Here’s another image from Woody’s flickr account showing a more contemporary view of the New David Cinema site. The big billboard above the building doesn’t bode well for any of the structures on that block.
I found this fuzzy image of the David’s exterior on our friend Woody’s flickr.com photostream. As for my first impression of the canopy per the photo I posted in my previous comment, I guess a partial view can be deceiving.
Al… my most humble apologies, sir! Heh heh. Anyway, it’s not the strip joint I’m referring to but the Kitty Kat.
The title on the Kitty Kat marquee in that 1985 photo shows up on imdb.com as a 1985 porn film, so looks like it did show films – at least for a while.
Here’s a shot I found on flickr that looks to be for this incarnation of the David rather than the location on W. 55th Street. I only assume this because the car door in the photo looks like an 80’s or 90’s model. Anyway… looks like some fairly ornate ceiling fixtures hung in the foyer to the David, not to mention that the marquee canopy seemed to be arched and fairly wide.
Calling AlAlvarez… The introduction above states that the Kitty Kat Theater was around the corner on 49th, but there is a marquee visible in the 1985 image on Seventh Ave. Were there two entrances? Or was this an auxilliary marquee placed here for higher visibility?
Thanks William. I fell into the same trap everyone did back in 2005! So the Paradise became Jack Dempsey’s and is now the site of Colony Records. The Trans-Lux 49th (later to become known as the Pussycat) was across 49th from Colony Records one block to the south. My mistake. Too bad… the irony between the old Paradise and the topless Mardi Gras was just too good to be true! So, then there are no vintage photos here of the old Trans-Lux 49th Street other than the one I just posted as the Pussycat. Hmmmm. Now, I’ll have to go digging around to see if any can be found out there.
Sorry… Here is an even better image of the Paradise Cabaret of the 1930’s. If their revue was “daring” and “thrilling”, I wonder what they’d think of the display at the Mardi Gras some 40-50 years later?!?
Here’s a 1985 night shot of the colorful Pussycat marquee and signage in full neon splendor. Plus note the Kit Kat Theater and Mardi Gras Topless go-go right next door.
If you enlarge this image, previously posted by RobertR back in May, 2005, you’ll see that some sort of restaurant (looks like Paradise is part of the name on the signage) occupied the Mardi Gras site back in the 1930’s and even back then advertised “beautiful girls” as an attraction!
Here’s a shot of the Big Apple marquee that was probably taken some time in the late ‘80’s, judging from the $2.99 price. It’s impossible to date this photo from the titles on the marquee.
Yes, REndres. Then, if we could only get a curved screen Cinerama venue in New York City, where the process was first unveiled to the public over 50 years ago! With a digital presentation, I imagine that a temporary screen installation would be relatively easy in any number of existing facilities. Of course, you’d want to ensure a big enough space to accomodate a screen size worthy of the format.
And yes again, REndres… I do think that we do tend to be charmed by the defects in a favorite process or system. Good point there. But then, I never saw true Cinerama myself… the three camera system fizzled out a couple of years before I was born and there’s been no opportunity in NYC to see it on revival. I would love to experience a near-flawless digital interpretation of that process on a giant screen! I know the product pickin’s are slim, but I’d gladly suffer the dramatic deficiencies of “How the West Was Won” for the cinematic experience!
Hey… I love film myself – particularly large format film – and I worry about the loss of richness and detail from a great old Technicolor print… But I definitely can see the advantages of digital cinema. One of those bonuses may well turn out to be that some older titles will be digitized from pristine restored prints and may find their ways into retrospective series and revival programs a lot easier and with greater quality then we sometimes find. As technology improves and image degradation is diminished, a restored 70mm film can be faithfully preserved on digital media and played at any big-screen facility with the proper equipment.
Thanks for taking them, woody. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve been sharing links to those photos all around the web! I noticed a lot of them were posted to flickr some time back, so I figured it would be OK. I snapped some shots along 42nd Street and Times Square myself back in October of ‘93… That was a stark and depressing time for the strip… with all those once-lively and colorful theaters shuttered or gasping their last breaths. But, at least there was some semblance of character and atmosphere left. Now it’s like walking through an enormous pinball machine.
An article by Vincent Canby in the NY Times on 12/14/69 discusses notable events in the NYC movie scene for that Holiday season and makes mention of the Eros and Capri cinema in a short paragraph on Mrs. Chelly Wilson:
“Greek-born American producer, distibutor and exhibitor of what are known as ‘skin flicks.’ Two of her newest ventures are the Eighth Avenue minitheaters, the Capri (recent attractions: ‘Kiss My Analyst’ and ‘A Fruedian Thing’) and the Eros, which specializes in all-male films (‘Gay in Space’). Admission to the Capri is $4; to the Eros it’s $5.”
