Hey listen… A dance at the gym – it doesn’t get more ‘50’s rock and roll than that, does it? Particularly when that gym is the former Brooklyn Paramount and still retains some of its elaborate decor! I think it’s a great idea. I do agree, however, that the ticket prices are quite steep. At least at the $100 tier. How do they plan on setting up the seating? What is the demarcation between the $40 seats and the $100 seats?
While the Samuel and Minnie Marx both resided in the Lower East Side, their famous offspring actually hailed from residences on the UPPER East Side. Groucho was actually born on East 114th Street, but he would often refer to a home on East 93rd Street as his boyhood residence. Trivial information to be sure, but I thought I’d set the record straight.
Great advertisement, Warren. My mind wanders off in a strange state of sadness and nostalgia, thinking about the fact that the Marx Brothers actually appeared on stage at the Keith’s at the very height of their Broadway popularity (and during the infancy of their cinematic careers). What ghosts must haunt those musty halls… But, it seems, even ghosts must be evicted sooner or later.
Don Rosen… Check out the “Unkown Soldier” photo I posted a few comments back… You can clearly make out “CINE 2” either on or through the right-most glass doorway into the theater. At first, I thought it was stenciled on the glass door… but I think now that it’s actually above the auditorium entrance which I think you can make out in the distance beyond the glass doors. There are two possibilities that come to mind: A) the theater was in fact once known as Cine 1 & Cine 2; or B) The word “Cine” only ever was employed inside the theater doors to distinquish the two auditoriums,
I don’t ever remember this being anything other than the Big Apple Theater in the ‘80’s and right up to its demolition. Additionally, I do know that the old Show Palace porn emporium next to the DeMille on 7th and 47th was known as Cine 1 & 2 and did show Spanish-language films just as Warren describes in the introduction for THIS theater. It’s possible that Warren was thinking of that other theater when composing the introduction for this one, but that “Unknow Soldier” photo sure does corroborate an association somehow with the name “Cine.”
Nice shot, Bryan. According to imdb, “Sex and Violence” was released in the U.S. in November, 1979. The co-feature, “The Day After Halloween” is actually an Aussie horror flick from 1979 called “Snapshot” that was released in the U.S. (again, per imdb) in October, 1980. So… that would date the photo to 1980. Of course, release date information is probably pretty sketchy – even on imdb – for films of this nature. I’m sure many Duece engagements flew well under the radar.
As I mentioned would happen in an earlier post, I took the kiddies to a show at the New Vic just the other night, where our seats were right on the stage. After the performance, I snapped a few photos of the house from this vantage point and thought I’d share them here…
The folks managing the theater that night were pretty strict about not allowing photographs, so these were all I could manage without drawing much attention to myself. I would have grabbed a shot looking up into the fly space or into the riggings off in the wings, but it was quite dark and I didn’t have an opportunity.
Vhodin… you should have saved that story for Halloween. I am skeptical of such things as you describe, but I surely don’t doubt your recounting of the experience. In fact, I quite enjoyed reading it – very well written and more than just a little spine-tingling, if I might add. Thanks!
This article appears in the Real Estate section of the Sunday NY Times and discusses some of the history of the Renaissance Theater and Casino as well as the plans to restore the Ballroom as a community center while demolishing the theater portion in favor of a new apartment tower.
The article follows up nicely on Michael Henry Adams' post of Feb 7th regarding the NYLC recommendation that only the Northern portion of the complex be landmarked in order to facilitate the redevelopment. In fact, the owners of the site, The Abyssinian Development Corp, have defeated landmark designation entirely. Even without LPC protection, the Development Corp states that while its plans call for the demolition of the theater building, it will save the exterior of the Casino and incorporate it “into a larger performance, ballroom and community space reaching all the way back to the church, to the east on 138th Street. The old Y.W.C.A. building between the two would be replaced.”
The article includes a vintage photo of the Casino and a present-day view. Alas, the theater portion is not depicted at all.
