Loew's State Theatre
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
39 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 536 comments
Do you really think that a generation of kids leaving the museum thinking that the leaping figures were running from KING KONG is a good idea? Really?
When King Kong opened at the State in ‘76 the poster artwork illustration of Kong on the twin towers was painted on the north side of the building as was done for most of the attractions there which I’m sure many of us old enough do remember. And the image in the opening advertisement is included here in the photo section.
I was recently at the 9/11 memorial museum where a section is devoted to movie posters where the WTC is an iconic feature. To me the Kong illustration is definitely the most memorable.
It is not included. OK, understandable. Yet photos of people leaping from the building are. Inexplicable.
To Mark. Palaces all over the country were torn down. Google San Francisco Fox. Most gorgeous theater ever and it went down .
Mikeoaklandpark, I remember also getting the NY papers to see the ads and showtimes of all the theatres. That’s something that’s missing these days. And its sad how many of the grand old palaces in NY and Philly as well as NJ have all been demolished.
For many years,I was really involved with the architecture of these theaters. Look on this site for the Mastbaum in Philly. Over 4,000 seats and unbelievably ornate. Sad to say,I was never in it.
Mark P. I was living in Phila and spent summers in Atlantic City and got the NY Times once or twice a week because all the NYC movie theaters were so exciting to me. I also remember that summer was the last time the Palace showed films before the Neederlanders reopened it as a legit house with Lauren Bacall in Applause. I remember being upset not knowing what happened to the State. I knew the Palace was going legit by the theater directory. I moved to NYC in 76 and went to the State many times both upstairs and down. We had many grand movie palaces like that in Phila which like most places are now demolished.
Mikeoaklandpark, I remember we were sitting up in the balcony. It was quite awesome for a little boy in the third grade. Of course my father enjoyed it too, since he was a projectionist in many central New Jersey theatres
Around the corner was the Ben Hur bar in the old USO space I believe . No pictures that I know of exist. When the Roxy came down it signaled open season on all on the picture palaces . Times Square used to be an oasis . Quite soon,it became a barren desert
Mark P Doctor Dolittle was the last film to play there as a single screen theater.
Mark an alternative would have been to rewrite your comment with the additional information and delete the old one.
I should add to the above comment, he wrote Loews State Theatre New York.
Recently when cleaning out my childhood home, I came across a souvenier book from the movie “Doctor Doolittle.” My father wrote the date March 18, 1968 on the inside cover. I remember going there as part of a class trip. It was still a huge single screen then.
B&W newsreel coverage of the world premiere of William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” at Loew’s State in 1959 can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cluritreTfI
Wow, nice catch, Vindanpar…!
A Schubert show at a Shubert house…
I bow to my new lord and master!
I was simply confused because the original Blossom Time was one of my fondest theatrical memories.
Al, I’ve loved your posts and insights over these years, but grammar refers to the way words are used, classified, and structured together to form coherent written or spoken communication.
Spelling is forming of words with letters in an accepted order.
With a nod to George and Ira, let me add:
Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that…
Theatre, Theater, they are not.
Grammar and spelling are different things, Al…
vindanpar there is no Schubert. There is a Shubert (and for a while there, a Little Shubert). Franz and his grammar nazis are simply playing with you.
I was just teasing, and I will soon delete… :)
Sorry!
Lost in memories…
There is no Schubert theater on Broadway
The Shubert family of New York City was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district as the hub of the theatre industry in the United States.
Franz Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical and early Romantic eras and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century. But he never played Broadway…
Saw Chinatown here at a late morning show.
Afterwards went to a matinee of The Andrew Sisters in the musical Over Here at the Schubert in which I remember a very young Travolta, Ann Reinking and Treat Williams.
Boy I liked NY back then.
For what it’s worth, Polanski’s CHINATOWN premiered at Loew’s State 1 on this date, June 20th, in 1974, not June 19th. Just checked the ad in Times Machine. Don’t recall seeing too many films at the State, though I was here in NYC for 6 years before it closed. My recollection is that I saw Ragtime in State 1. Bit of a letdown after having 1st read the terrific Doctorow novel.