David, although “CHELSEA GIRLS” had a successful year end run at the Regency in December 1966, it had already premiered in September of that year at the Film-maker’s Cinematheque on 41st street where it showed for several weeks to great acclaim.
Someday we will tell younger generations about a time when there were 38 screens on 42nd street, across from each other, showing 2D & 3D Hollywood fare, art house, opera, philharmonic concerts, Broadway shows and grind house schlock, all at the same time, to audiences who enjoyed sitting together, albeit in smaller screens than in the heyday of cinema.
Although not the Roxy, this is sure better than Skype. Enjoy it while it is still here.
You can always tell how good the weekend business was at the Empire by how many broken glass front doors they have on Monday. “FAST FIVE” was a two-front door movie.
The Metropolitan mezzanine did not over look the lobby as you can see in the first photo. I think that mezzanine shot may be of the RKO Kenmore, or some other Loews house.
I am also very glad to see Ed return. New Yorkers with an honest view of our city’s glorious past AFTER 1959 are very rare on this site.
By the way hdtv267, the Ziegfeld exclusive premieres of “RYAN’S DAUGHTER”, “CABARET”, “FELLINI’S ROMA”, “TOMMY”, “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”,“APOCALYPSE NOW” and “THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST” were pretty important to movie history.
If you scroll down this story about Bill Clinton waxing melancholy about the hookers of Times Square you will find a photo of the entrance to a Samson theatre in Times Square.
I doubt it, Luis. It was a mini-mall for years.
The Address was 8549 CORAL WAY, 33155
Great new site.
Love the ‘subscribe’ option, photo options and the easy to read type.
One minor peeve; on the theatre search option, I think you meant ‘number of screens’ instead of ‘screen size’.
Astyanax, the take-over goes back to 1943 so it may have been independently owned before that.
Guild did. It says it in the intro.
I found the ads for “ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH”. It played at the DeMille subrun in September on move-over from the Astor Plaza.
techman,
“Walking Tall” was playing subrun at the DeMille in August-September 1974 when the theatre disappears from NYT ads. Is this when it caught fire?
techman, “Once Is Not Enough” opened at the Astor Plaza in June 1975. “Walking Tall” was not released in New York until 1974.
The DeMille re-opened as the Mark 1-2-3 in 1976.
“Walking Tall” opened here in February 1974. the New York premiere was almost a year after the rest of the country.
Thank you Harvey.
And THX was a noise reduction certification system that was mostly about marketing and collecting fees even if standards failed.
So the light on the screen is generated by the lens, not the lamp, and THX was some kind of projection brightness system.
Got it!
I knew Al well.
Since Ken Roe has added another porn Metropolitan does anyone know when the Metropolitan closed and when THE MET opened?
The Village Voice ads above are from 1970.
David, although “CHELSEA GIRLS” had a successful year end run at the Regency in December 1966, it had already premiered in September of that year at the Film-maker’s Cinematheque on 41st street where it showed for several weeks to great acclaim.
I agree saps.
Someday we will tell younger generations about a time when there were 38 screens on 42nd street, across from each other, showing 2D & 3D Hollywood fare, art house, opera, philharmonic concerts, Broadway shows and grind house schlock, all at the same time, to audiences who enjoyed sitting together, albeit in smaller screens than in the heyday of cinema.
Although not the Roxy, this is sure better than Skype. Enjoy it while it is still here.
I think it is the rowdy mob scene there on weekends. It is specially bad on major horror and action flicks, as it always has been on 42nd street.
By the way, don’t knock the 240 people per day per screen. The Ziegfeld and the Paris could only dream of such an average.
You can always tell how good the weekend business was at the Empire by how many broken glass front doors they have on Monday. “FAST FIVE” was a two-front door movie.
AGR,
I think you are simply wrong and need to stop now.
Although I think Wikipedia is always suspect, their simple description is pretty good.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VistaVision
The Metropolitan mezzanine did not over look the lobby as you can see in the first photo. I think that mezzanine shot may be of the RKO Kenmore, or some other Loews house.
This intro needs to be should be corrected.
“City Cinemas' Cinema 1, 2, and 3 was just two doors down from the now vanished Baronet & Coronet”
It is still there. Only the Baronet/Coronet is gone.
I am also very glad to see Ed return. New Yorkers with an honest view of our city’s glorious past AFTER 1959 are very rare on this site.
By the way hdtv267, the Ziegfeld exclusive premieres of “RYAN’S DAUGHTER”, “CABARET”, “FELLINI’S ROMA”, “TOMMY”, “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”,“APOCALYPSE NOW” and “THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST” were pretty important to movie history.
If you scroll down this story about Bill Clinton waxing melancholy about the hookers of Times Square you will find a photo of the entrance to a Samson theatre in Times Square.
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Found a marquee shot here:
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1027/58s44.jpg
There is a shot of the Cine Lido in the book NEW YORK THEN AND NOW but it is from so far away that even the marquee title is illegible.
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