I was on 44th Street last night, picking up tickets at the Shubert Theater, and had a chance to take a long look at the Paramount building and former stage door area of the theater. The ground floor space is now occupied by a small deli (as Bob mentions above), Carmine’s (an excellent family-style Italian restaurant and popular theater crowd destination) and a bagel store. There are two black doors located to the left (Broadway side) of the bagel store… one is a small single door and the other a large set of double doors. Peering through the crack between the double doors (which were locked) I could glimpse a wide and well lit stairwell ascending up and to the right (going up and over the bagel store)… Was this the original stage door? Bob mentions stairs going down, so I’m not sure if I have the right door. To the right of the double doors the address is shown as #200, but I’m not sure if that refers to the door or the bagel store. The smaller door to the left seems to have the address #200A (or it might have been “B” now that I think about it).
I’d love to see a vintage photo of this stretch before the theater was demolished. Looking up the facade of the theater building, it appears that the windows on the 2nd through 5th stories (the limestone portion of the building before it turns to brick) were constructed at a different date than those in the office tower. The black spandrels in the window columns between floors are plain and unadorned in the theater section, whereas those in the office tower feature some intricate relief work. I also found it interesting that at the western most edge of the property (abutting the NY Times building) the building rises a few additional stories in a mini-tower. As this was above the former theater space, I wonder what function was served by this feature.
There’s also a plaque at this edge of the building commemorating the old Stage Door Canteen, which was located in a basement space below the old 44th Street Theater – which was itself demolished in 1945 to make way for the expansion of the NY Times building. Lots of theatrical history on the block: The Sardi’s building adjacent to the Times, The Shubert, the Helen Hayes, The Broadhurst, the St. James, the Majestic. Only the Astor Plaza building (home of the former Loew’s Astor Plaza Theater) seems anachronistic.
Just for kicks, here’s a link to the IBDB site page for the 44th Street Theater with a link to photos… the place looked huge! http://ibdb.com/Venue.asp?Id=1384
My Junior High School ceremony was held at the Elmwood Theater in Elmhurst, even though my school was in Fresh Meadows. That was 1979 and the local Century’s Meadows Theater had already been twinned, making it too small for the graduating class. By the time I graduated Jamaica High School in ‘82, most of the local big theaters had been twinned or closed (or were showing porn, which would have rendered the facility inappropriate) so we held those ceremonies at auditorium at St. John’s University.
I’m glad the Valencia has survived more or less intact. Pity the caretakers don’t have the sensibilities to preserve the original color scheme as do the religious organizations overseeing the maintenance at the former Loew’s 175th Street in Washington Heights or the renovations at the former Loew’s Metropolitan in Downtown Brooklyn.
The Roundabout Theatre ran it’s off-Broadway productions at the Gramercy for a couple of seasons around 2000-2001 after Moss evicted them from the Criterion Center in the Bow Tie building on Times Square to make room for Toys ‘R’ Us. The Roundabout has since made a permanent off-Broadway home in the re-dubbed Laura Pels Theater on W. 46th (formerly a complex called the American Place Theater) since the 2002/03 season. Roundabout more famously (on this site, anyway) has made the restored Selwyn Theater on 42nd Street (now dubbed the American Airlines Theater) it’s flagship Broadway house and also maintains a permanent legit stage in Studio 54 (the former Gallo Opera House), which it plans on refurbishing and modernizing while keeping its “distressed” ambience preserved.
Anyway… I drove past the Gramercy the other day and did not notice the “For Sale by Owner” sign on the marquee – which is not to say it still isn’t there. Was the marquee always that sort of faded blue color?
Robert R… Scroll up to read Ed Baxter’s haunting description of the Keith’s desecrated interior in his post of February 27th, 2005. It paints a very vivid picture of an unofficial tour of the ruins taken in 1999. I would assume the interior remains today in pretty much the same condition, perhaps a bit worse given any intervening water/exposure damage.
Here’s a link to an article from February of this year, so nothing new in the text, but check out the small color photo at the top of the page. It shows part of the interior lobby wall (and “landmarked” ornamentation) above the entrance that will have to be obliterated in order to accommodate the glass curtain planned for the site. Looking at this photo just gets me even more steamed over all the self-congratulatory back patting that the local politicians are engaging in over this Boymelgreen development deal. Sure there’ll be some nice detailing and a pair of grand staircases left over from the old foyer to be appreciated by architectural buffs, but the ambience and integrity of the room will be destroyed with that southern wall replaced by a 50 x 100 foot “undulating” window that will flood the place with glaring sunlight. This is not preservation, it is perversion.
