Before this became the German Tobis Kino it was Das Deutschen Sprecfilm theatre by early 1932. Prior to that it may have even been closed for a few years after a projection booth fire in March of 1929.
I can’t find any record of it ever being called the UFA Cosmopolitan. In fact, the UFA Cosmopolitan from 1923 to 1931 was the International on Columbus Circle.
“When you talk about 42nd Street YOU ARE talking about all of Times Square.”
On what planet? 42nd Street has been in crises since 1934. Times Square thrived after WWII but the Deuce went to hell, even while still beautiful. Just around the corner off just west of seventh Avenue, Times Square changes. Always for the worse.
41st street is a loading dock alley and it was never anything but sleaze. No one wants that Nederlander Theatre even now. I went by Monday afternoon and even the outside is disgrace. Next up is a country western musical based on Johnny Cash and Elvis. (Yeah, that’ll work!)
Most Broadway shows that don’t lose money open away from 42nd street for a reason.
I see the grosses in Variety and I often get free tickets to the Selwyn when they need to fill the house. None of these shows have been very successful, nor may I add, very good. They ARE bombing.
The Roundabout made sure “Cabaret” opened on 54th street at Studio 54.
I was talking about 42nd street, not all of Times Square. Times Square property has always thrived even during the worst of times. Those four office towers at each corner of 42nd are full of empty offices. The newest one has one single tenant signed so far. The state guarantees their profits so they have no incentive to reduce rents.
Before eviction, as a group, the theatres on 42nd street, including those running 24 hours a day, grossed more than all other Manhattan theatres put together. That is why they were given first-run releases. Since they were owned by the operators they were extremely profitable and that is why it cost taxpayers so much to buy them out.
41st street is still a no-man’s land. The Nederlander is filthy dump that has rightfully never been restored because it was always a dump. It has run one profitable show (RENT) in forty years. The squalor of the site added to the mood of the play. Maybe they could revive URINETOWN because the last two Neil Simon shows bombed so badly the first one closed early and the second one never opened.
The Selwyn (American Airlines) looks pretty much the way it always did before with faded murals, inch thick patchwork paint jobs, and dusty walls. It was NOT lovingly restored the way the New Amsterdam and Victory were and it has not had a single hit since re-opening.
The Hilton had been dark for two years now. Even YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN lost money here. The delay of SPIDERMAN was caused by investors dropping out due to a lack if advance sales.
Compare these three stinkers to any other Broadway house and you will see they are jinxed.
Like all of 42nd street, stores open, fail, close and get replaced. The wheels will keep turning as long as taxpayers foot the landlord’s bills.
I am not just pining away for a lost street of violence. It also had great personality, interesting buildings and a wonderful history. If you have been to fabricated places like to E-walk Los Angeles and Downtown Disney Orlando you know how soul less and annoying they can be. But they are profitable. 42nd street is now phony, soul less, and already looking a bit tired.
My point is that the new 42nd street has no personality AND no profit.
Broadway has far more theatres than Broadway producers and those new 42nd street locations are closed 80% of the year because they are last in the pecking order of choice. Only the New Amsterdam and Victory have worked.
I hope I am wrong because I live in the neighborhood but what I see is a rapidly aging tourist park already getting sleazy by economic hardship. The fiberglass is just not holding up and the hustlers and the porn are just a block away.
The Times Square and Liberty will never be theatres again as there no legal access for sets and no practical use for movies. The other two (American and Hilton) are basically all-new white elephants with a string of dismal boxoffice failures.
The Rialto 1 & 2 stopped showing porno in 1976 and was never involved in the redevelopment program.
Evicting Cine 42 alone cost New York tax payers $8.4 million. Like many other of these deals, the space was given to Disney to use for free.
When these rent contracts start running out watch the street become a ghost town again.
Of course not. There used to be over a dozen classic theatres there. Only the New Amsterdam and the Empire lobby remain viable. The others were gutted or demolished.
For this effort New York State tax payers paid billions to the private investors who finance Cuomo and Guliani’s political campaigns.
There were only about six porno businesses on 42nd street, the red light district. There are now over 200 in Manhattan alone although few are theatres. It was win/win for everyone except movie theatres.
