Theatre 80 St. Marks
80 St. Marks Place,
New York,
NY
10003
80 St. Marks Place,
New York,
NY
10003
10 people
favorited this theater
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A June 2006 photograph I took of the Theatre 80 St. Mark’s:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/198017626/
Here’s a nice article from 1999 about Theater 80 St. Mark’s, with photos of the theater, and several of the cement blocks.
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Here’s a nice article from March 13,2002 from Columbia News Service regarding the imprinted square blocks that are on the sidewalk of Theater 80 St. Mark’s, and other NYC locations.
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It’s not Hollywood on the Hudson
By James Dean
On a late summer night in the East Village, limousines pulled up to the curb outside Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place. Photographers snapped away as stars of stage and screen, including the cast of the Ziegfeld Follies, arrived while klieg lights swept the sky.
Some of the famous guests, such as Gloria Swanson and Lillian Roth, pressed their palms or feet into square trays of wet cement, then signed their names and the date, Aug. 26, 1971.
It was hardly in the league of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where nearly 200 stars, from John Wayne to Marilyn Monroe, have made impressions in the sidewalk. But the gimmick dreamed up by Florence and Howard Otway to celebrate the conversion of their theater into a revival film house produced one of New York’s few sidewalk tributes to entertainers. And perhaps its most enduring such tribute, despite imperfect cement, intervention by the city and Broadway’s occasional plans for a “walk of fame” to rival Hollywood Boulevard’s.
“We were imitating Hollywood,” Florence Otway said. “It was a spontaneous, tongue-in-cheek, fun thing to do.” Several of the Otways' friends, including the actresses Joan Crawford, Joan Blondell, Myrna Loy, Kitty Carlisle and later the comedian Dom DeLuise, added handprints and footprints to the pavement.
Not all the stars' squares survived opening night. A porter who drank too much fell and smeared several squares before the cement had dried. In later years, Otway said, street workers damaged others.
But the biggest threat came in 1998, about five years after Howard Otway’s death, when the city Department of Transportation decided that the sidewalk impressions posed a potential hazard to pedestrians and threatened to pave over them.
“It was nonsense,” Otway said. “No one ever tripped over them.”
She said that Paramount Studios, the owner of Grauman’s along with Warner Bros., offered to pay for shipping the squares to Hollywood and for repaving her sidewalk, but that she declined. The public outcry over the city’s threats made plain how much New Yorkers loved the sidewalk signatures, and Otway eventually won a reprieve when she paid to realign them.
A few other pockets of pavement stars have cropped up over the years. In 1985, the Second Avenue Deli began a series of 30 stars honoring Yiddish theater performers. In 1999, just as Theatre 80’s plot was preserved, the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street built a sidewalk studded with stars outlined in bronze, more closely approximating Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
“It was Lortel’s last project while she was alive,” said George Forbes, vice president of finance and administration at Lortel Theatre Foundation. “She felt a need for a monument to playwrights that was lasting.”
Just over half of the Lortel’s 72 stars are filled, including the names of Eugene O'Neil, David Mamet and Wendy Wasserstein. While the stars' creation was a triumph for Lortel, who died a few months after the stars were installed, Forbes said the project was costly and difficult.
“We had to jump through a lot of hoops,” he said about getting the required permits and assuring the transportation department that the stars wouldn’t cause pedestrians to slip. A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed that obtaining a Distincive Sidewalk Special Treatment Permit can be a “lengthy process.”
Based on Lortel’s experience, Forbes said he was not surprised that Broadway had yet to realize its own walk of stars, though several have been proposed.
“This is certainly much easier for one private landlord to do,” he said, compared with the dozens that would be involved in any Times Square project.
“Everyone thought it was a great idea until you delved into the practicalities and the cost of it,” said Richard Basini, president of the Broadway Association, which comprises 100 local businesses.
With all the pedestrian traffic around Broadway, the sidewalk is barely visible anyway, not to mention the hazards caused if poeple stopped to look down. Besides, with Times Square’s dazzling neon lights overhead, almost everybody looks up.
“It’s a dead issue now,” Basini said.
As recently as October 2000, the Marriott Marquis had plans to turn its alley linking 45th and 46th Streets into a Walk of Stars honoring New York stage actors. A large photographic mural now lines the alley, but a spokeswoman said there were no concrete plans for further development.
