Criterion Theatre
1514 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1514 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
28 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 615 comments
Hello-
to Al A.–
I thank you for your reply. its just I would say roadshow engagements where a film played at only 1 theater in all of NYC for weeks, months or in many cases well over a year is a somewhat different case. the only thing I can think of is this- I think the film is just about perfect as is but the big wigs at Columbia may have said “hey at 3hrs. 9mins. it s long enough” so at the last minute they cut out any scenes not pertaining to the title characters. so I’m assuming the posters, lobby cards etc…. were shipped out even before the final cut was arrived at.
My favorite example of this is Considerate Men from 1776. It was featured in the preview of the film at the Music Hall and then of course was cut before the film opened. The ad for How to Succeed on opening day featured Coffee Break which was cut before opening never to be seen again. Like it’s stereo soundtrack which no longer exists. UA treated this film very badly. I understand the bluray isn’t very good. And Bosley in his Times review talks about the wonderful color.
Lobby cards with scenes not in the film were very common in the 70’s. Also, trailers with scenes that did not make the final cut and there was some controversy over newspaper ads that featured scenes not in the film. This was not limited to Roadshows.
Hello-
Nicholas and Alexandra opened at this theater Dec. 0f 1971. its one of my favorite large scale historical dramas. its also this theater’s last roadshow engagement. to which I remember something always I thought was strange. in the display cases to either side as you entered the theater were lobby cards capturing scenes from the film. one had Rasputin talking to Alexi a scene which does not appear in the film. can anyone remember any other roadshow engagements at any of the other six theaters Times Square houses where the lobby cards depicted scenes there weren’t in the film.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53316491@N08/36383742373
The last two I remember were Last of the Red Hot Lovers in ‘73 and The Great Gatsby in '74. Then for years it was an advertisement for Budweiser I believe. Well it was some beer. Not sure if there was a film after Gatsby. At least I don’t remember one. My favorites were the ones I saw as a boy: The Bible (the second one with the pictures from the movie,) Dr. Dolittle, Star! and Krakatoa. That one was amazing.
Hello-
what was the last film advertised on the huge sign above
the Astor and the Victoria theaters?
Various photos of the Bow Tie Building featuring the Criterion Theatre, lower down in the the link below.
http://bowtiepartners.com/historic_pics.htm
I kind of doubt they ran out. Somebody probably didn’t put them out at that performance and I was foolish not to ask. It was strange because they would usually hawk them like peanuts or hot dogs at the Garden.
Hell0-
to my fellow moviegoers who remember the roadshow runs held at this theater and the Loews State, RKO Palace, the Demille, the Warner, the Rivoli and the Loews Capitol.
in reference to vandanpar’s 9/11/19 comment. does any one ever remember a theater running out of souvenir programs? of all the roadshow engagements I attended(in the Set. 1952 to Dec. 1972 period)I never remember a theater running out of souvenir programs.
Acronyms can be fun to figure out though I get your frustration. On Lynley’s death I emailed a friend about TPA. He had no idea what I was talking about and wrote me an annoyed email calling me inscrutable and asking me to explain it. It seemed pretty obvious to me.
if anyone has a clear picture of the oval and downstairs lounge, now might be a good time to post it.
I saw a couple of movies in the early 80s in the basement screens – badly raked and tight seating even for the times. I do remember the downstairs lounge going back to Is Paris Burning and Patton days. The upstairs screen out of the old balcony might have been the best value for money experience in the Criterion Center days – saw Garp and Cry in the Dark there
I assume that’s where the large elegant oval white lounge was on the lower level. Can anybody who remembers the original theater confirm that?
Maybe the introduction should be updated to mention that those basement theaters we damp little hellholes…
Also, thanks ridethetrain for your Sept 4 info here about this theater & your similiar posts on other theater pages. The Intro has been updated.
Please don’t speak in “code” meaning abbreviations! It is taken me awhile to recall that some posts ago “N & A” was Nicholas & Alexandria. Spell out the names of the movies.
Bigjoe I assure you I am not making this up! I was scandalized. If I knew how to post pictures I would find that image so you could see. Unfortunately the Criterion marquee is a bit in the distance but you get the idea.
Of course when I first walked into the Criterion the first thing I looked for was the program but I didn’t see it! Strange because when I walked in for the Jan revival of MFL earlier in the year there was a guy in a tux selling an abridged version in softcover of the ‘64 hardback.
I’ve learned about Twilight Time limited edition blu rays the hard way. I did get the Japanese edition of Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines because somebody wrote it was the exact same transfer and you could get rid of subtitles. Do you know if this is the same situation for Nicholas? That it is the exact same transfer and subtitles can be eliminated?
I’ve been reading that the kino Lorber Sweet Charity bluray is better than the French blue ray. The problem is they advertised it as the roadshow version yet they left out the entr'acte and exit music. I guess the young people who put these things together don’t know what a roadshow was and don’t really research what that entails. These things exist in earlier video releases of the film. Sloppy.
Joe, why don’t you photograph and post excerpts from some of your roadshow programs…
Hello-
to vindanpar- I still can not believe that during N&A’s roadshow run at this theater that the marquee only had big block letters and never the glass or plastic plates with the art work. rather highly unusual for a roadshow film.
I did buy the souvenir program the first time I saw the film. its rather nice. in reference to your case with all the roadshow films I saw I never remember a theater running out of souvenir programs.
also whenever Twilight Tine releases a blu-ray disc buy it immediately don;t wait. i looked at Amazon and there is a all regions blu-ray from Spain. that’s reasonably priced.
The Criterion Center open on March 20,1980 with 5 screens. The 6th screen open on February 6, 1981 When United Artists took over the theatre in 1988, sometime in early 1990 they split the lower auditorium. B.S. Moss wasn’t responsible for theatre 2 to be split, it was United Artists Theatre Circuit> Please update.
Wally I was teasing you. It was no way an attack. You have a proud history on CT and I thought I’d needle you a bit. I apologize.
I WASN’T GOING TO SAY ANYTHING..ABOUT HELLO DOLLY TIL' I SAW WHAT WAS BEING SAID ABOUT DANNY LOCKIN. I HAVE BEEN ON C.T FOR MANY YEARS.. I ALSO KNOW THAT TOPICS GO WITH THE FLOW… THE ONLY REASON I POSTED THIS FOR THE LINE “MAYBE I’M A NEWBIE”. WAS THAT A PERSONAL ATTACK?
Hello-
first off our discussion of the much maligned Hello Dolly got started on this page because I was discussing the 7 Times Square theaters the studios used for their roadshow engagements. that went on to a discussion of maligned roadshow film posters on this page thought were first rate.
to vindanpar- you mentioned your wonderment on they got that gorgeous final wide angle shot of the film with the church and the nearby river with no intrusions of anything that shouted 1968. I read a few years ago they shot that final scene on the grounds of West Point not to far from Garrison.
Yes but Cinema Treasures has a long history of people congregating on one page discussing many things unrelated to that specific theater. Maybe Wally is a newbie.