Thanks, TC but I’m in Florida and haven’t found any NJ newspapers on line. I did contact a NJ library who is mailing me an image of the theater and some selected theater listings. I’ll post whatever I receive. Jerry
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Victory and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary, usually an action house, and since the Times Square was 100% westerns, Victory usually had war and adventure films in the 50s). Here’s the link View link
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Times Square and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (always westerns…..Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory – note the creative title programming, not unusual for 42nd St in the 50s), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Lyric and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Apollo and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart – Note the marquee reads NOT FOR THE JUNIORS, an omen of what was to come), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Selwyn and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
The theater was a bit further west than the current Chelsea West Cinemas on 23rd St. Does anyone have programming information for the theater. The NY Times has only one listing in the 1950s (I Am A Camera) but my recollection was more of the Universal-International fare that I mentioned earlier. Anyone know where this info is available? Jerry
The Gramercy of the 50s-60s was considered an “art house” due to eclectic programming, no admittance near the end of a film (unheard of back then, coffee (expresso?) served in the waiting area. The advertising in the narrow windows on both sides of the entrance was usually hand printed with an 8x10" still framed at the bottom. Some of the programming that the NY Times lists in the 50s for the Gramercy (a Rugoff-Becker theater)switches from single bookings to double features, a mix of foreign, sub-run mainstream, Disney, revivals, etc…..“Some Came Running” (Frank Sinatra sub-run)but paired with Jacques Tati “My Uncle”….Stendahl’s “Rouge et Noir”…..Emile Zola’s “Nana”…..“Conquest of Everest” with Richard Todd in “The Assassin”; Disney’s “White Wilderness” & “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”…..“Blue Murder at St Trinians”…..“Wuthering Heights & Grant-Hepburn "Holiday”…..DeSica’s “The Bed” & “Tonights The Night”…..sub-run western “Broken Lance” (Sept 30, 1954), mid 60’s: aforementioned “Two of Us” with “Heart is the Lonely Hunter”…….The Gramercy would switch between single bookings (“The Pawnbroker”, “Cleopatra”, “A Hard Day’s Night”) and double bills(“Secret War of Pvt Frigg” & “Games”). It was a neat alternative to our local RKO on 23rd St and Loew’s Sheridan. Jerry
The theater was a hang out place for me as a 13 year old when the family rented a summer place in the Highlands (1963). If anyone knows how I can find an archive of the programming during that summer, please let me know. Jerry
Marine Theater has just been confirmed by a library in the area. I will add it to the cinema treasures database. And now the search to find listings of the programming from my time there in the summers of 1962-1964. Jerry
Andy,
Search on the theaters that were on 42nd Street. Folks have posted book titles that have the info you’re looking for. Search on: New Amsterdam, New Victory, Anco, Lyric (old name), Harris, Liberty for starters. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I checked mapquest and the address looks about right. The name escapes escapes me since there wasn’t a marquee. I emailed the business currently at that address to see if they’d know. Thanks. Jerry
Interesting, Warren. Looking at my ads, they seem to have substituted some Allied Artists releases as well. Bowery Boys features, for instance, that never made it to my RKO.
I would lived in Manhattan as a kid in the 50s, but closely followed
the bookings at the Albee since they would inevitably end up at my RKO 23rd St within a couple of weeks.
Frequently, the 2nd feature would be changed. I guess if audiences were walking out on it at the Albee, they’d try something different when it hit the rest of the circuit.
I have some copies of old NYT ads from the RKO circuit, if anyone is interested in a small list of some of the bookings for the Albee, email me.
I recall that the Lyric, like a lot of legit theaters, was not very wide but it certainly was tall. And in the 50s-60s, it was always packed since it was showing some of the newer films on the Deuce, along with the New Amsterdam. Since people did not time the beginning of a showing back then, a lot of the viewing was interrupted by you, or someone else, looking for a seat or two seats together. And if you ended in the top balcony, you were looking down on the screen through the cigarette smoke.
After a week here, the program would move west to the Selwyn.
As always, if anyone know how I can obtain images or booking/programming information for any of the theaters on the Deuce, please let me know. The Lyric did appear in a lot of newspaper ads, since it was showing newer flics, but sometimes they would vary the 2nd feature (as opposed to the RKO circuit)for their “action” audience.
