Beekman Theatre

I’m hearing through the grapevine that at least one of the BEEKMAN signatures was salvaged and is being restored, and will soon be installed in the lobby of the Greenport Theatre out on Long Island. If we have any Cinema Treasures fans here who are near the Greenport, could you keep an eye on it and let us know if it happens?

In 1977, I started working for the Cinema 5 chain. For a while I was used at various theatres until finding a home at the Murray Hill and Gramercy theatres. I worked briefly at the Beekman, evenings. The movie “La Grande Bourgeoise” was playing, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Catherine Deneuve. I had only been there once previously, as a customer, to see Bergman’s “Face to Face,” a movie that seems to have disappeared, still unavailable on home video/DVD. The Beekman had a distinguished place in the Cinema 5 pantheon, probably because of its Upper East Side location, only a few blocks from Cinema I & II, etc. It was gorgeous and moderne with a sleek, silver metal marquee and leaning script font lettering. Only the good stuff showed there, for the most part. I believe it was featured in a scene in “Annie Hall.” The lounge had custom furniture, free-form and modern, and it had a kooky appeal by the time the 70’s came around. The theatre seemed stuck in a very cool time period. I can remember seeing a photo of the theatre with long lines out in front of it, in a full-page ad for “Exorcist II: The Heretic,” when Warner Bros. tried to get audiences to believe that movie was a hit. I can’t think why it was booked into the Beekman when it was also down the way at Cinema II. The Beekman was the sort of theatre you would decide to see a movie in, when there were other theatre choices, just because it was so nice.

Sad

Went by the Beekman yesterday Thursday the 29th, it looks the same, just sitting there dark and empty with no marquee.

The first film to play the Beekman, as shown in Warren’s posted marquee shot, was Never Take No for an Answer, a.k.a. Peppino e Violetta, a British-Italian co-production, about a boy named Peppino who wants to take his ailing donkey Violetta into the crypt of Saint Francis of Assisi. Denied permission, he goes to Rome to appeal to the Pope. The film was shot in Assisi and also in the Vatican, one of the few movies allowed to be filmed there.

The film was based on Paul Gallico’s sentimental novella called The Small Miracle. The Small Miracle was also the title of a TV remake of this film. This movie was not typical of the more “sophisticated” ones that were to play the Beekman over the years, but it was indeed an audience pleaser and a likable film. Bosley Crowther gave it a glowing review and even praised the donkey as “a real charmer.”

HERE IS AN AD publicizing this film at the Beekman.

I used to own a 16mm print and am sorry to have sold it, since it is now so rare. After the Beekman, the film moved over to the Guild 50th where it continued a long succesful engagement.

In 1982we opened “A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy” . We also had the premier,Woody did'nt show But Diane Keaton did. As a matter of fact Woody payed to put the platter system in the booth.

Zelig played there also.

I have done this but I find myself wondering more about what films were booked into them long before in the past. For example I wonder what film was playing at the Beekman the day I was born in 1962. Or, take “Annie Hall”: I know Alvie mentions the theater and there is action out front in the movie, but was “Annie Hall” ever actually booked for a run at the Beekman? What about “Sleeper”? I wish there was a list of every single movie that played the Beekman from 1952 up till “The Interpreter.” Nerd-like I would pore over it and try to recall if I had attended any of the showings…just because! Almost like doing penance for not having gone to the Beekman (or any lost theater) enough when it existed.

Pest control notices = proof that the ‘end’ for the Beekman and the other buildings on its block is near; I’d guess demolition is likely to begin sometime between mid-October to early November.

Went by the Beekman Thursday morning. It looks the same as in my last set of postings…the only thing different is that now there are pest control notices on the glass doors in front, and on other parts of the building.

Today’s NY Post has the the former Loews Cineplex New York Twin/Crown New York Twin/Clearview’s New York One and Two Theatre listed now as “Clearview’s Beekman One And Two”.

The only 2 theatre buildings from the old Rugoff Theatres (Cinema 5) chain that is still standing, after the Beekman is demolished, are the City Cinemas Cinema 1, 2, 3 (Cinema I and Cinema II), and in Philadelphia, The United Artists Sam’s Place Twin Theatre building (also was home to Stanley Warner’s Aldine Theatre, Viking Theatre, and Rugoff’s Cinema 19 Theatre), which has a CVS Pharmacy in the building.

Whats the real deal? The Clearview Site calls the theatre across the street the Beekman 1&2 but Newspapers are still saying NEW YORK TWIN? Is there a name change?

now playing at the beekman and all
the lost theatres of new york
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