This theater has a cameo in the dreadful Michael Bay sci-fi action flick “The Island”, which I nearly fell asleep on last night. A large part of the film takes place in a futuristic Los Angeles that was apparently filmed in Detroit (with digital skyscrapers painted in later to give the appearance of a 22nd Century L.A.). There is a shot during a chase sequence where you can see the marquee and office building facade much as it appears in the photo at the top of this page, only more of a side angle looking straight down Bagley Street.
The chase ends with the vehicles running into what is absolutely an old decrepit theater where the floor looks to have been leveled and concrete poured for use as a parking lot or garage. The upper portion of the proscenium arch and side organ vents are clearly visible. Not sure if this is a location in Detroit… can anyone offer some help in identifying the place?
It’s not the lights and billboards that get me â€" Hell, Times Square has always had spectacularly bright and gaudy displays – but the sheer verticality of all the new and recent construction in the area. There’s no sense of scale there anymore… it doesn’t relate at all to people walking down the street. It’s overwhelming. The old square was dominated by modestly sized office buildings, storefronts and theaters. There was sunlight during the day and the feel of open air at night. The old Times building rose 25 floors and the Paramount topped that, but the other buildings along 7th Avenue and Broadway were of a much smaller scale, the tallest probably topping out around 12-15 stories and many more closer to 4-7 stories tall.
Now, with the foot-traffic almost unbearably thick on either side of the Square, the space feels much smaller and congested than it ever did in the past. I feel corralled when I walk through the area, almost claustrophobic. It’s been transformed into an X-shaped canyon of glass and steel. As a result, the displays go up higher along the outer walls of these new skyscrapers and any notion of individuality has been abandoned. I don’t get that sense of “character” that I used to get when the old movie palace marquees lined the streets. I see photos of the Ginza in Tokyo and can hardly tell it apart from Times Square, but for the Japanese lettering. There is a chapter in the book “Lost New York” that discusses how a public square is defined not so much by the space of the square itself, but by the profile of the edifices that face it. The example of Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel is used to illustrate how over-development has detracted from the beauty of the Plaza as a public space. I think the same can be said of Times Square.
I guess that’s the trade-off associated with any civic reclamation project. Keep the faded and shady dime-a-dance ballrooms, massage parlors and seedy live-sex clubs and you may have your old palaces, grind houses, Nathans, Nedicks, Grand Luncheonette and retain a sense of architectural scale. Sweep away the porn and sleaze and restore one or two historic theaters to legitimate use and you will find hordes of real estate developers stumbling over one another for the opportunity to carve up the territory and build over the rubble of that which gave the place its identity in the first place. This is what is meant by re-development. Out with the old, in with the new. Times Square has become Disney World North and 42nd Street is its Main Street, USA.
Funny, B.O.Bill, that you say Sam Goody’s was a discount record store in those days. I can’t say that I’ve been in a Sam Goody’s in quite a number of years, but the store’s prices for CD’s in the ‘80’s and '90’s could hardly be called “discount.” I remember they were selling titles for $16.99 and $18.99 while bigger stores like Tower Records were selling them for $12.99 to $14.99. Today, I don’t think Goody’s can compete with the discounts offered by the larger electronic chains like Circuit City and bargain stores like Target and Best Buy. But, there it still stands on W. 48th and stores like FYE which are also priced above the bigger chains seem to be hanging in as well.
I found my souvenir booklet from the run of the 1978 film “Crossed Swords” which was advertised as the Hall’s last feature attraction and played from March to April with the Easter stage show. There are actually two booklets that I still have… one in specific to the film itself with a red “Final Attraction” sticker affixed to the front and the other was a general booklet about the Hall itself. In my memory I fused the two into one publication. I want to scan the cover of the film souvenir and load it on my photobucket site to share here. As for the Hall booklet, I’d really like to have the entire booklet scanned in high quality, perhaps as an Adobe PDF document. Does anyone here know if I can load a file like that up to photobucket? If not, are there sites that would allow me to upload the file so that I might share it here? If not I might just scan select pages myself and post them as images.
Yes, saps, theatergoers enter the Hilton through the former Lyric entrance on 42nd Street. The 42nd Street facade of the Lyric was beautifully restored, but I’m not entirely sure that the entry lobby is the original or if it – like the rest of the theater – was designed with a nod to the past. I’ve only seen one show at the Hilton (the musical “42nd Street” aptly enough) and I can’t recollect the details of the lobby space clearly enough. I seem to retain the impression that it has a more modern feel to it, albeit with vintage elements – like the theater itself.
The Apollo’s 42nd Street facade was basically non-existent, as the theater entrance was incorporated into the neo-classical facade of the adjacent Times Square Theater (which the Hilton now wraps around). But, from what I can see peering through the glass doors on 42nd Street, the old entry foyer does appear to be restored to original specifications.
No need for noses to get bent out of shape… I think it’s obvious that the most important factor here – overwhelmingly – is not just that the Paradise is still standing, but that the theater has been lovingly and painstakingly restored to its former beauty. Is it the $70 million dollar nook-and-cranny polishing that Radio City Music Hall received a few years back? No… but somehow I’m even more impressed because it doesn’t have that sort of corporate backing.
