Rialto Theatre
1481 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1481 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 126 comments
Thank you, buddy.
OK. I will delete the above post, and re-add the 3 I had removed, and identify them as 42nd Stret entrance.
David, the Rialto 2 had an entrance on 42nd street and was in the basement of this same theatre. Once inside you could go from one to the other without being harassed. There is no reason to remove the 42nd street photos since this was basically a twin with two boxoffices and two entrances until Cineplex Odeon mothballed the fully remodelled twin two due to subway noise.
In the photo posted as 1978 photo courtesy of Al Ponte’s Time Machine The sign says Rialto 2.
1961 photo added courtesy of the Americas Past In Photos Facebook page.
Excerpt from a NY Times review of November 30, 1942:
The mortality rate in “Night Monster” is pretty high, even for the type of chiller drama the customers of the Rialto have become accustomed to over the years at the self-styled “house of horror.”
Also, the Cineplex Odeon takeover was in 1987 not 1978.
Please update above.
It was also a legit house in the early 80’s that housed Blues In the Night with Leslie Uggams. After thirteen previews, the Broadway production, directed by Epps, opened on June 2, 1982 at the Rialto Theatre, where it ran for 53 performances. Jean Du Shon, Debbie Shapiro, Leslie Uggams, and Charles Coleman comprised the cast. The show was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical.
This should have a Previous Name listing as Brandt’s Rialto, which was used for much of its existence.
Excerpt from the NY Times review dated April 26, 1941:
The Rialto is following tradition this week in celebrating a quarter of a century of purveying movies to the public with a new screen-and-squeal item, “The Black Cat,” a comedy thriller suggested by a Poe short story…
1957 photo added courtesy of Al Ponte’s Time Machine – New York Facebook page.
“Cat People” played to packed houses at the Rialto in 1942, and was held over for many weeks. The Rialto audiences were considered “the most savvy movie-goers in the world”.
1970 photo added courtesy of Al Ponte’s Time Machine – New York Facebook page.
I believe this theatre had legit fare in the late 70s ,early 80s. “Musical Chairs”,“Marlowe” and a revival of the musical version of “Canterbury Tales”
Times Square porn theatres circa summer 1970.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jkbx53LjKU&feature=related
The Cineplex Odeon run lasted from 6/12/1987 (opening with Predator) to 7/5/1990 (closing with The Hunt for Red October).
Can you post the ad that you got that info from, Tinseltoes?
Woody, I think that photo may have been just after the opening as the Warner. By the time it closed the 42nd Street marquee was long gone.
photo after closing mid 90’s?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/5093868371/
Sinatra and Abbott & Costello on the same bill. Now that’s entertainment, folks.
From the post above, the Dead End Kids fit the policy:
42nd Street Memories * Jerry Kovar on Aug 15, 2006 at 5:52am
“The Rialto opened for Christmas of 1935 with Frank Buck’s ‘'Fang and Claw.’‘ The theater’s manager, Arthur Mayer, saw the Rialto as distinctly masculine in tone. Most theaters, he said in a newspaper interview after the opening, were ’‘rococo, luxurious palaces for the uxorious,’‘ both in styling and choice of films. His theater, both in styling and presentations, sought to satisfy the ’‘ancient and unquenchable male thirst for mystery, menace and manslaughter.’‘ He was soon called the ’‘merchant of menace.’”
Excerpt from the New York Times' review of a Dead End Kids picture “Call A Messenger”
“To say that "Call a Messenger” fits in with the policy of the Rialto, which is to improve on any time-tested formula for shock by the simple expedient of doubling the dose, is to say everything. It doubles the dose, and although this method, on a few unfortunate occasions, has been known to prove fatal, it ought rather to be good for a minute portion of amusement in the present case."
On the TV show “Fame”, in an episode called “Street Kid” (episode # 18 2/25/1982), you can see the marquee in the background while the character of Doris talks to some streetwalkers.
Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y9kcaja
I would agree with mendoza’s post to. “Rambo: First Blood Part 2” was released 1985 and the second feature “Runaway” was from 1984.