Movieland
1567 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1567 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 140 comments
According to the NY times, the Central (as well as the Brooklyn Strand) were closed for a week during that 1957 run of MOM AND DAD and SHE SHOULDA SAID NO for failing to secure a license that allowed for “live” performances from the “lecturer”.
Nice punishment for showing two thirteen year old movies in the moral fifties!
The first run was at the Penthouse (Gotham) and the R rated wide release was at Loews State and Movieland Yonkers. Hollywood, were you in Yonkers around 1981?
I remember the Playland arcade having two locations on Broadway; one near 42nd (next to the Rialto) and the other up between 47th and 48th, which had open entrances on both Seventh Avenue and Broadway. I had no idea that there were so many Playland storefronts over the years throughout Times Square until I started frequenting this site.
Christmas 1969 re-issue
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Here a description of the title logo sign materials from the Gramercy link.
“Sometimes the company would buy professionally made cut outs that were in the same typeface as the movie poster. These were foam-core letters, painted, and then nailed or stapled onto wooden frames, that were then wired through holes in the little tracks on the marquee. These could be as wide as the marquee and, while not particularly heavy, could be unwieldy, especially in the wind. They looked very spiffy and were used in the last years of the 1970s and early ‘80s, when the Gramercy went first run.” (Peter Damian)
I can’t do better than that. The distributors were rebilled for this and at some sites for plastic backlit logos such as the one teh Ziegefld still uses. They also took care of many poster window and internal displays.
same people who do the new years eve ball drop..
artcraft straus —not sure how that is spelled
Who made those great marquee letters in the design of the movie logo for the Times Square theatres?
In the 70’s as the Forum
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A premiere in 1972 for “Georgia Georgia"
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We’re taliking theaters, not tunnels or chuches or train terminals…..Theaters! This club was amazing and was an important part of the life of this theater whether you liked it or not.
My single memory of Webster Hall consisted of a doorman questioning my rather clunky shoes (the transvestite before me got in with ten inch kinky boots)and a trapeze act over the dance floor. The upstairs was a retro SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER disco.
The place had a decidedly Midwest barnyard feel unworthy of Manhattan.
I think if we were to open any site to such venues we would have new boundaries to deal with. The Tunnel was a subway stop complete with urinals at the bar although I am sure many had an epiphany there and where would you place the Limelight?
I say we stick to the movies. Club USA was a pimple in the life of this venue anyway.
Wow! I think that’s a great idea! There was a poll done on this web site a month or so ago as to what changes you would like to see on this web site. This is something I would like to see!
LuisV, I agree with you. It would be nice if there was a sub-program here in Cinema Treasures called “Stage Treasures” where these live theatres with no cinema history could be listed. It would mean that Cinema Treasures would become a “One-Stop Resource” for all types of theatres – cinemas, legit, concert halls, opera houses, everything !
Interesting, Ron. As best as I can recall, the two levels that were opened as The Ritz (“there’s a little bit of Ritz in every club, but there’s only one Ritz”) held a capacity of about 800 – most of that standing room only on the main dance floor level (which was up one narrow flight of stairs from the street). There was a bar-room off to the side running parallel to the dance floor (was there one on either side?) accessed through archways cut in the wall. I remember seeing Jerry Garcia and John Kahn play a pair of acoustic sets there the night the Challenger exploded on January 28th, 1986. They did have a fairly big screen that would fly above the stage on which they’d project odd film clips edited together to accompany/juxtapose with the music they’d blast between sets. I remember they showed the complete version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video during the intermission at a South Side Johnny and the Asbury Jukes show back in ‘83 or so. Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers completed that all-Jersey bill.
OK… Off topic bilge alert. Apologies, but we did go off on a tangent and there is no Webster Hall page. We may now return to regularly scheduled programming.
Thanks for the update! It probably never was a movie theater, but nevertheless it does have the look and feel of one. I remember it being quite ornate and it is quite a large facility. I had no idea it was that old and it would be great to know more of its history.
I know the name of this web site is cinema treasures, but I feel a diservice is done to those beautiful structures that hosted only legitimate theatrical productions and not cinema. After all, there are many, many listings on this site for theaters that were built for legitimate theater, showed films for years, and are still around today because they have gone back to legitmate use. Legit theater has saved many a movie palace but I guess lines have to be drawn somewhere.
Thanks Ed and Ron!
To LuisV – you ask above about Webster Hall on East 11th St. It is briefly mentioned in the book “American Theatres” by David Naylor, published in 1997. It was opened in 1886 at 119 – 123 East 11th St. in NY. Its original function was as a ballroom and rental facility. The book provides very little detail about it, other than to note that it’s still open. A friend in NY went to the place in 1997 and obtained a brochure from someone there with some historical background. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that it ever served as a cinema. The Naylor book states that it has 5 levels and the various rooms seat a total of 3000. The architect was Charles Rentz.
One more thing……In listing the fabulous discos that were once theaters I left out the most amazing one of them all……The Saint! (aka Fillmore East, aka Loew’s Commodore) in the East Village.
At that club, the owners installed a planetarium dome in the orchestra section and while you danced the stars and other assorted lazers and the like were projected overhead. This was the absolute best Theater/Disco conversion I have ever experienced and I’m sure it will not be eclipsed.
