Cinema 1, 2 & 3 by Angelika

Although I worked there at the time, I would agree with ‘fornasetti’ that the place was ruined with the 88 renovation. All it needed was new carpet, wallpaper, new seats and the restoration of the artwork. But the guy in charge at the time just had to have a third screen and one common lobby like a real triplex. Aside from that his only concern was ‘how big is the screen?’ and ‘how many seats?’ If someone is trying to get it landmarked I would suggest they continue their efforts – these people who run it now would sell their mothers for fifty-cents – after all, look what happened to the Murray Hill and the Sutton…..

Shortly before the demolition of the Baronet/Coronet commenced in August of 2002, some Midtown East residents launched an effort to gain landmark status for the interior and exterior of the Cinema 1-2-3 property, but little came of it.

CINEMA I – CINEMA II
1001 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Opened 1962 – Abraham W. Geller, Architect – Donald Rugoff/Cinema 5 Ltd, owner – considered to be the first commercially viable two-screen cinema built in the US – Cinema I 700 seats, Cinema II 291 seats – technically not a “twin cinema” – Cinema I is a orchestra-stadium type auditorium on the 2nd and 3rd floor levels of the building with the screen on the east wall, Cinema II, a standard orchestra-type auditorium, nestles sideways underneath in the basement and first floor levels, screen on the south wall. Seperate marquee, entrance, box office and lobby for each cinema. It also operated as two seperate theatres – 2 unit numbers, 2 payrolls, 2 concession inventories etc. Lobbies decorated with modern paintings and other artwork. Specialized in art-house product. Renovated 1988 – Abraham W. Geller, Architect – the large upper theatre was divided by removing front 6 rows of seats, moving screen forward and inserting small cinema in the resulting space, screen on the north wall. Marquees, entrances, boxoffices and lobbies combined to operate as a triplex – new seating installed, rest rooms enlarged, original artwork restored – New seating capacities – Cinema I 532 – Cinema II 290 – Cinema III 165 – presently operated by City Cinemas/Reading Entertainment.

Yes, they definitely were.

The “Cinema 3” at the Plaza Hotel was actually referred to as Cinema III, in a review I have from the New York Times. Since it was a separate theatre in another part of town, it deserves its own listing, which I shall submit.

The Original Cinema 3 at the Plaza Hotel used to offer “reserved seating” for movies that were otherwised difficult to get into. I seem to recall that this started with the Jane Fonda/Vanessa Redgrave film, “Julia” which was also playing at Cinema I and was a huge hit. While this was commonplace with big “roadshow” movies in the Sixties, and has since resurfaced with the Internet and credit card purchasing of movie tickets, at the time it was unusual.

I worked for the Cinema 5 chain between August 1977 and June of 1981. Cinema I was the flagship theatre of the chain, where “The Exorcist” opened in 1973. Cinema II was the lesser house, (“Exorcist II: The Heretic” opened there in 1977, if that’s any indication of status), much smaller, with an auditorium beneath and turned at right angles to the auditorium of Cinema I. The upstairs waiting lounge of Cinema I overlooked Third Ave. and Bloomingdale’s across the street. The waiting area for Cinema II was negligibly small, and I think I recall plants in oblong planters. The walls of both lobbies were lined horizontally with thin strips of wood, painted white. The carpeting was grey or charcoal. Didn’t Cinema I have an escalator to the lounge, upstairs? In the Cinema I auditorium, between shows, the screen was lit with red lights, from below, I think. The auditorium had a very gentle slope with good viewing and a nice wide feeling that made it seem uncrowded. Aisles were on the sides with a concentration of seats in the middle. By contrast, Cinema II, when it was full, felt a little cramped. Ticket holders' lines for both went up to 60th and around the block toward 2nd Ave. I remember seeing “Nasty Habits” at one of the theatres and, at Cinema I, a revival of “Fantasia,” the restored version of “New York, New York” and the opening of Woody Allen’s dreary “Interiors.” Since Walter Reade’s flagship theatres, Baronet and Coronet “twin” were rivals and next door, it’s sometimes hard to remember which movie I saw where, but I believe one of your contributors is mistaken and he may actually have seen “Nashville” at the Baronet, not Cinema I. The mistake could easily be mine. There was a high concentration of theatres in the area, from the Sutton on 57th, up Third Avenue to the Trans-Lux East (which became the Gotham, later), and on 59th there was the 59th St. I and II that became something else later. And across from that, around the corner from the Baronet/Coronet, a tiny theatre, the name of which I’ve forgotten. Cinema 3 used to be at the Plaza Hotel, a supposedly elegant affair, but while it was attractive, it was always empty and no one seemed to know it was there. I don’t think they served refreshments at the original Cinema 3. I can remember seeing Andre Techine’s “Barocco” there and the Maximilian Schell documentary about Dietrich, “Marlene.”