Many Broadway theaters are named after actors, playwrights or composers (the O'Neil, the Gershwin and the Barrymore), but only a small independent theater, the Helen Hayes, has merged its name with sidewalk symbolism. Near the curb outside the theater on 44th Street lies a small bronze plaque. Hayes' neat signature runs above the outline of two shoes that are barely the length of a hot dog.
Susan Myerberg, the theater’s general manager, said the bronze was created about 10 years ago after the original blue cement impression began collecting dirt and the occasional piece of chewing gum. Hayes, who was no longer in good health, simply sent a pair of shoes to the engraver.
“It was done as a respectful thank you to a first lady of the theater,” Myerberg said. “We felt very privileged to be associated with her. And those tiny little shoes
Never been to this theater. Is this on St. Marks near 1st Avenue? Hardbop, is the bar you refer to the St. Marks Bar on the south east corner of that intersection? This is where the Stones filmed part of their “Waiting on a Freind” video. I’ve had a few drinks in there. Usually followed by a slice at Stromboli’s pizzeria diagonally across the way. Is that place still there?
I walked by the theatre last Tuesday night on my way to catch a flick at Two Boots. It is absolutely amazing what is happening to the East Village in terms of the gentrification. It is like the East Village has been moved to Williamsburg.
Theatre 80 is still there and it is still being used for live theatre. The seedy bar across the street is still there, though. One of the few real places left in NYC it seems.
Meanwhile, I remember Howard Otway and how cantankerous he was. I asked him once if I could make a request and he told me he didn’t take requests, but I could make a suggestion for a film to show. It was clearly a labor of love for him because shortly after he passed, the family folded the tent. I remember they were criticized because they closed in the middle of a calendar. (Remember those Theatre 80 calendars!)
The last double bill I caught there was DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and RANCHO NOTORIOUS on 7/24/94. I was also there on 7/20/94 for a Billy Wilder double-bill of SOME LIKE IT HOT & THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH.
It is hard to believe it was over a decade ago that Theatre 80 stopped showing films. It was such an institution in the 80s and 90s and I assume in the 1970s, before I moved to NYC.
A charming and cozy theater with alot of character. I’ve seen several retro double features in the 1980s, it was one of a kind in NYC. It was a bit cramped, especially if the show was filled, and a few of the seats had a bad angle. But you could tell it was run by people who loved the place. And you couldn’t beat the homey snack bar. The celebrity cement blocks up front are still there. I’m glad it’s still functioning as a Theater Company.
I also loved and miss this theater. Saw many Marilyn Monroe double features here and they all seemed clear enough; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes practically leapt off the screen into my lap (if only!); I also enjoyed the long snack bar with the homemade goodies.
When Theatre 80 first opened as a revival house in the early 70s, it showed only musicals (its newspaper ads featured a drawing of a chrous line and the words: “The Movie Musical”). I don’t recall exactly when Howard Otway expeanded his repretoire, but I do remember seeing Hedy Lamarr in “Ecstacy” here in ‘74 or '75.
When Theatre 80 was a legit house in the 60s, the musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” had a very long run here.
I believe these days it is the home of the Pearl Theatre Company.
That double-feature showing would shown the films converted to the anaglyph (red & blue glasses) format in 16mm rather than the original 35mm polarized dual-strip projection format. That’s why the rear projection worked with them (as well as anaglyph can work, which is barely acceptable).
There was a double feature of It Came from Outer Space and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which was in 3-D. I am amazed that the three-D was able to work in rear projection, but as I recall, it did.
forgive the double entry- aol was cracking out on me (site not found…blah blah)
I first went to this theatre in 1992- I seen a billing of Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy for like $8 dollars- maybe even cheaper as I was a High School student in my junior year. I also seen a double billing of Five Easy Pieces and The Last Detail around then also.
In my senior year of high school my English teacher Bobby Glynn, assigned us Chauncer’s Canterbury Tales…there was a showing of
the filmed version of Canterbury Tales with Bonnacio’s (sp?) Decammeron Nights..that was in 93. That was awesome.
The screen was a squared 1:44:1 Full Frame- (as Kubrick would say) and I believe there was rear projection- because I used to sit kind of close and never noticed my shadow on the screen- no handpuppet action there.