One more thing I liked…..No drinks were allowed on the dance floor! Since there were only four entrances to the dome it was easy to control. No spills, no cups, just a fabulous dance space. It lasted as a disco for over 10 years! Now, it’s a bank. How sad.
I guess I should post this on the Commodore site!
Yes Ed, it was me! I was commenting on The Acadeemy of Music (aka Palladium) page and you directed me to the Movieland (aka Club USA) page. I realized that I never posted my thoughts here so I finally did it! :–)
When I used to attend concerts at the Ritz, I never thought that place was a former “theater” proper. It looks more like an old dance hall or ball room: the rectangular shaped room featuring a flat hard wood floor with a small stage at one end; plus a 2nd level mezzanine level for tables running along the perimeter with no raking or sloping as one would find in a typical theater. I could be wrong, of course.
I thought someone had previously mentioned Club USA, LuisV, but perhaps that was on a different theater page. In fact, it might have been a post by you sometime back on another page when you were trying to identify the proper theater listing! Anyway, we now have your colorful description of the place during its disco days and we thank you!
I can’t believe no one has talked about this theater’s Disco Days as Club USA in the early 90’s! This fabulous club lasted until about 1996. The entrance to the club was on the side street pretty much where the W Hotel entrance is now. There were two dance floors, the main one, was where the orchestra section was. The other was two levels higher though it was not part of a balcony. The upper dance floor was known as the Tierry Mugler room and was designed by its namesake. There was a huge staircase that led to nowhere. It was a great place to sit and people watch. In additon, there was a wonderful roofdeck where you could see and hear the cacophany of Times Square. One of my favorite features of this club though was the winding slide that went from the balcony, out over the dance floor and down to the orchestra level. For $1 you got a potato sack and slid down to the main action below. The theater was beautifully adapted for use as a disco.
I never got to attend the Academy of Music (Palladium), Studio 54, Webster Hall or Movieland (Club USA) when they were actual theaters, but I spent many a evening in my younger days dancing the night away at these palaces. I miss those days! Discos kept the Palladium and Movieland theaters open a few more precious years. Studio 54 has returned to legitimate stage use and Webster Hall still goes on as a disco on E. 11th? Does anyone know the original name for Webster Hall? I remember it was known as the Ritz in the mid 80’s, but have not found a listing for this theater on this site. It’s a fairly large theater with 4 different dance floors. Perhaps it was never a movie house. If anyone can help solve the mystery I’d appreciate it! Luis
The movie going public was in luck, according to the Times' Janet Maslin, with this classic playing here in March of 1982:
NY Post 3/10/82
Something tells me that within the context of Maslin’s full review, that line used in the ad dripped with sarcasm.
1972 showing the shlocky “Horror on Snape Island"
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Always the center of controversy, the Central’s first advertised movie in the NY times is OPEN YOUR EYES, a documentary about venereal disease on June 1919.
In 1922 it premieres Erich Von Stroheim’s “million dollar picture” FOOLISH WIVES.
In 1924 it premieres DANTE’S INFERNO which faces censorship problems nationwide due to its nude bodies in hell sequence.
In 1926 it enjoys a long run of Lilian Gish’s THE SCARLET LETTER.
In 1927 it premieres yet another remake of UNCLE TOM’S CABIN “The 2 million dollar picture”.
1929 Disraeli
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front
In 1934 as the Columbia, it shows the controversial HITLER’S REIGN OF TERROR on moveover from the Mayfair. Back as the Central, it reopens ARE WE CIVILIZED?, a veiled attack on Nazi Germany.
In 1937, DAMAGED LIVES, “His life of debauchery brought disease to his wife!”
April 1944 opens as the Gotham with UP IN MABEL’S ROOM
April 1951 opens as the Holiday with FIVE.
February 1957, reverts to Central for MOM AND DAD/SHE SHOULDA SAID NO double feature. Ten year old exploitation “road show” finally reaches Manhattan and still makes a killing.
December 1957, opens as Odeon US Showcase with THE PURSUIT OF THE GRAF SPEE.
June 1959, becomes the Forum during a re-release of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.
June 1964, HOW THE WEST WAS WON opens a regular run after a six month “window†from the Cinerama roadshow run.
December 1980, opens as Movieland with ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN.
June 1982, opens E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.
In the late eighties/early nineties I went into Club USA. I did not know I was in the Movieland at the time but it was a very fancy club full of Japanese tourists and decorated with neon and faux advertising signs (Trojan Condoms was one I remember) that rivalled Times Square outside. The upstairs bar/balcony? area was a sex and drugs den worthy of Studio 54 with people doing lines of coke right at the bar.
On the question above about the Warner Twin, Cineplex Odeon called it the Warner Twin upon takeover from RKO. Since the building was coming down, they moved the name over to the Rialto 1 & 11 later in the year. The theatre never reopened in the new construction but Cineplex and the landlord settled out of court. The World Wide and product problems made the battle for yet another theatre redundant.
You will find some ads in the summer of 1987 that refer to the Rialto as the Warner Twin but in reality the basement theatre, although newly re-seated and refurbished, only opened for hours. Flooding, subway noise and lack of product forced them to cut their losses and stay open on a single screen only.