I hate to tell Larry, but my guess for the reason why they didn’t use his glowing appraisal of “Letters From Iwo Jima” would be that the legitimate movie-reviewing press had supplied sufficient accolades. I often think they only turn to Larry King for a quote when the film in question is being blasted by the card carrying movie critics. You more often find his quotes mixed in with those from various websites, weblogs and cable-TV reviewers, than you do with, say, David Denby or A. O. Scott!
Vodhin….Thanks so much for sharing those photos and jogging your memory for that very informative post earlier today! I’m probably a little more computer savvy than Warren, but I have yet to master php or html myself – beyond being able to bury my hyperlinks within the body of my comment text. But thanks for trying to explain it all the same!
By the way, Photobucket stores images indefinitely – as long as the user keeps their account active. No direct hits are required to keep an image active in a Photobucket album. Also… if one doesn’t reduce the size of the image they wish to post within their comments, a large photo will disrupt the way a given theater page is displayed. There have been a few instances here where users have used the [ img ] tag rather than the [ url ] tag, resulting in a page that now scrolls horizontally out of one’s browser window. Obviously, you seem to know what you’re doing.
I wonder why “Goldfinger” was left out from that roster of Bond films? It’s the only one missing in the sequence. Anyway, given the success of “Casino Royale” (which played here) a Bond retro might spark some interest. But it would seem to me that “Goldfinger” would be a highlight in such a fest. I fear that “Thunderball” and “You Only Live Twice” might fall a bit flat with modern audiences – given that Bond had started to become spectacle by those films and the seams definitely show in those antiquated blue-screen and miniature effects shots! Not to mention that no one would be able to take Donald Pleasance’s Blofeld too seriously after having lived through the Austin Powers films!
I remember similar experiences here, Barry M, and I couldn’t agree more with your take on the place. I’m still fishing around my stuff as I get a chance to see if I can find some of the schedule flyers I have for this theater. I think they used to print them up (on different colored paper stock) every 4-6 weeks, if I recall correctly.
Justin. The Criterion you’re thinking of was built on the same site that had been occupied by the old Criterion and New York Theaters, but there is no other relationship – aside from the shared name. See the last paragraph of Warren’s introductory remarks.
As for being similar in appearances, the older theaters were ornate Victorian era play houses, while the newer Criterion was a more streamlined deco-era cinema.
All three of these were scanned from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Magazine that was devoted to the past, present and future of Times Square.
Here’s a scan from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, which was devoted to the history and future of Times Square. This image is dated 1905 and looks south towards the New York Times Building with the New York Theater (at this point a legit playhouse) prominent on the left. From this angle, one can clearly see the glass shedding that had been constructed to enclose the rooftop garden to create the Jardin de Paris theater – as described by Warren in the introductory remarks at the top of this page.
Here’s a scan of the cover to a 1988 edition of the Sunday Daily News Magazine’s issue devoted to the past, present and future of Times Square. The image is a bit fuzzy from the scan (I removed the sepia tint to try and get as clear a copy as possible) but the old Criterion marquee is clear on the right playing the silent Great War aerial epic “Wings”, which dates the photo to 1927. If memory serves, “Wings” has the distinction of being the film awarded the “Best Picture” award at the very first Oscar ceremonies.
Adjacent to the Criterion, one can make out the Loew’s New York (part of the original Olympia complex) with its huge billboard signage advertising its rooftop theatre.
By this time, one of the two marquees on 42nd Street was used to welcome folks to the block’s “10 exciting theaters” while the other (presumably for the newer Rialto II basement theater) was used to advertise the usual Kung Fu action fare. Meanwhile, the main auditorium utilized the Seventh Ave/B'way marquee and entrance around the corner for the more mainstream fare with which it (as well as other Duece theaters) hoped to lure general audiences.
CT member Wally75 wanted me to share this photo of the Northport from 2006. I hope he’ll jump on to this page and share whatever knowledge he has of the theater from its days as a local cinema.
Wally75 sent me these two photos a while back. Sorry for the delay in posting, Wally! The shots were take in 2003 (per the camera date stamp) and I’ll leave it to Wally to elaborate on their backstory – if he feels so compelled.
Surely, no director fretted over such exacting standards of presentation as did Kubrick. And I agree that “Barry Lyndon” is an unsung masterpiece with O'Neal perfectly cast in the title role. What I wouldn’t give for a screening of a restored and freshly struck print of that film!