Still… I think it’s very much in the spirit of this site to use this forum to discuss and debate and, yes, even nit-pick over details. While we celebrate the marvelous work to restore this grand theater and the efforts to keep it going as the great showplace for the people of the Bronx it was intended to be, surely there is room enough for us to point out where we feel the project might have incongruously missed the mark. Perhaps it is precisely because the rest of the restoration has been going along so respectfully and tastefully that some of us were jarred by the sloppy splatter of bright yellow and blue paint on the building’s facade. I think it’s a fair point of criticism. Just as I think it’s fair to criticize the decision to refurbish the 1930’s era art moderne New Amsterdam marquee while rhapsodizing over the otherwise splendid restoration of the theater’s original 1903 Art Nouveau architecture. Or to appreciate the Ziegfeld Theater’s spacious single-screen auditorium while taking exception to its – in my opinion – tacky 1960’s decor.
I know it wasn’t everyone’s intention to run stevebob off this site, and I hope he finds it within himself to come back and continue contributing to the Cinema Treasures mosaic.
I recently found a Playbill from May of 1981 in my collection that includes the following Q & A about the Astor from it’s “Dear Playbill…” section:
Dear Playbill: While walking down B'way recently, I suddenly realized that the Astor Theater on the corner of 45th Street was gone. When did it disappear? Wasn’t it once a legitimate theatre?
—– Melvin G. Lustig, West New York, N.J.
A: Although the Astor Theatre building still stands, the space was converted to a Flea Market emporium a few years ago. Yes, the Astor opened on September 21, 1906 as a legitimate theater. It housed such hits as George M. Cohan’s “Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913), the first Pulitzer Prize Play "Why Marry?” (1917) and Fay Bainter in “East Is West” (1918). After 1925, it operated as a reserved seat, two-a-day movie house for the showing of prestigious films.
I also found a 1978 Playbill that lists in its Theater Guide productions playing at the Bijou, Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters – all of which were demolished in 1982 along with the Astor and Victoria movie theaters to make way for the Marriot Marquis Hotel. Some great reading material in these Playbills along with the ads for Pan-Am, TWA and long gone NYC restaurants and nightclubs (Hawaii Kai, Luchows, Mama Leone’s). I posted some other references from these Playbills on the pages for the Lyric Theater and the 42nd Street Apollo here on the site.
The listing for this theater in that 1981 Playbill for the play “Fifth of July” is for the “New Apollo Theatre” using 234 W. 43rd Street as its address. I assume the Duece wasn’t cleaned up quite enough at the time to have made for an inviting entrance for theatergoers. During the creation of the Ford Center, it appears that the original Apollo entrance hall on 42nd Street was restored, even though the formal entrance to the new theater is down the block through the former lobby space of the Lyric. Can anyone confirm if the Apollo entrance foyer is original or was this space also gutted and merely made to look vintage? I had never seen a film here, but I did attend a Santana concert while it was The Academy in the mid 1990’s, entering from the 43rd street side.
Just a quick note on ticket prices… top dollar for “Fifth of July” was $25 on a Saturday evening performance. Seats in the upper balcony could be had for as little as $12.50 for a Wednesday matinee. “A Chorus Line” commanded top dollar on the rialto then, with top Saturday evening tickets going for $30. Looking back on the 1978 Playbill, “A Chorus Line” was selling its top Saturday night tickets for $20!!! Imagine that – a 33% hike in prices over the course of less than 3 years. Today we have $100 seats representing a 500% increase over 27 years. And that’s not taking into account these premium seating policies at some productions (“The Producers” started this trend in 2001) where choice seats are sold for $480 – that’s WITHOUT a ticket broker! By comparison, movie theater tickets (which were probably $3-$4 in Manhattan around 1980 and are now $10.75) remain a genuine bargain, having only gone up about 40% over the same time period of time.
Just posted this on the old Lyric Theater site and thought it made sense here as well:
Came across a pair of old Playbills from Broadway shows I had seen when I was a teenager (one from November of 1978, the other from May of ‘81). Interesting article in the '78 Playbill about the theatrical community’s efforts to work with the Mayor (Koch during his first administration at the time) to clean up the Times Square area. There’s mention of the League of New York Theaters and Producers working with the “Mayor’s Midtown Action Office and Midtown Enforcement Project” to permanently close area peep shows, massage parlors and “other sex-related businesses.” Sound familiar? Perhaps the Giuliani’s administration circa 1994?
It’s funny how the article takes a sunny outlook on the situation, referring to a time “a few years back” when “the Times Square area was in many people’s minds a composit of Dante’s Ninth Circle and the outer space, spaced-out bar in ‘Star Wars.’ The Great White Way was splattered with sleaze. Actresses and actors went on talk shows and made jokes about muggers.” Meanwhile, any true clean-up of the area was more than a decade in the future and at the cost of some of our greatest cinematic and theatrical palaces (not to mention any trace of Times Square’s once-unique character and atmosphere).
The article also mentions a “recent announcement” by the Brandt Organization to restore the Lyric and the Apollo on 42nd Street to legitimate theaters. I don’t think anything ever came of that plan for the Lyric, but I do know that attempts were made to use the Apollo as a legitimate stage in the early ‘80’s. In fact, the '81 Playbill I found lists Richard Thomas appearing at the Apollo in “Fifth of July” under the “How many of these shows have you seen?” section in the back of the magazine. In any event, the plans did come to fruition eventually, albeit with the destruction of the orignal Lyric and Apollo interiors and the creation of the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Hilton Theater) which, as described in comments above, incorporates architectural elements from both old houses into its design.