I recall the upcoming features were always printed on colored legal lettersized paper (8.5x14)..each month was a different color…I recall Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green and White.
And yes Hardbop, the King verdict was announced on a friday.
I first went to this theatre in 1992- I seen a billing of Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy for like $8 dollars- maybe even cheaper as I was a High School student in my junior year. I also seen a double billing of Five Easy Pieces and The Last Detail around then also.
In my senior year of high school my English teacher Bobby Glynn, assigned us Chauncer’s Canterbury Tales…there was a showing of
the filmed version of Canterbury Tales with Bonnacio’s (sp?) Decammeron Nights..that was in 93. That was awesome.
The screen was a squared 1:44:1 Full Frame- (as Kubrick would say) and I believe there was rear projection- because I used to sit kind of close and never noticed my shadow on the screen- no handpuppet action there.
I recall the upcoming features were always printed on colored legal lettersized paper (8.5x14)..each month was a different color…I recall Red, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green and White.
And yes Hardbop, the King verdict was announced on a friday.
One other memory I have of this place was seeing a late afternoon/early evening screening of “The Men” here the night the Rodney King verdict was announced. What a day that was. There was a demonstration in NYC that terminated in the East Village. Tower, on Broadway in the Village, had its windows broken. Many businesses closed early, boarding up its windows and people bailed out from work early. It was a Friday I believe.
Is there a listing for the St. Mark’s Cinema, which was on northwest corner of St. Mark’s Place & Second Avenue. I assume it is listed under another name. I remember going to this theatre in the early to mid 80s. It closed and became a Gap Store. The opening of a Gap store in the East Village kind of announced that the funky East Village had either arrived as a neighborhood or declined depending on your viewpoint.
I think the St. Mark’s Cinema was a “moveover” theatre and you’d get to see double-bills for a discount price. They also had midnight screenings I believe.
P.S. — Some relatively minor quibbles about the description posted at the top of this listing. I would consider the location of this theater to be the “East Village” or the “Lower East Side” — not Greenwich Village. (A personal note: perhaps one reason I didn’t go to this theater more often — viewing issues aside — was that it always seemed like a really long haul from where I lived in Greenwich Village.)
I wouldn’t consider it to be one of the city’s oldest revival houses. In fact, I think of it as one of the “last” of the City’s revival houses. I think Mr. Otway started in up in the early or mid-1970s. At that time there were plenty of (much?) older revival houses (Thalia, Elgin [haven’t noticed a listing for it here yet], New Yorker[?], Regency [?], — even one in Washington Heights!) that eventually closed, I believe, before Theatre 80 St. Marks. Don’t really think any appreciable percentage of the true “revival” theaters opened after Theatre 80 did. (Although places like Film Forum and the Angelika Center, and others, may also show / have shown revival type films as part of their programming.)
Although what follows is not about really about Theatre 80 St. Marks, and I hate to clutter up it’s page with questions about other cinemas, I’m not sure where else to put these comments/questions.
Is there a page on this site where one can ask about cinemas that don’t already have a page (or cinemas that one might have a hard time remembering the proper name of)?
Reading about Theatre 80 St. Marks makes me think of a few other Manhattan cinemas for which I can’t find pages and/or don’t know the proper names for:
Thousand Eyes Cinema (W. 43rd? St., between Ninth and Tenth Ave.) — A magical experience: went there in the early 70s on a snowy Christmas eve. It was located in a large “brownstone” (rowhouse) and had, I believe more than one screening room. All the screening rooms together had a seating capacity of 500 — hence the name Thousand Eyes Cinema.
It was a very “artsy” place with really obscure cinema treasures that were really beyond me and my friends.
The evening we went, my two friends and I were almost the only people there. Saw a double bill of Douglas(?) Sirk, light drawing-room type comedies. Don’t recall seeing his films before. He seemed to specialize in very WEIRD set decoration — his films LOOKED like they were taking place on stage sets on a sound stage (which of course they were).
The Heights (?) (In Washington Heights near the GW Bridge) — After being a very, very early (1913?) neighborhood cinema, so it seems to me, it became an art / revival house (before becoming a porno theater). During it’s art house/revival phase, I think they actually had printed flyers that listed the films that were being shown for the next few months, something I associated with the “downtown” revival houses like the New Yorker (?) and the Thalia.
