Bryant Theatre
138 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
138 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
7 people
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Regarding the possibility that the old auditorium still exists in some fashion, I’m pretty sure that is correct, and that the space is now occupied by a nightclub called Nebula, which uses the 41st St stage door entrance. Architecturally, the entrance clearly matches the original theatre decor, though the interior, from what I’ve seen in pictures, has no remnants of the original, just the large column-free space.
The Avon Associates Inc (Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo Jr.), which owned the building from 1973 until 1977, was not related to the Avon theatres. In fact AAI in the early/mid 1970s had one of the largest real estate portfolios in New York city, with over $1B in holdings, including the Chrysler Building. I’m sure they had a few theaters in their inventory, but IF any were also a part of the Avon chain then that was purely coincidental.
1953 photo, Bryant Theatre marquee in the background. Scroll down.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7027827/Newly-discovered-color-images-offer-rare-glimpse-1950s-America-boom-years.html
The Lafayette in Suffern, NY was an expanded version of the Cameo, complete with the same Adam ceiling. Fortunately, the Lafayette still exists.
Could this have been called the Arcadia Theatre during planning stages? Here’s an article that said the Arcadia Theatre would be opening in the Bush Terminal Building at 130 W 42nd St on Labor Day in 1921. I have found no further references to the Arcadia. Maybe it changed names and had its opening pushed back a few months.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A01EEDA1F3FEE3ABC4E51DFB366838A639EDE
September 1923 photo added courtesy of Kenneth McIntyre.
There is a very good possibility that the auditorium of the Bryant Theatre still exists – or at least did until very recently – within the footprint of the Bush Tower at 130 W. 42nd Street, which opened in 1918.
The 42nd Street entrance for the Cameo and Bryant, as posted above, was indeed at 138 W. 42nd and has certainly been demolished. However, as with many theaters, this entrance merely led to a narrow foyer that ran back to the auditorium, which sat on 41st Street. If it’s a fact that the Cameo opened in December of 1921, we can only assume that it was either constructed on vacant land behind the tower, which may have been owned by the Bush Terminal Company, or it might have been carved out of space in the building that had a previous use. That remains cloudy at this point.
NYC Dept of Buidling records no longer exist for the address at 138 W. 42nd, and property transfer information is limited. I was able to find a C of O issued in May of 1932, amending usage of the property listed as 130-138 W. 42nd Street & 133-139 W. 41st Street, and the description includes a Motion Picture Theatre on the 1st floor with capacity for 539 persons. This matches seating information Ken Roe posted back on October 31, 2004. The C of O also notes this is a 29 story office building, which matches the description for the Bush Tower. Further, the C of O was issued to the firm of Corbett, Harrison and McMurray, and Harvey Wiley Corbett is listed on several websites as the architect for the Bush Tower.
Additional C of O’s were issued througout the years for this lot (later known as 130-134 W. 42nd and then finally just 130 W. 42nd), in 1973, 1989, 1999 right up to 2006, and each time, the Motion Picture Theatre is still noted on 1st floor with capacity of 539. I know the building itself is landmarked – I wonder if that includes the Bryant’s auditorium? Perhaps there was some adaptive re-use that retained elements of the old place? Perhaps only a trip down to the building would answer those questions to any degree of satisfaction.
Interesting to note that property records also note that the entire Bush Tower was owned by Avon Associates Inc from 1973 until 1977 – presumably the proprieters of the Avon chain of pornographic theaters. They must have operated the Bryant for a period.
Enrolling with this link.
B.S Moss' Cameo Theatre, The Salon of the Cinema.
October 1927, program during the glamour years.
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The Cameo opened during Christmas week 1921.
So I guess the Cameo was occasionally showing “adult” movies from its early days.
Here’s a NY Times review from 1934 of a movie I recently saw on TCM:
Road to Ruin
February 21, 1934
Pitfalls of Life.
By A.D.S.
“Road to Ruin,” written and co-directed by Mrs. Wallace Reid, is a morose investigation of a high school girl’s downfall, and is intended, apparently, as a dramatized lecture to the mothers of adolescent girls rather than as a general entertainment.
With a gravity proper to the subject, the Cameo’s new film describes the circumstances under which the youthful heroine is persuaded to smoke her first cigarette and drink her first cocktail, and later traces the successive steps in her betrayal by a sleek and astonishingly unprincipled young man.
The deficiencies of “Road to Ruin” lie not so much in its amateurish composition as in its dull and unnecessary preoccupation with subject-matter which belongs in a sociological case history.
THE ROAD TO RUIN, based on a story by Mrs. Wallace Reid; with Helen Foster, Nell O'Day, Glen Boles, Paul Page, Virginia True Boardman and Richard Tucker; directed by Mrs. Reid and Melville Shyer; a Willis Kent production; released by First Division Exchange. At the Cameo
Fondly recall catching soft-core b&w flicks at the Bryant in the late 60s, like Andy Milligan’s twisted ‘Tricks of the Trade,’ Robert Downey Sr.’s ‘Sweet Smell of Sex’ (it was no ‘Putney Swope’ or even ‘Chafed Elbows’), ‘Shocking Sex’ & others. Pretty tame fare but sometimes rich in camp value & occasionally innovative low-budget filmmaking techniques.
In the 1950’s, 42nd Street was a wonderful place. One Friday night after classes at Xaverian High in Bay Ridge,my friend Ray Bush & I subwayed over for some spaghetti and then went to the Bryant to see “The Opposite Sex” with June Allyson & Joan Collins. Fond memories of a carefree youth when New York was truly New York !
Click here http://www.hungovergourmet.com/food/deuce/ for a tiny picture of the “New” Bryant and an interesting article about the culinary options available near it. Not for those with weak stomachs.
Saps
LOL, when I was in college I checked out one of those shows also just because I could not believe it would be real, oh it was LOL. At that time they were advertising the theatre as The New Bryant.
My grandfather and his brother founded a company called Consolidated Amusement Enterprises which owned this theater sometime between 1910 and 1941 and perhaps later than that; I’m not sure. CAE was one of the largest independent theater chains in NYC in that era.
It was here on 42nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, where in the late 1970’s my girlfriend and I saw our first and only live sex show. Oh, brother.
There’s nice clear film of this theater’s adult film marquee in that Travel Channel doumentary.
My June 1925 copy of “The Architetural Forum” magazine has plans for the Cameo Theater, New York (no actual address given) and internal photographs of the lobby and auditorium. The architect credited is Eugene De Rosa. The auditorium photo’s show seating for, I would say, around 600 on a single floor (no balcony). Listings in the Film Daily Yearbooks I have (1941 and 1950) give a seating capacity of 539 and 538 respectively.
I presume this to be the same theatre, but being “The Architectural Forum” magazine was a ‘talking shop’ publication aimed at architects, I assume they are correct to credit this building to Eugene De Rosa and not Thomas W. Lamb as listed here. Any further views on this Warren?
The 42nd Street Bryant was showing softcore porn as early as the late 1960’s. Programming eventually went hardcore. The final years of the Bryant actually featured a “live-sex” show on stage with hardcore porn shown between the live acts. Admission to this type program was $3.99.