Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre

Hawaii played here for 41 weeks in 1966-67, when it was known as the DeMille.

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this link but there is some nice footage of this theater.

First 8 minutes of this is midtown in the summer of 48. Many nice shots of Times Square and it’s spectacular signage at dusk. The rest is New Brunswick NJ which is also fun to see. The people are dressed like they are in some old movie.

https://youtu.be/FVrgNYu4fcw

The 72nd Street Playhouse day and dated with a few Broadway houses including The Capitol with “The Planet Of The Apes”.

72nd St Playhouse

How did the 72nd St. Playhouse, an outlier venue between the Bloomingdale’s belt and the East 86th St. strip get to day & date the DeMille? No one expected Shaft to be a smash but did this AIT house see a surge in business during this run?

Hello-

to Al A. thanks for posting the video link. I’ve tried typing it 3 times but zippo. to which I accept there is visual proof that Mark 1-2-3 was actually ob the marquee. though it must have been for a relatively short period since as I have said I’ve been a regular patron at the TKTS booth since the day it opened and don’t remember it.

Fifty years ago today, “Shaft” opened at the DeMille (and day-and-date at 72nd Street Playhouse). A benefit premiere was reportedly held three days prior.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, New York (and Los Angeles) were not the first markets in which “Shaft” played. For fans of the film and/or those interested in historical playdate details, here’s the link to my latest film history column which includes the film’s first-run bookings chronology and historian Q&A.

You can see the elusive Mark Triplex marquee about 21 seconds into this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Whm9gNtzI

Hello-

on page 1 of the photo second is an ad for this theater as the Mark 1,2,3 showing war films. now I have used the TKTS
booth since the day it opened. to which if you stood on the line on the right side of the booth you looked directly at the marquee for this theater. I never remember Mark 1,2,3 being on the marquee. anyone ever come across a photo?

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to Cine Tech. last nite I watched the Criterion blu-ray and enjoyed it yet again. in terms of the richness of the colors and the crispness, clarity and sharpness of the picture image and audio tracks it was everything I’d want in a blu-ray disc of a film from 1953. plus according to the extras the restoration was dome in conjunction with Paramount. so without getting too technical could you please again explain your main problem with the Criterion blu-ray. thanks.

What Big Joe was referring to about A film or B film was its run in the theatres. I was a projectionist for years at first run twins in NJ. The one twin would always get what was considered the A film, Star Wars, Close Encounters etc. The other twin 5 miles away got what was considered B films, Smokey and the Bandit, Saturday Night Fever etc. It was what the film companies determined which films would be a bigger hit. And then the theatres decided what they wanted to play where.

Cinetech you’ve given us much great information concerning DVDs and transfers which is greatly appreciated but we often discuss films that have opened first run at specific theaters and their afterlife and we often discuss films that have tangential relationships to those films which opened at other theaters entirely as recently was happening on the Rivoli thread. A kind of collective cinematreasures stream of consciousness.

Your contribution here is of great help to collectors. So called experts can too often be wrong.

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to Al A.– there are a number of classic films where its known the current blu-ray disc isn’t the same cut of the film as when the film opened in whichever of Manhattan’s many 1st run theaters. to which I never knew the cut on the vhs, dvd and 50th Ani. blu-ray wasn’t the same cut as opened at this theater. did you know?

also the differences while minute in terms of the film’s
running time will still be noticeable to anyone who has
watched the 50th Ani. blu-ray countless times. for instance
when Mr. Arbogast falls down the stairs after being stabbed
by “Mother” and lands at the foot of the stairs in the
version everyone knows “Mother” stabs him 2 more times. in
the June 1960 original cut she stabs him 4 more times.

also I don’t think an original cut of The Current War which finally opened last Oct. 2019 at the Angelika ever existed. it was originally supposed to open Nov. of 2017. they started showing in theaters in Sept. but then the Harvey scandal broke and all of the Weinstein Company films were put in legal limbo. it took almost 2 years for the director and a new distributor to buy the film from TWC. my point being simple. when they started showing the trailer in Sept. of 2017 its my understanding a theatrical cut had not actually been agreed upon by TWC and the director before the scandal hit. so when he got the film back “the directors cut” as the film was tagged is his personal preferred cut.