I find myself in the unfamiliar position of having to defend Warren… but I believe he was being facetious when he posted “But he AINT coming here,” making light of the fact that many people mistakenly believe that “King Kong” opened simultaneously at both Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy on Seventh and 50th. Warren’s well aware of the difference between the two Roxy Theaters.
Ditto, RobertR. I remember them as Sunn (two n’s) Classics. I was not aware that Grizzly Adams was one of their films (if they also had a hand in the network TV show of the same name, then surely it was their biggest moneymaking franchise), but I do recall the quasi-documentaries “In Search of Noah’s Ark” and “In Search of Historic Jesus”… which leads me to wonder if they were behind the TV series “In Search Of…” that Leonard Nimoy hosted in the late ‘70’s. Another title that comes to mind was the low-rent “Hangar 18” which was advertised as a startling and revelatory documentary but turned out to be a cheesy sci-fi flick starring Gary Collins, of all people!
It seemed like Sunn Classics had a feature or two out in theaters just about every summer in the mid-to-late ‘70’s. Clunkers to be sure, but I’d take any one of those inept low budget turkeys today over the technically competent but formulaic fodder that is foisted upon us these days.
Elusive indeed! I added a page for the Frisco a few months back, RobertR. This is the first ad I’ve seen for the New Mini – which I believe may have been redubbed Frisco around ‘73 or so. It would have been a block north and on the opposite side of Seventh Ave from the Doll just a few doors up from the Avon 7.
Thanks for that Vaughn. It seems – as I found when using Google to get info on Ellwest – that they had a number of locations around the country and were subject to their fair share of legal entanglements. I did not know, however, that their empire extended to Jacksonville.
Hey listen… A dance at the gym – it doesn’t get more ‘50’s rock and roll than that, does it? Particularly when that gym is the former Brooklyn Paramount and still retains some of its elaborate decor! I think it’s a great idea. I do agree, however, that the ticket prices are quite steep. At least at the $100 tier. How do they plan on setting up the seating? What is the demarcation between the $40 seats and the $100 seats?
While the Samuel and Minnie Marx both resided in the Lower East Side, their famous offspring actually hailed from residences on the UPPER East Side. Groucho was actually born on East 114th Street, but he would often refer to a home on East 93rd Street as his boyhood residence. Trivial information to be sure, but I thought I’d set the record straight.
Great advertisement, Warren. My mind wanders off in a strange state of sadness and nostalgia, thinking about the fact that the Marx Brothers actually appeared on stage at the Keith’s at the very height of their Broadway popularity (and during the infancy of their cinematic careers). What ghosts must haunt those musty halls… But, it seems, even ghosts must be evicted sooner or later.
Don Rosen… Check out the “Unkown Soldier” photo I posted a few comments back… You can clearly make out “CINE 2” either on or through the right-most glass doorway into the theater. At first, I thought it was stenciled on the glass door… but I think now that it’s actually above the auditorium entrance which I think you can make out in the distance beyond the glass doors. There are two possibilities that come to mind: A) the theater was in fact once known as Cine 1 & Cine 2; or B) The word “Cine” only ever was employed inside the theater doors to distinquish the two auditoriums,
I don’t ever remember this being anything other than the Big Apple Theater in the ‘80’s and right up to its demolition. Additionally, I do know that the old Show Palace porn emporium next to the DeMille on 7th and 47th was known as Cine 1 & 2 and did show Spanish-language films just as Warren describes in the introduction for THIS theater. It’s possible that Warren was thinking of that other theater when composing the introduction for this one, but that “Unknow Soldier” photo sure does corroborate an association somehow with the name “Cine.”
Nice shot, Bryan. According to imdb, “Sex and Violence” was released in the U.S. in November, 1979. The co-feature, “The Day After Halloween” is actually an Aussie horror flick from 1979 called “Snapshot” that was released in the U.S. (again, per imdb) in October, 1980. So… that would date the photo to 1980. Of course, release date information is probably pretty sketchy – even on imdb – for films of this nature. I’m sure many Duece engagements flew well under the radar.
