Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
707 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
39 people
favorited this theater
Showing 326 - 350 of 1,094 comments
Hello Again-
many thanks for my fellow posters replies to my inquiry. the first Rialto was torn down in 1932? and the Regent while in good shape as been renovated/refurbished etc….. many times for its use as a church. so what either theater looked like when they first opened is anyone’s guess. i hedging the bet the reason
they were considered “movie palaces” is they were larger and more ornate then any other movie theater in Manhattan at the time of their openings.
as the Streetscapes article reiterates many of the first movie theaters in the first 10 years 1896-1906 were simply converted store fronts, retail spaces, music halls or stage theaters. therefore considering how popular movies became after their April 1896 debut i can’t believe there weren’t any movie theaters built from the ground up specifically as movie theaters until the Bunny and Regent of 1913.
also i greatly enjoy reading the Streetscapes column every Sunday in the NY Times but in the older column posted i believe Gray made a mistake. i have been going into the Union Square and East Village areas since i was in college and i never remember the Variety Photoplays ever showing gay porn. before being torn down a few years ago it was unused for a few years and before that it had been converted to an off Broadway theater like 25? years ago. now before that it showed straight porn not gay. the long gone Pocket Theater two blocks down 3rd Ave. showed gay porn.
No. I did not see them because I am not 100 years old.
I did see the Variety and the Nova (Bunny) and I think that it is what Bigjoe really wants to know.
Al,
Did you ever see some of those “100 theaters built for movies”? I thought Bigjoe was talking about “movie palaces”….of which virtually all have been demolished….or are churches. New York has no feeling for REAL landmarks, only the junk that Bloomberg thinks is “art”.
I think the item that best addresses bigjoe’s query is:
“By the early 1910’s, perhaps 100 theaters built for movies had gone up in New York City.”
Al, that’s a very interesting article, but it doesn’t reveal anything I didn’t really know before. Certainly there were movie theatres BEFORE Marcus Loew built the State. In fact, it was “the other theatres” that Loew operated around NY (amd other places) that funded the construction of the State. There was a movie palace in Brighton Beach Brooklyn before the State, but again, It’s the area between 14th Street up to about 86th Street that I’m talking about. There were very few REAL movie palaces until the “real movie palaces” were built from about 1928 through 1933 (the heart of the depression-lol).
btw- I worked at the Variety Photoplay theatre, as well as the Murray Schwartz Theatre on 12th St. & 2nd Ave (aka-The Gaeity and The Eden (where Oh Calcutta premiered).
saps posted this on the Variety Photoplays pages in 2006:
saps on March 23, 2006 at 4:23 am
Here is the text of J.P. Valensi’s excellent post:
STREETSCAPES: Variety Photo Plays Theater; Marquee’s Lights Are Dark on 1914 ‘Nickelodeon’
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY Published: September 3, 1989
IT’S hard to put your finger on what was special about it. Perhaps it was the aura of the early days of the movies, but the 1914 Variety Photo Plays Theater at 110 Third Avenue was unforgettable when it was in operation.
Now the theater’s distinctive lightbulb marquee is dark, the property is vacant and being shown to potential buyers and, according to Michael Lerner, the leasing agent, a final decision – to sell, net lease or demolish the building – will come on Sept. 12.
The earliest movie theaters were just ad hoc alterations of spaces of opportunity, like a saloon or a storefront. According to the theater historian Michael R. Miller, these turn-of-the-century nickelodeons, where admission was usually nickel, were not superseded by specifically built movie theaters until 1908, when the Nicholand and Prospect Pleasure Palace went up in the Bronx.
By the early 1910’s, perhaps 100 theaters built for movies had gone up in New York City. They were good businesses and clustered near high-traffic sites. In 1914, one promoter, Jacob Valensi, secured a 15-year lease on a plot on the west side of Third Avenue, just south of the 14th Street stop of the elevated. There he built a two-story theater, according to Mr. Miller’s research, on a site previously occupied by a theater operation. Although filed as a new building, the theater actually used some of the perimeter walls of an older structure; the theater could in some ways be considered to pre-date 1914.
In its name – Valensi’s Variety Photo Plays – it sought an association with legitimate theater endeavors, of which 14th Street had been a center since the 1850’s.
