Big Cinemas Manhattan
239 E. 59th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
239 E. 59th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 83 comments
I wonder how this cinema is doing? I went here quite a bit when it first opened, but haven’t been there in quite awhile and you don’t seem to hear much about it.
Those great re-releases in the 1980’s of the unseen Hitchcock’s opened in all 3 of these theatres. A few of them did so well, mainly Rear Window and Vertigo that they were moved to other theatres because the new fim was already scheduled.
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The Honeymoon Killers, which I recently re-saw on DVD, really is a great, if queasy-making, film. It is absolutely not trash as one could easily assume. French director François Truffaut called it his favorite American movie ever. The DVD features fascinating extras including an interview with one-time director Leonard Kastle, who was a serious composer, including of opera. The use of Gustav Mahler’s symnphonic music as background in the film is both eerie and inspired. Performers Shirley Stoler and a sleazy-issimo Tony Lo Bianco are perfection. If you’ve never seen this movie, rent it or buy it. You’ll never forget it.
In 1970 when it was Cine Malibu
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I was hired as an assistant projectionist at Imaginasian when they first opened June 2004. The theater was/is a pet project of AItv- the first all asian network tv station. The people who were appointed to open it had never had anything to do with running a theater before. We opened with two film festivals back to back – Miike and another one I forget. we were working with one platter projector, one trailer sized split reel, and about 30 prints which arrived on cores.
They were one of the first theaters to use an electronic ticketing scanner at the door, instead of a real live ticket taker.
I was always interested in the theater’s history as the Cine Malibu, but nobody else there seemed to know anything about it.
I remember this as the D.W. Griffith. Saw “Sasquatch,” “Singing in the Rain,” and “The Wizard of Oz” here in the 1970s when I lived on Roosevelt Island. This theatre was very convenient for us tramway riders. When this was the Griffith, it was a nice little space though plain, decorated in soft warm colors, modern, utilitarian, etc. On one moviegoing occasion (I do not remember what the film was, it was in the early 80s), a woman and a young boy stood in front of me at the small concession stand, and when she found out how expensive the candy was she said “FORGET IT!!!” I too remember finding the prices for candy and refreshments significantly higher than in the bigger theatres nearby.
“Joe” day and dated here in 1970 with the Rivoli. At the time it was the Cine Malibu.
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I wonder what kind of shelf life this place is going to have. I no longer see any display ads of any sort. To find out what is playing you have to turn to the listings in the Times or Voice.
this theatre showed a famous adult film in the ‘70s.
Was it called 'Sensations’?
I know ‘Norma Rae’ played here for quite some time.
“I used to have a photo of the ticket booth of the theater at the time they were showing Jaws 2. The booth was covered by a large head of the shark with the mouth wide open, which was where you paid for your ticket.
posted by JohnG409 on Jun 16, 2005 at 8:25am”
One point about that ticket booth is that it is all closed up. The ImaginAsian folks don’t use the ticket booth. You have to enter the theatre and buy your ticket at the concession stand.
I was here a week ago for a couple of the Subway Cinema offerings. I had to stand in a standby list for one film and they turned people away (not me fortunately). And I attended a second screening that, while not sold out, was well attended.
It is nice to see people in this theatre; the previous time I was there I was the only one there!
Kind of sad, though, to walk abound this area and see how bereft of theatres it now is. Cinema 1-2-3 is the only other theatre still open and that is reportedly scheduled to close. I remember when ImaginAsian was the 59th Street Playhouse and you had the Manhattan Twin on that block. On third Ave. you had the 1-2-3, Baronet/Coronet, Gotham and Pier/East Side Playhouse and the Sutton on 57th near Third.
njmoviefan you are correct. The Hitchock pictures did play there. I believe it was called the DW Griffith at that time. Remember seeing Rear Window and Trouble With Harry. Also, saw Herzog’s “Nosferatu”, however it may have been under a different name by then. I used to have a photo of the ticket booth of the theater at the time they were showing Jaws 2. The booth was covered by a large head of the shark with the mouth wide open, which was where you paid for your ticket.
I think I saw the reissues of the Hitchcock pictures that played in in 1993/84: Rear Window, Vertigo, Man Who Knew Too Much, Trouble with Harry, and Rope. I remember the theater being a little smaller than I expected, but the presentation at that time was nice.
The time is right for this theatre to back to first run. With Cinema 1-2-3 going next, they will be able to get decent product again.
