According to the NYTimes, black patrons were admitted into the balcony area starting in 1934, concurrent with some black headliners and the amateur nights.
The city of Miami did not rename the Olympia. Maurice Gusman saved it from the wrecking ball, refurbished it into a concert hall and named it after himself. He then left it to the city when he passed away.
MPol, here is an example. When Cineplex Odeon took over the profitable Warner Twin (Strand), they were offered the equivalent of ten year’s profit in exchange for getting out of the lease and an option for a new theatre in the new building. Since they had other Times square locations including the National, Rialto, and the brand new World Wide in the pipeline, they took it. Once all leases were bought out the building was replaced by an office tower and no theatre was included.
In later years the National was also in constant play as the landlord felt that the theatre crowd hurt their office tenants’s image and they could lease the space out for more money. Cineplex Odeon refused to budge for years but the deal was promptly made in 1997 once the company ran into Chapter 11 problems. It is now the GOOD MORNING AMERICA studios.
The landlords did not like the movie theatres because they were huge spaces that in the late seventies, eighties and early nineties attracted a steady stream of inner city hoodlums which disrupted the screenings and often caused mayhem in the area. They were crowded but not easy to run locations.
“It’s hard to keep a great theatre open with no one coming.”
This particular theatre was always packed. Times Square theatres rarely close due to poor business. Like drive-ins, they close because the land they are sitting on is worth so much more than the business of movie theatres.
I understand Disney may be moving their Fifth Avenue store to Times Square because TOYS R US has done so well with the tourist family trade. Perhaps FOREVER 21 is hoping to cash on tourists who still think the dollar exchange rate is a bargain.
Unfortunately Bob, exploitation did best on Times Square during the eighties. Some of those titles were massive hits for a week or two. These theatres survived with drive-in product as their bread and butter.
I don’t buy the generation argument. A good film can easily be differentiated from a good childhood memory. Some of my favorite films are from way before my birth and once in a while a great film still does appear on the scene.
I will gladly trade the sloppy CGI in THE DARK KNIGHT for the excellent CGI in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Bad is bad.
My favorite science fiction films are METROPOLIS and SILENT RUNNING but I never saw them as a child. My favorite sci-fi childhood memories were PLANET OF THE APES and BARBARELLA. Not great movies, but fun.
I think the only difference is that many now think THE DARK KNIGHT is Oscar worthy material and can’t figure out why the industry rewards SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE READER instead. Is Heath Ledger’s really the best supporting role of the year?
If it is mindless CGI that people enjoy then let’s admit what it is and not confuse it with a good screenplay or top level acting.
The 1979 Oscars went to KRAMER VS. KRAMER, BEING THERE and NORMA RAE. The top box office films were KRAMER VS. KRAMER, ALIEN, STAR TREK, ROCKY II and APOCALYPSE NOW.
In 2008 the top films were THE DARK KNIGHT, IRON MAN, INDIANA JONES, HANCOCK and WALL-E. No brain cells were used to make these choices.
Mpol, that’s my point. The industry has no incentive to tone it down. Audiences are rushing to buy tickets to these films. I just trailers for WATCHMEN and some instantly forgettable new TERMINATOR film. Same expensive mindless comic book crap, new date.
As you can tell, I am not a fan of THE DARK KNIGHT. I demand more from a movie than two hours of relentless short edits of tractor trailers inexplicably taking flight and then exploding. I also expect Batman to be a little more effective when battling a demented drag queen, but then the Batman character was so poorly developed he was barely of any consequence to the mayhem.
When did it become acceptable to not film the event and just imply the action with a series of edited three second clips? Car-wheel-gun-car-wheel-truck-explosion-car flies-angry face-scene over. Like QUANTUM OF SOLACE, you can hardly tell what just happened except for all the noise.
Call me old fashioned, but I like to see the fist make contact with the body and the reason behind an explosion. I also expect some character motivation that consists of more than “I am a wild over-acting joker. Deal with me”. Even bad 1979 cheese like MOONRAKER and METEOR had that for me.
“THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME”, “C.H.O.M.P.S.”, “STARCRASH”, “PROPHECY”, “PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR”, “UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ODDBALL”, “METEOR”, and “M3: THE GEMINI STRAIN”.
The Regun appears in a December 1922 ad for TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY so it was no longer the Imperial by then.
A paramount Week ad for 1920 lists the Grant Theatre at 116th Street. By the following year’s ad it it listed as the Jewel at 11 West 116th Street.
My 1934 Film Daily Year book lists a Rex Theatre at 217 E. 67th Street which would place it near Second Avenue. It does not appear to be listed here.
Perhaps someone has more info on either Rex location.
The Apollo shows up in Paramount Week ads as showing movies at least as early as 1919.
I saw it on the super huge Lincoln Square IMAX screen and it was still a big, dumb, loud, obnoxious, CGI bore.