Designed by Louis Sheinart, the exterior of Variety Photo Plays was in plain brick, generally unornamented except for arcaded piers projecting above a sloping tiled false roof. Mr. Miller called Sheinart ‘'a minor, minor architect of many, many theaters’‘ in this period.
Inside, the auditorium was fairly plain, but did have a slightly pitched floor and fixed seats, still novel touches in an industry that had started only recently with plain benches and sheets hung on a wall.
It is not clear if the walls have lost some architectural effect – they are now mostly patched plaster – but the ceiling is covered with modestly patterned pressed tin. Four large Tiffany-type half-globe lighting fixtures have somehow survived, and the simple fixed seats bear a ‘'V’‘ on the end panels.
There are rooftop louvered vents, still remote-controlled with chains that hang down in the middle of the theater, and a great square panel in the center, perhaps 30 feet across, is what remains of a sliding roof used in the days before air-conditioning.
Variety Photo Plays originally seated 450 and, according to Mr. Miller, probably first presented groups of two-reelers, collections of individual features, each 15 or 20 minutes long. This was at a period when the feature-length film was still uncommon and films in general were generally considered low-culture – ‘'photo plays’‘ or not.
By the early 1920’s, nickelodeons like the Variety Photo Plays were being supplanted by larger houses seating one or two thousand, and if the Variety was ever a first-rank theater, it surely must have begun a downward slide at that time.
In 1923, a marquee was added, designed by Julius Eckman. In 1930, a balcony seating 150 and a new lobby were installed by the architects Boak & Paris, who also made over the 1923 marquee. The lobby is nondescript neo-Renaissance and it is the marquee that has made the theater special, at least to modern eyes. Boak & Paris did not change the Eckman marquee’s underside, a coffered field with regularly spaced bulbs, but did add a zigzag Art Deco fascia in enameled metal and neon lighting. The fascia gives the theater’s, rather than the show’s, name and recalls the period when movies were more of a generic product. The lights buzzing on the underside of the marquee, when they were on, enveloped the passerby in a warm, glowing field. People going past the theater, even in the daytime, got a whiff of vintage celluloid, and at night it was intoxicating.
HE film fare over the last 30 years gradually shifted from B-grade to raunchy to naughty to pornographic, and added a slightly forbidden, Coney Island spice to the building. A 10-year-old schoolboy who somehow found himself on lower Third Avenue would walk straight by but keep his eyes glued to the pictures on the billboards outside the ticket booth.
Earlier this year the Department of Health closed the Variety Photo Plays, which was operating as a gay movie theater. Now it is still and musty inside, its 1940’s candy machine empty, its projection booth a small museum of antique apparatus – carbon arc projection lighting was discontinued only a few years ago. The owner, the 110-112 Third Avenue Realty Corporation, includes members of the same families who owned it since the 1920’s. In their hands lies the fate of a institution that will live on at least in the memories of many New Yorkers.
Bigjoe, I never worked at B.F. Moss' Regent, however, being at 135th Street wouldn’t even count in my mind. Also, not having worked there, I don’t know if it would qualify as a “movie palace” even if it was built as a “movie theatre”. Many theatres that are “assumed” to have always been movie theatres weren’t actually built for movies.
The year the Regency was built, 1913, is interesting because the “Moving Picture Machine Operators Union Local 306, I.A.T.S.E.” was chartered in 1913. The union (or what’s left of it) will be celebrating its “Centennial Birthday” in 2013.
Hello Again-
i thank AlAlvarez and techman707 for replying to mu question. unfortunately the Loew’s State didn’t open till August of 1921. this would place it 8 years after B.F. Moss' Regent(the 1st “movie palace” built in Manhattan)and 5 years after the first Rialto(the first “movie palace” built in the Times Square area).
now no offense meant toward nickelodeons but i was always of the impression they were decent sized storefronts/retail spaces etc.. . that were renovated to show films but were not theaters as we use the term today. so between the movies debut at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall in April of 1896 and the opening of B.F. Moss' Regent in 1913 there had to been at least one or two more moderate sized edifices built specifically to show movies. i can’t believe the Regent was the first purpose built movie theater whether large,medium or small built in Manhattan.
bigjoe, As far as I know, when it comes to theatres that could be considered a “movie palace” and built to “run movies”, I believe that Loew’s State was the first in Manhattan, when it was built by Marcus Loew and also served as their headquarters.
bigjoe, I think you are talking about short-lived storefront nickelodeons.
