New Amsterdam Theatre
214 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
214 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
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why isn’t the Chandler Theater listed? the entrance was thru
the street level of the still alive and well Chandler Building.
like the Liberty auditorium which still exits behind Madame
Tussaud’s Wax Museum does the Chandler auditorium still exist
behind the huge MacDonald’s?
..and the Victoria.
The Laffmovie was the Empire, right?
When they were showing movies, the Laffmovie, that I,as a Long Islander, ever visited. I was in the Apollo when it was first reclaimed as legit using the 43rd Street entrance and saw On Golden Pond. Also was in the Ford Center (Lyric and Apollo), now Foxwoods, for Ragtime and recently American Airlines (Selwyn). Anxiously awaiting to see what happens with the Times Square, still empty and, virtually, hidden.
I am happy to report that I saw movies at every one of the those theaters between 1975 and their closings. Except the Pix, which I may have visited during its incarnation as Peep-O-Rama, but that business may have only used the lobby and not the main auditorium.
Even without the Bryant and Pix, which were between Bway and 6th, I think the 10 theatres between 7th and 8th would have probably still constituted the world’s largest movie street.
According to the book “ A Journey Into Dorothy Parker’s New York” (2005, Kevin C. Fitzpatrick), the New Amsterdam closed as a movie house in 1985.
Across the street the former Apollo / Ford Center for the Performing Arts / The Hilton Theatre will be renamed the Foxwoods Theatre soon. The Foxwoods Resorts Casino has won the naming rights to the theatre.
Here is a May 2010 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2ddxzl9
Jeff there’s always interiors shot at the Lyric.
Check out:
View link
I seem to recall a 1988 movie, “Shakedown” with Peter Weller and Sam Elliot, that had a sequence shot at the Amsterdam. At the end of the sequence there was spectacular shot involving the marquee and the blade sign. The interior shots may have or may not have been shot there. In the movie, the theater was showing XXX and the interior was a graffiti covered mess. Anybody out there remember this movie?
Don’t blame Disney for CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG or SHREK, they were not theirs.
Their only crimes are TARZAN and LITTLE MERMAID but that TARZAN was one sad lip-sinc mess.
Thanks Brucec for the list of which Disney shows recouped and which didn’t. What is interesting is is that the shows that recouped are the best shows that Disney has produced. I loved Lion King and Aida, really liked Beauty and the Beast and enjoyed Mary Poppins. But I refused to see the other four on Broadway. I happened to see Chitty in London and it is among the worst things I have ever seen on the professional stage. I couldn’t believe they actually brought it to Broadway. They deserved to lose their shirts on that one. Tarzan and Shrek were terribly reviewed and Mermaid was tepid to mixed. Dumbo is intriguing to me as it has some beautiful songs and has a truly wonderful story. If they can pull it off it can be a winner.
hdtv267 I have industry sources and don’t know who Perez Hilton is.There are many Broadway shows in the works but many never make it out of the development stage. I do know that Disney will most likely replace Mary Poppins in another year. Due to the economy less family shows are coming to Broadway. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,Shrek,Tarzan and The Little Mermaid failed to recoup there investment on Broadway. Disney has slowed down the number of shows they will produce on Broadway. The Disney shows that have recouped there investment on Broadway are Beauty and The Beast,Aida,The Lion King and Mary Poppins.The other show that I heard may be in development besides Dumbo is Aladdan. Remember it took Disney along with Cameron Macintosh almost 16 years before Mary Poppins arrived on Broadway.brucec
Nice photos and slideshows.
This is just a rumor. The next show that might play the New Amsterdam after “Mary Poppins” is “Dumbo”.brucec
Another thing that we both agree on!!!!!!! LOL!!!
A church giving money to the needy? I think it works the other way around.
Money talks! The Christian thing to do would be to use all of the newfound money for programs to help the needy. Isn’t that what they “say” they are supposed to do after all? Times have changed and 41st Street in 2010 is NOT 41st Street in 1990! It is practically a paradise now compared to those dark days.
