Baronet and Coronet Theatre

There are a lot of complaints about UA and Cineplex/Loews and how badly they run their theaters. But are there any good chains out there that do maintain the theaters and are aware of booking patterns in the various markets they serve? Anyone know? Or do they all suck?

Craig
I sure do rememebr you. I worked at the Festival on and off from 80-82. My manager there was tranferred to the Baronet/Coronet around 81. His name was Joe Torres. It makes me sick to see what they have done with all the old movie theaters in NYC. I am glad I moved from there in 1983 because it would be very difficult to see the buildings gone. I worked at Bowery Ssavings when they were on the corner of 60th and 3rd so I knew that area very well. I ate at the Chinesse restaurant above the Coronet all the time. Would love to chat more, email me at

I used to be Manager of the Baronet/Coronet in the late 1970’s and 80’s for about 10 years when Walter Reade owned it. I stayed up until the day Cineplex Odeon took it over. It was a sad day last year to see a hole in ground on 59th and 3rd. So much of my youthful memories are about that theatre that I loved so much. It was my first managing job. It was a very prestigous theatre back then. Exclusive bookings, premieres, stars and it was the number one grossing theatre in NY for a time. Does anyone remember me? My name is Craig Dougherty. I have many stories to tell.
Did you know that the late Abby Hoffman used to be the manager in ther early 1960’s? Did you know that Sylvester Stallone worked there as an usher and was fired for stealing? He would go out on the sidewalk and sell loose tickets to the customers waiting on line.

GCC had been splitting big theaters for years prior to the Avco. They split almost all of the former Statewide Theaters that were built in Anaheim, Bakersfield and San Bernardino, only to let those theaters perish. Not too long after the Avco split, GCC went into bankruptcy. Another fine theater damaged by another exhibition company. I just find it ironic that the Avco will book a very popular film, like a Lord of the Rings, and will fill the two houses that once equaled one auditorium.

The Avco was a great example of a modern theater that had class and excellent presentation. You’re correct, William, on that the ceiling was lower and the screen smaller than the National. It was a unique design. The Avco had some of the best 70mm projection I’ve ever seen.

I recently attended a press screening for “Thunderbirds” in the other 70mm house upstairs. AMC has actually kept the curtain presentation and the sound and picture presentation is still top-notch. I can’t say the same for the former big house downstairs. The new sightlines are terrible.

I find it hard to believe that theater chains today can turn a profit with the newer megaplexes (20 screens and more). The buildings that house all of these screens are much, much bigger than the old multiplexes (10 screens or less), and seem to require much more overhead. Where they get you is at the box office with higher ticket prices (for mediocre presentation) and very high concession prices.

It’s not as though a lot of these theaters are crowded during the week. If I recall, that was a factor in splitting the Avco. Not enough people were seeing shows during the week; only Friday and Saturday nights were good for business.

I think this thread is interesting. Once decent chains, like Cineplex Odeon and GCC, did some really great theatrical upgrades during the building boom of the late ‘80s, then allowed their properties to fall apart. Then those same chains ultimately were bought out or went under.

Loews Cineplex made millions off the sale of the property the theatre was sitting on. I remember the marble and neon in a lot of their theatres, Cineplex apparently thought that was real classy, as was selling you extra squirts of butter on your popcorn. I wonder though why towards the end of it’s exisitance the theatre changed from being a Cineplex theatre to just a plain Loews theatre, maybe a way to drum up some business. My friend used to call them Cinebucks Odeous.

Cineplex put the whammy on many theatres, and this is a perfect example. They took a perfectly viable, well-attended theatre that was tastefully decorated for it’s upper east-side audience, and threw away a lot of money on faux-marble floors, hideous pink neon, re-built seats (no, they weren’t new) and ‘Real Butter’ signs plastered everywhere. The result made it look like a plex in a suburban Toronto shopping mall, not an upscale Manhattan movie house. If that wasn’t bad enough, they never put another dime into it – they didn’t maintain the escalator, or the heating & air conditioning systems, or the roof, or even the light bulbs. All that, coupled with their inability to comprehend the film booking patterns that existed in Manhattan in those days, and they turned the place into a dump in record time. For some reason that to this day remains a mystery, Loews merged with the nearly-insolvent Cineplex, taking on their HUMONGOUS debt. As the combined company was skidding towards backruptcy and looking for cash, the B/C was too far gone, and worth more as a development site. You can put Cineplex right up there behind UA when it comes to running theatres into the ground.

When my wife and I were first dating and first married, we saw most of the films that were playing at these two theatres in 1968 and 1969.

When Cineplex took this site over they remodeled the lobby and combined the two box offices into one. Loews Cineplex renamed it Coronet I & II in the era when multiplexes moved films around more easily based on business so the ads wouldn’t be wrong every time they switched sides.

It’s been demolished.