So, St. Vincent’s buys the theater, tears it down and never builds anything, leaving a vacant lot. 40 years later St. Vincent’s is out of business. Karma is a bitch. Fuck them.
A long-shuttered 85-year-old Coney Island theater that once hosted Al Jolson will be preserved as part of the city’s amusement-district revamp.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday unanimously approved designating the 2,500-seat, seven-story Coney Island Theatre building on Surf Avenue — renamed the “Shore Theater” in 1964 — a city landmark.
Great news, Craig. I hope you can get some good promotion going — articles in the local papers, advertising at the Chelsea, etc., to make this one a big success.
Excerpt from NY Times review published July 28, 1949:
Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, who merged their talents as producer and director to scare the daylights out of movie-goers with the fabulous “King Kong” (1933), have fashioned another fantastic show in “Mighty Joe Young.” But in the new picture, which was presented yesterday at the Criterion, the producers are endeavoring to make all the world love, or at the very least feel a deep sympathy for, their monstrous, mechanical gorilla.
Re-posted from Vito’s post today on the Loew’s State page:
Nov. 10th: On this date in 1953 the second picture released in CinemaScope opened simultaneously at the Loew’s State and Brandt’s Globe.
I believe “How to Marry a Millionaire” was actually the first movie filmed in Scope but Zanuck in his wisdom decided to release “The Robe” first to introduce the miracle you see without glasses.
Newspapers still give out a lot of free space in their feature pages — stills from movies and shows, listings of what’s hot or noteworthy, featurettes, etc. Apparently the Times was sold on the idea that a theatrical release of the restored Metropolis on the big Ziegfeld screen was newsworthy, and with a little more effort on Clearview’s part I’m sure the other papers would have made the same judgment. I wonder if they were even approached.
Speak for yourself! I try to read all three but I can’t afford the Times right now ($2.00 per day!) Since the News and Post have a combined local/metropolitan total much higher than the Times, even a few dozen or few hundred more patrons led to the Ziegfeld by a little ballyhoo in the tabs could have made a difference.
There was no promotion at all for for Metropolis in either the Daily News or the Post — no paid ad and no blurb in the “Goings On” sections. I didn’t see the Times so I don’t know if they covered it, but promoters have to realize that movie lovers also read the News and the Post, and not just the high-brow Times.
The Harris? Is there a theater behind that front wall? I think you mean the Lyric and Apollo, which kept the 42nd and 43rd Street facades and many architectural ornamentation, but lost their roofs and everything else and were gutted to the ground; a brand-new theater was constructed on the site, much as the Miller was.
The Selwyn? That was truly a renovation, since the auditorium is intact and was extensively renovated back to its original look. The lobby did collapse during construction and was rebuilt.
I’m not familiar with the New Yorker. Care to elaborate?
Wow, those photos bring back some memories I, too, only knew this theater after it was triplexed, and that balcony rake was so steep it was dizzying. But when it wasn’t crowded, it was perfect to hang your feet over into the row below.
I think the problem is that the managers here don’t know about curtains or have any experience with them — they are rotated from houses that don’t have curtains and never did have curtains, so their perception is that a blank screen is the norm.
And the union projectionists — God bless ‘em — may know from curtains, but if the managers are not bugging them to use the curtains, then why should they bother.
>>but when vaudeville died out the Palace seemed to switch back and forth between film and legit stage shows…
Not exactly correct.
So, St. Vincent’s buys the theater, tears it down and never builds anything, leaving a vacant lot. 40 years later St. Vincent’s is out of business. Karma is a bitch. Fuck them.
Can you post the ad that you got that info from, Tinseltoes?
Per New York Post 12/16/10
Coney theater landmarked
A long-shuttered 85-year-old Coney Island theater that once hosted Al Jolson will be preserved as part of the city’s amusement-district revamp.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday unanimously approved designating the 2,500-seat, seven-story Coney Island Theatre building on Surf Avenue — renamed the “Shore Theater” in 1964 — a city landmark.
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Or orchestra/balcony?
The image will be the same size, although not quite as sharp.
But I’ll take it, anyway.
Great news, Craig. I hope you can get some good promotion going — articles in the local papers, advertising at the Chelsea, etc., to make this one a big success.
Excerpt from NY Times review published July 28, 1949:
Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, who merged their talents as producer and director to scare the daylights out of movie-goers with the fabulous “King Kong” (1933), have fashioned another fantastic show in “Mighty Joe Young.” But in the new picture, which was presented yesterday at the Criterion, the producers are endeavoring to make all the world love, or at the very least feel a deep sympathy for, their monstrous, mechanical gorilla.
My uncle lives in this town but I don’t know if he ever went to this theater.
I’d like to see the ads of the premieres that are being described, but I find any old movie theater ads to be very interesting.
Tinseltoes, do you have any newspaper ads you could post concerning these interesting premieres you’re describing?
One more
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Another shot
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Photo of workers removing marquee.
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I heard the local news is reporting that the old marquee is down and the one is going up. Any additional info and photos is appreciated.
Re-posted from Vito’s post today on the Loew’s State page:
Nov. 10th: On this date in 1953 the second picture released in CinemaScope opened simultaneously at the Loew’s State and Brandt’s Globe.
I believe “How to Marry a Millionaire” was actually the first movie filmed in Scope but Zanuck in his wisdom decided to release “The Robe” first to introduce the miracle you see without glasses.
View link
Any photos of the work-in-progress of replacing the current marquee?
But they need to make their own effort for specialized product like Metropolis.
Newspapers still give out a lot of free space in their feature pages — stills from movies and shows, listings of what’s hot or noteworthy, featurettes, etc. Apparently the Times was sold on the idea that a theatrical release of the restored Metropolis on the big Ziegfeld screen was newsworthy, and with a little more effort on Clearview’s part I’m sure the other papers would have made the same judgment. I wonder if they were even approached.
Speak for yourself! I try to read all three but I can’t afford the Times right now ($2.00 per day!) Since the News and Post have a combined local/metropolitan total much higher than the Times, even a few dozen or few hundred more patrons led to the Ziegfeld by a little ballyhoo in the tabs could have made a difference.
There was no promotion at all for for Metropolis in either the Daily News or the Post — no paid ad and no blurb in the “Goings On” sections. I didn’t see the Times so I don’t know if they covered it, but promoters have to realize that movie lovers also read the News and the Post, and not just the high-brow Times.
Nice shot above on Oct. 11, 2010.
The Harris? Is there a theater behind that front wall? I think you mean the Lyric and Apollo, which kept the 42nd and 43rd Street facades and many architectural ornamentation, but lost their roofs and everything else and were gutted to the ground; a brand-new theater was constructed on the site, much as the Miller was.
The Selwyn? That was truly a renovation, since the auditorium is intact and was extensively renovated back to its original look. The lobby did collapse during construction and was rebuilt.
I’m not familiar with the New Yorker. Care to elaborate?
Wow, those photos bring back some memories I, too, only knew this theater after it was triplexed, and that balcony rake was so steep it was dizzying. But when it wasn’t crowded, it was perfect to hang your feet over into the row below.
I think the problem is that the managers here don’t know about curtains or have any experience with them — they are rotated from houses that don’t have curtains and never did have curtains, so their perception is that a blank screen is the norm.
And the union projectionists — God bless ‘em — may know from curtains, but if the managers are not bugging them to use the curtains, then why should they bother.