Liberty Theatre
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 162 comments
Loews used to do the same thing. They would advertise the movie that they were playing and also put like see this movie such and such at the Loews whatever.They had large marquees back then so they had the room to cross ad.
Just noticed that in that ‘52 shot, the side panel of the Victory’s marquee is advertising the bill playing next door at the Lyric. I guess the Brandts wanted to make sure the bill at the more upscale Lyric was visible to passersby as they crossed 42nd at 7th Ave – or as they turned the corner.
Great 1952 shot I wonder how many people when in the wrong theater by mistake?
With landmark status can’t the Liberty entrance and lobby space be reclaimed as well as fire exits etc.?
Glad to hear that you’ve recently been inside JNic and ejb332 !
I’m looking to get more information about the Liberty for my project and would love to get in touch with the person who let you in. Since I can’t contact you here, may I ask you to send me an email via my profile ? Thanks a lot !
By the way, I can’t wait to see your pictures JNic !
Hey Cosmic Ray… Great photo, but wrong side of the street. The theatres shown are the Selwyn, Apollo, Times Square, Lyric and Victory (going left to right) – and all occupy the north side of 42nd Street. The Liberty was/is on the south side.
LIFE 1952 shot – View link
“Smoking in the Mezzanine”… Days long gone by, thankfully! But I remember them well.
1944 photo from LIFE collection:
View link
Here is a September 1928 photo from the NY Daily News:
http://tinyurl.com/ksdbmc
That photo must be just before the street totally went to hell.
Hey Al… Great image above dated from ‘83. All the more enjoyable for me in that I remember the two most prominent titles visible in the image! Can’t say for sure that I saw “Make Them Die Slowly” at the Liberty, but I definitely saw it somewhere on the block. Probably was the Liberty, though, because it seems that all the cannibal flicks played here! “Kung Fu Zombie” another classic genre-crossing grindhouse flick in the same vein as my favorite kung fu/horror flick “The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula!”
Loving these photos from the american classic images site.
Intolerance
View link
Whoops!
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Al, this picture link show the Manhattan 1 & 2 theatre again.
View link
ejb332 (eric?)
glad to see that at least one other student was as interested as i was. the ladders in the fly loft would have been to the pin rail but the shadow or the stairs that led to the small dressing boxes mounted on the wall was still visible. the floating doors on either side of the sttage were very intriguing to me…. the stairs were gone and they led to nothing but just hang in space. i do have pics… quite good in fact… which i will tr to post soon or we can talk in class. pays to be a photo nerd who always carries a camera…lol
jamie
ejb332 (eric?)
glad to see that at least one other student was as interested as i was. the ladders in the fly loft would have been to the pin rail but the shadow or the stairs that led to the small dressing boxes mounted on the wall was still visible. the floating doors on either side of the sttage were very intriguing to me…. the stairs were gone and they led to nothing but just hang in space. i do have pics… quite good in fact… which i will tr to post soon or we can talk in class. pays to be a photo nerd who always carries a camera…lol
jamie
I, too, was on that theatre architecture trip a few days ago. It’s certainly a strange and beautiful place to be-an unrestored theatre devoured by retail.
What remains are two balconies: the uppermost filled with the red chairs seen in the above pictures, the lower about ¾ filled. The balconies have an interesting, curving design to the rails that I have not seen elsewhere.
The main floor is completely bare. It appears there are layers upon layers of paint on the walls, but most of the key architectural details to the house seem to be intact. The lower boxes were removed for when the Liberty became a movie house, though the two upper boxes on each side remain.
The height of the fly tower was originally around 70'. With Hilton hotel construction, new steel beams cut that height down to around 45'. The space under stage has been, apparently, taken over for use as a utility tunnel. In the left and right wings, there is old dressing room(?) space, accessed by their own single, steel ladders a good 15-20' off the stage.
The projection booth is still there, with all the holes cut for various film-screening devices.
Perhaps my favorite detail was the hand painted glass exit signs (backlit) and fire hose cabinet.
Basically, everything remaining inside seems like what would have been there originally, minus the tacky “wavy” glass or plexiglass partitions between the main floor and
I regret that I didn’t have my camera, as I was unaware we’d be visiting such a location. As a hopeful stage designer, I’d love to be able to work in such a space once in my life…
Thank you so much for the update JNic. I’ve been very curious over the status of this space for quite some time. While it doesn’t look like it could possibly be a theater space again, could it work as an “event” space like the Hudson Theater at the Milennium Hotel in Times Square or the old Banking Halls like Bowery Savings Bank buildings on 42nd St and The Bowery itself, the old Citibank branch on Wall Street and the Greenwich Savings Bank on Broadway?
What about a nightclub? So many of the most illustrious Discos of the past were housed in spectacular old theaters: The Saint (Loews Commodore), The Palladium (Academy of Music), Xenon (Miller Theatre), Studio 54 (Gallo Opera House), and Club USA (The Forum?).
Today, to my knowledge, no clubs exist inside an old theater in New York and that’s a shame because that is a wonderful adaptive reuse of a grand theater’s space.
My last choice would be retail, but I will reserve my judgment on that until I see what Marc Ecko as done with the Times Square Theatre directly across the Street from the Liberty. It is due to open in the next few months.
Based on the limitations of the space the use of it will have to be creative. Museum of the Broadway Theater perhaps?
Something will eventually happen here. The space is too valuable and since it is landmarked it should be preserved for whatever new purpose it is used for.
i was in the theatre space yesterday as part of a theatre architecture class. it was headed by a theatre consultant who worked on the victory and other theatres in the area, the whole place is land marked so it can’t be demolished but all the surrounding buildings have eaten up all the entrances, stairwells, flyspace, and below stage areas. consequently there is one plain door entrace off of the lobby of dave and busters and a loading door on 41st that opens onto the back wall of the stage. it is a total fire hazard as it has no audience exits via the old doors. all the stairwells but one i understand have been built into by the surrounding buildings. there are no support spaces ( dressing rooms, wardrobe areas, lobby or amenites) left. it is just the auditorium…. very similar to any photos in the last decade. from what i understand the renovation talks have happened but they woulld require reclaiming area from surroundig buildings which is very hard to do. also it doesn’t sound like they have investors. basically all the 42nd steet businesses and the hilton hotel above have killed any chance of it ever become a fully functioning theater space. the space is hauntingly beautiful! it is so sad….
So I have compiled some pics that were metioned above but no longer are active links of the Liberty. I went to the Hilton and all of these pictures are up on the walls of the Lobby.
Liberty:
View link
View link
View link
Im determined to get into the Liberty and get pictures of my own I will report back if I have any luck.
Back in August 2007 Somic mentioned in an above post that the Liberty would soon be restored and possibly returned to live theater. Has anyone heard anything about this since?
The Museum of the City on 103rd street and Fifth Avenue has the following inscription on their exhibit about motion pictures:
“Movies started when ‘The Birth of a Nation’ opened at the Liberty Theatre in 1915.”
A bit misguiding, isn’t it?
Thanks Warren! That one has had me baffled for while now.
Although it sounds trivial, years from now someone will claim the Empire WAS the Liberty based on the address. Once such revisionist history gets into publication it takes forever to straighten it out. Just look at all the young writers who already mix up the Roxy’s.
When you consider that “The Birth of a Nation” is considered by many to have jump started modern exhibition around the world and may have even created the Roadshow concept, the mothballed Liberty may be the most important historical (if not architectural) Cinema Treasure anywhere.