Sutton Theater
205 E. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
205 E. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
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Showing 26 - 50 of 175 comments
Hello to AL A.–
you certainly make a good point in your last e-mail. i’m sure for sometime after it opened at the Loew’s Capitol many screenings of the original 1968 “Plane of the Apes” especially showings on Fri.,Sat. and Sun. were close to sold out if not sold out. this relates to the point in your last e-mail~ i always wondered how the staff of the Capitol got the old audience out, cleaned the theater then got the new audience in before the next screening all in 18mins.
In many cases, no one cleaned between shows. Audiences were also more conscientious and drink/popcorn portions were smaller, so there was less waste.
to AL A.–
thanks for your reply to my post. interesting way of looking at the scheduling of showings.
now the lack of a concession stand in smaller art houses could certainly have accommodated faster turnover hence more showings a day. but the policy was also used in the larger movie theaters in the Times Square area. for instance on the photos page for the Loew’s Capitol there is a newspaper ad for premiere engagement of the original “Planet of the Apes” from 1968. the film is say 1hr.42mins? and the ad states the showings were scheduled every two hours starting at 10a.m.
also when “The Godfather” opened March of 1972 at the Loew’s State I and II is was scheduled every three hours and the film had a running time of 2hrs.50mins.
These small theatres had no concession stand in 1955, so turnaround was easy.
Hello-
in the photos section i was looking at the newspaper ads for “Marty” when it first opened in 1955. i noticed something quite interesting. nowadays theater owners or exhibitors to use the correct trade term seem to schedule an inordinately large amount of times between the showings of a film. thereby getting fewer shows a day. whereas in the “Marty” ads from 1955 it appears the manager of the Sutton scheduled showings of the film with as little time between showings as he figured the staff could get he old audience out and the new audience in.
Hey CAptblood was The Blue Max a roadshow engagement?
This was a most Beautiful theatre! I worked there when it was managed by Rugoff Theatres (c. 1966 –‘67) and again later when it was managed by Cinema V (1970s). There was a long run of the film “The Blue Max”. We had a great crew of young people. As an Usher I spoke with Zal from the Lovin’ Spoonful and the artist who did the Archie Comic in the newspaper. There is no permanence in the United States. The only value is MONEY. Not Tradition. Not History. Not beauty. I guess if they could tear down beautiful and awe inspiring Penn Station why not the Sutton? It was an intregral part of the East Side with a select clientelle. What a SHAME!!!!!!!!
By the time I caught Queen of the Damned there in ‘02, the theater had slipped into a bit of disarray, sloppy housekeeping, disrespectful patrons, etc. My companion looked at me and said “Sutton Place has changed, no?”
Hello-
does anyone know if the Sutton had any
exclusive roadshow engagements other than
“The Blue Max”?
Only saw one flick here as the Sutton was a bit out of my way, Bladerunner, June ‘82.
“The Blue Max” was a two shows a day Roadshow at the Sutton.
i know 20th Century Fox’s THE BLUE MAX had its premiere exclusive NYC engagement at the Sutton and a souvenir program was sold in the lobby. but there seems to be some debate as to whether is was a traditional two show a day roadshow engagement or a continuous performance engagement as they were called in the day. so which was it? the fact a souvenir program was sold would leave me to believe it was a traditional 2 show a day roadshow engagement. its my understanding that back in the day it was highly unusual for continuous performance engagements even exclusive in one theater to have a souvenir program no matter how “big” the film was.
Astyanax, the take-over goes back to 1943 so it may have been independently owned before that.
The developer of this new building destroyed the exterior prior to demolition to ward off any possibility of landmarking by LPC.
Before being acquired by the Rugoff Becker circuit and becoming the flagship of the Cinema 5 chain, who were the orignal owners?
“Gigi” was a move-over from the Royale Theatre. Most likely it was the same 35mm print. There is an ad above that shows it playing at the Sutton in it’s 45th. week.
The Sutton Theatre was equipped with 70MM projection and Dolby Stereo (CP-200 with SR cards).
The Sutton only played afew 70MM films.
“Gremlins 2: The New Batch” (June 15, 1990)
“Arachnophobia” (July 18, 1990)
“Fantasia” (Oct. 5, 1990)
“The Bonfire of the Vanities” (Dec. 21, 1990)
“The Rocketeer” (June 21, 1991)
“Beauty and the Beast” (Mar. 20, 1992)
“Beauty and the Beast” (Apr. 24, 1992)
Does any one know when the Sutton played ‘Gigi’ was It a roadshow version and did the Sutton have a stereo print of Gigi or even had stereo or 70MM?
Updated — thanks!
Ah, I was in a rush last night and failed to read any of the recent comments that revealed the opening date.
Joe, the Sutton was already advertising in the NYT as showing movies in 1934.
The Sutton #2 (larger ground-level auditorium post-twinning) was one of the two theatres (gosh, the LA house slips my mind) where Dolby SR-D (Dolby Stereo Digital) was quietly (well, it was loud) beta-tested with the engagement of STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.
If the writer of the item in the April 23, 1955, issue of Boxoffice got the facts right, the Sutton must have opened in the mid-1930s. The article said that the opening week of “Marty” had given the Sutton the biggest gross in its 21-year history.
The earliest mention of the Sutton I’ve found in Boxoffice so far is from the August 28, 1943, issue which said that the house had been taken over by the R&B circuit, and that after being renovated the Sutton would be operated with the same policy as the circuit’s Art Theatre and 8th Street Playhouse, both of which were in Greenwich Village.
Renewing link.
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Renewing link.