For those of us who were there, the street was definitely more exciting than ugly. Exhilarating. Coming up from the subway, not knowing what movies were showing, was my Disneyland, Neverland. The photos can not do it justice. Especially the glowing marquees at night.
The only reason the northside would be perceived to be more respectable was the Apollo showing foreign films. However, by the mid 60s, the Victory was showing nudist and softcore “adult”. The Anco & Empire on the southside were probably the most unkept but had some great creative programming.
Although the revitalization was definitely needed and it was great to see Lion King in the New Amsterdam, I wish they could have somehow managed to put a little of the Deuce’s charm (it was charming before the 70s) and electricity into the plans.
My cut is that 42nd (again this is 50s-60s) was more naughty than dangerous. I often went by myself as a 11-12 year old and never experienced any problems. The naughtiness was more in seeing coming attractions for a nudist film when you were there to see an Audie Murphy flic. (I was afraid to mention that at Confession on Saturday.)And the stills and posters outside the Victory had black tape covering “the good parts”.
Now, back to my quest to find the lost ark…..programming documentation from that time.
Benjamin,
I found that 1966 image in a book by Marc Eliot called Down 42nd Street. The partially obsured film is Attempt to Kill. The Anco is showing Long Ships & King Rat.
If you visit the cinema treasures pages for the New Amsterdam, Bryan Krefft posted a link to an image of the southside from 1969. His posting is dated 12/29/04. And if you look at the New Victory,you will see a great shot of the north side from 1970 posted by Bryan on Jan 13. Thanks.
I did subscribe to Cue back in the early 60s. If I recall, the Lyric & New Amsterdam were listed. Maybe, the Harris & Selwyn as well. They were showing the newer double features. (The Harris would follow the New A’s previous week’s fare; the Selwyn followed the Lyric). However, the revival houses were not listed. The Times Square showed nothing but westerns (usually the Audie Murphy, Rory Calhoun variety); the Victory, Anco & Liberty were also action houses.
The Victory booked a lot of Republic action flics (since it was owned by Republic at one time; The Duke’s Wake of the Red Witch & Sands of Iwo Jima was a typical booking), they would also book Bowery Boys double features with a 3 Stooges-Joe Besser short. In the mid-60s they went “adult”: nudist films and soft porn.
The Anco was all action, or it would follow the Harris' booking if the billing had “legs” (Night of the Living Dead/Dr Who & the Daleks).
The Empire had the most eclectic programming (my first Chaplin silent with Francis the Talking Mule, for example).
Usually the Lyric & New Amsterdam billings (my time….1950s-early 1970s)would be listed in the newspapers because they were showing 1st run (post-Broadway)films and they would appear in the ad taken out by the films' distributor. The Selwyn would show the same double feature as the Lyric but a week later, as the Harris did after the New Amsterdam ran it. So in theory if you missed a double feature one week, you knew that it would be at the Selwyn. No one would say “Let’s go to the Selwyn”, it was always “let’s go to the Deuce” and most likely you’d end up at the Empire, Anco or Victory which didn’t advertise at all and had the most creative re-release double features. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
br is correct. If you look at that John Hermanson photo of the southside in the late 60s that someone linked on cinema treasures, the arrowhead frame between Lion King & McDonalds is very visible at the far eastern end of the building and near the retail shops, the Harris is at the far western point of the building. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Bryan, another great shot. Where did you get this one?