I guess you haven’t been to Show World on 42nd street, or 38th street and eighth where there are five porn shops on one block, or the Fair in Queens, or the China Club and brothel on 47th street.
Moved, yes. Destroyed, hardly.
What Guliani (and Cuono) achieved was remove poor “ethnic” audiences from Times Square. It used to be called Urban Re-niggering by the Black Panthers.
Ace, I scanned through my collection of movie time clocks and counted the number of films playing Saturday night at 8:00pm.
In 1989 the Coliseum was either closed all year or playing Spanish language films only and not advertising outside the Spanish language press. Does anyone know?
All the 42nd street theatres were evicted outright against their will.
The Brandt action houses, in particular, proved they were profitable in court. The porno sites were even more profitable, but all lost their court cases. The Guliani administration evicted them and made a deal with the pornographers (Guliani’s buddies) so they could open anywhere in the city as long as they stayed clear of 42nd street.
Both current high-grossing multiplexes lose money and ego will only go so far when the economy is bad.
I did some research and found these multiplexing dates:
Single screen until 1978 when it is remodeled as a triplex.
1981 – Loses a screen and becomes a twin.
1989 – closes
1991 – Re-opens as a Quad.
2001 – closes
2004 – Re-opens as a Quad.
In 1929 the building was leased to Ye Office Tavern but it appears to have returned to movies by at least 1936.
As the UFA Cosmopolitan, this location was German films until at least 1931.
Before this became the German Tobis Kino it was Das Deutschen Sprecfilm theatre by early 1932. Prior to that it may have even been closed for a few years after a projection booth fire in March of 1929.
I can’t find any record of it ever being called the UFA Cosmopolitan. In fact, the UFA Cosmopolitan from 1923 to 1931 was the International on Columbus Circle.
/theaters/2936/
This closed in early November 1984 after a subrun showing of “Teachers”.
“When you talk about 42nd Street YOU ARE talking about all of Times Square.”
On what planet? 42nd Street has been in crises since 1934. Times Square thrived after WWII but the Deuce went to hell, even while still beautiful. Just around the corner off just west of seventh Avenue, Times Square changes. Always for the worse.
41st street is a loading dock alley and it was never anything but sleaze. No one wants that Nederlander Theatre even now. I went by Monday afternoon and even the outside is disgrace. Next up is a country western musical based on Johnny Cash and Elvis. (Yeah, that’ll work!)
Most Broadway shows that don’t lose money open away from 42nd street for a reason.
I see the grosses in Variety and I often get free tickets to the Selwyn when they need to fill the house. None of these shows have been very successful, nor may I add, very good. They ARE bombing.
The Roundabout made sure “Cabaret” opened on 54th street at Studio 54.
According to the New York Times, from 1924 to 1958 it was a full time movie house. In 1958 it switched over to legitimate shows.
In 1964 it switched back to movies as the York with only 299 seats. By summer 1968 it was closed.
In 1966 a comedy club called Mr. Laffs was operating at 1185 First Avenue, so the original Victor must been scaled down at some point.
I was talking about 42nd street, not all of Times Square. Times Square property has always thrived even during the worst of times. Those four office towers at each corner of 42nd are full of empty offices. The newest one has one single tenant signed so far. The state guarantees their profits so they have no incentive to reduce rents.
Before eviction, as a group, the theatres on 42nd street, including those running 24 hours a day, grossed more than all other Manhattan theatres put together. That is why they were given first-run releases. Since they were owned by the operators they were extremely profitable and that is why it cost taxpayers so much to buy them out.
41st street is still a no-man’s land. The Nederlander is filthy dump that has rightfully never been restored because it was always a dump. It has run one profitable show (RENT) in forty years. The squalor of the site added to the mood of the play. Maybe they could revive URINETOWN because the last two Neil Simon shows bombed so badly the first one closed early and the second one never opened.
The Selwyn (American Airlines) looks pretty much the way it always did before with faded murals, inch thick patchwork paint jobs, and dusty walls. It was NOT lovingly restored the way the New Amsterdam and Victory were and it has not had a single hit since re-opening.
