Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre

Excellent point, Al. Doesn’t make me feel any better about it. But should I expect anything less from policital entities like the local CB’s and the LPC than that they shirk their responsibilities and/or ignore their charters only to satisfy the needs of a few wealthy real estate developers? Throw into that mix a few corrupt and powerful elected officals and the doom of these beloved strucutres has been more or less sealed.

I think the issue is property values and not just that LA was more conscientious of its architectural legacy than NY. Times Square, even at its nadir was valuable space. For example, the Beacon, a failure from day one, was spared because the neighborhood became ‘iffy’ for several decades. The same for Loews Kings and other borough palaces.

Hollywood Boulevard was not consistently the center of entertainment the way Times Square has been. Our NY theatre were victims of the success surrounding them.

Ok, so maybe I had young Mr Radcliffe in mind when I wrote that, but more generally speaking, more and more Broadway productions have resorted to gimmicky celebrity casting (with varying degrees of success – both financial and critical) to put more fannies in the seats – and extort higher prices while doing so. In any event, NY is about the cash-cow of legit theater. I’m sure LA is all about the money, too, but on that coast the money comes from Hollywood and more cinema treasures out there are allowed to prosper in their original purpose. I’m a bit jealous of that.

Little Potter is okay in “How To Succeed”, BUT, if you REALLY want to see the part played RIGHT, SEE ROBERT MORSE in the FILM! The film version was great….but didn’t do as well as it should have. (the MGM DVD transfer isn’t too good either, but, maybe they’ll come out with a Blu-ray some day).

Hey, Al… You are correct. I guess we can say the Criterion was the last of the big roadshow houses to close on Times Square proper, but the good ole Playpen outlasted the rest of the neighborhood cinemas by a good country mile!

Saps… you gave me a good chuckle with that poem, thanks! And I couldn’t agree more with tech man and Astyanax about the criminal destruction of the Roxy. Add the Capitol, Rivoli and Loew’s State to that mix. As I’ve said many times before on this site, NYC doesn’t give a damn about its rich and significant heritage in the world of cinematic exhibition. When it comes to landmarking and protecting theaters, it’s all about the Benjamins…. with a capital B that rhymes with T that stands for TOURISM!!

“Broadway” is legitimate theatre, where people come from out of town to get shellacked at the box office to the tune of about $250 for a pair of ducats to see the latest Hollywood star take his ill-advised turn at yet another musical-comedy revival. Gone are the days of glittering red carpet movie premieres along the Great White Way. Gone and completely swept under the carpet by those allegedly in charge of preserving our cultural heritage.

Saps – It was cute.

You can’t count the Criterion because it was butchered before it closed. The Astor Plaza and the National can’t really be counted any more than the Ziegfeld can (all opened within 5 years of each other). I still have nightmares thinking about the fact that the only theatre left that they can run premieres at in New York is the Ziegfeld….and even they’re not running much in film anymore either.

There are small cities across the country that have BETTER theatres still operating WITH FILM. All the GREAT THEATRES that we once had right here in New York have ALL BEEN allowed to be DESTROYED. That’s proof that any talk about “historical landmarks” is meaningless in New York (unless you’re Disney and want to steal some theatres). Tearing down the Roxy should have been deemed a criminal act.

Just re-reading the opening comments… What was the last of the vintage Times Square cinemas to close? The Loew’s Astor Plaza was a relative newcomer to the area, so I wouldn’t count that. Same with the subterranean Loew’s State 4 that replaced the original Loew’s State Theatre. Was the Criterion the last of the old guard to vanish? I know the Playpen on Eigth Avenue probably outlasted ALL of the area cinemas, but I would also discount it since I doubt any actual film was projected onto that screen in the last 15 years of its existence.

Techman, it was advertised as the Embassy Guild and Embassy Guild Newsreel in 1950/1951 even when showing feature films.

I think Ed is correct and Norman Elson took over the Embassy (46th St) and Guild AFTER leaving Trans-Lux.

I’ve been perusing some old articles to try and piece it together and my statement that Trans-Lux had taken over the Guild Theatre may have been based on a misunderstanding. I found at least one reference that says the theater was acquired by “Normal W Elson, president of Trans-Lux Corporation.” Seeing something like that may have lead me believe that the corporation had bought the theater, when in fact it was likely that Norman purchased the theater himslef and was merely identified by his position with Trans-Lux.

I don’t know the complete history between Trans-Lux, the Elson’s, or Guild Enterprises (or the Brandt Organization for that matter), but its probably safe to assume that Elson left Trans-Lux to form his own theater chain in 1949 and that the acquisition of the Guild was the first building block of that new enterprise.

My apologies for any confusion on that matter and I welcome further clarification from those more familiar with the historical facts. For instance, the Embassy name seems to date back to some of the earliest newsreel theaters around the city; was this an existing chain that Elson acquired when he formed Guild Enterprises, or did he acquire these theaters piecemeal?

I think the 50th street location switched to the Guild name when it started showing features in the late forties, early fifties, sometimes advertising as the Embassy Guild. Prior to that it was indeed the Embassy Newsreel.

We’re talking about the Guild 50th Street, Tinseltoes, which was acquired by Trans-Lux when Norman Elson was president. I know at some point Elson left Trans-Lux to run Guild Enterprises with his son Peter, and operated a string of theaters under the Embassy banner, including the Embassy Newsreel in Times Square. I assume they acquired the Guild from Trans-Lux – we were just trying to ascertain if the Guild ever operated with the Embassy name on the marquee.

Al, Thank you. I worked both Embassy 1 and 2,3,4 (1,2,3) but didn’t realize that Embassy 1 (now a New York Visitor’s Center) had closed before the triplex. Thanks for the explanation. As I recall, the Forum or the Victoria became Embassy 5 along the way as well.