Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre

707 7th Avenue,
New York, NY 10036

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Showing 476 - 500 of 1,094 comments

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on January 28, 2011 at 12:52 pm

in NYC at least a “grind house” has a totally different meaning.
to which the vaguely negative term “grind house” refers mostly to the legitimate theaters on 42nd St. that after the depression became
movie theaters and ran B-movies, exploitation films and 3rd and 4th
run of previous exclusive engagement films.

techman707
techman707 on January 27, 2011 at 6:41 pm

William-I didn’t know the Egyptian was closed, too bad.

Chris-A grind house is a theatre that runs continuous showings all day 7 days a week. The last time I was in the Chinese theatre was in 1978 and they were a grind house then running “The Boy’s From Brazil”.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on January 27, 2011 at 4:34 pm

in reply to my original post Techman replied that Grauman's
Chinese is a “grind house”. in my understanding of what defines
a grind house how is Grauman’s Chinese a grind house?

William
William on January 27, 2011 at 3:40 pm

The Egyptian Theatre was a second run house in it’s final days open for United Artists Theatres.

techman707
techman707 on January 27, 2011 at 2:42 pm

If you mean theatres that have “continuously” run regular movies since their opening, that would be a tough one.

While the Chinese theatre in LA would be one, it’s still a “grind” house. Maybe the Egyptian theatre might also qualify. There are probably others in small cities throughout the U.S.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on January 27, 2011 at 10:59 am

most grand movie theaters/palaces were built say 1913-1941. many unfortunately have been razed.likewise many still standing have
been boarded up or gutted for retail use. therefore i have this question- of all the grand movie theaters/palaces still standing
are there any that have never shown porn, never been a second run
or grind house, never been converted to a concert hall or
performing arts center,never been twined, tri-plexed or even
quaded but have stayed in more or less their original state and
as first run theaters from opening day? the only one in the
country i can think of is Grauman’s Chinese.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on January 26, 2011 at 4:05 pm

I’d love to see one of the Times' ads, especially near the beginning of the run.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on January 26, 2011 at 6:58 am

I think the Sutton move-over was an attempt to re-create the phenomenon of Leslie Caron’s “Lili” which ran on the east side for well over a year.

techman707
techman707 on January 25, 2011 at 8:41 pm

Thanks Al I’ll check it out.

techman707
techman707 on January 25, 2011 at 8:33 pm

Peter, the first link you posted just indicates “Premiered reserved-seat policy May 15, ‘58, Royale, N.Y.”.

The second link also just says “GIGI' , but DUE TONIGHT ON ROYALE SCREEN; Legitimate Theatre to House M-G-M Movie”.

Al indicated it ran 6 months before moving over to the Sutton. It’s that time frame that I’m trying to authenticate. I know that Arthur Freed arranged for the opening premiere at the Royale, there seems to have been a question of the quality (for lack of a better word) of the presentation at the Royale (although in my opinion the Sutton, while a nice “little” theatre for Woody Allen movies, it’s not a great venue for good musicals). That’s why I’d like to find some kind of accurate documentation of the exact length of time it actually ran at the Royale. The time frame doesn’t seem to match some of the documentation I have.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on January 25, 2011 at 8:27 pm

techman,

Nearly six months of ads in the New York Times saying so.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on January 25, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Re: Gigi’s roadshow at the Royale:

Variety Review: “Premiered reserved-seat policy May 15, ‘58, Royale, N.Y."
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117488038/

NY Times: GIGI' DUE TONIGHT ON ROYALE SCREEN; Legitimate Theatre to House M-G-M Movie…
View link

techman707
techman707 on January 25, 2011 at 5:37 pm

“Gigi did have a roadshow engagement at the Royale with overture, intermision, etc.
The info is in this link, scroll down to Gigi.
posted by AGR on Jan 25, 2011 at 9:53am”

“GIGI” ran at the Royale for almost six months before moving to the Sutton.