Came across a pair of old Playbills from Broadway shows I had seen when I was a teenager (one from November of 1978, the other from May of ‘81). Interesting article in the '78 Playbill about the theatrical community’s efforts to work with the Mayor (Koch during his first administration at the time) to clean up the Times Square area. There’s mention of the League of New York Theaters and Producers working with the “Mayor’s Midtown Action Office and Midtown Enforcement Project” to permanently close area peep shows, massage parlors and “other sex-related businesses.” Sound familiar? Perhaps the Giuliani’s administration circa 1994?
It’s funny how the article takes a sunny outlook on the situation, referring to a time “a few years back” when “the Times Square area was in many people’s minds a composit of Dante’s Ninth Circle and the outer space, spaced-out bar in ‘Star Wars.’ The Great White Way was splattered with sleaze. Actresses and actors went on talk shows and made jokes about muggers.” Meanwhile, any true clean-up of the area was more than a decade in the future and at the cost of some of our greatest cinematic and theatrical palaces (not to mention any trace of Times Square’s once-unique character and atmosphere).
The article also mentions a “recent announcement” by the Brandt Organization to restore the Lyric and the Apollo on 42nd Street to legitimate theaters. I don’t think anything ever came of that plan for the Lyric, but I do know that attempts were made to use the Apollo as a legitimate stage in the early ‘80’s. In fact, the '81 Playbill I found lists Richard Thomas appearing at the Apollo in “Fifth of July” under the “How many of these shows have you seen?” section in the back of the magazine. In any event, the plans did come to fruition eventually, albeit with the destruction of the orignal Lyric and Apollo interiors and the creation of the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Hilton Theater) which, as described in comments above, incorporates architectural elements from both old houses into its design.
Thanks Mikeoaklandpark, I was a bit off on that location, eh? I seem to recall it ran exlusively at the renamed “Penthouse” Theater for much of 1980. I can’t remember exactly when it played the Lyric, but it must have been sometime before the film was edited down for an “R” rating and re-released fairly wide the following year. I remember going back and seeing the shorter version at the Sunrise Cinemas multiplex in Valley Stream. The film was a botch job in both versions, thanks mostly to the incompetent and incoherent editing job performed by the Penthouse publisher Guccione, who assumed control of the project and locked-out the nominal director, Tinto Brass (himself an Italian soft-porn maestro), from the completion of the project.
A lot of the notorious history behind this film (which was filmed in 1976 but not completed and released until 1979) is outlined on the movie’s imdb trivia page. There are some fine performances and evocative atmospherics, but its such a jumbled mess that it makes for a very frustrating cinematic experience. I would love to see a true “Director’s Version” with all the footage shot by Brass arranged in the precise order he intended just to see if any of the film’s glimpses of worthiness might have panned out. But that would mean Guccione and his enormous ego stepping out of the way and relinquishing control of his $17.5 million dollar epic.
You’re probably right Moviemike… Do you have an exact year when this theater closed? Warren thought it was early ‘50’s which would mean it hasn’t been a theater for at least 50 years. Lots of different tenants and owners over the years have probably renovated most traces of movie theater right out of the place. When I peered through the front gates I could make out what looked like a standard residential L-shaped stair case at the far wall facing the front doors on the other side of what must have been the foyer area. The stairs had a traditional wooden banister as you might find in the center hall of any colonial home on Long Island. And the walls looked to be completely unadorned and painted in a flat white.
Do you recall anything about the marquee and its being in danger of collapse in the ‘90’s?
Yeah… really swank, wasn’t it? The decor was late 20th Century concrete bunker. If you like this style, you should have seen the Cinema City 5 in Fresh Meadows or you can run to Movieworld in Douglaston. I’m happy to say I never attended, but at least it was a place for locals to catch a film. Now that particular avenue of leisure has become a bit less convenient to travel.
But they keep that brass nicely polished, don’t they? Must keep tourists very curious, pondering that well maintained turnstile to nowhere as they walk down the street towards the big Christmas tree.
According to Clearview Cinemas, the $12.50 price will last only for the exclusive premier run of “The Producers” and prices will return to the normal $10.75 once the film goes into wider distribution.
Going back to some of the “Taxi Driver” inspired debate above as to whether the old Lyric ever showed porn… I think saps is right that the theater was never one of the Duece’s full-time porno houses (like the Rialto 1 and 2, Victory and Harem were). I think Scorcese liked the theater’s outdoor vestibule area as a shooting location and had the marquee especially made up for the shoot. The Harem entrance looked like a storefront, the Rialto entrances were very small and, like the Victory’s, were flush up against the facade. My guess is the Lyric vestibule offered the right look and spaciousness that Scorcese wanted and so he took some liberties. I wonder if that is the Lyric’s interior that was used for the shots of DeNiro and Sheppard watching the movie inside the theater.
Getting back to porn… if memory serves, the Lyric did play the un-edited version of Bob Guccione’s “Caligula” very shortly after its run at the east side theater Guccione had four-walled and renamed after his Penthouse magazine. I remember my friends and I standing under the marquee and then sheepishly moseying over to the display cases in the vestibule to look over the publicity stills and cards for the movie before working up the courage finally to go in and check the film out. It was our first porn experience and I might add that several sequences were extremely difficult for us to sit through!
