Blue Balcony Cinema

247 E. 2nd Street,
New York, NY 10009

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Showing 12 comments

Nicholas Vargelis
Nicholas Vargelis on March 21, 2016 at 3:41 am

Dear people in this thread of comments. As the author of “The Blue Balcony” I can say that is is indeed a work of art or as sometimes I describe it, a “cinema sculpture”. We did play movies every night for over a month and it was open to the public and yes there was no projector and no screen ! And people (everyone from artists to locksmiths) absolutely loved it. And for those of you who love old cinema palaces this was an hommage to these popcorn palaces ! Of course with a little twist – the scenery that decorated this mini auditorium was also, visually, telling the story of Georgette LeBlanc and her lover Maurice Maeterlinck, by referencing their artistic works (ex. The Blue Bird of Hope, The Inhuman Woman, Blue Beard’s Castle etc.)

And getting back to the movie part: each night when a movie played a computer would analyse the image, frame by frame, and translate the video into data for dimmer that feed a matrix of light bulbs concealed behind all the scenery in the room. So the image of the film got translated into a light show ! And the audio of the film would be heard through the sound system, unmodified.

TheALAN
TheALAN on January 8, 2016 at 12:35 pm

If only sci-fi television writer Rod Serling (1924-1975) — “The Twilight Zone” — was still with us! We can only imagine what he could do with this one.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on January 2, 2016 at 6:37 pm

No longer showing movies.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on March 9, 2015 at 8:40 am

When doing a search the default is for currently operating ‘Open’ theatres. To see all theatres click on the ‘All Theatres’ button.

artpf
artpf on March 9, 2015 at 6:22 am

Yeah. You have to search OUT of the site for specific theatres in order to find them. At one time years ago you could call up a list and just browse through open and closed theatres. Now only the open ones come up. It really makes teh site useless. What happened? i mean if the content was there before, why did it disappear?

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on February 13, 2015 at 7:06 pm

Not sure what you mean, first result in search list for “Varieties” brings up this listing for it: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/288

artpf
artpf on February 13, 2015 at 6:07 pm

What happened to this site? It used to actually be cool and have background with pics for theatres of long ago. Now you search for stuff and they don’t even come up Varieties Photoplays anyone? Used to be here. no more. Please shut this down if you cant be relevent

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on March 16, 2013 at 7:36 pm

Doesn’t seem as if there even IS a picture, Peter… This is as much a theater of the mind as it is a cinema. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as cinema at all. An interesting idea, but I still think it’s more a conceptual work of abstract art.

You know, when I was a kid, before we had VCR decks, I used to make cassette audio recordings of my favorite movies when they aired on TV, simply by holding my mic up to the TV speaker. I would listen back and replay the movie’s visuals in my mind’s eye. Does that qualify my childhood bedroom for a CT listing? I jest, but, surely, it is a debatable point.

And don’t get me wrong… I don’t object to this listing, I’m just raising the question for possible discussion.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on March 14, 2013 at 5:25 pm

Could be just a DVD. Doesn’t seem as if the picture matters according to their website.

cmbussmann
cmbussmann on March 14, 2013 at 8:00 am

I suspect they are projecting both DCP and 35mm. They have a screening of Times Square booked in mid-March and I know that film is 35mm only.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on March 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm

A “theatre” with no screen. I guess that’s something different. With 14 seats, how can they possibly afford the screenings of His Girl Friday, Monsieur Verdoux, Sunset Boulevard, Sherlock Holmes (2010 version), etc. Is the projection DCP or 35mm?

Nicholas Vargelis
Nicholas Vargelis on March 11, 2013 at 11:02 am

For more information and events calender please visit: http://bluetal.blogspot.com/