My mistake above. The permits for conversion to restaurant are 1996. That year pretty much jibes with the shutting down of all three porn theaters on this block front (Capri, Eros, Venus). Interestingly, all three have become restaurants.
Some more info I found on the Eros (former Eros I)…
*A temporary C/O in June 1969 was issued for a 114-seat motion picture theater with projection booth on the mezzanine level. A final C/O follows on 12/5/69.
*An alteration permit is issued in November of 1997 to convert the space to a restaurant.
The building is now occupied by the Playwright Tavern and Act II Restaurant, whose website may be found right here including a color photo of the exterior.
Taking a lead from Lost Memory’s research for his June 13th, 2005, I found some more public-record details about the Capri:
*The building was a plain-jane multiple family dwelling by the time the mandatory C/O laws went into effect in NYC in 1938.
*By 1957, a C/O was issued for the conversion of the 1st and 2nd story to a restaurant.
*A temporary C/O for a theater with a capacity of 171 on the 1st floor and 66 on the mezzanine level (with projection booth) was issued in May of 1969, with a final certificate issued that September. The final includes a “caretaker’s duplex apartment” on the 3rd and 4th floors.
*By 1996, permits had been issued to demolish and renovate the 1st floor, remove the mezzanine and remove the storefront and marquee.
The owners at one point were “Capri Cinema Inc.” As Lost posted back in 2005, Euro Diner still occupies the former theater space. We can update the seating capacity above to 237 seats.
There are three porn marquees all on the same block seen in this kinda blurry photo from the late ‘80’s or early '90’s. The one furthest to the left is the Capri. The other two (moving from left to right) are the Eros and Venus. This is the east side of Eighth Avenue looking north between 45th and 46th Streets.
Hmmm. Robert… That ad at the bottom for the twin bill of “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones” at the Avon 7 just threw my listing of the Frisco Theater for a loop! The Frisco opened just a few doors down the block from the Avon 7 and was purported to have played that double bill continuously for about a decade. I have an image of those titles playing there from 1973 plus newspaper clippings from 1980 and 1982 listing the films still on the Frisco’s grind.
Here’s another image from Woody’s flickr page dated 12/2005 that follows up the earlier shot of his (1990’s?) that KenRoe posted somewhere above.
Here’s that earlier shot again to avoid having to scroll up.
Here’s another image from Woody’s flickr account showing a more contemporary view of the New David Cinema site. The big billboard above the building doesn’t bode well for any of the structures on that block.
I found this fuzzy image of the David’s exterior on our friend Woody’s flickr.com photostream. As for my first impression of the canopy per the photo I posted in my previous comment, I guess a partial view can be deceiving.
Al… my most humble apologies, sir! Heh heh. Anyway, it’s not the strip joint I’m referring to but the Kitty Kat.
The title on the Kitty Kat marquee in that 1985 photo shows up on imdb.com as a 1985 porn film, so looks like it did show films – at least for a while.
I believe this is a close view of the Circus marquee.
Here’s a shot I found on flickr that looks to be for this incarnation of the David rather than the location on W. 55th Street. I only assume this because the car door in the photo looks like an 80’s or 90’s model. Anyway… looks like some fairly ornate ceiling fixtures hung in the foyer to the David, not to mention that the marquee canopy seemed to be arched and fairly wide.
Calling AlAlvarez… The introduction above states that the Kitty Kat Theater was around the corner on 49th, but there is a marquee visible in the 1985 image on Seventh Ave. Were there two entrances? Or was this an auxilliary marquee placed here for higher visibility?
Thanks William. I fell into the same trap everyone did back in 2005! So the Paradise became Jack Dempsey’s and is now the site of Colony Records. The Trans-Lux 49th (later to become known as the Pussycat) was across 49th from Colony Records one block to the south. My mistake. Too bad… the irony between the old Paradise and the topless Mardi Gras was just too good to be true! So, then there are no vintage photos here of the old Trans-Lux 49th Street other than the one I just posted as the Pussycat. Hmmmm. Now, I’ll have to go digging around to see if any can be found out there.
I should add that that those images were taken prior to the Polk’s closing. As far as I know, the theater has not re-opened.
A couple of interesting recent images of the Polk Theater box office may be found on flickr here and here.
Sorry… Here is an even better image of the Paradise Cabaret of the 1930’s. If their revue was “daring” and “thrilling”, I wonder what they’d think of the display at the Mardi Gras some 40-50 years later?!?
Here’s a 1985 night shot of the colorful Pussycat marquee and signage in full neon splendor. Plus note the Kit Kat Theater and Mardi Gras Topless go-go right next door.
If you enlarge this image, previously posted by RobertR back in May, 2005, you’ll see that some sort of restaurant (looks like Paradise is part of the name on the signage) occupied the Mardi Gras site back in the 1930’s and even back then advertised “beautiful girls” as an attraction!
