It seems George Bernard Shaw knew the Loew’s Delancey. When he and Harpo Marx met on holiday on the French Riviera in 1928, the playwright “roared with laughter when Harpo lifted his beard, noted that he wore no tie underneath, and told him he could never get into the orchestra of the Loew’s Delancey because that theatre, which then catered mostly to Orthodox Jews, had a policy of making the same kind of examination and sending patrons sans ties up to the balcony.” From the very readable “George S. Kaufman and His Friends” by Scott Meredith (Doubleday, 1974, page 355).
When I visited the Towne to see an excellent western The Hanging Tree in 1959, it had little street presence and was minimally staffed: I paid 70 cents to the woman in the box office, then pushed my way in through a turnstile and found my seat on my own (later I did see an attendant). The theatre was long, narrow, box-shaped with no balcony and an overhanging projection room. Every time someone came in during daylight, light traveled down the auditorium and hit the screen - somewhat distracting. There were exits to either side of the screen.
The show ran 2 hours: movie, cartoon, preview. The seats were very comfortable with a center block of seats seven wide, then four or five more seats in the rows to each side. Children were admitted for 25 cents and were well in evidence.
It seems George Bernard Shaw knew the Loew’s Delancey. When he and Harpo Marx met on holiday on the French Riviera in 1928, the playwright “roared with laughter when Harpo lifted his beard, noted that he wore no tie underneath, and told him he could never get into the orchestra of the Loew’s Delancey because that theatre, which then catered mostly to Orthodox Jews, had a policy of making the same kind of examination and sending patrons sans ties up to the balcony.” From the very readable “George S. Kaufman and His Friends” by Scott Meredith (Doubleday, 1974, page 355).
When I visited the Towne to see an excellent western The Hanging Tree in 1959, it had little street presence and was minimally staffed: I paid 70 cents to the woman in the box office, then pushed my way in through a turnstile and found my seat on my own (later I did see an attendant). The theatre was long, narrow, box-shaped with no balcony and an overhanging projection room. Every time someone came in during daylight, light traveled down the auditorium and hit the screen - somewhat distracting. There were exits to either side of the screen. The show ran 2 hours: movie, cartoon, preview. The seats were very comfortable with a center block of seats seven wide, then four or five more seats in the rows to each side. Children were admitted for 25 cents and were well in evidence.