The Hilton had been dark for two years now. Even YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN lost money here. The delay of SPIDERMAN was caused by investors dropping out due to a lack if advance sales.
Compare these three stinkers to any other Broadway house and you will see they are jinxed.
Like all of 42nd street, stores open, fail, close and get replaced. The wheels will keep turning as long as taxpayers foot the landlord’s bills.
Does anyone know if the Orleans closed at the same as the other two? In 1987?
I am not just pining away for a lost street of violence. It also had great personality, interesting buildings and a wonderful history. If you have been to fabricated places like to E-walk Los Angeles and Downtown Disney Orlando you know how soul less and annoying they can be. But they are profitable. 42nd street is now phony, soul less, and already looking a bit tired.
My point is that the new 42nd street has no personality AND no profit.
Broadway has far more theatres than Broadway producers and those new 42nd street locations are closed 80% of the year because they are last in the pecking order of choice. Only the New Amsterdam and Victory have worked.
I hope I am wrong because I live in the neighborhood but what I see is a rapidly aging tourist park already getting sleazy by economic hardship. The fiberglass is just not holding up and the hustlers and the porn are just a block away.
I forgot the Victory.
The Times Square and Liberty will never be theatres again as there no legal access for sets and no practical use for movies. The other two (American and Hilton) are basically all-new white elephants with a string of dismal boxoffice failures.
The Rialto 1 & 2 stopped showing porno in 1976 and was never involved in the redevelopment program.
Evicting Cine 42 alone cost New York tax payers $8.4 million. Like many other of these deals, the space was given to Disney to use for free.
When these rent contracts start running out watch the street become a ghost town again.
Of course not. There used to be over a dozen classic theatres there. Only the New Amsterdam and the Empire lobby remain viable. The others were gutted or demolished.
For this effort New York State tax payers paid billions to the private investors who finance Cuomo and Guliani’s political campaigns.
There were only about six porno businesses on 42nd street, the red light district. There are now over 200 in Manhattan alone although few are theatres. It was win/win for everyone except movie theatres.
I guess you haven’t been to Show World on 42nd street, or 38th street and eighth where there are five porn shops on one block, or the Fair in Queens, or the China Club and brothel on 47th street.
Moved, yes. Destroyed, hardly.
What Guliani (and Cuono) achieved was remove poor “ethnic” audiences from Times Square. It used to be called Urban Re-niggering by the Black Panthers.
Featured in a 1920 Paramount Week ad.
The last movie shown here was “Maedchen in Uniform” in 1933.
The Lauderdale Drive-In is already listed in the 1953 Film Daily Yearbook.
The Hi-Way is already listed in the 1953 Film Daily Yearbook.
The city was still trying to close this down in 1995 and may have succeeded then.
The New Embassy 49 name lasted from 1982 to April 1987 when it closed with a re-release of “The Aristocats”.
This was the Embassy 49 for only one year in 1976. By 1977 it was the Pussycat.
Ace, I scanned through my collection of movie time clocks and counted the number of films playing Saturday night at 8:00pm.
In 1989 the Coliseum was either closed all year or playing Spanish language films only and not advertising outside the Spanish language press. Does anyone know?
All the 42nd street theatres were evicted outright against their will.
The Brandt action houses, in particular, proved they were profitable in court. The porno sites were even more profitable, but all lost their court cases. The Guliani administration evicted them and made a deal with the pornographers (Guliani’s buddies) so they could open anywhere in the city as long as they stayed clear of 42nd street.
Both current high-grossing multiplexes lose money and ego will only go so far when the economy is bad.
The seventh screen lasted from 1996 to 2002.
I did some research and found these multiplexing dates:
Single screen until 1978 when it is remodeled as a triplex.
1981 – Loses a screen and becomes a twin.
1989 – closes
1991 – Re-opens as a Quad.
2001 – closes
2004 – Re-opens as a Quad.
Nice find. I have only seen photos of this place when it is on fire.
..and those old decaying dumps were all profitable. The two new remaining complexes both lose money.
How do you think that will go on with the new Disneyscape real estate prices?