Hello Again-
i know the B.F.Moss Regent on 135 St. was the first “movie palace” built in Manhattan and that the 1st Rialto of 1916 on 7th Ave.&42 St. was the first “movie palace” built in the Times Square area. this leads me to my question. after their debut as it were at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall in April of 1896 films had to be shown in quickly redone/renovated theaters/music halls since movie theaters obviously didn’t exist yet. so what was the 1st purpose built from the ground up movie theater in Manhattan?
Hello To Fellow Posters-
i originally asked this question a few months back so i was wondering if anyone has found the answer yet. when i first came upon this excellent website was i surprised in the intro above for this theater above that for a short time it was called the Mark 1-2-3. now i have been an avid theatergoer most of my adult life and have frequently used the TKTS booth which is right across from this theater since the day it opened in June of 1973. yet i never remember seeing Mark 1-2-3 on the marquee even for a minute amount of time. has anyone ever found a photo?
And that’s the problem.-lol
If you search for the ART or MOVIELAND you can get Cantor Film Center, its current name, as an option. The problem is you need to know that it is now called that in order to find it.
The theatres should be able to be searched by ANY of their former names. It can be tough to find some theatres if you don’t know the LAST name that was used.
Bigjoe59, there was the ART (Movieland 8th Street) further down.
Hello-
i thank you for your reply but the Art Greenwich was off of 12 St. a stone’s throw from the now suttered St. Vincent’s Hospital. i am referring to the two theaters that were actually on 8th St. the 8th St.Playhouse was almost at 6th. Avenue. the other theater was almost at Bway. but its not listed under any of the names i can think of. its now used as an auditorium by NYU.
Might you be referring to the Art Greenwich, which was twinned in its final years?
Hello to Everyone-
while i like this website immensely the 1 problem is that theaters aren’t necessarily listed by the name they’re best known by. i have been searching for a bit to find a theater on 8th St. closer to Broadway. i found the 8th St. Playhouse which was closer to 6th Ave. but what was the name of the theater closer to Bway. i can’t find it under any of the names it knew it by. its now used by NYU as an auditorium.
If the City of New York is stupid enough to give that developer 65 million dollars, then I’m SURE it will be done.
Like you, techman, I remain skeptical until workers actually show up and start the renovations. I have a hunch that this plan is legitimate, but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, as they say. I’ll be thoroughly convinced once I have tickets for the re-opening in my hand!
Ed, I’ve heard before about “plans” to renovate (or restore at this point) Loew’S Kings, however, it never actually happens and the Kings just keeps getting worse. This last “plan” just sounds like a big swindle of city tax dollars.
Speaking of Wonder Theaters, not only do all five of those Loew’s-built palaces still stand, but the Loew’s Jersey City is still open for business as a revival cinema. While it may not have a year-round weekly schedule, and may not be showing first-run films, it is still very much a movie theater. Of the original five, only the Loew’s Kings remains currently closed to the public, but even there, ambitious plans to renovate and restore the theater as a live venue were announced last year, and promise to see a reopening by 2015.
Having said that, techman707, I completely agree with your assessment of New York City’s abysmal attitude towards its movie palace legacy.
bigjoe59,
You got me. Besides the two theatres you’ve mentioned, I’m not aware of any theatres still running movies and haven’t been at least butchered.
The “real” movie palaces were built between 1928 and 1932. Most of the theatres built from 1913-1927 were not built specifically to run movies and for the most part, were not as opulent as the theatres built between ‘28 and '32, which included “the wonder theatres”. Fortunately, a few wonder theatres were saved, but as churches and don’t run movies.
Hello Again To Techman707- thank you for your reply. you seem to know lots and lots so i figure you were the person to ask. of course a number of grand old movie theaters are alive and well but not as movie theaters. in Manhattan Radio City Music Hall is a prime example.
so i have to reiterate my original question- in the 1913-1941 period countless grand movie theaters/ palaces were built in all 50 states at least half of which have since been torn down. so of all the ones still standing in all 50 states the Uptown in D.C., and Grauman’s Chinese in Hollywood are in fact the only two continuely operated as 1st run movie theaters in their original state/design since Day 1, is that possible?