Cinema Studio 1 & 2
1931 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
1931 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
4 people
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Showing 1 - 25 of 55 comments
Saw three of Lina Wertmueller’s films here when they were first released: 1. Swept Away 2. Seven Beauties 3. The Seduction of Mimi.
I knew she was an amazing director instantly. I was like 14 years old.
Please update, became a twin on December 15,1978. Theatre closed March 29, 1990 Seating capacity as a twin Cinema Studio 1 is 300 and Cinema Studio 2 is 180
I remember going there when it became a Barnes and Noble right next to Starbucks and what is now AMC. Channel 7 in NYC has its studios around this area.
I remember this place well as I used to work across the street at the Tower Records on 66th and Broadway in the late ‘80s and would go see movies here after work. I remember Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown playing here forever. I know I went several times, but the only films I can recall seeing here were Sex, Lies and Videotape (at a sold out showing on a late Thursday night) and Mystery Train.
A few weeks ago, Barnes and Noble Booksellers was sold to a private equity firm ending its run as a public company and leaving behind its sister education division as the sole company to bear the B and N name to still be public on the market.
Cinema Studio in the early 60’s was showing Spanish language pictures, transitioned into second run mostly from United Artists with some Fox and Warners' product went first run in the early 80’s when it was twinned Saw Amarcord here in 1974, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sex Lies and Videotape and one or two more in the late 80s
Saw FULL METAL JACKET here during opening weekend in June 1987. Theatre was sold out practically the entire weekend.
Hello-
I liked going to the Cinema Studio since it played many prominent low budget indie American films and top foreign language films. a two part question-
1.i’m guessing that the theater(and the surrounding buildings)were torn down because eventhough the theater was quite popular the land underneath it became worth more than the theater could ever bring in at the box office.
2.as stated by Al A. it opened as the Arcade in 1919. i’m guessing it opened from the get go as a 2nd/3rd run neighborhood theater. so when did it become a 1st run venue? when it became the Cinema Studio?
Just to follow up: a couple of years ago the Barnes and Noble was replaced by a Century 21 clothing store. Boy do I miss Cinema Studio!
I saw Herzog’s “Nosferatu” here in 1979, but I can’t recall any details about the theatre.
Loved this theatre. Such varied fare, I practically lived here in the mid-70s! Took my little sister to see a revival of “GI Blues” (she loved Elvis). I saw a Bunuel double bill (“Viridiana” and “Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie”) as well as current films like “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace From the Sea.”
That’s really stretching my memory muscles more than they can flex… But I would have to say that there probably was a VHS release after the theatrical runs were completed back in the mid ‘80’s. I saw very good prints of “Rear Window,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Vertigo” in theaters at the time, and I also caught cable TV broadcasts of “Rope” and “The Trouble with Harry” shortly thereafter. I recall that they looked to be in very good shape.
The restoration job on “Vertigo,” of course, was a revelation.
Hello To Ed S.–
would you happen to know if the print of VERTIGO that was shown at the Hitchcock Festival was ever released even on vhs? the reason i ask is simple. the only home video verison i have watched is the vhs and subsequently dvd of the 1996 Harris/Katz restoration. so it would be interesting to see what the film looked and sounded like before it was restored.
Bigjoe59… there were five films in that copyright entanglement with the Hitchcock Estate: “Rope,” “Rear Window,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956 version), “The Trouble With Harry,” and “Vertigo.” Quite a significant collection of the Master’s work that was unavailable for as long as 36 years (in the case of the 1948 “Rope”) until 1984, when Universal finally acquired the rights. I remember a lot of ballyhoo surrounding the resurfacing of these films at the time.
Hello- shortly before it closed didn’t this theater hold a festival of Hitchcock films that hadn’t been show theatrically for some time because of copyright issues? i remember two of films were VERTIGO and THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.
The (former) Barnes & Noble was located at 1972 Broadway, between 66th and 67th Streets.
1931 Broadway would place this theater within Lincoln Center.
The exact address should be found in a city directory (or phone book).
Report of the closing: March 25, 1990
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/25/nyregion/cinema-studio-to-close-doors-after-30-years.htmlstore.
Operated by New Yorker Films since 1977. The land was owned by ABC, sold to Millennium Properties, which, of course, built the Sony-Loews-AMC multiplex one block north.
Obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/08/movies/film-view-curtains-for-a-grand-screen.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
This was a great neighborhood theatre. In the 70s and 80s when I lived on the UWS, I would attend films here. Among them were Fedora, and Please Remember My Name. That Barnes and Noble is now gone, replaced by a Century 21
The Arcade opened in 1919 and closed as the Cinema Studio 1 & 2 in 1990.
Does anyone know when this theater was opened and when it closed? Thanks.
New book on Talbot theatres.
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The posting from Al specifically mentioned a goat that chewed a rope so it floated out to sea.
Warren when you read the synopsis in Als posting it certainly sound right. How many movies have a goat drifting out to sea.
Definitely sounds like “Saps” from the description you posted Al. Thanks.
Sounds more like “SAPS AT SEA”.
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Despite being a Long Islander I actually attended the Studio One Thanksgiving Day, probably late 40s, after the Macy Parade, with my parents, killing time to go to my aunts for Thanksgiving Dinner. The whole program was comedy. Didn’t get thru the whole program before we had to leave. The movie we left during was a Laurel and Hardy and I remember there being a goat on a boat, or raft, drifting out to sea. Wonder whatever happened to the goat? Anybody know the name of the movie? Never actually saw the auditorium since we entered and left in the dark. That was usually the case with continuous performance theatres.