Liberty Theatre
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
19 people
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We just got back from New York the first part of August. Ripley’s is up and running. It opened in June.The facade is totally covered with advertising. If you look close, as others have mentioned, It has been restored to it’s former glory.I can’t tell you if the inside has been gutted. I don’t think it has.
The Liberty is Broadways most historic theatre as far as I’m concerned. George M. Cohan’s most famous play,“ Little Johnny Jones” first ran at the Liberty in 1904. It featured the songs, “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “ Yankee Doodle Boy”. That Play lead to the legendary movie about Mr. Cohan’s life called “Yankee Doodle Dandy” Starring James Cagney. Mr. Cohan ruled Broadway for Decades. Some of his greatest music includes “ Over There”, “You’re A Grand Old Flag” and “That’s All” just to mention a few. He was the one who really put Broadway on the map. He was known as “The Man who owns Broadway”. He is also considered the father of American musical comedy. Cohan is arguably the most honored American entertainer. He was given the Congressional Gold Medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And to think It all started at the Liberty Theatre.
Good point, saps. I don’t know. It’s entirely possible that the house is used for exhibits. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see to find out for sure. If that is to be the case, I wonder how respectful the alterations will be to the original character of the auditorium. The Harris auditorium was completely destroyed to make way for Madam Tussaud’s Museum.
So where will the exhibits go if not the auditorium? (Odditorium is also apt!)
I visited the Ripleys in Key West a few years ago, and it was located in the old Strand theater. They did a good job there, but I heard that it has since closed is now a Walgreens.
I took this photo on Friday night. It shows the marquee being installed for the new Ripley’s. It will actually be twice as wide as any canopy or marquee that ever existed in the past for the Liberty, since it is spans the original theater entrance as well as the adjacent space to the left.
It would be nice if the existing advertising framework above the marquee were to come down in order to show off the restored facade, but I’m sure the revenue generated by those advertisements is far too lucrative.
Hey saps… While 234 West 42nd was the Duece address for the Liberty, that was only the theater entrance foyer and lobby. The auditorium itself sat (and still sits) on 41st Street. I’m not sure if Ripley’s is taking over the auditorium space at all. The 42nd Street facade of the Liberty is still intact – check out the photos I posted on May 5th, 2006 – but the space within had been gutted for an internet-cafe. I’m sure this space will be used by Ripley’s but I wonder about the theater itself, which is part of the adjacent Hilton Hotel site.
I’m answering my own question: Yes, it seems so. The address is the same: 234 West 42nd Street. This is good news. Here’s the link to Ripleys: http://ripleysnewyork.com/
Is this the location of the new Ripley’s museum?
Here is the photo that Warren mentioned. A lot of great detail in it. This is the way that I like to remember the Deuce in the 50s. Harmless action flics at most theaters. Desert Rats playing at the Empire, so it does appear to me a 1953 image by William Klein. jerry k
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Several posts have made mention of a conversion of
the Liberty’s space to an Events Space/Night Club. Does anyone have any update on where this stands?
I would imagine that this theater is landmarked and I would also assume that a determination has been made that it is not feasible to return this theater to movie or legitimate use. If all of that is true, then a night club use would be a great idea. Many old theaters have been successfully used as dance clubs in New York. The most prominent success stories: The Saint (Loew’s Commodore), Club USA (Movieland/Forum) and The Palladium (Academy of Music). They lasted until rising land values no longer made financial sense to keep operating them. The Saint is now a Condominium, Club USA is now a W Hotel and The Palladium is now an NYU dorm. The one big exception to this trend was Studio 54 which lasted for over 15 years and has successfully made the transition back to legitimate stage musicals such as Cabaret.
The Liberty, presumably under landmark protection and with an excellent Times Square location, would make an ideal location for an elaborate club. What we don’t need is another church! :–)
This page has a nice shot of the by-then long-closed Liberty and Empire Theaters in 1996, with their vacant marquees all lit up during a snow storm. By this time, the beautifully restored New Victory Theater had already re-opened as a children’s theater and restoration work was well underway at the New Amsterdam. Across the street, the row of storefronts to the west of the Selwyn Theater & Building were being cleared for demolition in the summer and 1996 would also see the last remaining adult establishments on the block closed and evicted to make way for redevelopment.
This page has an interesting little blurb and small photo regarding the restoration of the Liberty’s 42nd Street facade (now obscured under a myriad of signs as per the photos I posted above on May 5, 2006). It seems that much of the facade (I’m guessing the upper portions particularly) had to be completely reconstructed in reinforced fiberglass.
It only took a trip or two to the bathrooms of the Duece grinders to convince me that an alternative plan of attack was necessary when visiting the area to check out some movies. I cut back on my liquids completely. I never ever ate anything or purchased any drinks at the candy counters here. I’d hit the Nathan’s or McDonalds around on Times Square for a quick bite and drink either before or after the movies and made every attempt to empty my bladder before heading over to 42nd Street. If the urge came over me in the theater, you better believe I held that sucker in until I made my way out of the theater and off the block! From the smell of some of those theaters at the very end (for me about 1986 or ‘87), it seemed to me folks were just relieving themselves in their seats! That’s pretty much when I stopped going.
