatre. As I said, he opened with “Once Is Not Enough”. The picture played along with a bunch of other theatres in a company ad. After Clark screwed the two owners, Koppel & Levine, the theatre closed again (which is when I left) and THEN was reopened as a (poorly designed) triplex. I am certain up until Clark was thrown out because after that, friends of mine had a deal to purchase the building from Koppel & Levine and were negotiating with Krim & Benjamin from UA to open the theatre and run UA product exclusively, but the deal fell through after a meeting with James Velde a UA V.P.
I found the ads for “ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH”. It played at the DeMille subrun in September on move-over from the Astor Plaza.
to either see a new film at one of the large movie theaters or a Broadway show i have been a frequent visitor to the Times Square area most of my adult life. to which my question- i don’t remember the former Mayfair/DeMille ever having The Mark as its name on the marquee. so i’m guessing it was a proposed name change that never made it to the marquee.
bigjoe59, You could have missed it being called the Mark I, II and III because it was only open with that name for a short period of time. After that when Peter Elson took it over it was renamed the Embassy 2, 3 and 4.
Al, “Once Is Not Enough” could have run in September, but I wouldn’t call it a “move over” from the Astor Plaza since it played along with 25 other theatres listed in a film company ad.-LOL
As for the “Walking Tall”, the only thing I’m certain of is that it ran at the DeMille before the fire, while the theatre was still being operated by Walter Reade. After the fire, the theatre was closed for nearly a year and re-opened with “Once Is Not Enough”. Clark only had the theatre for a few months as I recall. Under a deal with the union he wasn’t supposed to use the balcony, but from day one there were more people sitting in the balcony then in the orchestra and was a constant battle. It was after the theatre closed under Clark that I left. At one point, Hank Rosenberg, the owner of the twin theatres (I can’t remember the name of the theatres) a few doors down to the left of the DeMille was also looking to buy the building and multiplex the theatre.