Century Theatre
511 Main Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14202
511 Main Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14202
3 people
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Looks like the Loew’s State opened with a Moller pipe organ, opus 2888, a III/17 in 1921. In 1925, they traded that one back to Moller for opus 4318, a III/32. Opus 2888 wound up in Memphis Tennessee at the Linden Circle Theatre.
Built simultaneously with Thomas Lamb’s State Theatre on Broadway in New York City, which opened as the flagship of the Loew’s circuit in August of that same year (1921).
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ydy95n3
Yo Torontonian – when you made the long trek down the QEW in 1953, the only theater in Buffalo running Cinerama was Shea’s Teck – the Century installed the single projector version of the process after the Teck quit. Never heard of the Marigold Restaurant, but having a dining facility in an old house was somewhat popular at the time in the city, especially for bar and pizza fare.
I remember seeing This is Cinerama in 1952 or ‘53. It was
an impressive cinema and the film bowled over this 9-year-old
schoolboy. We saw the film on a Saturday matinee and
afterwards, we drove to a residential area where a house
had been converted to a dining room. It was called the
Marigold Restaurant. I thought it odd that a dining room
would be located in a house and on a residential side
street.
It was an enjoyable day despite the long drive from Toronto
and the maximum highway speed of 50 mph.
As I recall, the Burger King was already on he corner when the demo took place and was damaged when the building collapsed during the process. I also recall that the organ pipes were still in place when it came down. I have a great photo somewhere of the front of the building where someone’s graffiti says “Save Me.”
Also known as Shea’s Century in 1930. Here is an April 1930 ad.
Right JIMY8, I also remember seeing a lot of these roadshow presentations here. However, I think my fondest memory is of repeatedly viewing (like for all day practically) the amazing stop-motion animation work of Ray Harryhausen in “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” at the Century. I still have the original soundtrack recording of this film, as well as the one from “The Ten Commandments”. The snack bar truly made their money on me that day!
The Century was the second house in Buffalo to install CinemaScope in the early 1950s. The first film there in the new process was HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. When the roadshow films started to be released the Century had the best of them: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OKLAHOMA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, WAR AND PEACE, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, etc.
There used to be a tremendous hotdog-type diner next to the side entrance of this house where they were famous for their toasted buns (you should excuse the expression). As a kid, I think I ate so many hotdogs there that it gave me the artery blocks I have today!
In later years, there was a Mike’s Submarine Shop close-by, and many patrons would first stop there and buy a sub to take into the theater and eat as the show went on. These subs all had a distinctive smell which sometimes made it seem like you were sitting in the middle of a crowd of unwashed people as you watched the film.
1968 Photo
1977 Photo
1981 Photo
Phone number 1960: CLeveland 0900
After the Teck showed it’s last CINERAMA movie “How the West Was Won” in the spring of 1963, Buffalo had no CINERAMA theatre untill United Artists' Century CINERAMA Theatre, Carl E. Schaner, was the managing director, showed MGM’s “Gran Prix” on 03/23/67. A new semicircular CINERAMA 74ft by 33ft 26ft radius screen was installed in front of the present screen. The projection booth was brought down to the main floor and new single-lens CINERAMA process 70mm single-projectors were installed. With the new projectors they were “able to present motion pictures in any possible projection process”. All the seats were reupholsted and new drapes and carpeting were installed.
CINERAMA Releasing Corp.’s “Custer of the West” filmed in Super-Technirama and Technicolor in the CINERAMA widescreen process was to open in February of 1968, but I don’t know if that ever happened. A number of widescreen films had been booked and there was a possibility that some of the older CINERAMA hits would be brought back for presentation in the single-projector process, but I don’t know if that ever happened either.
The wall hollowed out of the building behind the stage reminds me of a lot of old theatres that have been “restored” recently and need to have a deeper stage, such as the Oriental in Chicago.
Anyone know if the pipes of the Moeller Theatre Pipe Organ were saved?
“Ladies and Gentlemen, This is CINERAMA!” Lowell Thomas
A Lamb theatre turned into a parking lot! There are no words to describe my reaction to reading this and then seeing the parking lot photo!