posted by AlAlvarez on Jan 25, 2011 at 12:21pm"

AGR- I looked at the link, however, all it says is what I agree with, namely that it “had its grand premiere at the Royale Theater”

Al- Where did you get the info on Gigi at the Royale? The film opened at the Royale in May 1958. I have all the print records from Gigi. They were part of the literally thousands of documents I inherited when I bought Bill Nafash’s service business in 1972. They ran 4 track mag prints at the Sutton and had trouble with ALL the prints warping and causing focus problems. In a letter from Bill Nafash to MGM’s “Metrocolor Lab Division”, he believed it was caused as a result of the way they were striping the prints and the magnetic oxide they used. Also, while it’s not clear in the documents I have, it appears that they were NOT dual mag/optical prints. I concluded that from a memo where they had to use a backup print because someone had magnetized the projector by improperly degaussing the penthouse and projector, causing virtually all the sound to be erased.-lol

AGRoura
AGRoura on January 25, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Sorry for the double post.

AGRoura
AGRoura on January 25, 2011 at 3:40 pm

The Royale is now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (Source: Wikipedia).

The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in midtown-Manhattan.
Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it opened as the Royale Theatre on January 11, 1927 with a musical entitled Piggy. Producer John Golden leased the theatre and renamed it for himself from 1932 to 1937 (when he moved to the Theatre Masque next door). The Shubert Organization then assumed ownership and initially leased the theatre to CBS Radio. In 1940 the Royale was restored to use as a legitimate theatre under its original name. On May 9, 2005, it was renamed for longtime Shubert Organization president Bernard B. Jacobs.

AGRoura
AGRoura on January 25, 2011 at 3:39 pm

The Royale is now the
The Royale is now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (Source: Wikipedia).

The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in midtown-Manhattan.
Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it opened as the Royale Theatre on January 11, 1927 with a musical entitled Piggy. Producer John Golden leased the theatre and renamed it for himself from 1932 to 1937 (when he moved to the Theatre Masque next door). The Shubert Organization then assumed ownership and initially leased the theatre to CBS Radio. In 1940 the Royale was restored to use as a legitimate theatre under its original name. On May 9, 2005, it was renamed for longtime Shubert Organization president Bernard B. Jacobs.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on January 25, 2011 at 12:21 pm

“GIGI” ran at the Royale for almost six months before moving to the Sutton.

AGRoura
AGRoura on January 25, 2011 at 9:53 am

Gigi did have a roadshow engagement at the Royale with overture, intermision, etc.
The info is in this link, scroll down to Gigi.
View link

techman707
techman707 on January 25, 2011 at 9:22 am

William, I don’t believe there were roadshow performances of GIGI at the Royale Theater. Only the premiere was there.

William
William on January 25, 2011 at 7:36 am

And that’s the truth. :)

RobertEndres
RobertEndres on January 25, 2011 at 7:26 am

William, thank you. L.A. always confuses me. I visited both MGM and Columbia on that trip,and the Head Projectionist at Columbia who was an ex-Marine, gave me detailed instructions as to how to get there by L.A. Public Transit. When I made the appointment with MGM I was told there was no way to get there from the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire short of taking a taxi. He was right!

William
William on January 25, 2011 at 7:24 am

Astyanax, films open all the time during the last few months of the year to limited engagements longer than the one week awards consideration rule.

William
William on January 25, 2011 at 7:19 am

Robert, the MGM lot was on the other side of the hill in Culver City, not in Burbank.

Astyanax
Astyanax on January 25, 2011 at 7:10 am

It’s been quite a while since distributors opened movies on limited engagements in the hope that good reviews and word of mouth would generate good box office. “Gigi” is a case in point. Now the economics of distribution make this prohibitive. However, in December we have the phenomena where movies open for a one-week engagement to qualify them for awards consideration. Like “Barney’s Version” & “the Company Men” among others, they then re-open in January, hoping for a nomination nod.