Hammerstein never sold this theatre to his friend Marcus Loew.
Hammerstein’s theatre was foreclosed in 1915. In January 1916 it was leased to a sponsor who changed the policy to movies and renamed it the Biltmore with hopes of becoming the east side version of the Broadway Strand. It was a short-lived experiment.
After much deliberation the bank auctioned it off in March, 1918. The buyer, Manhattan Life Insurance, promptly resold it a month later. The theatre changed hands again several times until Marcus Loew took it over in late 1923 and put movies back in, four years after Hammerstein’s death.
This is still listed in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook although the New York Times reports that the property was sold in 1945 and intended for other use.
This building was showing movies as the Queens Theatre from 1919 to 1925.
The Arcadia from 1926 to 1951.
The Baronet from 1952 to 1996.
The Coronet-1 from 1997 to 2000.
The upstairs theatre was:
The Coronet from 1962 to 1996.
The Coronet-2 from 1997 to 2000.
“‘Naughty-Naught’ will open at the Old Knickerbocker Music Hall (Formerly the Clifton Theatre) on second avenue and fifty-fourth street.”
As “the Knick”, it seems to have been mixture of movies, theatre and cabaret from 1946 to around 1951 when it became abandoned. In 1958 when they looked into re-opening it as a club they found a colony of homeless women living there without heat or water.
(Jerry Lewis cinemas were franchised. Jerry Lewis himself said they were “the most significant contribution to the movie industry of this decade”.)
Significant indeed. The failed Jerry Lewis franchises resulted in a lucrative nationwide chain of porno theatres that lasted until the 80’s and made blockbusters out of “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones”. He inadvertently, or otherwise, did more to bring mafia run porn to the suburbs that anyone else in the industry.
I think they decided a while back to leave the historic theatres with their original names. Anyway, this closed as a Cineplex Odeon so that name meant nothing even then.
When the Greenwich Theatre on 12th street opened in 1936, this location appears to have reverted back to the Village name, which shows up in Film daily Yearbooks up until 1942.
Already open in 1923 according to a Paramount Week ad. Still open in 1953 according the Film Daily Yearbook.
Did any of you get to meet Sumner back when he was a mere mortal?
This theatre was already listed in a Paramount Week ad in 1918.
A December 1951 article on the New York Times says it was already a CBS studio so that may be the year it stopped showing films.
The Colonial showed movies occasionally before the RKO take-over in September 1931.
Hammerstein never sold this theatre to his friend Marcus Loew.
Hammerstein’s theatre was foreclosed in 1915. In January 1916 it was leased to a sponsor who changed the policy to movies and renamed it the Biltmore with hopes of becoming the east side version of the Broadway Strand. It was a short-lived experiment.
After much deliberation the bank auctioned it off in March, 1918. The buyer, Manhattan Life Insurance, promptly resold it a month later. The theatre changed hands again several times until Marcus Loew took it over in late 1923 and put movies back in, four years after Hammerstein’s death.
This is still listed in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook although the New York Times reports that the property was sold in 1945 and intended for other use.
This building was showing movies as the Queens Theatre from 1919 to 1925.
The Arcadia from 1926 to 1951.
The Baronet from 1952 to 1996.
The Coronet-1 from 1997 to 2000.
The upstairs theatre was:
The Coronet from 1962 to 1996.
The Coronet-2 from 1997 to 2000.
From the NY Times, 1946
“‘Naughty-Naught’ will open at the Old Knickerbocker Music Hall (Formerly the Clifton Theatre) on second avenue and fifty-fourth street.”
As “the Knick”, it seems to have been mixture of movies, theatre and cabaret from 1946 to around 1951 when it became abandoned. In 1958 when they looked into re-opening it as a club they found a colony of homeless women living there without heat or water.
The Capitol had “Navy Blue and Gold”.
If “Daughter of Shanghai” was at the Criterion then it was Christmas 1937 and “The Awful Truth” was at the State with Rudy vallee.
The Bollywood period here ran from late 1995 to early 1996.
The address for this theatre covered from 139 to 145 so Bijou Dream should be added as an aka name.
Opening week ad.
View link
Isn’t the Cameo still doing rock events? What is the Cinema Casino these days?
(Jerry Lewis cinemas were franchised. Jerry Lewis himself said they were “the most significant contribution to the movie industry of this decade”.)
Significant indeed. The failed Jerry Lewis franchises resulted in a lucrative nationwide chain of porno theatres that lasted until the 80’s and made blockbusters out of “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones”. He inadvertently, or otherwise, did more to bring mafia run porn to the suburbs that anyone else in the industry.
I think they decided a while back to leave the historic theatres with their original names. Anyway, this closed as a Cineplex Odeon so that name meant nothing even then.
Good point, Cwalczak!
I’ll keep looking.
Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook in 1946, gone in 1947.
This German/Yiddish/Russian/Burlesque house also attempted to be the first Italian film cinema in NYC in 1939.
When the Greenwich Theatre on 12th street opened in 1936, this location appears to have reverted back to the Village name, which shows up in Film daily Yearbooks up until 1942.
Still listed in the 1953 Film Daily Yearbook as a Loew’s.
Listed as the Governor in my 1953 Film Daily Yearbook.
This was showing Spanish language films as the ISLA theatre in 1944.
Nice find, Tinseltoes. Can you make out what it says on the vertical sign?