Little Carnegie Theatre
146 W. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
146 W. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 76 comments
The Little Carnegie closed in April 1982 after an extended run-in with Susan Sarandon’s aforementioned lemony breasts.
“Atlantic City” was not a bad way out for this classy venue.
A photo of the auditorium of the Little Carnegie as remodeled by John McNamara was featured on the cover of Boxoffice, October 4, 1952. Two giant salamanders, cleverly disguising themselves as Art Moderne ornamentation, waited on either side of the screen to pounce upon and devour arriving audience members.
“I am a Camera” was playing at the Little Carnegie in October 1955. Click on the ad for an expanded view.
http://tinyurl.com/m8paqx
Renewing link.
Saw Louis Malle’s “Murmurs of the Heart” there. Enjoyed the movie, but hated having to leave the plush and comfortable lounge area.
I found this website after doing a search for information about the little Carnegie and the Thalia. I lived in New York for a year in 1980 and attended the Little Carnegie only once, to see the Woody Allen film Manhattan. What a wonderful experience, to see that film on the big screen with a New York audience. At the end the film got a standing ovation from the audience. This Seattle boy was impressed.
Henry Smith
This is from Boxoffice magazine in May 1943:
NEW YORK-Martin J. Lewis and Erwin Lesser, operators of a chain of art houses here, and Goldberg Brothers, operators of the Studio Theater, Philadelphia, have jointly purchased the Little Carnegie Theater, West 57th St., from Jack Davis, former British theater operator. The new management will take possession at once and will operate it as a first-run art theater.
Robert C. Spodick has resigned as manager of the Ascot, first-run foreign film house in the Bronx, to become manager of the Little Carnegie. Spodick has been manager of the Yorktown and publicity man and assistant at various Loew houses.
Great illustrations, Warren. Just to see the interior brings back vivid memories. On a 1973 visit to Little Carnegie, I caught a small film called “I Love You, Rosa” at a crowded weekend performance and sitting close to the right front exit gawking at wall ornament looming over the exit. At the time I saw “Faces” there, I remember reading a John Cassavetes interview in which he said he wanted to book his pride and joy there because he had worked in Little Carnegie many years earlier. – Ed Blank
The program booklet for the American premiere of Antonioni’s Eclipse in December 1962 at the Little Carnegie.
THIS CLOSED MID TO LATE 80s……….
Was this a WALTER READE THEATER?
The Italian film of Rossini’s comic opera Cenerentola (Cinderella) played here in 1953.
“Salute to Italian Films Week,” October 1952.
PRINTED PROGRAM FLYER
Found an article on the NY Times' online archive, dated June 12, 1941, about the planned conversion of the Little Carnegie Playhouse into “an intimage-type newsreel and television house.” The article mentions that the theater had just ended its “thirteenth season as an art cinema specializing in foreign films when it closed on June 1” and that it had been leased by Carnegie Hall, Inc. for a period of ten years to Jack Davis. Davis is described as “the managing director of the British newsreel theatre chain known as the Monseigners, operators of twelve houses in London and Scotland.” The renovation plans were being drawn up by the esteemed Thomas Lamb and plans were to have it open around Labor Day.
Davis revealed plans to not only provide American newsreels but hoped to negotiate an arrangement with the British Minister of Information to import English newsreels. With WWII raging across Europe by this time (and with the U.S. not yet an active participant), Davis was quick to add that a “conscientious effort would be made to avoid propaganda films.” Tickets would sell for 25 cents.
I wonder if those plans ever came to fruition, if even for just a short period of time. I see Warren had posted a 1942 ad back on March 29th, but the image is no longer available.
Gerald – I probably did not see “Juilet” until sometime in 1966. I started coming into “The City” to see films sometime in ‘65 or '66. I was living in Brooklyn at the time and started coming to Manhattan to see films that rarely would make it to the outer bouroughs.
It probably was a move over as you suggest. I’ll have to get down to the library one day and search.
John: Well, I know it played the Plaza. I have the New York Times review. And Juliet of the Spirits opened in three theatres: (New) Embassy, RKO 23rd St. Cinema, and RKO 58th St., not the Little Carnegie. Though, again, it may have moved over there.
Gerald – I may be wrong about seeing at the LC. Can anyone confirm if it ever played here? If not, then it was the Plaza.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis opened at the Plaza, where I saw it in December of 1971. Might it have moved over to the LC?
57th Street has some wonderful theaters. Now execept for the Director Guild theater there is nothing. Same for Third Ave. The lone survivor being the Cinema 1, 2& 3. At the Little Carnegie I remember seeing among others Taxi Diver, Juliet of The Spirits, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex…, The Garden of the Finzi Cantinis and Stardust Memories.
Vincent… those two scenes were certainly sensational and inspiring! But I wouldn’t apply those adjectives in a blanket description of the film as a whole!
Ritch, And God Created Woman played at the Paris on 58th Street for over a year, not at the Little Carnegie. The review of the film the day after it opened at the Paris appeared in the New York Times on October 22, 1957. Reviewer Bosley Crowther mentions the Paris by name. You can Google that review as I just did.
Why would watching Susan Sarandon bathe her breasts with lemons be melancholy? I think it would be kind of sensational and inspiring.
Wasn’t the Little Carnegie theater with an entrance on 56th street also…where “And God Created Woman” debuted with Bridget Bardot in the late 50’s?
Ritch
The day-and-date policy between the 34th Street East and Little Carnegie was alive and well in March of 1982 when Burt Lancaster watched Susan Sarandon bathe her breasts with lemons in this melancholy Louis Malle film:
Daily News 3/6/82
I mistakenly labeled the ad “Night Moves”, when the name of the film was obviously “Inside Moves”. That film, by the way, would replace “Stardust Memories” at the Little Carnegie the following week where it day-and-dated here and at the 34th Street East as well as at the Baronet starting 12/19/80.