Is Meredith Rhule still posting on this site? He is (was) the projectionist here and posted back in 2004 that the only thing holding up the demolition of this theater was the Cuban restaurant that occupied one of the store fronts in the building. While the other retail spaces do indeed seem to remain vacant, I passed by the place the other night and noticed that a new Greek restaurant is now a tenant in the building (to the left of the theater entrance). Is this where the Cuban restaurant was? Is it the same business owner operating under the same lease as before or have plans to demolish the building been scrapped and a new lease written for the Greek place? Just for old times sake, I ought to catch a flick here one day. If nothing else, it’ll be an excuse to grab some Cold Stone Ice Cream across the street afterward!
My error, Bob. My orientation was all wrong looking at that newsreel footage. I thought it was 43rd Street. Makes sense to me now, although I still think of dressing rooms as these small rooms in the bowels of a theater. I guess the Paramount had the luxury of being constructed along with the adjacent office tower for superior facilities.
Not at all, Warren. Looks great. I only wish I had produced better raw material for you to work with. I’m waiting for prices to come down on the new SLR Digital Cameras out there. Perhaps after the holidays I’ll get my hands on one. The cameras I’ve seen advertised come with 18-55mm zoom lenses, which means you can widen out to a near fish-eye perspective and take in those large auditoriums from almost any vantage point. That will do nothing but encourage me to get inside some theaters and start snapping photos.
I remember this theater as a quartet back in the late ‘70’s and early '80’s. I saw many movies here (and snuck around from auditorium to auditorium on a single ticket on more than one occasion). We lived in Laurelton, which is the last neighborhood in Queens as Merrick Blvd crosses into Nassau County and becomes Merrick Road, and we’d often take walk to the Nassau border in Valley Stream so we could take the N4 bus to the Lynbrook. There was another smaller theater on Hempstead Ave just a block or so away called Studio One. I remember one night my Mom took a whole bunch of us out to the movies and everyone wanted to see “Rocky II”, except for me and my friend Mike who had seen it already. So they all saw that movie at the Lynbrook while Mike and I took in “Alien” at the Studio One.
I remember taking my little brother to see “The Muppet Movie” here and the virtually X-rated gore fest “Dawn of the Dead” was playing the downstairs theater on the right. Back in those days (and maybe still today?) the doors to the auditoriums had these square windows through which you could view the screen. My brother was too small to peer in to the theater, but he was curious about the zombie flick – which I had already seen and giddily described to him in vivid detail. I picked him up and let him peek in through the window just in time for him to watch one of the characters in the flick plunge a screwdriver deep into the ear of a zombie in graphic close-up. He was 7 years old at the time and it’s an image that is burned into his memory – as well as a story he still loves to tell to this day!
We used to lie about our ages to get into R-rated movies. Even at 14 or 15 we passed pretty easily for older kids and rarely had a problem. One time, however, we couldn’t convince the cashier that we were 17 and had to buy tickets to a PG-rated movie, when in fact we wanted to see “Dawn of the Dead.” I want to say we bought tickets for “Rocky II” but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway… we snuck into “Dawn of the Dead” regardless and were allowed to settle in and enjoy the flick for about 25 minutes until one of the ushers (a young guy probably college-age) came in shining his flashlight and asked to see our tickets. When he saw the stub, he just looked at us slyly, said “Son of a gun!” and escorted us to the front doors! So, we plopped down on the curb waiting for the bus to take us back to Queens and after a while that very same usher comes out of the theater and sees us sitting there rather dejectedly. He tells us that he was just getting off and wasn’t going to come in after us, but found himself gripped with a strong sense of duty! We certainly weren’t as amused as he so obviously was with himself and sent him on his way with a few choice words. We wound up finally seeing “Dawn of the Dead†at the Rivoli Theater in Times Square, where age restrictions weren’t quite as dutifully monitored.
I also remember having to walk all the way home from this theater after seeing a late show here one week night in the summer. The movie let out around 11pm or so and we didn’t realize that the bus stopped running completely after 10pm! We sat at the bus stop in front of the theater for nearly an hour before an usher exiting the theater informed us that there would be no bus until about 5 in the morning! What a walk that was! I was never so happy as when we finally came to the 7-11 located near the Queens border and realized (a) we could get something to drink and (b) the end of our journey was near! My sides start to hurt me just thinking back on that trek.