Speaking of “Caligula”… does anyone remember the theater that Guccione commandeered to exhibit this porn-epic? I believe it was a former Trans-Lux theater on 1st or 2nd Ave in the 30’s or 40’s? My memory is failing on that point. I tried searching under “Penthouse” here, but I guess no one has thought to add that as an AKA to whatever theater it might be.
Take note of the checkerboard motif on the neighboring Victory Theater (which featured Burlesque and was called the Republic Theater at the time of this photo, I believe) to the right of the Lyric. I know that theater has its own page, but does anyone know when that design element was incorporated into the facade? Was it concurrent with the demolition of the exterior staircase that would later be re-created for the opening of the renovated New Victory Theater in 1995?
I suppose the balcony will now be stripped of its ornamentation and converted to office space as yet another gilded theater is completely lost to history. I never saw a movie here, despite having lived in the neighborhood and played in Linden Park just behind the building as a young boy. I remember that “The Towering Inferno” played here in the mid ‘70’s with Spanish subtitles. I think it might have still been a single screener at that time. In my memory, the marquee was big and boxy with the word “PLAZA” in red neon-lit block letters.
Jeffrey… you are correct. It was P.S. 13, so my memory is a bit off. Is it 56th Ave that Justice Ave feeds into near the old Macy’s? If so, this is the street the school was on. About a block in from Junction. Now that I think about it, the block the school was on came to an end at Junction… so if that sounds like 56th Ave then that was it. I’ll check out that queensboard site. Thanks.
I would agree with that last sentiment, Paul. Any remaining big single-screeners are definitely worth rooting for.
But I see where Stevebob is coming from in the sense that the phrase “palace” and “treasure” is thrown around a bit too lightly on this site – albeit, not usually from some of the more frequent and well informed contributors. Let’s face it… more than 80% of the theaters listed here should hardly be considered “treasures” from a purely architectural and aesthetic perspective. That is not to say that many of the late-run nabes and local “itches” aren’t warmly treasured by those who have fond memories of whiling away idle weekend and summer hours in their darkened confines.
Everyone has their own reasons for cherishing a particular theater or another and I think that, for the most part, we who share our memories here are respectful and appreciative of one another. This website is the true treasure and â€" in the spirit of the Holidays â€" my thanks to all of you who have contributed so much here and have broadened my understanding and appreciation of theatrical architecture, wide-screen technology, cinematic projection and presentation, road-show practices and many other related topics. Thanks to all the “detectives” out there who comb the internet and public libraries for all sorts of specific building information and archival photographs to share with the rest of us. Thanks for all the vivid and evocative descriptions you’ve given of your favorite theaters that have made me feel as if I’ve visited these places first hand, when in fact so many of them were demolished before I ever took my first steps. And thanks most of all to those of you who have been patient enough to read through my own humble ruminations.
Go out and see a movie… and take your kids (cousins, nephews, nieces, whatever). Try and find a suitable film and as good a cinema as you can possibly attend and make an event of it. The best way to honor our own special cinematic memories – particularly in the face of so much about today’s film-going experience that would seem to work against such an honor – is to build new memories for future generations to reflect back on in the years to come. The dinky little Laurelton Theater means so much more to me than some of the big New York theaters because of the times I shared there with my Dad, architectural opulence be damned.
Anyway… Sorry to get sappy… but it’s the Holiday season and I feel very connected to the Cinema Treasures community. Happy Holidays to all.
Jeffrey… I attended P.S. 16 on — was it 57th Ave? — for 3rd grade in ‘72-'73. I remember I used to take the city bus down Junction Blvd by myself from the house on 41st Avenue to get to this school. The principal was Mr. Zoller. After school, I used to go across Junction Blvd to the pizzeria that was right off the corner there and, with a dollar bill, I’d order two slices, a small coke and have a dime left over for the juke-box. Just about every day I would play one of 3 tunes: “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John or “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” which was The Beatles’ B-side to the “Let it Be” single.
Do you recall that pizzeria? I can’t think of the name. It may have been right on the northeast corner of Junction and 57th, but in my memory it was a door or two up Junction from the actual corner. I remember that 57th didn’t quite line up plumb as it crossed Junction, with the east side of the intersection shifted slightly to the south from the west side. You could have probably seen the joint from your apartment windows.
As I write this, it also strikes me that I was of an awfully tender young age to have been riding a city bus and crossing a major thoroughfare like Junction Blvd all by myself, but those were different times. The streets of Elmhurst were a bit safer than they probably are now and parents weren’t quite as overprotective of their children as they most certainly are these days. In any event, I survived the daily routine for an entire school year and can’t recall a single untoward incident. It’s amazing how visiting this site and thinking about a particular movie theater can stir so many unrelated memories. I love it… keeps me sharp! Thanks for indulging me once again.
Jack4c… that number is no longer in service. Perhaps the sign has been there for some time. I’d love to know if any of this theater survives, besides just the other shell.
Was that billboard on West 51st? And was that the rear stage wall? I’m not familiar with how the theater was situated on the block.
