Astor Theatre

I seem to remember the actual theater itself being turned into a flea market at sometime during the 70s. Unfortunately didn’t go to a movie here because at that point it was for the most part playing the kind of exploitation films I had no interest in. Same with the Demille before it became a triplex. I was waiting for it to play another of the kind of films I had just missed; Hawaii, Shoes of the Fisherman, Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines…

By the way if you go through all the photos for the Astor or Victoria I believe the James Bond photo is there. I know I’ve seen it.

NYer, THANKS ALOT!

Good history here.

1916 photo added courtesy of Kimberly Davis.

Hello to Ed S.–

you have been most helpful in the past so i am a new question. in the intro at top it states that the Astor closed down as a movie theater due to “maintenance problems”. what exactly were said problems?

As cited in my retrospective article, “The Box-Office Champ”, the Astor held the longest-running engagement of “Gone With the Wind” in the United States.

Photo added of a shuttered Astor Theatre in 1972. Photo courtesy of the History In Pictures Facebook page.

to Howard B. –

i thank you for your take on the statement made in the doc. and the souvenir program. you have to admit said statement could have been worded better since it does give the impression that there were purpose built movie theaters in Manhattan prior to the Spring of 1913.

Hello-

I recently watched the Blu-ray disc of Quo Vadis from 1951 and own the souvenir program. now both contain a bit of info that doesn’t make sense hence my question.

both the doc. on the Blu-ray disc and the souvenir program state something about the 1912 Italian version of Quo Vadis that doesn’t make sense. both state that the 1912 Italian version which opened in New York in 1913 was the 1st feature film to charge a $1 and the first to open at a legitimate theater. this would imply whatever feature films opened in Manhattan previous to the Spring of 1913 opened in actual purpose built “movie theaters”.

so what purpose built movie theaters existed in Manhattan previous to the Spring of 1913?

Here’s a curious ad for “Quo Vadis?” from October, 1913, when the picture was making its rounds in markets much smaller than New York City. This particular ad is for a small theater, in a tiny western New York state hamlet, and it exclaims the feature was to be shown “in Talking Pictures.” I imagine this bit of showmanship was accomplished by having actors speaking the lines (and perhaps with a few select sound effects produced) from behind the screen, in accompaniment with the exhibition. I wonder if this gimmick was featured at any time during its engagement at the Astor – or if it was dreamed up by exhibitors on the road for secondary and tertiary markets (and beyond)?

Interesting article. I wonder what a post-war, 6,000+ seat movie palace in Times Square would have looked like?

Did they really bridge the two marquees to appear as one, as depicted in the sketch? I’d love to see a photo of that treatment. Also an interesting item in the lower right regarding the reduction of seating at the Roxy Theatre, during renovations for Cinemiracle exhibition.

That’s nearly five sold-out shows (at 1500 seats) per day for 21 weeks. I wonder…