Baronet and Coronet Theatre

Yes, all that could have been done in the beginning. The point was to illustrate what a dirtbag he is. I believe Mrs. Reade was willing to pay for the painting, so why not sell it to her and make some money instead of throwing it in the trash? If this was an isolated incident it could be chalked up to miscommunication or an oversight, but it wasn’t an isolated situation – this guy went out of his way to f**k over people for sport.

And yes, they did build and renovate some good theatres, but they didn’t maintain them after they were built, with many becoming no better or worse than those of other chains, organizations he criticized for not knowing how to run a theatre.

The Walter Reade organization sold their theaters to Cineplex Odeon, correct? If that is the case, then at the time of the sale, the Reades could’ve then arranged (with the consent of the new owners) to hold back the painting & retrieved it from the theater if they had wanted to do so.

Although you seem to like to bash the Cineplex Odeon founder, that company built better multiplexes in NYC (Chelsea, Worldwide Plaza) and DC (Wisconsin Avenue) then any other national company was then building on the East Coast.

When Walter Reade had this theatre, in the Coronet side the main lobby contained a very large abstract painting against the back wall. I was told that when the self-appointed Savior-of-the-movie-theatre-business from Toronto took over and announced plans for the renovation, Dolly (Mrs. Walter, Jr.) Reade, having been instrumental in the commissioning and installation of the painting, asked the afore-mentioned self-appointed Saviour-of-the-movie-theatre-business for it and was refused. Instead, when the renovation finally got under way, it ended up in the trash.

Exterior photo after closure here:–

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Before Cineplex turned it into a crappy second rate twin
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I am working on a documentary in which a character goes to the Coronet theater to see “Seduced and Abandoned” in the 1960’s. Does anyone know of where I might be able to find pictures of the theater (marquee, exterior, interior)? Perhaps from a premier? It would really help me alot.

Ed, Cineplex Odeon was concerned that their Chelsea nineplex was easily outgrossing the triple down the street. In an effort to equate the two in everyone’s eyes they decided to combine two of the screens at the triplex and make that location as good or better than the nineplex. They renamed it Chelsea West in the process and it has since hosted several films premieres including Woody Allen films.

Hmm. Odd that someone would come along and take over a triplex and then turn it into a twin! I’ll have to visit that page and see what the story was.

Here’s a mid-1980’s clipping featuring a few theater-chain block ads, including Walter Reade:
Reade, RKO/Cinema 5 and New York Cinemas – NY Times 10/27/86

Is the Ziegfeld the only theater in the Reade listings still operating in the same configuration as in 1986?

i have sent in movies 6 in tyler 2 times ,i have sent in stortville in co …………they never post them …oh well..

if i were not so cute i would think it was me…………

Back in ‘63, this Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward comedy day and dated at the Coronet and Demille:
A New Kind of Love – Daily News 11/25/63

A couple of months earlier:
In The French Style/The Great Escape – Daily News 9/21/63

You can see with some of the other ads that sex and lurid violence was already creeping into some of the Times Square bijous by this time.

That also includes the Baronet too.