As I mentioned would happen in an earlier post, I took the kiddies to a show at the New Vic just the other night, where our seats were right on the stage. After the performance, I snapped a few photos of the house from this vantage point and thought I’d share them here…
Full view from the stage
Stage right
Stage left
The folks managing the theater that night were pretty strict about not allowing photographs, so these were all I could manage without drawing much attention to myself. I would have grabbed a shot looking up into the fly space or into the riggings off in the wings, but it was quite dark and I didn’t have an opportunity.
Vhodin… you should have saved that story for Halloween. I am skeptical of such things as you describe, but I surely don’t doubt your recounting of the experience. In fact, I quite enjoyed reading it – very well written and more than just a little spine-tingling, if I might add. Thanks!
This article appears in the Real Estate section of the Sunday NY Times and discusses some of the history of the Renaissance Theater and Casino as well as the plans to restore the Ballroom as a community center while demolishing the theater portion in favor of a new apartment tower.
The article follows up nicely on Michael Henry Adams' post of Feb 7th regarding the NYLC recommendation that only the Northern portion of the complex be landmarked in order to facilitate the redevelopment. In fact, the owners of the site, The Abyssinian Development Corp, have defeated landmark designation entirely. Even without LPC protection, the Development Corp states that while its plans call for the demolition of the theater building, it will save the exterior of the Casino and incorporate it “into a larger performance, ballroom and community space reaching all the way back to the church, to the east on 138th Street. The old Y.W.C.A. building between the two would be replaced.”
The article includes a vintage photo of the Casino and a present-day view. Alas, the theater portion is not depicted at all.
I hate to tell Larry, but my guess for the reason why they didn’t use his glowing appraisal of “Letters From Iwo Jima” would be that the legitimate movie-reviewing press had supplied sufficient accolades. I often think they only turn to Larry King for a quote when the film in question is being blasted by the card carrying movie critics. You more often find his quotes mixed in with those from various websites, weblogs and cable-TV reviewers, than you do with, say, David Denby or A. O. Scott!
Vodhin….Thanks so much for sharing those photos and jogging your memory for that very informative post earlier today! I’m probably a little more computer savvy than Warren, but I have yet to master php or html myself – beyond being able to bury my hyperlinks within the body of my comment text. But thanks for trying to explain it all the same!
By the way, Photobucket stores images indefinitely – as long as the user keeps their account active. No direct hits are required to keep an image active in a Photobucket album. Also… if one doesn’t reduce the size of the image they wish to post within their comments, a large photo will disrupt the way a given theater page is displayed. There have been a few instances here where users have used the [ img ] tag rather than the [ url ] tag, resulting in a page that now scrolls horizontally out of one’s browser window. Obviously, you seem to know what you’re doing.
I wonder why “Goldfinger” was left out from that roster of Bond films? It’s the only one missing in the sequence. Anyway, given the success of “Casino Royale” (which played here) a Bond retro might spark some interest. But it would seem to me that “Goldfinger” would be a highlight in such a fest. I fear that “Thunderball” and “You Only Live Twice” might fall a bit flat with modern audiences – given that Bond had started to become spectacle by those films and the seams definitely show in those antiquated blue-screen and miniature effects shots! Not to mention that no one would be able to take Donald Pleasance’s Blofeld too seriously after having lived through the Austin Powers films!
I remember similar experiences here, Barry M, and I couldn’t agree more with your take on the place. I’m still fishing around my stuff as I get a chance to see if I can find some of the schedule flyers I have for this theater. I think they used to print them up (on different colored paper stock) every 4-6 weeks, if I recall correctly.
Justin. The Criterion you’re thinking of was built on the same site that had been occupied by the old Criterion and New York Theaters, but there is no other relationship – aside from the shared name. See the last paragraph of Warren’s introductory remarks.
As for being similar in appearances, the older theaters were ornate Victorian era play houses, while the newer Criterion was a more streamlined deco-era cinema.
Here’s an interesting view shot from behind the spectacular signs across the street from the Astor, circa 1967.
This was scanned from a New York Daily News Sunday Magazine edition devoted to Times Square.
