Loew's State Theatre
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
39 people
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Listed below are the films which played Loew’s State from 12/16/59 to 12/31/68 when the theater opened up in it’s new “twin format.” Research is from microfilms of Variety and The New York Times. The dates listed are the Wednesdays of the film’s opening week, as most films in that era opened on that day, unlike the Friday openings that occur now.
12/16/59 Ben-Hur (6th week – eventually played 74 weeks!)
04/26/61 Gone With the Wind
08/23/61 The Honeymoon Machine
10/04/61 DARK
10/11/61 King of Kings
03/07/62 The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse
04/11/62 All Fall Down
05/09/62 The Horizontal Lieutenant
06/13/62 Lolita
09/26/62 A Very Private Affair
10/31/62 DARK
11/07/62 Mutiny on the Bounty
07/31/63 DARK
08/07/63 Jason and the Argonauts
08/28/63 Wives and Lovers
10/02/63 The Running Man
10/23/63 Lawrence of Arabia (pop prices)
11/20/63 Under the Yum Yum Tree
12/25/63 Love With the Proper Stranger
03/11/64 Becket
09/23/64 Of Human Bondage
10/07/64 Fail-Safe
10/28/64 The Americanization of Emily
12/23/64 The Pleasure Seekers
01/13/65 Baby, the Rain Must Fall
01/27/65 Dear Brigitte
02/10/65 Sylvia
02/24/65 Lord Jim
06/23/65 Von Ryan’s Express
08/25/65 Morituri
10/06/65 The Agony and the Ecstasy
03/02/66 The Oscar
05/18/66 Lady L
06/22/66 Born Free
07/27/66 Assault on a Queen
08/24/66 Walk, Don’t Run
09/07/66 Fantastic Voyage
09/28/66 The Bible
11/01/67 Cool Hand Luke
12/20/67 Doctor Dolittle
08/21/68 The Legend of Lylah Clare
/ /68 CLOSED FOR TWINNING
12/11/68 Oliver -State I
12/18/68 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – State II
During this time the State exclusively played many of the various “roadshow” pictures that were released, with regular first-run releases sandwiched in between. In the early 60s, theaters which played big roadshow presentations would often go “DARK” for a week before the premiere for cleaning and installation of new projection equipment.
Here are a few films that played Loew’s State from the New York Times movie adds.
Nov 1953 How To Marry a Millionaire
Mar 1955 Blackboard Jungle
Jun 1955 The Seven Year Itch
Mar 1959 Some Like it Hot
Nov 1959 Ben Hur
Dec 1970 Love Story
Oct 1971 The French Connection
Mar 1972 The Godfather
Dec 1973 The Sting
Dec 1976 King Kong
Dec 1977 Saturday Night Fever
Jun 1978 Grease
Loew’s State was one of the most successful movie palaces in Times Square up until it closed and was torn down in the 1980’s.It was Loew’s flagship after the Capitol was torn down in 1968. It maintained its first run status and didn’t suffer a decline like the Rivoli,Criterion,and Warner. It was the largest grossing theatre in Times Sqaure from 1968 until the day it closed.brucec
I go to the “new” State theater that shows second run features and Indian movies for $5. The last film I saw there was the modern day classic “School of Rock” with Jack Black.
Loew’s State did not normally play foreign-language films, but they did run the Italian TOMORROW IS TOO LATE in 1952 in a subtitled print to enormous business (Variety: ‘Tomorrow’ Smash 45G). It was a lovely but now forgotten movie featuring Pier Angeli and Vittorio De Sica and dealt with the sexual awakening of adolescents. The movie went on to play art houses around the country, and in a dubbed version was even shown at drive-ins.
the current new Loew’s State is a terrible substitution for the original which is the same stunt they pulled on the Loew’s Orphuem, uptown.
Richard would it be a problem for you to e-mail me those pictures becuase I can’t find them anywhere especially those photos of house 2 I would appreciate it only if you could or would at
I photographed the upstairs #2 house in color just before it closed.
I also have interiors of many other long gone Manhatten houses that I sent to this web site 2 years. Maybe they can be put on site soon.
Interestly on this theatre, when they twined it back in 1968 the 3 70mm Norelco projectors went from the Balcony cut booth (from
the 1959 remodel)downstairs to # 1 house. The upstairs #2 house got all its equipment (Century 70mm) from the just torn down Capitol.
You can get photos of most any theatre from the Theatre Historical Society of America. See them at www.historictheatres.org
I didn’t really get to enjoy this theatre that much I saw “Star Trek4” and Eddie Murphy’s “Golden Child there and it became one of my favorites I loved that big entrance and marquee that graced the base of the scyscrapper just as I was waiting for the weekend to see the film "critical condition” with Richard Pryor it closed down on me with the tittle still on the marquee i was sorely dissapointed as I made this theatre my second home I mean I would sit back and get lost in that canervous theatre 2 upstairs which was the former balcony. I would sit in this theatre during intermission and imagine my self on that screen. I missed this theatre so much I watch them demolish it it was like losing a love one. For a coulpe of weeks from the 46th street side I watched in horror as my favorite section of this thetre was being dismantled. does any body got any interior shots of this theatre or know of any links that show interior or exterior of this this theatre. I had a picture of this cinema on that I got from an old photo site of times square but i lost it. It’ll be greatly appreciated.
As a child I remember walking in front of the theater on the way to the Christmas show at the Music Hall. It was about to premiere Dr. Dolittle with Rex Harrison on a reserved seat engagement. They had the Pushmi-Pullyu costume in a case by the entrance and across the street facing the theater was a spectacular, block long sign above the Astor and Victoria theaters anouncing the film(you can see part of the this announcement in the background of Sweet Charity as Shirley Maclaine is bouncing on a bed in the window of the Castro Convertible store.) I remember long lines constantly in front of the State I for Love Story and The Godfather(which played both theaters.)I did not enter the State until Lost Horizon. I found the State I large with a low ceiling and a not so very big screen at the end. The tearing down of this building was a great loss for New York at the time and no one even so much as sneezed.
The design of Loew’s State Theatre was used for Philadelphia, PA’s Fox Theatre at 16th & Market Streets.