I don’t think Imaginasian has a bright future. I was there a couple of weeks ago on a weekday afternoon and — counting me — there were three people in the theatre.
And in the thousands of times I’ve gone to the movies I had a first at Imaginasian on Friday night. I was the only person in the theatre. That doesn’t bode well because it was the opening night of “Judgement,” a film that received a very good review in the Times the very day. It was a late screening, 10:40 p.m. and it was raining, but in a city of 8 million people to only have one person show up, hmmm. I bet the employees — or employee — who was left wasn’t too happy to see me.
One complaint about ImaginAsian is the sloppy way they project their films. The films are good, though.
It has a page here on the site – /theaters/9502/
There also was (and is) a theatre at 1105 First Avenue & 60th Street. It is the long-time home of the Chicago City Limits comedy troupe. The theatre has a marquee and for about a minute in the late 80s/early 90s it was opened as a theatre. I remember the film “Jacquot” by Agnes Varda played there (I didn’t see that film there; I never went) but remember walking by and the theatre had closed. Anyone have the skinny on this theatre?
This block of 59th St was a regular porn alley at one time – this theatre, the Cine Malibu, plus the theatre that would later become the Manhattan Twin, and the Lido East which was on the north side of the street closer to 3rd Ave. were all porno joints. They were the reason that the local community board had the area re-zoned to prohibit any more theatres from being built, and the existing theatres could not add any more square-footage. And I think it also prohibited an existing theatre heavily damaged by some catastrophe from being re-built. They were trying to prevent the area from becoming another 42nd St/8th Ave. I’m not positive but I think that zoning restriction is still in effect.
With the shuttering of the Sutton earlier this week, the ImaginAsian is now the southernmost theatre in Midtown East. (Since 1996, the neighborhood has lost the Plaza, the 68th Street Playhouse, the Manhattan Twin, the Gotham, the Baronet/Coronet, the Eastside Playhouse, and the Sutton to various forms of real estate redevelopment; Midtown West film venue shutterings during that time include the Carnegie Hall Cinemas, the Angelika 57, the Festival, the Cinema 3, the Loews Columbus Circle, and the Regency, while the former 57th Street Playhouse lives on to this day as the DGA Theatre.)
re: “no more than holes in the floor"
Not so the Japanese hi-tech ones which do all the work for you via selectable levels of rotation spray.
Less facetiously, I saw a good number of films here when it was the D. W. Griffith in the 1970s. I mentioned “Ossessione” earlier. Luchino Visconti’s “Conversation Piece” opened here in its first Italian-language showings in New York in a complete print. It had been booed at the New York Film Festival in its English-tracked shorter version.
Victor Erice’s magnificent Spanish film “Spirit of the Beehive,” with little Ana Torrent of the haunting eyes, also opened here in late 1976. The place may not have had a stunningly beautiful interior but the programming was top-notch then.
There’s a half-page full color ad (or is it add?) in Time Out New York #458 July 8-15, 2004, announcing the grand opening. The ad mentions the films above, but they are also opening “Harold & Kumar go to White Castle,‘ a mainstream release, on July 30. Here is the web address: www.theimaginasian.com
I hope they’ve added some charm!
For a rare chance to see the inside of this 299-seat neighborhood theater, the Asian American Independent Film Festival is running its festival in July, 2004, and using the 59th Street as one of its screening facilities.
When I walked by the 59th Street last week the pre-lobby area had a bunch of cardboard boxes scattered around behind the safety gate, and one of the glass doors was left open. I’m looking forward to walking into this neighborhood landmark again. The mini marqee alone will be great to see lit up again. The theater is right around the corner from the skytram to Roosevelt Island.
I saw “When a Man Loves a Woman” at this theater with my girlfriend (now my wife) in 1994. The movie had been out for quite some time by then so we were the only ones in the theater. They were nice enough to show the movie for just us two rather than throw us out and refund our money.
In June of 1977, when it was the D.W. Griffith, I saw the first commercial showing (to my knowledge) in the U.S. of Luchino Visconti’s legendary first film OSSESSIONE, made in Fascist Italy in 1942. It had previously been shown at the New York Film Festival in 1976 and in some non-theatrical settings. The film had been closeted here because it was based illegally on the James Cain novel THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.
I did not realize that, I guess it was recent because i saw a film there last year. It is unreal how many theatres the Eastside had and one by one they are going. Did anyone ever find out the real story about why the Sutton Facade was defaced?
We assume that this whole block will be torn down eventually…