Here’s a shot of the Big Apple marquee that was probably taken some time in the late ‘80’s, judging from the $2.99 price. It’s impossible to date this photo from the titles on the marquee.
Yes, REndres. Then, if we could only get a curved screen Cinerama venue in New York City, where the process was first unveiled to the public over 50 years ago! With a digital presentation, I imagine that a temporary screen installation would be relatively easy in any number of existing facilities. Of course, you’d want to ensure a big enough space to accomodate a screen size worthy of the format.
And yes again, REndres… I do think that we do tend to be charmed by the defects in a favorite process or system. Good point there. But then, I never saw true Cinerama myself… the three camera system fizzled out a couple of years before I was born and there’s been no opportunity in NYC to see it on revival. I would love to experience a near-flawless digital interpretation of that process on a giant screen! I know the product pickin’s are slim, but I’d gladly suffer the dramatic deficiencies of “How the West Was Won” for the cinematic experience!
Here’s a shot of the Venus marquee, probably from some time in the early ‘90’s.
Hey… I love film myself – particularly large format film – and I worry about the loss of richness and detail from a great old Technicolor print… But I definitely can see the advantages of digital cinema. One of those bonuses may well turn out to be that some older titles will be digitized from pristine restored prints and may find their ways into retrospective series and revival programs a lot easier and with greater quality then we sometimes find. As technology improves and image degradation is diminished, a restored 70mm film can be faithfully preserved on digital media and played at any big-screen facility with the proper equipment.
Thanks for taking them, woody. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve been sharing links to those photos all around the web! I noticed a lot of them were posted to flickr some time back, so I figured it would be OK. I snapped some shots along 42nd Street and Times Square myself back in October of ‘93… That was a stark and depressing time for the strip… with all those once-lively and colorful theaters shuttered or gasping their last breaths. But, at least there was some semblance of character and atmosphere left. Now it’s like walking through an enormous pinball machine.
An article by Vincent Canby in the NY Times on 12/14/69 discusses notable events in the NYC movie scene for that Holiday season and makes mention of the Eros and Capri cinema in a short paragraph on Mrs. Chelly Wilson:
“Greek-born American producer, distibutor and exhibitor of what are known as ‘skin flicks.’ Two of her newest ventures are the Eighth Avenue minitheaters, the Capri (recent attractions: ‘Kiss My Analyst’ and ‘A Fruedian Thing’) and the Eros, which specializes in all-male films (‘Gay in Space’). Admission to the Capri is $4; to the Eros it’s $5.”
My mistake above. The permits for conversion to restaurant are 1996. That year pretty much jibes with the shutting down of all three porn theaters on this block front (Capri, Eros, Venus). Interestingly, all three have become restaurants.
Some more info I found on the Eros (former Eros I)…
*A temporary C/O in June 1969 was issued for a 114-seat motion picture theater with projection booth on the mezzanine level. A final C/O follows on 12/5/69.
*An alteration permit is issued in November of 1997 to convert the space to a restaurant.
The building is now occupied by the Playwright Tavern and Act II Restaurant, whose website may be found right here including a color photo of the exterior.
Taking a lead from Lost Memory’s research for his June 13th, 2005, I found some more public-record details about the Capri:
*The building was a plain-jane multiple family dwelling by the time the mandatory C/O laws went into effect in NYC in 1938.
*By 1957, a C/O was issued for the conversion of the 1st and 2nd story to a restaurant.
*A temporary C/O for a theater with a capacity of 171 on the 1st floor and 66 on the mezzanine level (with projection booth) was issued in May of 1969, with a final certificate issued that September. The final includes a “caretaker’s duplex apartment” on the 3rd and 4th floors.
*By 1996, permits had been issued to demolish and renovate the 1st floor, remove the mezzanine and remove the storefront and marquee.
The owners at one point were “Capri Cinema Inc.” As Lost posted back in 2005, Euro Diner still occupies the former theater space. We can update the seating capacity above to 237 seats.
Ha! Excellent point, Al. Thanks for pointing that out.
There are three porn marquees all on the same block seen in this kinda blurry photo from the late ‘80’s or early '90’s. The one furthest to the left is the Capri. The other two (moving from left to right) are the Eros and Venus. This is the east side of Eighth Avenue looking north between 45th and 46th Streets.
Wait. Before I get to relaxing… doesn’t the little circle in that ad say “Giant Double Feature”?
Hmmm. Robert… That ad at the bottom for the twin bill of “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones” at the Avon 7 just threw my listing of the Frisco Theater for a loop! The Frisco opened just a few doors down the block from the Avon 7 and was purported to have played that double bill continuously for about a decade. I have an image of those titles playing there from 1973 plus newspaper clippings from 1980 and 1982 listing the films still on the Frisco’s grind.
Can you hear me scratching my head?