I put the image at 1970, the year that Chisum (Selwyn) and The Losers (Lyric) opened. I can also make out War Lord & Firecreek at the Times Square. Did I miss any? Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Thanks, kids. I just ordered both of them from my library down here in the jngle. I’ll do a book report when I’m done. I’ll try some Google searches on the bookers. The quest continues! Jerry the K 42nd Street Memories
Robb, thanks. There are plenty of books dealing with the history of 42nd St.(“Down 42nd Street”, “Ghosts of 42nd St”, etc. They usually focus on the early days, the “porn” days and the clean-up. I guess my time there in the 50s-60s was too boring. I’m really looking for a database of the booking agents who programmed the films on the Deuce. Good luck, eh? Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Thanks, TC but I’m in Florida and haven’t found any NJ newspapers on line. I did contact a NJ library who is mailing me an image of the theater and some selected theater listings. I’ll post whatever I receive. Jerry
Great shot of the Apollo, TImes Square & Lyric around 1950 can be seen here:
View link
Great shot of the Apollo, TImes Square & Lyric around 1950 can be seen here:
View link
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Victory and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary, usually an action house, and since the Times Square was 100% westerns, Victory usually had war and adventure films in the 50s). Here’s the link View link
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Times Square and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (always westerns…..Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory – note the creative title programming, not unusual for 42nd St in the 50s), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Lyric and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Apollo and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart – Note the marquee reads NOT FOR THE JUNIORS, an omen of what was to come), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I just found a beautiful color clip of the Selwyn and entire north side of 42nd Street from 1956 on the gettyimages.com website. The Selwyn is showing (3 Coins in the Fountain & Love is a Many Splendid Thing), Apollo (Naked Night & Divided Heart), Times Square (Best of the Badmen & Badman’s Territory), Lyric (Man in the Grey Flannel Suit & Magnificent Roughnecks), Victory (Purple Heart & Guadalcanal Diary). Here’s the link View link
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
The theater was a bit further west than the current Chelsea West Cinemas on 23rd St. Does anyone have programming information for the theater. The NY Times has only one listing in the 1950s (I Am A Camera) but my recollection was more of the Universal-International fare that I mentioned earlier. Anyone know where this info is available? Jerry
The Gramercy of the 50s-60s was considered an “art house” due to eclectic programming, no admittance near the end of a film (unheard of back then, coffee (expresso?) served in the waiting area. The advertising in the narrow windows on both sides of the entrance was usually hand printed with an 8x10" still framed at the bottom. Some of the programming that the NY Times lists in the 50s for the Gramercy (a Rugoff-Becker theater)switches from single bookings to double features, a mix of foreign, sub-run mainstream, Disney, revivals, etc…..“Some Came Running” (Frank Sinatra sub-run)but paired with Jacques Tati “My Uncle”….Stendahl’s “Rouge et Noir”…..Emile Zola’s “Nana”…..“Conquest of Everest” with Richard Todd in “The Assassin”; Disney’s “White Wilderness” & “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”…..“Blue Murder at St Trinians”…..“Wuthering Heights & Grant-Hepburn "Holiday”…..DeSica’s “The Bed” & “Tonights The Night”…..sub-run western “Broken Lance” (Sept 30, 1954), mid 60’s: aforementioned “Two of Us” with “Heart is the Lonely Hunter”…….The Gramercy would switch between single bookings (“The Pawnbroker”, “Cleopatra”, “A Hard Day’s Night”) and double bills(“Secret War of Pvt Frigg” & “Games”). It was a neat alternative to our local RKO on 23rd St and Loew’s Sheridan. Jerry
The theater was a hang out place for me as a 13 year old when the family rented a summer place in the Highlands (1963). If anyone knows how I can find an archive of the programming during that summer, please let me know. Jerry
Marine Theater has just been confirmed by a library in the area. I will add it to the cinema treasures database. And now the search to find listings of the programming from my time there in the summers of 1962-1964. Jerry
Andy,
Search on the theaters that were on 42nd Street. Folks have posted book titles that have the info you’re looking for. Search on: New Amsterdam, New Victory, Anco, Lyric (old name), Harris, Liberty for starters. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I checked mapquest and the address looks about right. The name escapes escapes me since there wasn’t a marquee. I emailed the business currently at that address to see if they’d know. Thanks. Jerry
Interesting, Warren. Looking at my ads, they seem to have substituted some Allied Artists releases as well. Bowery Boys features, for instance, that never made it to my RKO.
Jerry
I would lived in Manhattan as a kid in the 50s, but closely followed
the bookings at the Albee since they would inevitably end up at my RKO 23rd St within a couple of weeks.
Frequently, the 2nd feature would be changed. I guess if audiences were walking out on it at the Albee, they’d try something different when it hit the rest of the circuit.
I have some copies of old NYT ads from the RKO circuit, if anyone is interested in a small list of some of the bookings for the Albee, email me.
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I recall that the Lyric, like a lot of legit theaters, was not very wide but it certainly was tall. And in the 50s-60s, it was always packed since it was showing some of the newer films on the Deuce, along with the New Amsterdam. Since people did not time the beginning of a showing back then, a lot of the viewing was interrupted by you, or someone else, looking for a seat or two seats together. And if you ended in the top balcony, you were looking down on the screen through the cigarette smoke.
After a week here, the program would move west to the Selwyn.