Anyway, it’s just an idea that I had and I still think it’s a very good one. What’s the Nederlander’s office number anyway? :–)
That Church at the Mark Hellinger used to be at the Nederlander. They moved out due to the location so I am sure they have no intention of going back.
From playbill.com
Doris Eaton Travis, the Last of the Ziegfeld Girls, Dead at 106
Doris Eaton Travis, the former Ziegfeld Follies dancer who inspired 21st century audiences with her pluck, good will “ and fancy footwork ” at 12 of 13 annual Easter Bonnet Competition performances for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, died May 11 at the age of 106, according to Tom Viola, executive director of BC/EFA.
She was 106 and was thought to be “the last of the Ziegfeld Girls” “ the bejeweled ensemble of women who graced the stage of the New Amsterdam Theatre (and elsewhere) in producer Flo Ziegfeld’s revues in the first quarter of the 20th century.
She wowed a 1998 audience when she appeared with four other graying Ziegfeld veterans in the first Easter Bonnet fundraiser at the restored New Amsterdam on West 42nd Street, where she had performed 80 years earlier.
Ms. Travis' most recent East Bonnet appearance was April 26-27 at the Minskoff Theatre. The crowd, once again, went wild.
“She was truly our good luck charm,” Viola told Playbill.com. “In 1998, at 94, she was in incredible shape ” in amazing shape. We brought her back every year, and she would dance in the opening number. She taught Sutton Foster how to dance ‘The Black Bottom,’ she danced with the ‘Cagelles’ from the previous revival, we celebrated her 100th birthday on stage, she appeared with the cast of Billy Elliot"
Ms. Travis had lived recently with her nephew Joe Eaton and his wife outside of Chicago. She previously lived in Norman, OK, where she ran a horse ranch with her husband for 40 years.
Viola told Playbill.com that she took ill Sunday and was taken to the hospital to be rehydrated and was released, but was brought back to the hospital on May 11. She was reportedly talkative in the car, then chatting with the nurses about being a Ziegfeld girl and having just returned from the Bonnet Competition in New York City.
She slipped away quietly, without incident, at the hospital. Viola said, “I’ll bet the sound of the extraordinary ovation she received on stage at the Minskoff just two weeks ago today was ringing in her ears.”
Ms. Travis took her first step on Broadway in the 1917 play Mother Carey’s Chickens, and took her last bow April 27, during the opening number of the 2010 Easter Bonnet show. She rode onstage in a giant Easter basket, giving the initial impression that she could no longer walk. But Ms. Travis brought the audience to its feet when she rose to her own feet and took center stage. Steadied by two shirtless young male dancers, she executed a kick or two and thanked the audience for the love they had shown her over the 12 years of her appearances at the Bonnet event. She then headed into the wings under her own power.
I thought of that, but they could keep their offices at the old location. It’s not far. I doubt that they fill all of their seats, and if they do then they should have multiple services just like most of the churches do now. Think of all the poor they could help with the millions they could get by trading their theater?
Yes, I am aware of that planned theater as well. It will probably happen when the office building is eventually built and I believe the Shuberts would be the operator.
One problem with that is the church would be downsizing it’s auditorium. The Hellinger seats 1505 and the Nederlander seats 1232. The church also has it’s offices located on Broadway around the corner.
There was a plans to build a new theatre complex around 45/46th. and 8 Ave.
Here is what I would love to see: The Nederlanders should offer to trade the Nederlander theatre on 41st Street for the Mark Hellinger/Hollywood Theatre plus a wad of cash. This should be much cheaper than building a theater from scratch. The church gets a newly renovated theater to call home and Broadway gets one of its greatest theaters back in public hands. The church would also have a nice endowment or would be able to fund public works for the poor which should be what they should be focussing on. That would be the christian thing to do.
Brucec, thanks for your comments. Very informative and interesting. I believe there is a new theater going into the base of Related’s new tower on the Southeast corner of 42nd and 10th, but I believe it will not be big enough to be a Broadway house.
I would love to see the Mark Hellinger (born the Hollywood movie theater in 1930)return to showing movies. That’d be a blast.