This theater has a cameo in the dreadful Michael Bay sci-fi action flick “The Island”, which I nearly fell asleep on last night. A large part of the film takes place in a futuristic Los Angeles that was apparently filmed in Detroit (with digital skyscrapers painted in later to give the appearance of a 22nd Century L.A.). There is a shot during a chase sequence where you can see the marquee and office building facade much as it appears in the photo at the top of this page, only more of a side angle looking straight down Bagley Street.
The chase ends with the vehicles running into what is absolutely an old decrepit theater where the floor looks to have been leveled and concrete poured for use as a parking lot or garage. The upper portion of the proscenium arch and side organ vents are clearly visible. Not sure if this is a location in Detroit… can anyone offer some help in identifying the place?
It’s not the lights and billboards that get me â€" Hell, Times Square has always had spectacularly bright and gaudy displays – but the sheer verticality of all the new and recent construction in the area. There’s no sense of scale there anymore… it doesn’t relate at all to people walking down the street. It’s overwhelming. The old square was dominated by modestly sized office buildings, storefronts and theaters. There was sunlight during the day and the feel of open air at night. The old Times building rose 25 floors and the Paramount topped that, but the other buildings along 7th Avenue and Broadway were of a much smaller scale, the tallest probably topping out around 12-15 stories and many more closer to 4-7 stories tall.
Now, with the foot-traffic almost unbearably thick on either side of the Square, the space feels much smaller and congested than it ever did in the past. I feel corralled when I walk through the area, almost claustrophobic. It’s been transformed into an X-shaped canyon of glass and steel. As a result, the displays go up higher along the outer walls of these new skyscrapers and any notion of individuality has been abandoned. I don’t get that sense of “character” that I used to get when the old movie palace marquees lined the streets. I see photos of the Ginza in Tokyo and can hardly tell it apart from Times Square, but for the Japanese lettering. There is a chapter in the book “Lost New York” that discusses how a public square is defined not so much by the space of the square itself, but by the profile of the edifices that face it. The example of Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel is used to illustrate how over-development has detracted from the beauty of the Plaza as a public space. I think the same can be said of Times Square.
I guess that’s the trade-off associated with any civic reclamation project. Keep the faded and shady dime-a-dance ballrooms, massage parlors and seedy live-sex clubs and you may have your old palaces, grind houses, Nathans, Nedicks, Grand Luncheonette and retain a sense of architectural scale. Sweep away the porn and sleaze and restore one or two historic theaters to legitimate use and you will find hordes of real estate developers stumbling over one another for the opportunity to carve up the territory and build over the rubble of that which gave the place its identity in the first place. This is what is meant by re-development. Out with the old, in with the new. Times Square has become Disney World North and 42nd Street is its Main Street, USA.
Funny, B.O.Bill, that you say Sam Goody’s was a discount record store in those days. I can’t say that I’ve been in a Sam Goody’s in quite a number of years, but the store’s prices for CD’s in the ‘80’s and '90’s could hardly be called “discount.” I remember they were selling titles for $16.99 and $18.99 while bigger stores like Tower Records were selling them for $12.99 to $14.99. Today, I don’t think Goody’s can compete with the discounts offered by the larger electronic chains like Circuit City and bargain stores like Target and Best Buy. But, there it still stands on W. 48th and stores like FYE which are also priced above the bigger chains seem to be hanging in as well.
I found my souvenir booklet from the run of the 1978 film “Crossed Swords” which was advertised as the Hall’s last feature attraction and played from March to April with the Easter stage show. There are actually two booklets that I still have… one in specific to the film itself with a red “Final Attraction” sticker affixed to the front and the other was a general booklet about the Hall itself. In my memory I fused the two into one publication. I want to scan the cover of the film souvenir and load it on my photobucket site to share here. As for the Hall booklet, I’d really like to have the entire booklet scanned in high quality, perhaps as an Adobe PDF document. Does anyone here know if I can load a file like that up to photobucket? If not, are there sites that would allow me to upload the file so that I might share it here? If not I might just scan select pages myself and post them as images.
Yes, saps, theatergoers enter the Hilton through the former Lyric entrance on 42nd Street. The 42nd Street facade of the Lyric was beautifully restored, but I’m not entirely sure that the entry lobby is the original or if it – like the rest of the theater – was designed with a nod to the past. I’ve only seen one show at the Hilton (the musical “42nd Street” aptly enough) and I can’t recollect the details of the lobby space clearly enough. I seem to retain the impression that it has a more modern feel to it, albeit with vintage elements – like the theater itself.
The Apollo’s 42nd Street facade was basically non-existent, as the theater entrance was incorporated into the neo-classical facade of the adjacent Times Square Theater (which the Hilton now wraps around). But, from what I can see peering through the glass doors on 42nd Street, the old entry foyer does appear to be restored to original specifications.
That would be a great contribution to this site, alkan. Hope you make out.
No need for noses to get bent out of shape… I think it’s obvious that the most important factor here – overwhelmingly – is not just that the Paradise is still standing, but that the theater has been lovingly and painstakingly restored to its former beauty. Is it the $70 million dollar nook-and-cranny polishing that Radio City Music Hall received a few years back? No… but somehow I’m even more impressed because it doesn’t have that sort of corporate backing.
