Apollo Theatre

Gerald, my point is that the Apollo, unlike any other New York arthouse, ALWAYS stressed the sex angle of its films even when there was none. Only the Apollo sold a war drama like BEFORE HIM ALL ROME TREMBLED as “earthy sexuality in great abundance”. It is common knowledge that foreign film distributors often used sex angles to entice American audiences to see them but these quotes rarely used on first-run and the Apollo used them weekly.

Forty second street theatres had a tradition of making promises of sex in films that did not deliver. My point is that the Apollo was the first to blatantly do this and probably invented the concept.

THE BICYCLE THIEF indeed was censored by the city of New York (trouble with the scene of the boy urinating in the street)and had many problems at the World 49th. BITTER RICE, OPEN CITY and THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS also had censorship probelms at the World 49. It is because of this that DEEP THROAT gained credibility as something to be protected by the first amendment. New Yorkers knew that the World 49 had faced this nonsense before.

The Apollo was eclipsed by more blatant sex films in later years but for proof that arthouse lead to porn you need look no further than the booking history of the World 49th and, of course, the selling of the films of Brigitte Bardot. The World 49 had nowhere to go after hard core.

Jerry Lewis Cinemas certainly helped spread porn to middle America. The franchise owners were losing their shirts with family films and switched to porn usually with DEEP THROAT. I do not deny the Apollo was a great house (I was never lucky enough to see it) but I think it should be duly noted, along with the World 49, for its important place in the history of film sexploitation marketing. I can assure you CHILDREN OF PARADISE, a fine film no doubt, did not exude sex appeal before or after its Apollo run.

What town is that, Gerald? Maybe I’d like to check out that Jerry Lewis cinema.

Here are some samples of Apollo ad copy from the early 1948 New York Times.

CHILDREN OF PARADISE
“Exudes sex appeal!”

OPEN CITY
“Violence and plain sexiness!”

PASSIONELLE
“ A tale of illicit love”

TORMENT
“A study of sex and sadism”

FURIA
“Strips down to the bare facts”

Each one was accompanied by a drawing of a young lady in a low cut blouse. Yes, that MUST HAVE BEEN art the Apollo was selling!

Bravo to those who remember the Apollo as she truly was, the theatre that brought foreign film to the masses at reasonable prices. Yes, the Apollo 42nd Street, as it was known in order to differentiate from the Apollo 125th Street, was a grind house, but it was foreign, art, or upscale domestic film that glowed on that silver screen. At least that was true during the 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s. The Apollo, like all 42nd Street theatres, changed prices several times a day. Prices ranged from $.35 from 8 to 10 in the morning up to $1.25 weeknights or $1.50 weekend evenings. Broadway theatres were charging several dollars more while both 42nd Street and Broadway played day and date.

In later years, as more and more art houses opened, the Apollo 42nd Street played only English language films, but still on the more upscale side. Eventually, the 42nd street entrance was closed and turned into a storefront, while the 43rd Street entrance, directly across from the New York Times Building, and the theatre itself were refurbished. The theatre was renamed the New Apollo, and went on to host such legitimate bills as THE FIFTHH OF JULY, BENT and ON GOLDEN POND.

In truth, most of the 42nd street theatres never played porn. Each theatre actually had a genre of film in which it usually specialized. The Victory Theatre was indeed a porn house, playing a film called THE PINK PUSSYCAT for more than a year. However, the Lyric, New Amsterdam, Selwyn and Harris played first run, day and date with Broadway. The Times Square played westerns during the week and gladiator type films on Sundays. The western bills would change three times a week, with a new show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Liberty and Anco theatres were mainly used as move over houses. A show (two features, a cartoon and a short) would, for instance, play one week in the Lyric and then move over for a second and possibly subsequent weeks to the Liberty. THE FISH THAT SAVED PITTSBURGH actually played the Liberty for several months.

The Laff Movie, a.k.a. the Empire, was moved several feet down the block towards 8th Avenue to become the entrance to the new AMC Empire. The Empire played mostly kung fu triple bills toward the end of the 80’s and into the 90’s. There were several storefronts that were turned into small porno houses for a period of time. But generally speaking the bulk of the historic theatres that were and in many cases still are 42nd Street played the same titles that were playing right around the corner on Broadway for many times the price.