The UA Lynbrook was one of my many local cinematic haunts during the time. We also had the little Laurelton Theater on our side of the border, the Valley Stream, Belaire Twin, Century’s Green Acres and Sunrise Cinemas in Valley Stream as well as the RKO Twin and Fantasy Theaters in Rockville Center, the RKO triplex in Lawrence and the discount second-run Five Towns Theater in Woodmere.
I agree, Warren. I imagine you have sufficient information to add that page, particularly now that the site seems to be back up and running at full strength. Were both theaters listed at the same address? I know the newer Rialto also had a marquee around the corner on 42nd Street — for some reason I want to say there were two small triangular marquees right next to each other on 42nd street near the old subway entrance that was on the curb facing east… am I wrong about that? I never found my way into the Rialto during my days of frequenting the grind houses on the Duece.
Odd, nowadays, to see an ad with staggered start dates at different theaters. “Held over 3 more days” implying that a new feature would have normally been booked starting Wednesday (which is still a fairly common opening day)… but “Psycho” was starting on a Saturday in many theaters featured in the ad and would be ending it’s run on Friday at the DeMille, Baronet and Brooklyn Paramount. It’s amazing how release strategies have changed so much since then. Even in the ‘70’s it was not uncommon to have films roll out on different days (and with different co-features) depending on the theater. I used to wonder why certain theaters would play a different 2nd feature or drop the 2nd feature alltogether.
I strolled that mezzanine promenade a few times many moons ago when the place was a concert hall and I can tell you that none of those furnishings were in evidence! They were probably removed by management long before the place was re-christened The Palladium with a rock show headlined by the soon-to-be-retiring group The Band in the fall of ‘76. A few weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, the original incarnation of The Band would perform its last show ever at San Fransisco’s Winterland (a West Coast Roseland), an event captured in Martin Scorcese’s terrific concert flick “The Last Waltz.”
This was a great theater… and so much of it survived the renovations made to convert it to a disco in the ‘80’s. Basically, all they did was construct a huge cage in the orchestra section. Another one that could’ve been saved in the last decade or so.
I recall that newsreel footage of M&L hanging out the window — but wasn’t it on 43rd Street? Also, I seem to recall that the window was in the office tower of the Paramount Building just off the corner of Broadway and 43rd, meaning that the room was several stories above the theater lobby and foyer. Isn’t that an odd location for a dressing room? I’m not 100% sure how the theater itself was situated, but I always thought that the immense grand foyer ran straight back from the iconic arched entrance on Broadway (which has since been replicated) through the Paramount building and that the auditorium was a lower-rise building that ran along 43rd Street and abutted the New York Times building on the 8th Ave half of the block. That configuration would place the stage area pretty far away from the dressing room.
Unless I’m mistaken and the window was on 44th Street and the auditroium ran parallel to Broadway but behind the office tower. That would place the room on the same end of the building as the stage, assuming the 43rd Street facade was the back of the auditorium. Were all the dressing rooms located in the office tower? I always thought of dressing rooms as being literally “backstage.”
Passed by the other night, but didn’t have my camera. The address should be corrected to 227-10 Merrick Blvd, Laurelton, NY 11413. The marquee is gone, but the building is still there and in use as a church. A large illuminated white cross hangs perpendicular to the facade above where the marquee used to be – I believe the lettering reads “Evangelical Temple.”
What a shame. If you click on the article link, you’ll see in the 3rd photo how much of the original theater remained when the orchestra was first converted to the hardwood court. Sadly, the present day photos reveal how much as been stripped from the room. I wonder what they’ll do with the space now? Will it be completely gutted and converted to office/classroom space?
That’s similar to the way Fox, Warners and Irwin Allen handled the billing of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen for “The Towering Inferno” – and it was replicated in a single title card in the opening credits. One name on the left and the other on the right but higher in the frame.
I never attended a film here, but the Guild was featured in a recent re-run of Late Night with David Letterman on the cable channel Trio the other night. Robin Williams was the guest and he was promoting the 1989 movie “Dead Poet’s Society.” For the segment, Letterman sent a camera crew to the Guild to get a glimpse of the movie playing on screen (he was still on NBC and therefore working several floors above the Guild in the RCA Building).
The camera starts on the street and enters through the main doors, past the turnstile into the small lobby and then to the left through the 2nd set of doors leading to the standing-room area at the back of the auditorium. The camera turns right to look over the half-wall at the screen but the end-credits are already rolling. So, Letterman starts interviewing people exiting the theater for their reactions. He follows a few of them through the exit doors located at the back of the auditorium (these doors would have been just a few steps down to the left of the entrance) and on to 50th Street. Very funny stuff and a nice little glimpse into this vanished little Art Deco gem.
