Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre

I’ve been wondering the same thing, Howard. Someone here said the entire building was being dismantled. If I ever see one of the construction guys, I’ll ask. Or, if I find myself with a spare half-hour before work, I can try to sift through the dozen or so permits they have posted on the corner of the construction shedding!

Added a few more glimpses of the interior demolition, as viewed through construction peep-holes on Seventh Ave. Images taken middle of last month.

Maybe you saw a dvd made from a bad public domain print, Joe?

According to TCM.com — “All the delays and extravagances sent Bird of Paradise far over budget. It had been budgeted at $450,000 and ended up costing at least $725,000. Though the film performed well at the box office, it did not make back its cost.”

That was an astronomical cost in 1932, and I would be very surprised if The fastidious Selznik would release a sub-par product. Unfortunately, the movie fell into the public domain decades ago. It reminds me of the Howard Hughes’s picture The Outlaw, where he fussed over every frame, and now all we have today are scratchy, blurry copies of his magnum opus.

Per Lamont Cranson’s comment under the very advertisement mentioned above for “Bird of Paradise” – King Vidor’s B&W version of a hugely popular stage spectacle opened simultaneously in New York at the RKO Mayfair in midtown and the RKO Albee in downtown Brooklyn on September 11th, 1932. 20th-Fox’s later Technicolor remake opened at the Roxy (with stage show) in March, 1951.

to Ed S.–

very interesting and depressing pics. the Mayfair/ Demille/Embassy 1-2-3 was in uneven shape sad to
say before closing. fortunately my parents took me
to as many roadshow films as possible so at least I got to see the theater when it was still in un-triplexed prime shape.

also when I looked at your pics in the photo section I noticed the ad for Bird of Paradise. i’m assuming it was the film’s 1st run premiere run and not a move over from another theater. which is where my question comes in- was BOP considered an A level as opposed to B level film? I purchased the blu-ray disc put out by Kino Video last year and thought it was a sub-par film both technically and artistically. I didn’t think King Vidor was capable of making such a crappy movie.

Just posted a couple of shots I took with my cellphone over the last week or two, through the construction shedding peepholes, to see the demolition in progress. The first shot shows a portion of where the old Mayfair/DeMille entrance used to be. The second is another storefront or two down towards 47th Street, but may reveal recesses (stripped to concrete) that may have been a part of the theater.

Bigjoe59: You can find lots of souvenir programs on eBay. I got one for It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World from there, and in excellent condition.

Ed, As usual, you’re right on the money. It was JUST A MATTER OF LUCK that the Wonder Theatres are still there. When I worked at the RKO Alden, across the street from Loew’s Valencia (my personal favorite Wonder Theatre) I never thought that “The Tabernacle Of Prayer” would be the one to “save” the Valencia….I am really surprised at how well they have maintained it.

While not a Wonder Theatre, I only wish they could have saved Loew’s Triboro.

Mike (saps, I agree, that is probably the WORST picture to depict this theatre….unless you just want to show how low things became in NY.

Bob Endres, You’re right it belongs on the Music Hall page. The Roxy (Radio City Roxy, not the Seventh Ave, Taft Hotel Roxy-probably even sadder.), later called Centre, etc., was a 3,400 seat beauty. The remark “Well two out of three isn’t bad!” just makes me feel even madder! Compared to MANY other cities around the country, they just have NO RESPECT for theatres in NY City and even LESS RESPECT for movie theatres.

technman707This really belongs on the Music Hall page, but in response to your last comment: I was asked by the comptroller of Radio City to take a look at a theatre in the Bronx that was asking Rockefeller help in establishing a dance company. We rode up on the subway with the Rock Center lawyer and he was talking about the public hearing for Radio City. Some woman in the audience said, “You destroyed the Roxy and you destroyed the Center Theatre and now you want to destroy the Hall.” To which he replied, “Well two out of three isn’t bad!”

Actually,the marquee was put up for the Mark I-II-III incarnation. When they triplexed the theatre, they also chopped up the lobby to add storefronts. The entrance under the marquee led directly to the downstairs house, and to the right was the staircase leading up to the upper lobby and the two upstairs screens. The rest of what had been a lavish lobby was cut off from the theatre by the stores.The marquee for the DeMille was removed and that small triangular marquee replaced it.

I think the porn people did the triplexing and added the storefronts. I met the contractor a few times and think he had also done work for the operators in other houses they had.

techman707: there was a great deal of attention to the Radio City situation. I had just come back from vacation to pick up the Daily News the next morning and see the huge headline that Radio City was closing. Later that day Alton Marshall the president of Rockefeller Center called all of us to a meetin in the large rehearsal hall to tell us about the closure. The Rockettes made headlines by picketing out in front of the theatre in costume in January. There were also public meetings to protest the closure. Today the Rockettes are largely given credit for saving the Hall, although a friend of mine who was a vice president at the Hall had lunch with Marshall a few years later and was told that they really didn’t want to close the Hall, but had to shake loose from the movie/stage show policy. A deal was made with the state to help save the Hall and it was announced from the stage on what was to be the closing night that it would be saved.

bigjoe59,

Besides the old Newsreel Theatre, Peter Elson (or maybe it was his dad) also had a thing for the “Guild” name. I guess because of the little Guild 50th Theatre he operated, which was a “side hole” to the Music Hall-LOL The Guild 50th used to get the overflow during Radio City’s Xmas show from the people waiting online that didn’t make into the Music Hall after waiting nearly 2 hours. The Guild 50TH usually ran Disney Pictures around Xmas….just like the Music Hall did for many times for Xmas.

They make a big deal over Radio City TODAY, however, at one point when some Japanese Group owned it not that long ago, demolition seemed A REAL POSSIBILITY! I don’t recall ANY groundswell of protection and not as word from the Landmarks & Preservation Commission.