According to the NYTimes, black patrons were admitted into the balcony area starting in 1934, concurrent with some black headliners and the amateur nights.
The earliest date mentioned above was 1926.
Still open in 1934 with 470 seats according to my Film Daily Year Book.
The New Third was already operating as that in 1923.
The city of Miami did not rename the Olympia. Maurice Gusman saved it from the wrecking ball, refurbished it into a concert hall and named it after himself. He then left it to the city when he passed away.
MPol, here is an example. When Cineplex Odeon took over the profitable Warner Twin (Strand), they were offered the equivalent of ten year’s profit in exchange for getting out of the lease and an option for a new theatre in the new building. Since they had other Times square locations including the National, Rialto, and the brand new World Wide in the pipeline, they took it. Once all leases were bought out the building was replaced by an office tower and no theatre was included.
In later years the National was also in constant play as the landlord felt that the theatre crowd hurt their office tenants’s image and they could lease the space out for more money. Cineplex Odeon refused to budge for years but the deal was promptly made in 1997 once the company ran into Chapter 11 problems. It is now the GOOD MORNING AMERICA studios.
The landlords did not like the movie theatres because they were huge spaces that in the late seventies, eighties and early nineties attracted a steady stream of inner city hoodlums which disrupted the screenings and often caused mayhem in the area. They were crowded but not easy to run locations.
This theatre closed in 1995.
“It’s hard to keep a great theatre open with no one coming.”
This particular theatre was always packed. Times Square theatres rarely close due to poor business. Like drive-ins, they close because the land they are sitting on is worth so much more than the business of movie theatres.
I understand Disney may be moving their Fifth Avenue store to Times Square because TOYS R US has done so well with the tourist family trade. Perhaps FOREVER 21 is hoping to cash on tourists who still think the dollar exchange rate is a bargain.
MPol, it the communal spirit of the event which makes it different from the home, not the big screen.
Might this have been the EASTSIDE BAZAAR showing movies in 1971?
Could it be that this theatre is now literally a big toilet?
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Unfortunately Bob, exploitation did best on Times Square during the eighties. Some of those titles were massive hits for a week or two. These theatres survived with drive-in product as their bread and butter.
From 1923 to at least 1932, this was possibly known as the GEM.
I don’t buy the generation argument. A good film can easily be differentiated from a good childhood memory. Some of my favorite films are from way before my birth and once in a while a great film still does appear on the scene.
I will gladly trade the sloppy CGI in THE DARK KNIGHT for the excellent CGI in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Bad is bad.
My favorite science fiction films are METROPOLIS and SILENT RUNNING but I never saw them as a child. My favorite sci-fi childhood memories were PLANET OF THE APES and BARBARELLA. Not great movies, but fun.
I think the only difference is that many now think THE DARK KNIGHT is Oscar worthy material and can’t figure out why the industry rewards SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE READER instead. Is Heath Ledger’s really the best supporting role of the year?
If it is mindless CGI that people enjoy then let’s admit what it is and not confuse it with a good screenplay or top level acting.
The 1979 Oscars went to KRAMER VS. KRAMER, BEING THERE and NORMA RAE. The top box office films were KRAMER VS. KRAMER, ALIEN, STAR TREK, ROCKY II and APOCALYPSE NOW.
In 2008 the top films were THE DARK KNIGHT, IRON MAN, INDIANA JONES, HANCOCK and WALL-E. No brain cells were used to make these choices.
Mpol, that’s my point. The industry has no incentive to tone it down. Audiences are rushing to buy tickets to these films. I just trailers for WATCHMEN and some instantly forgettable new TERMINATOR film. Same expensive mindless comic book crap, new date.
As you can tell, I am not a fan of THE DARK KNIGHT. I demand more from a movie than two hours of relentless short edits of tractor trailers inexplicably taking flight and then exploding. I also expect Batman to be a little more effective when battling a demented drag queen, but then the Batman character was so poorly developed he was barely of any consequence to the mayhem.
When did it become acceptable to not film the event and just imply the action with a series of edited three second clips? Car-wheel-gun-car-wheel-truck-explosion-car flies-angry face-scene over. Like QUANTUM OF SOLACE, you can hardly tell what just happened except for all the noise.
Call me old fashioned, but I like to see the fist make contact with the body and the reason behind an explosion. I also expect some character motivation that consists of more than “I am a wild over-acting joker. Deal with me”. Even bad 1979 cheese like MOONRAKER and METEOR had that for me.
Why would studios make more intelligent movies when audiences are only buying mindless CGI slide shows like THE DARK KNIGHT and IRON MAN?
There were also B movies galore:
“THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME”, “C.H.O.M.P.S.”, “STARCRASH”, “PROPHECY”, “PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR”, “UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ODDBALL”, “METEOR”, and “M3: THE GEMINI STRAIN”.