I saw movies at the Liberty several times between 1986 and 1988 or 89. What impressed me so much about the theater was its size, and it’s two massive (but closed) balconies. A trip to the men’s room was always scary. It was very cavernous, and I always feared something ominous went down there (but I never witnessed anything).
Bad jokes aside, Sybil was definitely Queen of the B’s in the ‘80’s. She had a body like a Goddess and certainly made viewing many a bad grind house pot boiler far more pleasurable for a young man such as myself in those days! I remember she was in a dreadful movie called “The Howling 2” and had a scene where she ripped off her top and bared her ample busom. That scene was played again over the closing credits – edited in such a way as to repeat the ripping of her garment over and over almost to a steady rhythm. Never was there a better reason for a red-blooded American male to stay and watch the credits roll to the bitter end!
There’s a bad joke there somewhere, RobertR
Cybil Danning was one of the last Queens of 42nd
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Thanks for the photos Ed.
Below is an ad from the Daily News for a pair of horror flicks that opened at the Liberty (and elsewhere) on December 12, 1980:
Electrifying Terror
I remember seeing this particular twin bill at the Midway in Forest Hills – where my buddies and I often took in grind house type fare in winter months when daylight hours were preciously short for a trip to the Duece!
Forgot to add that on the far right edge of that photo – if you open it up as large as you can – you can barely make out the base edge of the black marquee for the short-lived Movieplex 42 which was still being converted from the former Roxy Twin porno to the right of the Empire. I had another roll of film that I shot that day that took me further to the west and across the street for shots of the Movieplex, Harem and the Anco building (which housed retail by then) and then back up 42nd for more detail shots along the way and then the rest of Times Square, including the Big Apple Theater, the National and the Criterion. Unfortunately, all that survived of that part of the day are a few prints of the Embassy theaters and a view of the Nathan’s on 43rd and Broadway. The negatives are nowhere to be found, darn the luck!
Here’s a photo I snapped in 1993 while wandering around the Duece and Times Square with my old Canon EOS. At the time, most of the grind houses (save the Harris) were closed and their facades stripped of billboard signage while some sort of public poetry project was displayed on their marquees. I also posted shots of the Empire, Harris, Times Square and Apollo from this group of photos and plan on adding to the other Duece theater pages here as well as the Embassy/Newsreel and Demille/Mayfair/Embassy2,3,4 pages as well.
1993 Lyric and Empire
Thanks, Jerry. I’m always poking around the area whenever I get a chance. This block of theaters represents a very special and happy time in my love… I enjoyed the hell out of going to movies in general and especially got an extra kick out of the atmosphere in the grind houses here (not to mention some of the peculiar and twisted films that often played on those bills).
What struck me most as I took these photos is the restoration of the Liberty’s former 42nd street facade. Obviously, the old long lobby and foyer were completely demolished to make way for the internet cafe seen in the retail space… but were the developers of the new complex compelled somehow to preserve the facade? And the upper portion of the facade always looked stripped to me down to a flat white wall behind that old vertical sign above the marquee… did they have to recreate that? What can’t be seen at all is whether they recreated the stone American eagle that was supposed to have been perched at the top of the parapet wall.
Great job, Ed. Truly a labor of love. And the image title “doors to nowhere” seems very appropriate. jerry
Well… I was on the Duece last night and ventured into the lobby of the Hilton Hotel and asked the security guard about the Liberty. He didn’t seem entirely in the know, but said that over the past couple of years he has been aware of several parties that have been shown the room and plans have been announced once or twice, but he is unaware of any major construction or renovation that has been going on in the theater since while he’s been on tour. Nor is he aware of any tenants with plans of moving in.
I went around back to the 41st Street side and snapped some photos of the original rear facade (which includes a set of exit doors sort of suspended a few feet above ground level). I also took a few shots of the old narrow 42nd street facade, which appears to have been completely renovated and restored only to be covered up with signage for the cyber-cafe that occupies the ground floor space. Open the photos to full size and take a good look behind the signage.
42nd Street facade
Alternate view of facade
Facade detail
Detail of torch on parapet
Hidden architectural detail
Former entrance archway
Entrance arch alternate view
Arch detail
41st Street facade
Doors to nowhere
Watch your step
Pretty odd about the 42nd Street facade, eh?
I had thought that a Cipiriani-like caterer was supposed to refit the space for their use, but that’s been the story for several years now and I’ve read nothing about its opening. I’ll try to see what the doorman there knows when I’m in the area on Friday night.
So what is the Liberty’s auditorium being used for now, the hotel catering hall?
Any photos?