I was the head film buyer for the Lyric, Apollo 42nd Street, Selwyn, Liberty, Times Square, Empire and Victory Theatres for more than twenty years.

Since I moved from Brooklyn to Long Island in 1959, and had not gone to the Apollo after that time period, I can only say what I rememberd…….Outstanding Foreign Films with substance by Directors such as DeSica, Rossellini, Gance, Eisenstein….and actors we did not normally see on Tv or the neighborhood Theaters, Like Girotti, Vallone, Manfreddi, DelRio, Armendariz, Cervi, Trenker, Albers, Servais, and Gabin———In fact, I saw Rififi there for the first time on a double bill for about 35 cents…….So for the time period I attended the Apollo, it was a showplace for many Foreign Countries Greatest Directors and performers…….Yes there was Nudity in some, and sexuality in some; but it was neccesary for the plot-outline——It was not to titilate or exploit…….and those films gave me a greater appreciation of the different Cultures in other Countries…..especially the Italian films, which so often portrayed historical events, and the neo-realism that was part of Italy after WW2……Bravo to the owners of the Apollo of that time frame, for all the enjoyable hours I spent, learning the art of film-making at its best——BTW; I believe Martin Scorsese also went there around the same time as we did Gerry……Joe From Florida…..sasheegm

Many early foreign films tackled subjects and depicted things that weren’t possible in Hollywood movies. And it was a natural progession that many “art” theatres devolved from racy foreign films to soft core domestic nudist films and slowly but surely to hard core; there are many examples of this across the nation, including the Cameo and Tivoli in New York and the Park in Champaign, Ill., to name just a few. But when the hard core market exploded, it wasn’t at the Apollo, which eventually swiched to mainstream shows.

Hi Joe, I just wrote you.Again thanks for the great memories.I'm
pretty certain our paths must have crossed in life.

Thanks Bryan, I couldn’t find it.Tried doing vaarious searches on
here and figured I’d ask.

I took many dates to the Apollo and introduced then to Italian films……Even WOR-TV in NY could not stop me from going there when they showed Italian movies once a week—-in the 1950s——Sponsor was Hormel Meats……The Willoughby Movie House in my old neighborhood of Brooklyn showed Italian films, and all I had to do was walk 3 blocks to the Wagner to see German films…..Now I collect them on dvd and video—-A mutual friend, Brian Simmons told me to contact you last September, but Hurricane Frances demolished my house, and it took 5 months for me to get back in——Hope to talk to more about Italian Cinema Gerry—-Great to hear from you….Joe From Florida—-sasheegm—–

I started going to the Apollo in the mid 50s to enjoy Foreign films…….It was a big theater compared to those in my Brooklyn neighborhood; but then every Move House on 42nd st. was a fairly good size………Some of the films i saw if my memory serves me right were, Abel Gance’s “Lucrezia Borgia” from 1934, Martine Carol’s re-make of Lucrezia Borgia….and many Italian films such as Cronaca Di Una Amore with Lucia Bose', Jolanda La Figlia del Corsaro Nero among others…..What a block that was……Each Movie House showed different variety or Genre of films….The Laff-Movie House with many Vintage shorts, the one House on the Corner of 8th Ave and 42nd st that showed ‘Cult" trash films……Then the late 60s came & all of the sleaze…….I have many fond memories of enjoying Movies on that row of Theaters, but my favorite there was the Apollo………If I recall in the mid-50s, you could get in for $35 cents……Joe From Florida sasheegm

Great shot of the Apollo, TImes Square & Lyric around 1950 can be seen here:

View link

If i’m not mistaken I think as the Academy theatre the Apolla used to be the venue H.B.O. used to tape “Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam” with Martin Lawrence. I was in attendence during one taping the theatre looked much smaller than it did on television but I remember that domed ceiling and all the mouldings in the auditorium. When they tape when you are in the audience unless you are a V.I.P. you sat in the balcony section. Members of the production team, friends and family of either Russel Simmons, the comics that appeared on stage or Martin Lawrence, as well as the D.J. were seated in the orchestra section.