Well… funny things are happening with comments on this site. I added this theater a couple of months ago and then posted some photos. About a month later, Warren added some comments. And now the comments are all gone.
Anyway… here are the photos I snapped of the Victory’s exterior.
The second photo is taken through the roll down gates of the front door at the floor of the outer lobby. In the third image, you can see a faded sign advertising the “New Victory” painted right on the brick. I wonder when this was painted and just when the “New” was appended to the theater’s name.
As I recall, Warren had posted that this theater was pretty much a white elephant from the day it opened, tucked away in a residential neighborhood amongst some local storefronts. Perhaps the now faded sign had been painted to lure drivers from the busy intersection of Francis Lewis Boulevard and Utopia Parkway about a block away. I can’t imagine it could have been highly visible from that vantage point, but perhaps 50 or 60 years ago the sightlines to the building from those thoroughfares were better. Also, the Victory played 2nd run to the larger and better located Bayside Theater on Bell Boulevard and had competition from the Loew’s Roosevelt (which became the UA Quartet in the ‘70’s) on Northern Blvd. In any event, Warren indicated that the theater fell early victim to Television’s rising popularity and closed in the 1950’s.
But it’s so damned addicting!!! Seriously, I understand. After my posts today, I’ll take a little vacation from the site. Let us know what we loyal members can do (financially, otherwise) to help with upgrades to the site and supporting server systems.
Actually… I thought I passed a building up around 204th Street and Broadway that looked like a former theater. Anybody have an idea what that might have been?
CConnolly… that theater is the Coliseum on 181st Street and B'way. It is still in operation as a quad – with all 4 theaters located in the former balcony area. The orchestra was converted to retail some years back. Full history is on this page: /theaters/526/
I took the “scenic” route home from Sleepy Hollow, NY, the other day via Route 9 which eventually becomes South Broadway in Yonkers and then Broadway when it crosses into the Bronx. Anyway… passed a number of former theaters on the trip including this magnificent structure. I had never seen it in person before and I was kind of stunned by how imposing a building it is! As you approach from the north, you notice the stylish arched iron-work of the balcony fire escapes and then the huge structure that houses the lobby and foyer (where the vertical Loew’s sign remains attached). The theater occupies nearly all of the trapezoidal block bounded by Broadway, 175th Street, Wadsworth Ave and 176th street with the entrances on the corner of Broadway and 175th. The auditorium runs parallel to Wadsworth Ave so the building sort of angles away from Broadway as it runs to the north with a row of tax-payer storefronts filling out the Broadway frontage. I have to get myself inside with my camera one Sunday (services at 2:45pm according to the marquee).
While coming down Broadway, I passed a couple of theaters in Yonkers (I believe one was the RKO Proctor, and then the Park Hill further to the south) and at least one in the Bronx (the former RKO Marble Hill). I was surprised at how large the old Coliseum building was at 181st Street. I also recall a building up around 204th street in Manhattan that appeared to have been a theater at one time. Anyone know what this might have been?
Sheesh… the placelooks boarded and condemned in the “then” photo! Take a look at the sign hanging between the theater and the building on the left. It appears to read “Any information regarding these three buildings … ” then lists the building #’s and lot size (“75x100”) followed by – presumably – a name and phone number to call with inquiries.
Judging by the information above provided by Lost Memory, I assume that two of these parcels were eventually sold and became the 1-story building and adjacent driveway we see in the “now” photo. At minimum, it appears the facade was reduced in height and redone in plain brick, assuming the original theater facade included a high parapet wall. But note that it looks like a tree is growing through the roof of the building in the “now” photo! There must be some kind of alley-way behind the wall on the right edge of the property line which tells me that at least this portion of the old theater was completely rebuilt.
Did Radio City (or any other theater) ever have twin Wurlitzers? For some reason, I seem to remember that there were two organs (one on either side of the proscenium) that emerged simultaneously from their bays while their operators labored furiously to produce the thunderous music that filled the great space. Memory can play tricks (and my memory in particular ought to be clad in top hat, cape and magician’s wand), but the image seems vivid enough to me. Am I mistaken?
