Playhouse

The process was taking so long I thought it would fall down by itself.

The saga continues. At it’s August meeting the Trustees gave the developer an additional two months to obtain a demolition permit due to the pandemic. A build permit must be obtained within six months.

On and on. There was a public hearing on the proposal for the theater site on December 9, 2019. Will see what comes of that.

Last reference I found on this was that, in June 2018, the Village Trustees had given the developer extended time to get the necessary permits. Due to some mumbo jumbo the original ones were no longer valid. Members of the Historical Society requested that the lobby portion be retained in the new structure to honor the history of the building.

This redevelopment is eventually going to equal the lead time for Long Island Rail Road access to Grand Central Terminal and completion of the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan.

There will be a public hearing on March 12, 2018 re amendment of the zoning to accommodate residential and retail on the site. The Board of Trustees indicates there is no environmental impact. So much of the Great Neck Estates meeting agendas are not readily available on line. Presume nothing has yet been decided on demo. Approval of the zoning change would seem to be the first step.

THANKS

In August the matter was deferred until September 7th. On that date it was deferred until October 10th. The building will fall down from neglect before they vote to demolish it.

At the July 11th meeting the subject of the Playhouse demo was deferred to the August 8 meeting when it will probably be deferred to the September meeting when it will be deferred to….You get the picture.

Matt do you have any interior photos? I understand there were a number of dressing rooms, too.

At the March 14th meeting the matter of demolition was tabled another month. So what else is new.

The $450,000 Great Neck Playhouse was launched by Irving Lesser in 1925 with organist Billy Lent at the Wurlitzer. In just its first year, the playhouse tried out 29 different out of town runs. Ring Lardner and Charlie Chaplin had inaugural season tickets. For the tryout world premier of “The Play’s The Thing” by Franz Molnar on October 21, 1926. guests at the Playhouse included George Cohan, Eddie Cantor, the Marx Brothers, and Irving Berlin. Other supporters included W.C. Fields and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In 1927, Katherine Hepburn would be fired from her first live stage leading role while at the Playhouse, an event she long recounted. Other stars on the stage in its formative days were James Cagney, Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, Clark Gable, Ruth Gordon, Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn, Leslie Howard and Barbara Stanwyck. Though films were mixed into the Great neck Playhouse menu, United Artists took on the theatre in the 1930s to change the business model to film-centric purposes.

The oft postponed hearing is now postponed indefinitely. Now, there is also the additional wait for the Nassau County Department of Public Works to weigh in on a proposal to cut off access to Middle Neck Road from Maple Avenue during the demo. Middle Neck Road is a county road.

If this goes on much longer the building will just fall down of its own accord.