Still… I think it’s very much in the spirit of this site to use this forum to discuss and debate and, yes, even nit-pick over details. While we celebrate the marvelous work to restore this grand theater and the efforts to keep it going as the great showplace for the people of the Bronx it was intended to be, surely there is room enough for us to point out where we feel the project might have incongruously missed the mark. Perhaps it is precisely because the rest of the restoration has been going along so respectfully and tastefully that some of us were jarred by the sloppy splatter of bright yellow and blue paint on the building’s facade. I think it’s a fair point of criticism. Just as I think it’s fair to criticize the decision to refurbish the 1930’s era art moderne New Amsterdam marquee while rhapsodizing over the otherwise splendid restoration of the theater’s original 1903 Art Nouveau architecture. Or to appreciate the Ziegfeld Theater’s spacious single-screen auditorium while taking exception to its – in my opinion – tacky 1960’s decor.
I know it wasn’t everyone’s intention to run stevebob off this site, and I hope he finds it within himself to come back and continue contributing to the Cinema Treasures mosaic.
I recently found a Playbill from May of 1981 in my collection that includes the following Q & A about the Astor from it’s “Dear Playbill…” section:
Dear Playbill: While walking down B'way recently, I suddenly realized that the Astor Theater on the corner of 45th Street was gone. When did it disappear? Wasn’t it once a legitimate theatre?
—– Melvin G. Lustig, West New York, N.J.
A: Although the Astor Theatre building still stands, the space was converted to a Flea Market emporium a few years ago. Yes, the Astor opened on September 21, 1906 as a legitimate theater. It housed such hits as George M. Cohan’s “Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913), the first Pulitzer Prize Play "Why Marry?” (1917) and Fay Bainter in “East Is West” (1918). After 1925, it operated as a reserved seat, two-a-day movie house for the showing of prestigious films.
I also found a 1978 Playbill that lists in its Theater Guide productions playing at the Bijou, Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters – all of which were demolished in 1982 along with the Astor and Victoria movie theaters to make way for the Marriot Marquis Hotel. Some great reading material in these Playbills along with the ads for Pan-Am, TWA and long gone NYC restaurants and nightclubs (Hawaii Kai, Luchows, Mama Leone’s). I posted some other references from these Playbills on the pages for the Lyric Theater and the 42nd Street Apollo here on the site.
Ugh. My math is faulty. Obviously that’s more like a 300-350% increase for movie tickets.
The listing for this theater in that 1981 Playbill for the play “Fifth of July” is for the “New Apollo Theatre” using 234 W. 43rd Street as its address. I assume the Duece wasn’t cleaned up quite enough at the time to have made for an inviting entrance for theatergoers. During the creation of the Ford Center, it appears that the original Apollo entrance hall on 42nd Street was restored, even though the formal entrance to the new theater is down the block through the former lobby space of the Lyric. Can anyone confirm if the Apollo entrance foyer is original or was this space also gutted and merely made to look vintage? I had never seen a film here, but I did attend a Santana concert while it was The Academy in the mid 1990’s, entering from the 43rd street side.
Just a quick note on ticket prices… top dollar for “Fifth of July” was $25 on a Saturday evening performance. Seats in the upper balcony could be had for as little as $12.50 for a Wednesday matinee. “A Chorus Line” commanded top dollar on the rialto then, with top Saturday evening tickets going for $30. Looking back on the 1978 Playbill, “A Chorus Line” was selling its top Saturday night tickets for $20!!! Imagine that – a 33% hike in prices over the course of less than 3 years. Today we have $100 seats representing a 500% increase over 27 years. And that’s not taking into account these premium seating policies at some productions (“The Producers” started this trend in 2001) where choice seats are sold for $480 – that’s WITHOUT a ticket broker! By comparison, movie theater tickets (which were probably $3-$4 in Manhattan around 1980 and are now $10.75) remain a genuine bargain, having only gone up about 40% over the same time period of time.
Just posted this on the old Lyric Theater site and thought it made sense here as well:
Came across a pair of old Playbills from Broadway shows I had seen when I was a teenager (one from November of 1978, the other from May of ‘81). Interesting article in the '78 Playbill about the theatrical community’s efforts to work with the Mayor (Koch during his first administration at the time) to clean up the Times Square area. There’s mention of the League of New York Theaters and Producers working with the “Mayor’s Midtown Action Office and Midtown Enforcement Project” to permanently close area peep shows, massage parlors and “other sex-related businesses.” Sound familiar? Perhaps the Giuliani’s administration circa 1994?
It’s funny how the article takes a sunny outlook on the situation, referring to a time “a few years back” when “the Times Square area was in many people’s minds a composit of Dante’s Ninth Circle and the outer space, spaced-out bar in ‘Star Wars.’ The Great White Way was splattered with sleaze. Actresses and actors went on talk shows and made jokes about muggers.” Meanwhile, any true clean-up of the area was more than a decade in the future and at the cost of some of our greatest cinematic and theatrical palaces (not to mention any trace of Times Square’s once-unique character and atmosphere).
