Astor Theatre
1531 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1531 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
18 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 274 comments
I remember the blue sidewalks in front of the theater. Except when I saw them, they were the floor of a souvenir shop. By the time I got to Times Square the Astor was closed, although I knew that the shop had once been a theater, or at least its lobby. I wish I had the wherewithal to try to get a peek inside, but I didn’t. Damn.
“The Alamo” did not “move-over” from the Rivoli. It opened at the Astor and Victoria at popular prices a couple of months after it left the Rivoli, where the run had been disappointing.
to Tinseltoes- you have been most hopeful with previous questions so here goes with a new one. as you stated above THE ALAMO moved from its Todd-AO roadshow run of many months at the Rivoli to a continuous performance run at popular prices at the Astor in May of 1961. but the ads for this engagement made no note of the fact the print was 25 mins. shorter than the roadshow Todd-AO print. therein lies mu question. after a Cinerama roadshow engagement of many months at the Warner Theater THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD moved to a popular price continuous performance run at the Astor. what was the running time of the continuous performance print as opposed to the roadshow print? also it obviously wasn’t in Cinerama so what was the Astor run advertised as being in? many thanks in advance.
Rarly “twin” theatres.
When I first visited NYC in 1968, the frontage of the Astor was plastered with gigantic graphics of Julie Andrews in Robert Wise’s STAR (20th-Fox). It was the largest billboard I’d ever seen! I was of course blown away, thinking the picture was probably the greatest story ever filmed, but it flopped and I didn’t actually see it until two years ago (actually not that bad!)
At any rate, aside from the RC Music Hall, the Astor seemed the biggest of NYC’s big time picture houses – if only because of that memorable facade!
Just was in NYC a couple weeks ago, and now it’s virtually impossible to distinguish what’s really behind all the digital advertising in Times Square. I did manage to locate the Palace though, the onetime Mount Olympus of vaudeville (vertical sign).
Thanks, Tinseltoes. The image also teaches me that the Gaiety was once under the purview of Minsky’s Burlesque! I knew the Gaiety was the preeminent burlesque house in NYC during the late 1930’s, but I didn’t know it was part of the Minsky’s stable. I suppose that only makes sense. You should post this image on the Gaiety/Victoria page as well. There is a reverse angle photo (take from the 46th Street corner with the Astor in the background) that you posted March 15, 2010, on that page which is dated 1934 and shows the Gaiety still in operation as a cinema (albeit with a pair of older titles, including the seeming exploitation documentary “Wild Women of Borneo”).
That’s strange Chuck. I’ve clicked on it five times now and it takes me right to the pic. Try this one: View link
“Best Foot Forward” with Lucille Ball, June Allyson and Nancy Walker played at the Astor in August 1943. Here’s a pic of my Mom (on the left) and her friends in front of the WAAC booth with the Astor and the movie marquee visible to the right.
http://www.shorpy.com/files/times_square_1943.jpg
By the way, I spent the better part of my workday today reading all the messages that have been posted here the last six years. Thanks to everyone for sharing their memories and info.
I had no problem viewing. Make sure you have quicktime installed. That might be the problem.
I do clean house daily. That’s not the issue. The apparatus you’re using to post some videos is triggering a “sign up or get lost” message. No way around it. Never ran into this on Cinema Treasures before. I believe that in all cases (wasn’t kleeping track at first), short video clips are involved. It’s OK, though. If I’m missing only video clips, it won’t impair my ability to learn more about the theaters from the texts. I won’t address this issue again because I don’t want to clutter the flow of historical commentary. Thank you, though.
Thanks William you must have a newer computer than Ed or me,most of the stuff I try to look up works but not always.
Does not work for me either Tinseltoes,Thanks.
It works fine for me. Saw it three times no problems.
Doesn’t work, Tinseltoes. No amount of clicking on the empty box activates it. It seems to require subscribing to something called eFootage. But thank you.
Just within the past few days I’ve found I cannot access any of the clips being posted on various Manhattan sites without going through some sort of licensing process.
Is this a whole extra step that will be necessary permanently, or does it have something to do with the way the clips are being posted by one or two individuals?
Is the licensing free and safe?
Some of the best photos I have seen on any site on C.T.
What a history.What a great story.Only in America.
Here is an interesting ad from Boxoffice in September 1951:
http://tinyurl.com/y9ss5zz
Great photos and history on this site,C.T. is great.
Thank You for the lead…I will do just that. I will update my findings with a comment here –
I received the glass as a gift from a former New Yorker who’s brother was on the police force the day the wrecking ball was to raise the theatre. I was told his brother helped himself with it’s removal. I was also told that this glass was back lit with a blue lite bulb. I am wondering if perhaps their were 3 of these…the Nina, Pinta and Santa maria??
I have recently acquired a piece of stained glass from the Astor theatre. It is of a sailing ship with a cross on the front billowing sail. It appears to be made entirely of white “slag” glass. Are there any books where I might find a picture fo my ship??
I seem to recall that my favorite Bond film, “You Only Live Twice,” played at the Astor and Victoria at the same time. I know that I saw it at one of those two theaters. I also recall that enormous sign on the building above the theaters, several stories high, for this Bond film with that great Robert McGuiness artwork. It was quite incredible, I’m only sorry I didn’t take a picture of it. I also remember seeing two of my favorite war films at one of these two theaters, (I can’t remember which one,) Burton and Eastwood in “Where Eagles Dare” and William Holden in “The Devils Brigade.”
Aw, come on. That’s almost as bad as having a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve which we do in my church.
Here’s a link to a great photo by Ruth Orkin that shows Times Square at the time of the 1939 New York World’s Fair. To assist tourists, MGM had set up an information booth on a traffic island in front of Loew’s Inc. headquarters at 1540 Broadway. I can’t make out the attractions at Loew’s State, but the Astor had “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” which would later win an ‘Oscar’ for Robert Donat as best actor of that year:
View link