I was on 44th Street last night, picking up tickets at the Shubert Theater, and had a chance to take a long look at the Paramount building and former stage door area of the theater. The ground floor space is now occupied by a small deli (as Bob mentions above), Carmine’s (an excellent family-style Italian restaurant and popular theater crowd destination) and a bagel store. There are two black doors located to the left (Broadway side) of the bagel store… one is a small single door and the other a large set of double doors. Peering through the crack between the double doors (which were locked) I could glimpse a wide and well lit stairwell ascending up and to the right (going up and over the bagel store)… Was this the original stage door? Bob mentions stairs going down, so I’m not sure if I have the right door. To the right of the double doors the address is shown as #200, but I’m not sure if that refers to the door or the bagel store. The smaller door to the left seems to have the address #200A (or it might have been “B” now that I think about it).
I’d love to see a vintage photo of this stretch before the theater was demolished. Looking up the facade of the theater building, it appears that the windows on the 2nd through 5th stories (the limestone portion of the building before it turns to brick) were constructed at a different date than those in the office tower. The black spandrels in the window columns between floors are plain and unadorned in the theater section, whereas those in the office tower feature some intricate relief work. I also found it interesting that at the western most edge of the property (abutting the NY Times building) the building rises a few additional stories in a mini-tower. As this was above the former theater space, I wonder what function was served by this feature.
There’s also a plaque at this edge of the building commemorating the old Stage Door Canteen, which was located in a basement space below the old 44th Street Theater – which was itself demolished in 1945 to make way for the expansion of the NY Times building. Lots of theatrical history on the block: The Sardi’s building adjacent to the Times, The Shubert, the Helen Hayes, The Broadhurst, the St. James, the Majestic. Only the Astor Plaza building (home of the former Loew’s Astor Plaza Theater) seems anachronistic.
Just for kicks, here’s a link to the IBDB site page for the 44th Street Theater with a link to photos… the place looked huge! http://ibdb.com/Venue.asp?Id=1384
My Junior High School ceremony was held at the Elmwood Theater in Elmhurst, even though my school was in Fresh Meadows. That was 1979 and the local Century’s Meadows Theater had already been twinned, making it too small for the graduating class. By the time I graduated Jamaica High School in ‘82, most of the local big theaters had been twinned or closed (or were showing porn, which would have rendered the facility inappropriate) so we held those ceremonies at auditorium at St. John’s University.
I’m glad the Valencia has survived more or less intact. Pity the caretakers don’t have the sensibilities to preserve the original color scheme as do the religious organizations overseeing the maintenance at the former Loew’s 175th Street in Washington Heights or the renovations at the former Loew’s Metropolitan in Downtown Brooklyn.
The Roundabout Theatre ran it’s off-Broadway productions at the Gramercy for a couple of seasons around 2000-2001 after Moss evicted them from the Criterion Center in the Bow Tie building on Times Square to make room for Toys ‘R’ Us. The Roundabout has since made a permanent off-Broadway home in the re-dubbed Laura Pels Theater on W. 46th (formerly a complex called the American Place Theater) since the 2002/03 season. Roundabout more famously (on this site, anyway) has made the restored Selwyn Theater on 42nd Street (now dubbed the American Airlines Theater) it’s flagship Broadway house and also maintains a permanent legit stage in Studio 54 (the former Gallo Opera House), which it plans on refurbishing and modernizing while keeping its “distressed” ambience preserved.
Anyway… I drove past the Gramercy the other day and did not notice the “For Sale by Owner” sign on the marquee – which is not to say it still isn’t there. Was the marquee always that sort of faded blue color?
Robert R… Scroll up to read Ed Baxter’s haunting description of the Keith’s desecrated interior in his post of February 27th, 2005. It paints a very vivid picture of an unofficial tour of the ruins taken in 1999. I would assume the interior remains today in pretty much the same condition, perhaps a bit worse given any intervening water/exposure damage.
Here’s a link to an article from February of this year, so nothing new in the text, but check out the small color photo at the top of the page. It shows part of the interior lobby wall (and “landmarked” ornamentation) above the entrance that will have to be obliterated in order to accommodate the glass curtain planned for the site. Looking at this photo just gets me even more steamed over all the self-congratulatory back patting that the local politicians are engaging in over this Boymelgreen development deal. Sure there’ll be some nice detailing and a pair of grand staircases left over from the old foyer to be appreciated by architectural buffs, but the ambience and integrity of the room will be destroyed with that southern wall replaced by a 50 x 100 foot “undulating” window that will flood the place with glaring sunlight. This is not preservation, it is perversion.
