Regency Theatre

I used to manage the Regency Theater in the early 90s when it was part of the Cineplex Odeon chain. I was there as they built the Lincoln Square theater across the street. I knew the Regency’s days were numbered once the completed that multiplex. The Regency was a cozy little theater. I enjoyed my time there, but I left because I was robbed at gunpoint and vowed never to work with cash again.

Please update, theatre closed March 4, 1999. Last film Elizabeth

Spent many hours in that theatre watching all the classic bogart films, astaire and rogers, dietrich. wizard of oz on the big screen. some of my most cherished memories. we need another movie house like this, people still love the old movies. no netter place to watch the mgm musicals. very magical place if this is what you loved.

Hello fellow movie theater lovers,

I’m doing a project for my photojournalism class at NYU about closed down independent movie theaters in New York. I hope to gain information about people’s past experiences at these movie theaters, recollections of favorite memories or not so great experiences, perhaps economical insight, contacts with owners/managers, etc. On a larger level, I hope my project is able to show the significance of the role that these establishments play in our city and the importance of keeping them afloat.

If anyone would be willing to answer a few questions via email about your personal memories at the theater, please let me know! It could be as simple as recounting a favorite movie you remember seeing back when it was open. I would greatly appreciate your insight.

You can contact me at:

Thanks,
Gabi

When Cineplex Odeon took over the older chains such as RKO-Stanley Warner-Century (owned by the Almi Group, a company known for art house movies and tv shows) as well as Brandt Theatres and Plitt, it marked a milestone for the Canadian theatre exhibitor as it expanded to other states two years after the merger of Cineplex (which owned a 14 screen theater in Beverly Hills in the USA) and Canadian Odeon theaters. It became even bigger when it merged with Sony-owned Loews Theatres 11 years later until the combined company filed for chapter 11, unlike AMC, which bought the company five years later from Onex.

Frank Rowley was one of the great contributors to the New York revival house scene of the 70s and 80s.

A bit aloof and serious but nice when you approached him to ask about upcoming festivals.

He had a wonderful evening with Robert Wise who was with Portia Nelson at the Gramercy. One of the last evenings in NY with one of the giants of the studio era.

And those summer MGM festivals were out of this world. But on the weekends you had to get there very early or end up on the standby line which was almost as long as the ticket holders line.

The Regency was one of the best things about New York for movie lovers during those decades.

This was the theatre in the famous Seinfeld Junior Mints episode where Elaine would rather buy candy than race to her then boyfriend’s hospital bedside…a great repertory and art house pre Cineplex Odeon…a brave effort at a single screen art house in CO days but with far less charm…shame that this one and the nearby 62nd and Broadway could not have been annexed into the Lincoln Plaza art house family

I remember this theatre as a revival theatre back in the mid and late 70’s and I used to drive in from New Jersey to see movies her. I remember seeing Gone With The Wind, Going My Way and several Marx Brothers movies. I miss this theatre very much.

I managed the Regency from March 1990 until Oct of ‘93 when I was robbed there at gunpoint. Scary moment. The theater has the smallest manager’s office I’ve ever seen. While I worked there I watched the construction of Loews Lincoln Square across the street that would eventually lead to the Regency’s demise. It was a sweet little theater.

In the 1970s I lived on West 68th and was a regular patron of the Regency. Like MarkieS, I remember the Bette Davis/Joan Crawford festival and my friend and I would arrive an hour before showtime because of the long lines extending around the corner.

Thanks for the clarification. I must have been reading the split screen version of “The Chelsea Girls” history. There’s some site called WarholStars.org , which has the film also at a place called the Cinema Rendezvous on 12/01/66. But I think following the Regency’s run. After some deal was cut with a group called the Art Guild, who ran a small chain of theaters.

Well, I can’t believe that this topic never came up, but let’s give the Regency Theatre what is probably it’s most famous 15 minutes. I was watching some long documentary called “Andy Warhol’s Factory People”. Which chronicled the revolving door of characters & projects that passed through the artist’s New York loft in the `60’s. Bizarre, in-house films were apparently just one aspect of that.
Turns out Warhol’s film “The Chelsea Girls” not only played at the Regency, but premiered there as well. In the piece I caught a nighttime shot of the Regency, ablaze with that film’s title on the marquee. Perhaps Warhol’s influence or the Regency’s proximity to his loft aided in it’s use as a venue for the film.

According to the header on this theatre it would have opened in 1931.