Apollo Theatre
223 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
223 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 133 comments
Just posted this on the old Lyric Theater site and thought it made sense here as well:
Came across a pair of old Playbills from Broadway shows I had seen when I was a teenager (one from November of 1978, the other from May of ‘81). Interesting article in the '78 Playbill about the theatrical community’s efforts to work with the Mayor (Koch during his first administration at the time) to clean up the Times Square area. There’s mention of the League of New York Theaters and Producers working with the “Mayor’s Midtown Action Office and Midtown Enforcement Project” to permanently close area peep shows, massage parlors and “other sex-related businesses.” Sound familiar? Perhaps the Giuliani’s administration circa 1994?
It’s funny how the article takes a sunny outlook on the situation, referring to a time “a few years back” when “the Times Square area was in many people’s minds a composit of Dante’s Ninth Circle and the outer space, spaced-out bar in ‘Star Wars.’ The Great White Way was splattered with sleaze. Actresses and actors went on talk shows and made jokes about muggers.” Meanwhile, any true clean-up of the area was more than a decade in the future and at the cost of some of our greatest cinematic and theatrical palaces (not to mention any trace of Times Square’s once-unique character and atmosphere).
The article also mentions a “recent announcement” by the Brandt Organization to restore the Lyric and the Apollo on 42nd Street to legitimate theaters. I don’t think anything ever came of that plan for the Lyric, but I do know that attempts were made to use the Apollo as a legitimate stage in the early ‘80’s. In fact, the '81 Playbill I found lists Richard Thomas appearing at the Apollo in “Fifth of July” under the “How many of these shows have you seen?” section in the back of the magazine. In any event, the plans did come to fruition eventually, albeit with the destruction of the orignal Lyric and Apollo interiors and the creation of the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now Hilton Theater) which, as described in comments above, incorporates architectural elements from both old houses into its design.
In 1969 the Apollo Played “If” on it’s wide break
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this was considered a art or foreign film house . i saw many fine films there such as “and god created women”,riffifi,no sun in venice with the music of the modern jazz quanartet.also the virgin spring.and such fine actors as fernandel jaque t'haiti,raf vallone'vitorrio gasman and the stunning maria felix also the equally stunning francois arnal and of course brigitte bardot and silvano mangano
Bardot at the Apollo
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Here are the Apollo and Times Square in 1935
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Beautiful Jerry & Gerry: I wish I had that car…….Looks like an old, or new! Kaiser/Frazier…….look at all that glitter…..wonderful……Joe From Florida
Wow! Apollonian? Perhaps closer to Dionysian. Thanks.
OK, Joe & Gerry….by request. The Apollo in 1950 & 1961. j
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Joe
Thanks for those memories, you saw a lot of a NY that is totally gone now along with the Copa, the Automat and Penn Station.
Robert: Speaking of the Criterion……I used to write the sports & Movie reviews for my High School Newspaper, and in 1956 i went to the Criterion to see and review what has become my favorite Ford/Wayne film, “The Searchers”………Magnificent……and I probably have seen it at least 20 times since then………and a treat for me and my wife was becoming friends with the late Henry Brandon who played Chief Scar in the film…….When he tested for the film for John Ford and got the part, Henry asked Ford,,“But Mr.Ford I have blue eyes and Indians do not have blue eyes”——-Ford looked at Henry and said, “Believe me, Nobody will be looking at your eyes”——-Henry had those striking features that enabled him to be around Hollywood for 6 decades…..He shared many memories with us…….Just thinking of the Criteron after your post here at the Apollo………I am lucky in that i had a chance to attend many of the great Theaters in Manhattan, plus see Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider & Dimaggio in his last year as a Yankee….and attend all three Ball parks——-Yankee stadium, Ebbetts Field & the Old decrepid Polo Grounds…….
When “My Fair Lady” was re-released in 70mm in 1971 at the Criterion, it then went on to a wider run in 35mm.
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That’s some task Jerry…….So many films were seen there, but certain ones stick out in my mind, especially those two, that I saw for the first time…..Now I have both on video……..I also remember going to the sneak previews that they used to have on the Bway theaters……..I saw “East of Eden”…I believe at the Astor(not quite sure of the theater) but anyway, they had a sneak preview afterwards, and it was a “Bowery Boys” film……what a combination——-Could not tell you what Bowery Boys, as I remember leaving before most of it got started————They used to give you preview cards to fill out———Not for me, as i left early———-I saw the film I paid to see……Well its past my sack time——-Funny when your younger you could go to a midnight show and think nothing of it……..Now I cannot keep my eyes open after 11pm……Keep up the great posting and memories Jerry……Joe From Florida
Joe,
I just posted a 50s shot of the Empire.
Here it is:
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42nd had all of the Warner Bros re-releases in the mid-late 50s. I know that I too saw The Roaring 20s there, maybe the same day as you. Also remember seeing: Black Legion, Capt Blood, Sea Hawk, Oklahoma Kid, Desperate Journey. I’ve been trying to recreate the double/triple features that I saw on 42nd in the 50s-60s. Got a long way to go. j
Great photo Jerry….even though by then, I was living on LI, had a 4 year old daughter, and another on the way……..If you find any shots from the 1950s, that was the decade I frequented those Movie Palaces…..and I remember seeing one hell of a doble bill at the Lyric I believe; “Each Dawn I Die” with Raft and Cagney plus “The Roaring Twenties” with Cagney and Bogart——-the first time I had ever seen them……Great twin bill………Regards & Thanks, Joe From Florida——sasheegm user name
Here is the Apollo during better times….1967 j
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I love that expression, I sometimes used it at the end of the showtime tapes when I was a theatre manager.
