Loews Festival Theatre
6 W. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
6 W. 57th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 59 comments
Marcy
After Joe Torres got transferred the next few managers Vincent and Daisy sucked. Daisy went onto manage the Criterion Center.
I worked at the Festival Theater during the seventies and eighties. During the years, in between at other art house theaters. I came back to the Festival, in the mid eighties. I decided to leave after a short while, be of poor management.
Please update, theatre closed August 25, 1994
I worked at the festival when it was under walter and then cinaplex odeon. 1984-87.before tha it was the little carnegie.all the old time theatres are gone.so are the good people that worked them.mr.john walgamot,mr.dan wallach,teresa rosenburgh. and many many more…
I worked at this theater in the early 80’s Joe Torres was the manager and Martha was one of the cashiers as was Irene Cara’s mom Maria.
I remember now, but had forgotten, that oddity of the Festival being relatively flat for a major Manhattan first-run art house.
Hello-
i went to the Festival many times during its reign as one of Manhattan’s leading art houses. this is especially true since many of its engagements were exclusive runs but there was one thing about the theater i didn’t like. in virtually all theaters when you enter the auditorium from the back the floor is flat as you walk toward the screen or in other instances actually declines as you walk toward the screen. but in the Festival the floor actually inclined as you walked toward the screen. it was rather uncomfortable if you got stuck with a seat in the first row.
I uploaded the June 24th, 1963 grand opening ad as well as the photo from the International Projectionist.
The architect’s surname is Zelnik, not Selnik. His surname is spelled correctly on the Playhouse Theatre and Joyce Theatre pages, but his middle initial is missing from both.
A two-page article about the Festival Theatre with photos appeared in the July, 1963, issue of International Projectionist. See it at this link.
I workd at this theater in 81 and 82.
Like Suthnuh24, I was also part of the Fr-Sat RHPS crowd between ‘78 & 80. Used to do the floor show as Dr. Scott. Good times & great parties afterwards! “..TO THE KITCHEN..!” (INSIDE JOKE)
P.S. also worked at The Plaza theatre on 58th St. during this time so I got to see RH for free on courtesy pass.
Marcy, if you look at previous posts you will find photo links.
Run for many years under The Walter Reade Theaters. I wish we could see a photo of the theater, as this does not do it justice.
Lance sees “Desperate Characters” here in an episode (around 11) of AN AMERICAN FAMILY which is currently being rerun this weekend in various PBS outlets. He is filmed walking along the street to it (you can see the Solow office building being constructed across the street)and going into the lobby, and the film crew actually filmed a minute or so of the film on screen!
Thanks AlAvarez.
This closed as Loew’s Festival in August 1994 with “Four Weddings and a Funeral”.
Renewing link.
This theatre played Army Of Shadows in one of their French film festivals back in 1984. The official US release would not come until 2007, when Rialto had a successful run of the 1969 film.
The Festival Theater is where our crowd gathered on Saturday night for the midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show around 1978 through 1980 thereabouts, where a lot of us acted out the movie as it played. It may have been a poor theater for normal movie goers, but for our purposes it was just fine. The theater personnel put up with a lot from us, and occasionally joined in the fun.
The Festival.
View link
Renewing link.
I saw “Salo” here, too. It was a weeknight, and the ticket-window girl was reading and wouldn’t look up. An usher pssst-ed me over, took my 5 bucks, and let me in. I was one of maybe four patrons in the theater that night. Didn’t the owner think it was odd that the takings were, like, zero?
One of the few times I had to briefly close my eyes during a movie (and, believe me, I’m not a prude!!!): “Salo”, the endings of “Day of the Locust” and “Star 80”, and anything with Marisa Tomei.
In June of 1990 this venue was used for a festival of new Italian cinema of the sort that plays the Walter Reade now from time to time. I remember coming down from the galactic hinterlands just to see Nanni Loy’s marvelous Neapolitan musical about street kids, Scugnizzi.
The last I caught here was Sam Shepard’s “Far North,” with Jessica Lange, in 1988.
First time I was here was January ‘72 for Pasolini’s “Decameron”; even though it was X-rated, I was admitted without any fuss (I was just 17). In April 1981, I saw a Pasolini triple-bill here – Decameron, Canturbury Tales, and Arabian Nights – from the first row of the balcony, which was probably the best seat in the house. In late '84 and early '85, the Festival hosted, over two or three months, a massive festival of French films, most of which had not been released previously. I saw Lelouch’s A Nous Deux and Demy’s Une Chambre en Ville (I wish someone could post the schedule for this!) Last time (I think)I was here was for the awful Godfather Part III, in March of '91.
P.S. I would agree with barrywerks post of 8/21/04 that the first few rows of seats were slanted upward somewhat toward the screen, like the Thalia. I have a distinct memory of that.