Joyce Theater

Thanks, Al… Is the Warhol Garrick on your list of theaters to submit to CT (be it high or low in priority)?

Lost… isn’t searching the TImes' archive thoroughly addicting?!?

Hmmm. The article I read about Mekas' plans for the Elgin screenings was from May of ‘69, Al. In the interview that accompanies the piece, Mekas remarks how Warhol was already distributing his own films by that time. Do you know whether the mid-'68 run at the Elgin was programmed by Mekas or Warhol himself? This would roughly coincide with the Filmmakers’ Co-operative having moved out of the New Cinema Playhouse in mid-‘68. I’ve also seen in articles from this period references to Warhol being the only living American filmmaker to have a cinema named after him in the VIllage. Does anyone know which theater this might be? I see no aka’s for a Warhol or Andy Warhol Theater.

A 5/18/69 article in the New York Times written by Vincent Canby features an interview with Jonas Mekas, director of the Film Culture Non-Profit Corporation and co-founder of their Filmmakers' Cinematheque which screened so-called “underground films” at various sites around Manhattan during the mid-late 1960’s. Having had his Cinematheque exhiled from their 42nd Street home in the old Wurlitzer Building off 6th Ave, Mekas had been staggering screenings at sites like the Gallery of Modern Art on Columbus Circle and the Jewish Museum at 5th Avenue and 92nd Street. By June of ‘69, Mekas hoped to be screening avant-garde films at the Elgin on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. I’m not sure if these plans came to fruition or, if so, for how long they lasted. Mekas was also struggling to create a permanent home for the Cinematheque in a theater he had converted from existing space at 80 Wooster Street – later to become a home of the Anthology Film Archives in the mid-1970’s.

I’m putting up nice movie material that relate to movie theatres including souvenir programs. check it out

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n94/irajoel/

you can also visit my own website
www.cinemagebooks.com
to view more material.

I remember seeing “I’m No Angel” with Mae West in the late ‘60s and losing a beautiful white silk scarf given to me by my father’s girl friend Rita. The things one remembers !

I never had the opportunity to go here much when I was in New York, but I remember a nice old wave/new wave double bill I caught in April of 1970: Marcel Carné’s Le Jour se lève * paired with François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. In July of 1969 I had seen Juan Antonio Bardem’s Death of a Cyclist* at the Elgin. It seemed to be a nice place with good projection and it certainly had great programs.

saw ‘Satyricon’ & ‘El Topo’ here.

The Janus Film Festival used to be a fairly frequent staple of revival houses, at least in the Northeast. I remember that it ran at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Ma. at least once, in the mid-‘80s, and, I think, at the Film Forum (either at the Watts Street or the W. Houston Street location – or perhaps both) at some point as well.

(A suggested correction to the description at the top of this page: the name of the architect who re-designed the Elgin into the Joyce was Hugh Hardy — not Hugh Howard.)

I believe I started going to the Elgin in 1968. For me, this was THE quintessential New York revival movie house — even more so than the Thalia, the New Yorker or the Regency. Perhaps this was, in part, because I was living nearby in Greenwich Village and went there a lot but also, perhaps, because of its hip atmosphere and decor — which for me was epitomized by its basement lounge which had a 60’s “pop art” flavored decor that included a barber’s chair and, I think, track lighting and can spots (which were new to me).

I believe the Elgin — along with the Thalia or New Yorker(?) — used to run a summer film festival of film classics co-sponsored with a famous art film distributor (whose name I can’t recall at the moment). I think both theaters (along with the other revival film houses, also?) used to have these very, very long handbills/flyers where they would list the names of all the films that would be shown for the next few weeks. I, along with others presumably, would then mark off the appropriate dates on a calendar.

You could pull the handbill/flyer off of a string at the theater itself or, I guess, you could also have them mail one to you if you put yourself on their mailing list.

I don’t remember all the films I saw at the Elgin, but I do remember seeing “Citizen Kane” and “The Lady Vanishes” on one double-bill. It was such a memorable double-bill because both movies were so entertaining and because I had somehow gotten the mistaken impression that “Citizen Kane” was one of those films that one “should” see to be an educated adult — but were really excruciatingly boring.

In the late 1960s, the surrounding area, despite some very beautiful streets, was generally seen as a poor relation to Greenwich Village. So even in its pre-Joyce days, people saw the Elgin as providing a shot of vitality to the main shopping street of Chelsea. I think there was a somewhat famous Chinese-Spanish restaurant, “Asia de Cuba,” located across the street in an old diner — maybe it had gotten good reviews in “the Underground Gourmet” feature of “New York Magazine”? And for a while, I think there was a second-hand bookstore located next to the theater’s entrance. (I believe the bookstore space was incorporated into the Joyce’s lobby areas.) So this part of Chelsea seemed to me to be one of those areas that were the epitome of 60’s New York bohemia and chic.

Here is some supplimental information about the Elgin Cinema which
I attended from 1975-1977 while I was at NYU.

In the fifties, it was a Spanish language theater. In the sixties
it became one of the first repertory theaters in Manhattan. It's
major success and fame was from 1970-1977 when it was operated by
Steve Gould and Chuck Zlatkin. They implemented a number of innovative venues at this house including “Midnight Shows” (“Pink Flamingos”, “El Topo”) and “All Night Shows” (Marx Brothers festival).

The cinema had 520 seats and by the time I attended, a large 40 foot
slightly curved CinemaScope screen placed in front of the stage. The screen was unmasked and looked a bit like a large trampoline but was effective for epics like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”.

Gould and Zlatkin had topnotch projection and mono sound. They even had variable speed motors on the machines so they could play silent films at the right speed. They were able to secure excellent prints
from the distributors including many Technicolor classics. Aside from the older titles, they also booked quirky off beat titles like
“King of Hearts” and “Harold and Maude” which bombed in first run cinemas but found an audience there. Admission was .75 with a senior discount of .25.

Aside from the large wide screen and art deco architecture, the theater was a bit run down. It was not uncommon to hear homeless people snoring in the side aisles. Never the less, it was a great venue to see good prints of old features. Woody Allen attended the cinema and was one of it’s supporters.

In 1977, Gould and Zlatkin were forced to close the cinema due to the increased rental prices of prints by greedy distributors and the emerging home entertainment competition. In the eighties, most of the other NYC repertory cinemas folded too. The Elgin briefly became a porn theater but neighborhood residents complained and it was shut down again.

In 1982 it was re-modeled into the Joyce Theater for dance.

Of all the revival theaters of the seventies, I miss this one the most.

What year was that, Robert?

When I was growing up in Chelsea in the 50s, the Elgin showed only Spanish-Mexican films and American films dubbed in Spanish.
Jerry of 42nd Street Memories