Robert, those are two sad pictures posted at 2:32pm above; the theaters had already closed and their marquees were being used as a poetry art project. It really was a ghost town during that period.
On the other hand, I very fondly remember that “cooped-up?” sign on the side of the Selwyn Building, and others like it. For years I would say to people “Get more out of life! See a movie” which was another sign on the block.
Thanks RobertR for taking the time to post them…….Joe From Florida……
Another pic
http://www.14to42.net/42street.html
Here is 42 St. after all the movie theatres closed
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Sounds terrible to an old timer like me Greenpoint………It’s a shame that so many of these beautiful Theaters have suffered such a fate……..Incidently Greenpoint, I worked for Domino Sugar from 1959 until 1961 on Kent Ave, just on the edge of Greenpoint-Williamsburg border-line……….Every year, I try to catch he NY Marathon on TV to see anything familiar………and the only thing that is familiar is the Verazano Bridge & Central Park now———-Years back, when they first started to televise it, I would see Bakeries and Butcher shops——No more!———Times change……..Joe From Florida—-sasheegm user name
Sadly I was only able to experience the Apollo Theatre as its final incarnation of The Academy and fortunate enough to even make it into the backstage area and into a few of the afterparties…it was a great place to see shows.
In order to get into the venue, you would enter through the 239 West 43rd Side. ..in reality that must have been the emergency exit for this venue during its earlier days.
The main West 42nd Street entrance and lobby became the makeshift storage area for roadcases (boxes that would transport the equipment)
and whatever else needed to be stored away from the eyes of the concert-goers…garbage dumpsters etc.
The bathrooms were reached by descending down a flight of stairs into the basement. They were poorly kept (well atleast the mens room was).Grafitti and urine were prevalent everywhere.
Next to the bathroom stairs was the merchandise stand…I picked up some
nice stuff here (that doesnt fit anymore- as alot happens in 10 years)
The stage that acts used was a temporary stage- it wasn’t an original stage. The stage was made of plywood platforms, which were painted black and set upon construction grade steel scaffolding.They hung a black tarp along the bottom of the stage surface, which touched the floor.I made note of all of this walking backstage, where I was able to catch a side-view of the stages skeleton.
The backstage area was reached by a set of stairs. Each dressing room was a tiny 8x8 (in comparison Roseland on W.52nd St. has huge basement dressing rooms) There were about 1 or 2 dressing rooms per level, I imagine there were about 5 levels.
Whenever they had an afterparty it was usually in the balcony section bar.
The baclony was reached from the main level (orchestra) by a set of stairs on each side.
I began going there in 1994,I met a few of the big names in metal- Pantera, Crowbar, Biohazard, Suicidal Tendencies, Down.The parties were always ill-maintained and if you made it upstairs before the security started locking the place down for the invittaion-only afterparty.You were set.
There was a suicide here during a March 26th 1996 Black 47 performance, an off duty cop shot himself in the heqd and the bullet, went through another 2 people (some Kennedy magic bullet action)
That might have been the last time I was there March 26th 1996
Hi Gerry: Eli Wallach was a Customer of mine, when I worked for Sears Auto Center as asst. Mgr back in the mid 60s in Hicksville,L.I.————He and wife Ann Jackson lived close on L.I., and every once in a while, he would pop in to look over some of the items we had in our racks, since we had 60 bays, which at the time, was the largest Auto service Station in the Country………He was a regular guy who almost felt embarresed by all the attention folks would give him……..and I think for him to go to Europe and become one of the biggest names in World Cinema in the 60s, might have given him pleasure to be talked about with the likes of all the greats of European Cinema you mentioned……..I have alot of info On Mr. Wallach, who I feel is one(still with us) of the finest character actors ever to grace a Movie Theaters screen…..will try to e-mail you privatly later on more…….and I am sure many young and old Actors & Actresses who graced the Bway Stage for so many years, would take in a show at the Apollo…………Too bad we could not have a time machine for about 3hours, just to return to those magical days……Ciao, Joe From Florida——sasheegm
In his recent autobiography “The Good, the Bad, and Me,” actor Eli Wallach recalls his days as an aspiring Broadway actor in the 1940s. On days of casting rejections he would wander, he says, on 42nd Street where, for a quarter, he would watch the movies of great French actors Harry Baur, Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, Jean-Louis Barrault, Raimu. He writes on page 93: “‘God, that was brilliant acting,’ I would think, and try to find something in their performances to take as my own.” Wallach does not mention the Apollo by name, but it is certain that this is the theatre where French movies with those actors aften played and that he undoubtedly visited before taking the subway back to his home in Brooklyn.
I agree, Jerry Kovar. Racy ads for art films does not automatically predestine a theatre for eventual pornship. And the redoubtable Paris Theatre showed Brigitte Bardot in “And God Created Woman” for over a year by peddling her breasts and butt outline, and it should be singled out as well as the “grandma of porn.” I walked by there yesterday. They are showing “Ladies in Lavender.”
I’d like to resign from the topic since the issue is so self-evident to me that it is becoming tedious. However, if AlAlvarez or anyone else has an extended listing of what was shown at the Apollo over their “great years” (e.g.: dates, lists of double bills) I would like to have access to that. I understand enough about their programming and went to enough films there to have a pretty good idea of what they did. Still, it is sketchy. I’m: