Liberty Theatre

CT has the same address for both the Liberty and the Empire. Surely this could not have been the case when they co-existed. Does anyone know the original Empire address?

I was looking at those this morning. You got some nice shots of the facade.

Ed Solero and LuisV are correct; woody’s first photo posted above on March 31st shows the red brick rear stage wall of the Liberty. The old scenery loading door is in the middle of the wall; the stage entrance for performers and stagehands was a few steps up the alley on the west side of the stage house, but that alley is no longer there. There were also fire exits and fire escapes on the west wall of the Liberty which one could easily see while walking east on 41st St. before all of the construction in recent years. The yellow brick wall of the Harris Th. was next to the Liberty. In the old days to get into the Liberty you walked in from 42nd St. and then turned right and walked aways westward to get to the rear of the Liberty’s auditorium. The Liberty’s entrance did not line up directly with the back of the auditorium as is usually the case.

I thought that wall on 41st street was the Empire when I went by. Is that really the old Liberty?

41st street rear wall of the auditorium with the new hotel built around and above in nov 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008473994/
42nd street facade buried under the signage for Ripleys – you can just make out some of the detail – nov 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2007746477/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008638838/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008665148/

Al… I’m almost positive that the backstage wall abuts 41st Street. The only access from 41st would have to be through an adjacent building – such as the foyer of the Hilton Hotel. I don’t see how they’d be able to manage any reasonable lobby space, unless some of the retail space on the 42nd street side of the auditorium were to be gutted. I believe an Applebees Restaurant occupies the space just on the other side of what would be the back wall of the house.

Here is a March 1915 ad from the NYT:
http://tinyurl.com/2cd2zw

By the end, I think it was pretty much Brandt up and down the block. The Anco was operated by Sweetheart Theatres (they also ran the Big Apple nee New York Theatre on B'way & 43rd) towards the end of its XXX days. It was shuttered and converted to retail in the ‘80’s. The New Amsterdam had closed by very early in the '80’s and sat vacant for some 15 years before Disney came in to renovate. The Apollo (with orchestra leveled and seats removed) was operating as a live concert venue before the redevlopment axe fell. I’m not sure who operated the Harris at the end – but it was the last original theatre on the Duece to remain operational by 1993 – shuttered before redevelopment only once the new Movieplex 42 opened at the site of the Roxy Twin porn pit. Oh, and the old Rialto had been operated by Cineplex Odeon for a while as the Warners before it was converted into a Visitors Center kiosk around 1992 or so.

I think Richard Basciano (of Show World fame) operated the Harem until surrendering the property to the City for redevelopment in the ‘90’s. Not sure about the Cine 42 which was adjacent to the New Amsterdam. And let’s not remember that well into the late 1980’s the grinders on the Duece were making the Brandt’s a ton of money. They had to be forced from the Duece, kicking and screaming all the way when the City finally decided to reclaim the street for Disney, Forest City Ratner, Tishman and all the other conglomerate real estate developers.

The Brandt Organization was one, I think, of the chains operating the 42nd Street theatres just before they closed; what were the others and which theatres were under their control?

It’s a bit odd to see the Liberty advertising a picture at the Harris, since they were in different movie theater chains.

Hmmm… Does Ripleys occupy the former 42nd Street entrance to the Liberty? I haven’t been down there since it has opened, but judging by the location of the marquee (as per the photo I posted on June 4th) it looks like Ripley does in fact occupy the space, thereby cutting off access to the Liberty from 42nd Street. A key plan to restoring the Liberty to theatrical use would have to be providing adequate lobby and foyer space. I’m pretty sure that the backstage wall fronts onto 41st Street, which would make ingress and egress from that frontage problematic.

What great news! Did you get any sense of a timetable? Would the new entrance be on West 41st Street? We need more Legit Houses on Broadway. Notwithstanding a lot of show closures in the last month, Broadway is having it’s best year ever and more renovated top tier theaters are needed. The Miller Theater in the Bank of America Tower will join the scene in late 2008 and (on another theater page) it was stated that the Schuberts are planning a new theater on 8th Avenue.

But you didn’t go in.