View link
Right now, my stomach is undulating…
Is Meredith Rhule still posting on this site? He is (was) the projectionist here and posted back in 2004 that the only thing holding up the demolition of this theater was the Cuban restaurant that occupied one of the store fronts in the building. While the other retail spaces do indeed seem to remain vacant, I passed by the place the other night and noticed that a new Greek restaurant is now a tenant in the building (to the left of the theater entrance). Is this where the Cuban restaurant was? Is it the same business owner operating under the same lease as before or have plans to demolish the building been scrapped and a new lease written for the Greek place? Just for old times sake, I ought to catch a flick here one day. If nothing else, it’ll be an excuse to grab some Cold Stone Ice Cream across the street afterward!
My error, Bob. My orientation was all wrong looking at that newsreel footage. I thought it was 43rd Street. Makes sense to me now, although I still think of dressing rooms as these small rooms in the bowels of a theater. I guess the Paramount had the luxury of being constructed along with the adjacent office tower for superior facilities.
Not at all, Warren. Looks great. I only wish I had produced better raw material for you to work with. I’m waiting for prices to come down on the new SLR Digital Cameras out there. Perhaps after the holidays I’ll get my hands on one. The cameras I’ve seen advertised come with 18-55mm zoom lenses, which means you can widen out to a near fish-eye perspective and take in those large auditoriums from almost any vantage point. That will do nothing but encourage me to get inside some theaters and start snapping photos.
The site has been humming all day, so far. Good work. Happy to have it back in proper order (knock wood).
I remember this theater as a quartet back in the late ‘70’s and early '80’s. I saw many movies here (and snuck around from auditorium to auditorium on a single ticket on more than one occasion). We lived in Laurelton, which is the last neighborhood in Queens as Merrick Blvd crosses into Nassau County and becomes Merrick Road, and we’d often take walk to the Nassau border in Valley Stream so we could take the N4 bus to the Lynbrook. There was another smaller theater on Hempstead Ave just a block or so away called Studio One. I remember one night my Mom took a whole bunch of us out to the movies and everyone wanted to see “Rocky II”, except for me and my friend Mike who had seen it already. So they all saw that movie at the Lynbrook while Mike and I took in “Alien” at the Studio One.
I remember taking my little brother to see “The Muppet Movie” here and the virtually X-rated gore fest “Dawn of the Dead” was playing the downstairs theater on the right. Back in those days (and maybe still today?) the doors to the auditoriums had these square windows through which you could view the screen. My brother was too small to peer in to the theater, but he was curious about the zombie flick – which I had already seen and giddily described to him in vivid detail. I picked him up and let him peek in through the window just in time for him to watch one of the characters in the flick plunge a screwdriver deep into the ear of a zombie in graphic close-up. He was 7 years old at the time and it’s an image that is burned into his memory – as well as a story he still loves to tell to this day!
We used to lie about our ages to get into R-rated movies. Even at 14 or 15 we passed pretty easily for older kids and rarely had a problem. One time, however, we couldn’t convince the cashier that we were 17 and had to buy tickets to a PG-rated movie, when in fact we wanted to see “Dawn of the Dead.” I want to say we bought tickets for “Rocky II” but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway… we snuck into “Dawn of the Dead” regardless and were allowed to settle in and enjoy the flick for about 25 minutes until one of the ushers (a young guy probably college-age) came in shining his flashlight and asked to see our tickets. When he saw the stub, he just looked at us slyly, said “Son of a gun!” and escorted us to the front doors! So, we plopped down on the curb waiting for the bus to take us back to Queens and after a while that very same usher comes out of the theater and sees us sitting there rather dejectedly. He tells us that he was just getting off and wasn’t going to come in after us, but found himself gripped with a strong sense of duty! We certainly weren’t as amused as he so obviously was with himself and sent him on his way with a few choice words. We wound up finally seeing “Dawn of the Dead†at the Rivoli Theater in Times Square, where age restrictions weren’t quite as dutifully monitored.
I also remember having to walk all the way home from this theater after seeing a late show here one week night in the summer. The movie let out around 11pm or so and we didn’t realize that the bus stopped running completely after 10pm! We sat at the bus stop in front of the theater for nearly an hour before an usher exiting the theater informed us that there would be no bus until about 5 in the morning! What a walk that was! I was never so happy as when we finally came to the 7-11 located near the Queens border and realized (a) we could get something to drink and (b) the end of our journey was near! My sides start to hurt me just thinking back on that trek.
The UA Lynbrook was one of my many local cinematic haunts during the time. We also had the little Laurelton Theater on our side of the border, the Valley Stream, Belaire Twin, Century’s Green Acres and Sunrise Cinemas in Valley Stream as well as the RKO Twin and Fantasy Theaters in Rockville Center, the RKO triplex in Lawrence and the discount second-run Five Towns Theater in Woodmere.
I agree, Warren. I imagine you have sufficient information to add that page, particularly now that the site seems to be back up and running at full strength. Were both theaters listed at the same address? I know the newer Rialto also had a marquee around the corner on 42nd Street — for some reason I want to say there were two small triangular marquees right next to each other on 42nd street near the old subway entrance that was on the curb facing east… am I wrong about that? I never found my way into the Rialto during my days of frequenting the grind houses on the Duece.
Odd, nowadays, to see an ad with staggered start dates at different theaters. “Held over 3 more days” implying that a new feature would have normally been booked starting Wednesday (which is still a fairly common opening day)… but “Psycho” was starting on a Saturday in many theaters featured in the ad and would be ending it’s run on Friday at the DeMille, Baronet and Brooklyn Paramount. It’s amazing how release strategies have changed so much since then. Even in the ‘70’s it was not uncommon to have films roll out on different days (and with different co-features) depending on the theater. I used to wonder why certain theaters would play a different 2nd feature or drop the 2nd feature alltogether.
I strolled that mezzanine promenade a few times many moons ago when the place was a concert hall and I can tell you that none of those furnishings were in evidence! They were probably removed by management long before the place was re-christened The Palladium with a rock show headlined by the soon-to-be-retiring group The Band in the fall of ‘76. A few weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, the original incarnation of The Band would perform its last show ever at San Fransisco’s Winterland (a West Coast Roseland), an event captured in Martin Scorcese’s terrific concert flick “The Last Waltz.”
This was a great theater… and so much of it survived the renovations made to convert it to a disco in the ‘80’s. Basically, all they did was construct a huge cage in the orchestra section. Another one that could’ve been saved in the last decade or so.
I recall that newsreel footage of M&L hanging out the window — but wasn’t it on 43rd Street? Also, I seem to recall that the window was in the office tower of the Paramount Building just off the corner of Broadway and 43rd, meaning that the room was several stories above the theater lobby and foyer. Isn’t that an odd location for a dressing room? I’m not 100% sure how the theater itself was situated, but I always thought that the immense grand foyer ran straight back from the iconic arched entrance on Broadway (which has since been replicated) through the Paramount building and that the auditorium was a lower-rise building that ran along 43rd Street and abutted the New York Times building on the 8th Ave half of the block. That configuration would place the stage area pretty far away from the dressing room.
Unless I’m mistaken and the window was on 44th Street and the auditroium ran parallel to Broadway but behind the office tower. That would place the room on the same end of the building as the stage, assuming the 43rd Street facade was the back of the auditorium. Were all the dressing rooms located in the office tower? I always thought of dressing rooms as being literally “backstage.”
Passed by the other night, but didn’t have my camera. The address should be corrected to 227-10 Merrick Blvd, Laurelton, NY 11413. The marquee is gone, but the building is still there and in use as a church. A large illuminated white cross hangs perpendicular to the facade above where the marquee used to be – I believe the lettering reads “Evangelical Temple.”
What a shame. If you click on the article link, you’ll see in the 3rd photo how much of the original theater remained when the orchestra was first converted to the hardwood court. Sadly, the present day photos reveal how much as been stripped from the room. I wonder what they’ll do with the space now? Will it be completely gutted and converted to office/classroom space?
That’s similar to the way Fox, Warners and Irwin Allen handled the billing of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen for “The Towering Inferno” – and it was replicated in a single title card in the opening credits. One name on the left and the other on the right but higher in the frame.
I never attended a film here, but the Guild was featured in a recent re-run of Late Night with David Letterman on the cable channel Trio the other night. Robin Williams was the guest and he was promoting the 1989 movie “Dead Poet’s Society.” For the segment, Letterman sent a camera crew to the Guild to get a glimpse of the movie playing on screen (he was still on NBC and therefore working several floors above the Guild in the RCA Building).
The camera starts on the street and enters through the main doors, past the turnstile into the small lobby and then to the left through the 2nd set of doors leading to the standing-room area at the back of the auditorium. The camera turns right to look over the half-wall at the screen but the end-credits are already rolling. So, Letterman starts interviewing people exiting the theater for their reactions. He follows a few of them through the exit doors located at the back of the auditorium (these doors would have been just a few steps down to the left of the entrance) and on to 50th Street. Very funny stuff and a nice little glimpse into this vanished little Art Deco gem.