As always, if anyone know how I can obtain images or booking/programming information for any of the theaters on the Deuce, please let me know. The Lyric did appear in a lot of newspaper ads, since it was showing newer flics, but sometimes they would vary the 2nd feature (as opposed to the RKO circuit)for their “action” audience.
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Benjamin,
For those of us who were there, the street was definitely more exciting than ugly. Exhilarating. Coming up from the subway, not knowing what movies were showing, was my Disneyland, Neverland. The photos can not do it justice. Especially the glowing marquees at night.
The only reason the northside would be perceived to be more respectable was the Apollo showing foreign films. However, by the mid 60s, the Victory was showing nudist and softcore “adult”. The Anco & Empire on the southside were probably the most unkept but had some great creative programming.
Although the revitalization was definitely needed and it was great to see Lion King in the New Amsterdam, I wish they could have somehow managed to put a little of the Deuce’s charm (it was charming before the 70s) and electricity into the plans.
My cut is that 42nd (again this is 50s-60s) was more naughty than dangerous. I often went by myself as a 11-12 year old and never experienced any problems. The naughtiness was more in seeing coming attractions for a nudist film when you were there to see an Audie Murphy flic. (I was afraid to mention that at Confession on Saturday.)And the stills and posters outside the Victory had black tape covering “the good parts”.
Now, back to my quest to find the lost ark…..programming documentation from that time.
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Benjamin,
I found that 1966 image in a book by Marc Eliot called Down 42nd Street. The partially obsured film is Attempt to Kill. The Anco is showing Long Ships & King Rat.
If you visit the cinema treasures pages for the New Amsterdam, Bryan Krefft posted a link to an image of the southside from 1969. His posting is dated 12/29/04. And if you look at the New Victory,you will see a great shot of the north side from 1970 posted by Bryan on Jan 13. Thanks.
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
I did subscribe to Cue back in the early 60s. If I recall, the Lyric & New Amsterdam were listed. Maybe, the Harris & Selwyn as well. They were showing the newer double features. (The Harris would follow the New A’s previous week’s fare; the Selwyn followed the Lyric). However, the revival houses were not listed. The Times Square showed nothing but westerns (usually the Audie Murphy, Rory Calhoun variety); the Victory, Anco & Liberty were also action houses.
The Victory booked a lot of Republic action flics (since it was owned by Republic at one time; The Duke’s Wake of the Red Witch & Sands of Iwo Jima was a typical booking), they would also book Bowery Boys double features with a 3 Stooges-Joe Besser short. In the mid-60s they went “adult”: nudist films and soft porn.
The Anco was all action, or it would follow the Harris' booking if the billing had “legs” (Night of the Living Dead/Dr Who & the Daleks).
The Empire had the most eclectic programming (my first Chaplin silent with Francis the Talking Mule, for example).
Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Usually the Lyric & New Amsterdam billings (my time….1950s-early 1970s)would be listed in the newspapers because they were showing 1st run (post-Broadway)films and they would appear in the ad taken out by the films' distributor. The Selwyn would show the same double feature as the Lyric but a week later, as the Harris did after the New Amsterdam ran it. So in theory if you missed a double feature one week, you knew that it would be at the Selwyn. No one would say “Let’s go to the Selwyn”, it was always “let’s go to the Deuce” and most likely you’d end up at the Empire, Anco or Victory which didn’t advertise at all and had the most creative re-release double features. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
br is correct. If you look at that John Hermanson photo of the southside in the late 60s that someone linked on cinema treasures, the arrowhead frame between Lion King & McDonalds is very visible at the far eastern end of the building and near the retail shops, the Harris is at the far western point of the building. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Bryan, another great shot. Where did you get this one?
I put the image at 1970, the year that Chisum (Selwyn) and The Losers (Lyric) opened. I can also make out War Lord & Firecreek at the Times Square. Did I miss any? Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Thanks, kids. I just ordered both of them from my library down here in the jngle. I’ll do a book report when I’m done. I’ll try some Google searches on the bookers. The quest continues! Jerry the K 42nd Street Memories
Robb, thanks. There are plenty of books dealing with the history of 42nd St.(“Down 42nd Street”, “Ghosts of 42nd St”, etc. They usually focus on the early days, the “porn” days and the clean-up. I guess my time there in the 50s-60s was too boring. I’m really looking for a database of the booking agents who programmed the films on the Deuce. Good luck, eh? Jerry 42nd Street Memories