When built this the Century Theater was a Motion Picture Theater the seating was 2632 when purchased by Dipson/Basil in 1939. I personally managed the most attendance in its history with the opening of Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins” in 1965. The Century had 2632 seats from the 1940’s up to 1965. It was Block Booked by the illegal Paramount Pictures theater chain and their illegal Shea operation in Buffalo. The United States Supreme Court decred and the Federal Court ordered McFaul and Shea to vacate, not sell, their theaters in 1948. Within a year my book on the most factual and True History of Theaters will be released. A Nationwide tragedy of the why’s and how’s of the 20th Century. Also did you know that the mythical Michael Shea never owned or built a “Shea’s” theater? My name is John B Basil, for questions I can be reached at 716-834-0348.
This website has a 1967 photo of the Century Theater. In addition, there is a photo of what was located there before the Century Theater was built and a photo of the parking lot after the Century Theater was demolished.
This was one of a group of large theatres that Loew’s opened around the same time in 1921 that were designed by Thomas Lamb and also included the flagship Loew’s State at corporate HQ at 1540 Broadway in New York City:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/140-4037_IMG.jpg
Concerning the timeline of this theater as a concert venue, Hot Tuna performed here on 4/23/75.
JW and Michael C: I dont know if you are in the Buffalo area, but today on WBEN radio, the a.m. talk show host asked his listening audience to call in and and tell what they remember about things in Buffalo that are gone such as restaurants, businesses, parks and THEATRES! I sent the host an email to tell him about CT as there are over 20 Buffalo theatres listed. One person called in and mentioned the Century, but there were many more in and around the town! I have plans to tour the western NY/PA/OH areas this summer to find old theatres or former locations as it’s interesting to see what is at certain locations now (though it can be very frustrating and very sad)if a particular theatre is gone as is the case with the Century.
Opened on 17th October 1921 as Loew’s State Theater, the opening was attended by Marcus Loew. There were two entrances, the Main Street entrance brought one in at the main floor and loge level, the other entrance was on Mowhawk Street. The configeration of the stage was unusual as an adjacent building (dating from at least 1895) had its wall hollowed out and the stage house was fitted into the space.
Loew’s dropped the house in 1928 and by 1930 it was under the control of Shea’s who moved their RKO vaudville shows into the what had now become the Century Theatre. In late 1939 Shea’s moved on and it it is listed as the Twentieth Century Theatre, or 20th Century with 2,911 seats in Film Daily Yearbooks under different managements.
In 1953 United Artists Theatres took out a 10 year lease and converted the theatre into a Cinerama theatre which resulted in a massive loss of the seating capacity to 1,200. It was also at this time that the 4Manual/33Rank De-Luxe Moeller theatre organ was junked. The pipes remained in the building.
The Century Theatre closed as a movie theatre in 1970 to become a rock concert venue. Later demolished.
There is an old photo of the Century theater in Buffalo here:
View link
Seating for this theater went from 2,700 to 1,200 when it was remodeled and became a Cinerama theater. Articles are here:
http://cinerama.topcities.com/century.htm
Forgot to mention…the ticket prices for all of those concerts was like $6 – $6.50 each…
I went to many concerts there in the mid-70s. The Harvey of Harvey & Corky, who owned the theater then, is Harvey Weinstein, of Miramax fame. Here’s what I remember seeing there:
Jerry Garcia Band
Fleetwood Mac (with Stevie Nicks, just before they became huge)
Lynryd Skynryd/Charlie Daniels Band
Genesis (with Peter Gabriel)
Electric Light Orchestra
The Tubes
The place was quite a dump as I recall, and yes, the balcony did rock, literally. I never heard of it being used as two sepearate theaters.
They used to show films there like Cocaine Fiends, Reefer Madness, Monty Python’s Holy Grail, Woodstock, Journey Through The Past (Neil Young), Yellow Submarine, Wood Allen films, etc. This is what teenagers did before VCRs and cable TV…good times.
I was hoping someone would submit this theatre. I saw the inside of it once after it had closed. The last event to take place at the theatre was a Linda Ronstadt concert or if not the last event it was at least the last time the marquee was changed. I’m guessing this was the late seventies or very early eighties. When Linda’s name was still on the marquee, I managed to get a side exit door open and looked around. Seating capacity, memory tells me, was well over 2000. The theatre had not been cleaned after the Ronstadt concert and the floor was a sea of popcorn boxes and drink cups. While poking around I tried to imagine Linda belting out “Carmelita”. I wish I’d been there.
I hope someone will contribute some more details about the theatre. I, of course, can’t find any of my notes. I do remember, however, that someone told me the theatre was made up of two smaller theatres. Years later, however, someone told me this was not true. Anyone know the real story?