The Elgin (Eighth Ave. in the high teens, now the Joyce Dance Theater). Surprised that, the last time I looked, I don’t recall seeing a listing for it here. It seemed to me to be a “biggie” on the revival house scene in the early 1970s. Great, funky lounge — with barber chairs, etc. — in the downstairs lounge. (Saw the classic revival house double bill, Citizen Kane and the Lady Vanishes, here.)
The Charles (Ave. B) — I’m not sure that this was a true revial house, although it might have been. It was a good place to catch up with non-current movies at a cheap price and on a double bill.
The theater on Second Ave., just north of Eighth St. I saw “Turning Point” and “All That Jazz” here on a double bill. May also have seen “Sleuth” here months, or years, after its initial run.
As much as I liked the programming and the idea of the theater, I have to agree that Theatre 80 St. Marks is probably the very worst movie theater I’ve ever been to — and not only because it seems to me that rear projection is a very bad way to experience a movie. (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was terrible — the image seemed all washed out.)
The other problem with Theatre 80 St. Marks in my opinion is that the “auditorium” itself (which appears to be in a very long, narrow “brownstone” or rowhouse) has a very unorthodox, uncomfortable set-up. Rather than using the “logical” seating arrangement for such a space (lots of short rows facing towards the rear of the house), they decided to use a very unconventional one (a few very long rows that face the side of the house) apparently in order to allow them to place the rear projection system in the adjoining rowhouse to the east.
In addition the few, very long rows of seats were steeply banked stadium style, but very close to the screen.
The result was that in the whole theater, there were only maybe four seats where you weren’t seeing a very washed out image on the screen from some very weird angle.
Plus, I think the few times I was there (in the mid-1970s) some of the best positioned seats were broken.
All that negative stuff being said, I was happy to see the theater succeed as long as it did. It was a really charming idea — in the abstract!
(I loved the idea of a miniscule Grauman’s Chinese Theater forecourt in front of the theater. By the way, I think at one point Theatre 80 St. Marks got into trouble with the City because the concrete blocks with the footprints, etc. on them were considered to be a pedestrian hazard.)
skeeelz
I agree 100% this was a true New York institution, I had many happy times here seeing double and triple features. I would not want to see a wide screen stereo epic here, but all the old classics played well here since they were filmed in the old academy ratio. Plus the brownies and coffee and people talking to each other in the lobby between features. Sadly these days are gone forever, at least in NY.
A dump! Wow. I couldn’t have a more different opinion of this amazing place. It was, without a doubt, the most special theatre in which to see a movie. How can you beat eating a homemade brownie to Billie while waiting to see Bergman in Notorious? Sure, I could have seen Cagney and Bogart any number of times at home (and have), but it was much more than the movie that drew me there. Sitting in that small room, intimate and seemingly carved out of stone, with a group of like-minded movie enthusiasts, and preferably on a date, was electric. I still retain hope that the theatre will some day return to showing movies. If (when!) they do, I’ll be among the first to pick up the long list of coming attractions, circle the many dates I won’t want to miss, and tack it up on my refrigerator.
This was without a doubt the worst movie theatre I had ever been to. In the early 70’s I used to go because of the rare films they showed, but the films were mostly unwatchable because of the rear projection used. I remember walking out of the 1936 version of show boat because it was just too unbearable. When I went to get my money back the owner gave me a hard time, was rude told me I knew nothing about movies etc. When I got home I wrote a nasty letter back to him and received an apology. Needless to say that was the last time I ever stepped foot in that dump.
I love the fact that Theater 80 is still there. I too used to schlep from Long Island on the weekends to see classic films here. Saw “Smiles of a Summers Night”, Goddard’s “Masculine/Feminine” among others.
“…nothing … that makes me want to trek to the city.” Funny you should say that here, because Theatre 80 St Marks (and the great, but always empty, Indian restaurant across the street, now closed) DID inspire many treks to the city. In fact, it was just about our only destination whenever we needed to get off Long Island.
In spite of the rear projection I loved seeing movies here. I remember a Marlene Dietrich triple bill where we waited on a huge line that went around the block. What happened to those days? The film forum does revival on one screen but its just not the same. The Thalia is back but nothing has played there yet that makes me want to trek to the city.
The Theatre 80 St. Mark’s ceased operations as a moviehouse during the summer of 1994.