Here are some images that may or may not have been previously posted on this page…
VJ Day – 1945
Lady from Shanghai – 1948
Chicago Syndicate – 1945
All three of these were scanned from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Magazine that was devoted to the past, present and future of Times Square.
Here’s a scan from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, which was devoted to the history and future of Times Square. This image is dated 1905 and looks south towards the New York Times Building with the New York Theater (at this point a legit playhouse) prominent on the left. From this angle, one can clearly see the glass shedding that had been constructed to enclose the rooftop garden to create the Jardin de Paris theater – as described by Warren in the introductory remarks at the top of this page.
Here’s a scan of the cover to a 1988 edition of the Sunday Daily News Magazine’s issue devoted to the past, present and future of Times Square. The image is a bit fuzzy from the scan (I removed the sepia tint to try and get as clear a copy as possible) but the old Criterion marquee is clear on the right playing the silent Great War aerial epic “Wings”, which dates the photo to 1927. If memory serves, “Wings” has the distinction of being the film awarded the “Best Picture” award at the very first Oscar ceremonies.
Adjacent to the Criterion, one can make out the Loew’s New York (part of the original Olympia complex) with its huge billboard signage advertising its rooftop theatre.
Scanned from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, devoted to the history of Times Square:
Greatest Movies in USA
By this time, one of the two marquees on 42nd Street was used to welcome folks to the block’s “10 exciting theaters” while the other (presumably for the newer Rialto II basement theater) was used to advertise the usual Kung Fu action fare. Meanwhile, the main auditorium utilized the Seventh Ave/B'way marquee and entrance around the corner for the more mainstream fare with which it (as well as other Duece theaters) hoped to lure general audiences.
Here’s a 1982 shot of the marquee being changed:
Fight dirty to stay alive
I scanned this from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, which was devoted to the history of Times Square.
CT member Wally75 wanted me to share this photo of the Northport from 2006. I hope he’ll jump on to this page and share whatever knowledge he has of the theater from its days as a local cinema.
Wally75 sent me these two photos a while back. Sorry for the delay in posting, Wally! The shots were take in 2003 (per the camera date stamp) and I’ll leave it to Wally to elaborate on their backstory – if he feels so compelled.
Surely, no director fretted over such exacting standards of presentation as did Kubrick. And I agree that “Barry Lyndon” is an unsung masterpiece with O'Neal perfectly cast in the title role. What I wouldn’t give for a screening of a restored and freshly struck print of that film!
I find myself in the unfamiliar position of having to defend Warren… but I believe he was being facetious when he posted “But he AINT coming here,” making light of the fact that many people mistakenly believe that “King Kong” opened simultaneously at both Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy on Seventh and 50th. Warren’s well aware of the difference between the two Roxy Theaters.
Ditto, RobertR. I remember them as Sunn (two n’s) Classics. I was not aware that Grizzly Adams was one of their films (if they also had a hand in the network TV show of the same name, then surely it was their biggest moneymaking franchise), but I do recall the quasi-documentaries “In Search of Noah’s Ark” and “In Search of Historic Jesus”… which leads me to wonder if they were behind the TV series “In Search Of…” that Leonard Nimoy hosted in the late ‘70’s. Another title that comes to mind was the low-rent “Hangar 18” which was advertised as a startling and revelatory documentary but turned out to be a cheesy sci-fi flick starring Gary Collins, of all people!
It seemed like Sunn Classics had a feature or two out in theaters just about every summer in the mid-to-late ‘70’s. Clunkers to be sure, but I’d take any one of those inept low budget turkeys today over the technically competent but formulaic fodder that is foisted upon us these days.
Elusive indeed! I added a page for the Frisco a few months back, RobertR. This is the first ad I’ve seen for the New Mini – which I believe may have been redubbed Frisco around ‘73 or so. It would have been a block north and on the opposite side of Seventh Ave from the Doll just a few doors up from the Avon 7.
Thanks for that Vaughn. It seems – as I found when using Google to get info on Ellwest – that they had a number of locations around the country and were subject to their fair share of legal entanglements. I did not know, however, that their empire extended to Jacksonville.