The article also mentions a “recent announcement” by the Brandt Organization to restore the Lyric and the Apollo on 42nd Street to legitimate theaters. I don’t think anything ever came of that plan for the Lyric, but I do know that attempts were made to use the Apollo as a legitimate stage in the early ‘80’s. In fact, the '81 Playbill I found lists Richard Thomas appearing at the Apollo in “Fifth of July” under the “How many of these shows have you seen?” section in the back of the magazine. In any event, the plans did come to fruition eventually, albeit with the destruction of the orignal Lyric and Apollo interiors and the creation of the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Hilton Theater) which, as described in comments above, incorporates architectural elements from both old houses into its design.
Came across a pair of old Playbills from Broadway shows I had seen when I was a teenager (one from November of 1978, the other from May of ‘81). Interesting article in the '78 Playbill about the theatrical community’s efforts to work with the Mayor (Koch during his first administration at the time) to clean up the Times Square area. There’s mention of the League of New York Theaters and Producers working with the “Mayor’s Midtown Action Office and Midtown Enforcement Project” to permanently close area peep shows, massage parlors and “other sex-related businesses.” Sound familiar? Perhaps the Giuliani’s administration circa 1994?
It’s funny how the article takes a sunny outlook on the situation, referring to a time “a few years back” when “the Times Square area was in many people’s minds a composit of Dante’s Ninth Circle and the outer space, spaced-out bar in ‘Star Wars.’ The Great White Way was splattered with sleaze. Actresses and actors went on talk shows and made jokes about muggers.” Meanwhile, any true clean-up of the area was more than a decade in the future and at the cost of some of our greatest cinematic and theatrical palaces (not to mention any trace of Times Square’s once-unique character and atmosphere).
The article also mentions a “recent announcement” by the Brandt Organization to restore the Lyric and the Apollo on 42nd Street to legitimate theaters. I don’t think anything ever came of that plan for the Lyric, but I do know that attempts were made to use the Apollo as a legitimate stage in the early ‘80’s. In fact, the '81 Playbill I found lists Richard Thomas appearing at the Apollo in “Fifth of July” under the “How many of these shows have you seen?” section in the back of the magazine. In any event, the plans did come to fruition eventually, albeit with the destruction of the orignal Lyric and Apollo interiors and the creation of the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Hilton Theater) which, as described in comments above, incorporates architectural elements from both old houses into its design.
Thanks Mikeoaklandpark, I was a bit off on that location, eh? I seem to recall it ran exlusively at the renamed “Penthouse” Theater for much of 1980. I can’t remember exactly when it played the Lyric, but it must have been sometime before the film was edited down for an “R” rating and re-released fairly wide the following year. I remember going back and seeing the shorter version at the Sunrise Cinemas multiplex in Valley Stream. The film was a botch job in both versions, thanks mostly to the incompetent and incoherent editing job performed by the Penthouse publisher Guccione, who assumed control of the project and locked-out the nominal director, Tinto Brass (himself an Italian soft-porn maestro), from the completion of the project.
A lot of the notorious history behind this film (which was filmed in 1976 but not completed and released until 1979) is outlined on the movie’s imdb trivia page. There are some fine performances and evocative atmospherics, but its such a jumbled mess that it makes for a very frustrating cinematic experience. I would love to see a true “Director’s Version” with all the footage shot by Brass arranged in the precise order he intended just to see if any of the film’s glimpses of worthiness might have panned out. But that would mean Guccione and his enormous ego stepping out of the way and relinquishing control of his $17.5 million dollar epic.
You’re probably right Moviemike… Do you have an exact year when this theater closed? Warren thought it was early ‘50’s which would mean it hasn’t been a theater for at least 50 years. Lots of different tenants and owners over the years have probably renovated most traces of movie theater right out of the place. When I peered through the front gates I could make out what looked like a standard residential L-shaped stair case at the far wall facing the front doors on the other side of what must have been the foyer area. The stairs had a traditional wooden banister as you might find in the center hall of any colonial home on Long Island. And the walls looked to be completely unadorned and painted in a flat white.
Do you recall anything about the marquee and its being in danger of collapse in the ‘90’s?
Yeah… really swank, wasn’t it? The decor was late 20th Century concrete bunker. If you like this style, you should have seen the Cinema City 5 in Fresh Meadows or you can run to Movieworld in Douglaston. I’m happy to say I never attended, but at least it was a place for locals to catch a film. Now that particular avenue of leisure has become a bit less convenient to travel.
But they keep that brass nicely polished, don’t they? Must keep tourists very curious, pondering that well maintained turnstile to nowhere as they walk down the street towards the big Christmas tree.
According to Clearview Cinemas, the $12.50 price will last only for the exclusive premier run of “The Producers” and prices will return to the normal $10.75 once the film goes into wider distribution.
Going back to some of the “Taxi Driver” inspired debate above as to whether the old Lyric ever showed porn… I think saps is right that the theater was never one of the Duece’s full-time porno houses (like the Rialto 1 and 2, Victory and Harem were). I think Scorcese liked the theater’s outdoor vestibule area as a shooting location and had the marquee especially made up for the shoot. The Harem entrance looked like a storefront, the Rialto entrances were very small and, like the Victory’s, were flush up against the facade. My guess is the Lyric vestibule offered the right look and spaciousness that Scorcese wanted and so he took some liberties. I wonder if that is the Lyric’s interior that was used for the shots of DeNiro and Sheppard watching the movie inside the theater.