Well… funny things are happening with comments on this site. I added this theater a couple of months ago and then posted some photos. About a month later, Warren added some comments. And now the comments are all gone.
Anyway… here are the photos I snapped of the Victory’s exterior.
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The second photo is taken through the roll down gates of the front door at the floor of the outer lobby. In the third image, you can see a faded sign advertising the “New Victory” painted right on the brick. I wonder when this was painted and just when the “New” was appended to the theater’s name.
As I recall, Warren had posted that this theater was pretty much a white elephant from the day it opened, tucked away in a residential neighborhood amongst some local storefronts. Perhaps the now faded sign had been painted to lure drivers from the busy intersection of Francis Lewis Boulevard and Utopia Parkway about a block away. I can’t imagine it could have been highly visible from that vantage point, but perhaps 50 or 60 years ago the sightlines to the building from those thoroughfares were better. Also, the Victory played 2nd run to the larger and better located Bayside Theater on Bell Boulevard and had competition from the Loew’s Roosevelt (which became the UA Quartet in the ‘70’s) on Northern Blvd. In any event, Warren indicated that the theater fell early victim to Television’s rising popularity and closed in the 1950’s.
But it’s so damned addicting!!! Seriously, I understand. After my posts today, I’ll take a little vacation from the site. Let us know what we loyal members can do (financially, otherwise) to help with upgrades to the site and supporting server systems.
CConnoly… your post way back about the theater on Broadway in the 160’s… Try the Loew’s Rio on this page: /theaters/6713/
Actually… I thought I passed a building up around 204th Street and Broadway that looked like a former theater. Anybody have an idea what that might have been?
CConnolly… that theater is the Coliseum on 181st Street and B'way. It is still in operation as a quad – with all 4 theaters located in the former balcony area. The orchestra was converted to retail some years back. Full history is on this page: /theaters/526/
I took the “scenic” route home from Sleepy Hollow, NY, the other day via Route 9 which eventually becomes South Broadway in Yonkers and then Broadway when it crosses into the Bronx. Anyway… passed a number of former theaters on the trip including this magnificent structure. I had never seen it in person before and I was kind of stunned by how imposing a building it is! As you approach from the north, you notice the stylish arched iron-work of the balcony fire escapes and then the huge structure that houses the lobby and foyer (where the vertical Loew’s sign remains attached). The theater occupies nearly all of the trapezoidal block bounded by Broadway, 175th Street, Wadsworth Ave and 176th street with the entrances on the corner of Broadway and 175th. The auditorium runs parallel to Wadsworth Ave so the building sort of angles away from Broadway as it runs to the north with a row of tax-payer storefronts filling out the Broadway frontage. I have to get myself inside with my camera one Sunday (services at 2:45pm according to the marquee).
While coming down Broadway, I passed a couple of theaters in Yonkers (I believe one was the RKO Proctor, and then the Park Hill further to the south) and at least one in the Bronx (the former RKO Marble Hill). I was surprised at how large the old Coliseum building was at 181st Street. I also recall a building up around 204th street in Manhattan that appeared to have been a theater at one time. Anyone know what this might have been?
Sheesh… the placelooks boarded and condemned in the “then” photo! Take a look at the sign hanging between the theater and the building on the left. It appears to read “Any information regarding these three buildings … ” then lists the building #’s and lot size (“75x100”) followed by – presumably – a name and phone number to call with inquiries.
Judging by the information above provided by Lost Memory, I assume that two of these parcels were eventually sold and became the 1-story building and adjacent driveway we see in the “now” photo. At minimum, it appears the facade was reduced in height and redone in plain brick, assuming the original theater facade included a high parapet wall. But note that it looks like a tree is growing through the roof of the building in the “now” photo! There must be some kind of alley-way behind the wall on the right edge of the property line which tells me that at least this portion of the old theater was completely rebuilt.
Did Radio City (or any other theater) ever have twin Wurlitzers? For some reason, I seem to remember that there were two organs (one on either side of the proscenium) that emerged simultaneously from their bays while their operators labored furiously to produce the thunderous music that filled the great space. Memory can play tricks (and my memory in particular ought to be clad in top hat, cape and magician’s wand), but the image seems vivid enough to me. Am I mistaken?