Embassy 1 Theatre
1560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 125 comments
It seemed rather small for a venue with a seating capacity of 556. Was the floor leveled during its transition from a cinema into an information centre? The area where the stage apparently was looked rather small as well. No one working at the centre had any idea that the building was once a theatre.
I just click on the numbers and the pictures appear.
It looks like the theatre is intact, except for no seats.
Here are 2008 photos of the former Embassy Theatre: 1, 2,
3, 4
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine, May 1950:
NEW YORK-The Embassy Newsreel Theater on Times Square will be renamed the Academy Award Theater early this summer and will switch its policy to presenting Academy Award-winning features, according to Norman W. Elson, president. The present plan is to present each film for at least a week’s run.
Two recollections of the Embassy from 1982:
Saw “The Long Good Friday” there. Thought Bob Hoskins was the best gangster find since Cagney and Robinson.
I’d been interested in seeing the interior of the theater. I liked its oldness and its ornate decor, but it was not being maintained well. The experience was a little like being in a 42nd Street grind house but without all the snoring and the stench and the suspect behavior in those theaters.
On my next visit, George A. Romero’s “Creepshow,” which had been filmed in Pittsburgh from a screenplay by Stephen King, was playing there. I was walking by at about 10:40 p.m., en route from a Broadway show to my hotel, when I noticed a guy peering in through the door, as if trying to get someone’s attention inside.
I paused, tempted to explain the obvious – that the last show had begun upwards of an hour earlier and that the manager might have locked the door to prevent anyone from entering while he was checking the day’s receipts.
Just then the guy at the door gave up trying to get in the theater and walked away. It was Stephen King. He probably had wanted to count the house and/or sample a little audience response in the Times Square area.
OK, thanks. I didn’t know which Embassy, so I guessed right, apparently.
This photo, probably early 40s, was on skyscrapercity.com. I’m trying to match it to one of the Newsreels in Times Square. Any help is appreciated:
http://tinyurl.com/5p4csm
There is a shot of the Embassy Newsreel at this site:
http://www.movietone.com/showreel/
It appears to be circa 1939 or 40. It is part of a series of clips in a demonstration of available newsreels from British Movietone News.
You can stop the film with the pause bottom just after Fidel Castro is shown on the screen as several theaters are imaged.
The shot is a frontal closeup of the marquee which has 25 Cents flanking either side of the name EMBASSY which is directly over the word NEWSREELS. A ladder is up by the left hand attraction board.
Hey Bryan. Nope. I’ve been in the Ed Sullivan and – while there are some similarities – that’s not the theatre. The auditorium of the Ed Sullivan theatre runs straight back perpendicular from it’s Broadway entrance. The auditorium in the movie runs parallel to the theatre’s streetfront, with auditorium doors on the right side of the lobby/foyer wall.
It’s listed under the Hollywood Twin Cinemas on this site.
Does anyone know the name of the theatre that now serves as Gray Line Tour center on 8th ?
Hey markedmunds, I also watched SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS on TCM the other night and found myself wondering exactly which theatre was used as the set of the TV studio. I presume that it was one of the many playhouses in the upper reaches of the theatre district that were actually in use at the time (1957) as a TV or radio studio. The decor of the house looked to have a Gothic theme. Anyone know which theatre it might have been?
Was there Sat. to take some new pic’s, sat for awhile just wondering “what if”? Even at $20 the worker would not open the booth for me to take some pic’s, but he thinks the projection equipment is still there? Is this placed sold or leased to TSA ? anyway that evening on TCM I watched “Sweet Smell of Success” the first 10 minutes of the film has lot’s of footage from Times Sq. all B&W you see the Embassy ‘News Reel'marquee flashing quite a few times also there are shots of the Trans-Lux and the Warner with the marquees flashing!A scene in the movie takes place in a theatre were Burt Lancaster as JJ Hunsucker did his tv show.to me this was a 1940’s Majestic to CT lovers!
auditorium shot nov 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2008576656/
Man, how much white paint did it take to cover that DeMille Theatre billboard in Bryan’s photo? I remember seeing it with “Battle of Britain” painted on it. It was only second in size to that giant billboard over the Astor and Victoria Theatres.
Love that picture with a great view of the Palace as it should be seen!!!!
From the photos of thise cutie little place it actually looks quit big but when you stand there today without seating it seems so small just as someone said earlier like a mulitplex screen of today. I have a feeling we are not seeing the auditorium as deep today as it was when it was screening. I maybe wrong but theres no way this house had a balcony!!! As long as tourists keep visiting Times Sq then i guess this little house will stay in the condition it is today for all to enjoy.
HDTV267… I believe the entire auditorium and foyer are (at least the walls and ceilings) currently house the Times Square Visitor’s Center.
Here’s a 2002 shot I snapped of the interior, and here’s a vintage view of the original auditorium. The mural to the left of the neon “Information” sign in the newer photo is painted within the original screen proscenium.
This photo of the entrance foyer was taken in 1993. A lobby display for “Robocop 3” and “The Firm” can be made out through the lobby doors with a poster for “Cool Runnings” closest on the right in a foyer display case.
I saw the reissue of The Ten Commandments at the Enmbassy in 1984. I was just finishing my last year in HS, and you can imagine the thrill of experiencing this film in a theater with a New York audience. I was so taken by it, that I actually skipped classes for one day to go into the city and see it again. The parting of the red sea and the receiving of the commandments are two of the greatest scenes ever captured on film, despite the technical advancements today, they will never improve on the sheer impact of those scenes.
Yes, that’s the New Embassy 46th Theatre. You can tell from it’s proximity to the Coke sign.
Bryan; that picture is directly across the street from where the Embassy was located. I am not 100% sure, but I believe after it was the Newsreel theatre, it was the Trans-Lux.
The marquee of the Embassy can be glimpsed across the street and under the big Buitoni sign in this October, 1970, shot from flickr.com.
That probably says “Embassy 46th St.” not “48th”, RobertR. Otherwise, the ad might have a typo, since the theater is between 46th and 47th.
Sorry thats the wrong link here is the right one
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