Liberty Theatre
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
234 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
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Showing 151 - 162 of 162 comments
What is the current status of this theatre. One comment earlier in this thread talks about its location being between 42 and 43 and I know for a fact it is between 41 and 42, also the pictures that are hanging in the lobbies of the hilton, one of them is of the New Amsterdam room which is a lounge inside the New Amsterdam. Unless Klaw and Erlanger used this same idea inside the liberty, which might be possible because it does go along with the americana concept of the liberty. Inside the New Amsterdam theatre, the room depicts many murals of new york’s and americas history. Anyone have any info?
Bryan, I’m getting a different image than the Liberty. Jerry 42nd Street Memories
Any word on its rehabilitation? Is it going to be a nightclub?
The Liberty was situated between the Harris & The Empire. The Liberty of the 50s & 60s had some creative programming of double features. Of course, usually second run & re-released action fare. I remember seeing a lot of the old WB classics, Sea Hawk, Desperate Journey, Roaring 20s when they were re-released around 1957. Jerry the K
I was inside the Liberty with the Theatre Historical Society Conclave during Summer 2002. We entered the theatre through an almost incidental plain door at the rear of one of the commercial tenants facing 42nd Street. Once past that door, we were in the dusty and haunted-looking Liberty interior. The plasterwork was all there, though repainted (save for the ceiling, which looked original, or at least very old, with stenciling and gilding). The seats were gone. Moderne hanging fixtures from its movie house days still existed in the inner lobby and standee areas. The stage was intact, except that the fly tower had been lopped off and reroofed for the new construction above and around the theatre. Aside from the missing side boxes and the obvious repaintings, the auditorium appeared largely as one sees in old photos.
We recently met with a representative of Forest City Ratner and found out that Cipriani is heavly invested in the leasing process. Our understanding is that the Liberty will be converted into an event space. After speaking to FCR we found out that the space has been stripped of certain elements that are necessary for the Liberty to function as a live performance theatre. Our organization was interested in restoring this space to its original gradeur, yet it seems as though this theatre will fall to corporate demise.
There are some interesting (interesting, that is, from a wreck-on-the-side-of-the-road perspective) photos of the interior of the Liberty – not long before its renovation into a nightclub began last year – posted on the French-language version of www.silverscreens.com
The Liberty, according to the Hilton Times Square front desk employee I spoke with recently, is being converted into a nightclub and should be open for business by the end of this year or early next year.
A great vintage shot of this theatre circa 1954-55 appears in the William Klein book ‘New York’ (p.162). The photo features the beautiful streamline ticket booth with the ticket lady staring at the camera. The films ‘The Man Behind the Gun’, ‘Wings of the Hawk’, ‘Broken Arrow’ and ‘The Brave Bulls’ are featured on the marquee. Signage on the facade reads: ‘Smoking in the mezzanine’ and ‘Midnight Show Every Night’. There’s a partial view of another marquee to the right of the Liberty’s.
The Selwyn’s marquee appears on p.163 featuring ‘The Racers’ and ‘The Green Scarf’.
I recently discovered that the auditorium of this theater is still very much intact cocooned by the new sky-scraping Hilton Hotel that rose above it on 42nd street. In fact, if you were to enter the lobby of the hotel (which stretches from 42nd clear back to 43rd street), you would find several large framed photographs of the theater’s interior (in it’s current state) hanging on the walls. If you were to walk the length of the lobby towards the 43rd street side, there is a double door on the left that leads directly into the old house. The original rear exterior facade is clearly identifiable on 43rd street. Someone had the foresight to prevent demolition when the Hotel was built, so I can only presume that some restoration or re-use of it’s facilities might be forthcoming.
I am a veteran of many of those lurid gore films of the ‘70’s and '80’s … not only at the Liberty, but most of the other 6 or 7 theaters that lined this stretch of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Aves. What I remember most about the Liberty was it’s enormous screen curtain that, when closed, revealed a depiction of Henry Hudson’s ship the Half Moon sailing up the famous river. Too bad this theater and the nearby Harris had to be lost amongst all the renovations on the block. I miss those seedy old days when the entrances to each of these theaters were festooned with cardboard cutouts and lobby cards advertising the cheap thrills within (usually grade-Z horror, blaxploitation or kung-fu action double features). With no drive-ins on the isle of Manhattan, it was only on this block that one could find “The Five Deadly Venoms” playing alongside “Count Dracula and His Vampire Brides” or “Invasion of the Blood Farmers”“”
Was the first theater in New York to play the film “Birth of A Nation”(Feb 1915, ran for 44 weeks straight there). Played sleazy European gore films in its later years(1970’s-1980’s)