Getting back to porn… if memory serves, the Lyric did play the un-edited version of Bob Guccione’s “Caligula” very shortly after its run at the east side theater Guccione had four-walled and renamed after his Penthouse magazine. I remember my friends and I standing under the marquee and then sheepishly moseying over to the display cases in the vestibule to look over the publicity stills and cards for the movie before working up the courage finally to go in and check the film out. It was our first porn experience and I might add that several sequences were extremely difficult for us to sit through!
Speaking of “Caligula”… does anyone remember the theater that Guccione commandeered to exhibit this porn-epic? I believe it was a former Trans-Lux theater on 1st or 2nd Ave in the 30’s or 40’s? My memory is failing on that point. I tried searching under “Penthouse” here, but I guess no one has thought to add that as an AKA to whatever theater it might be.
Take note of the checkerboard motif on the neighboring Victory Theater (which featured Burlesque and was called the Republic Theater at the time of this photo, I believe) to the right of the Lyric. I know that theater has its own page, but does anyone know when that design element was incorporated into the facade? Was it concurrent with the demolition of the exterior staircase that would later be re-created for the opening of the renovated New Victory Theater in 1995?
I suppose the balcony will now be stripped of its ornamentation and converted to office space as yet another gilded theater is completely lost to history. I never saw a movie here, despite having lived in the neighborhood and played in Linden Park just behind the building as a young boy. I remember that “The Towering Inferno” played here in the mid ‘70’s with Spanish subtitles. I think it might have still been a single screener at that time. In my memory, the marquee was big and boxy with the word “PLAZA” in red neon-lit block letters.
Well written, stevebob. I couldn’t agree more.
Jeffrey… you are correct. It was P.S. 13, so my memory is a bit off. Is it 56th Ave that Justice Ave feeds into near the old Macy’s? If so, this is the street the school was on. About a block in from Junction. Now that I think about it, the block the school was on came to an end at Junction… so if that sounds like 56th Ave then that was it. I’ll check out that queensboard site. Thanks.
I would agree with that last sentiment, Paul. Any remaining big single-screeners are definitely worth rooting for.
But I see where Stevebob is coming from in the sense that the phrase “palace” and “treasure” is thrown around a bit too lightly on this site – albeit, not usually from some of the more frequent and well informed contributors. Let’s face it… more than 80% of the theaters listed here should hardly be considered “treasures” from a purely architectural and aesthetic perspective. That is not to say that many of the late-run nabes and local “itches” aren’t warmly treasured by those who have fond memories of whiling away idle weekend and summer hours in their darkened confines.
Everyone has their own reasons for cherishing a particular theater or another and I think that, for the most part, we who share our memories here are respectful and appreciative of one another. This website is the true treasure and â€" in the spirit of the Holidays â€" my thanks to all of you who have contributed so much here and have broadened my understanding and appreciation of theatrical architecture, wide-screen technology, cinematic projection and presentation, road-show practices and many other related topics. Thanks to all the “detectives” out there who comb the internet and public libraries for all sorts of specific building information and archival photographs to share with the rest of us. Thanks for all the vivid and evocative descriptions you’ve given of your favorite theaters that have made me feel as if I’ve visited these places first hand, when in fact so many of them were demolished before I ever took my first steps. And thanks most of all to those of you who have been patient enough to read through my own humble ruminations.
Go out and see a movie… and take your kids (cousins, nephews, nieces, whatever). Try and find a suitable film and as good a cinema as you can possibly attend and make an event of it. The best way to honor our own special cinematic memories – particularly in the face of so much about today’s film-going experience that would seem to work against such an honor – is to build new memories for future generations to reflect back on in the years to come. The dinky little Laurelton Theater means so much more to me than some of the big New York theaters because of the times I shared there with my Dad, architectural opulence be damned.
Anyway… Sorry to get sappy… but it’s the Holiday season and I feel very connected to the Cinema Treasures community. Happy Holidays to all.
Jeffrey… I attended P.S. 16 on — was it 57th Ave? — for 3rd grade in ‘72-'73. I remember I used to take the city bus down Junction Blvd by myself from the house on 41st Avenue to get to this school. The principal was Mr. Zoller. After school, I used to go across Junction Blvd to the pizzeria that was right off the corner there and, with a dollar bill, I’d order two slices, a small coke and have a dime left over for the juke-box. Just about every day I would play one of 3 tunes: “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John or “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” which was The Beatles’ B-side to the “Let it Be” single.
Do you recall that pizzeria? I can’t think of the name. It may have been right on the northeast corner of Junction and 57th, but in my memory it was a door or two up Junction from the actual corner. I remember that 57th didn’t quite line up plumb as it crossed Junction, with the east side of the intersection shifted slightly to the south from the west side. You could have probably seen the joint from your apartment windows.
As I write this, it also strikes me that I was of an awfully tender young age to have been riding a city bus and crossing a major thoroughfare like Junction Blvd all by myself, but those were different times. The streets of Elmhurst were a bit safer than they probably are now and parents weren’t quite as overprotective of their children as they most certainly are these days. In any event, I survived the daily routine for an entire school year and can’t recall a single untoward incident. It’s amazing how visiting this site and thinking about a particular movie theater can stir so many unrelated memories. I love it… keeps me sharp! Thanks for indulging me once again.
Jack4c… that number is no longer in service. Perhaps the sign has been there for some time. I’d love to know if any of this theater survives, besides just the other shell.