Little Picture House
151 E. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
151 E. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10022
1 person
favorited this theater
The quaintly named theatre was reportedly America’s first “cooperative cinema”, owned and operated by a membership corporation that paid dividends to the shareholders from any profits realized. From its December 25, 1929 opening, The Little Picture House showed only what it considered the best of Hollywood and foreign movies, but always as single features with several short subjects added. Besides individual admissions, patrons could buy tickets in books of ten, which saved them about 15% off the regular price.
The theatre hoped to lure customers from the East Side “carriage trade” and the numerous hotels in the area, especially the still building, 2,200-room Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue. Unfortunately, the advent of the Depression killed any chance of success, and The Little Picture House closed in 1934. It was replaced by stores and eventually by an office building.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
A photo of the lounge of the Little Picture House in New York appeared as part of a portfolio of recent theater designs in the October 25, 1930, issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. It can be seen at the lower right of this page (click + sign in tool bar at bottom to enlarge.) The caption identifies the architects of the house as Pruitt & Brown.
The Little Picture House first opened to the public on Christmas Day, December 25th, 1929, with a press gala two nights earlier. Two news reports have been uploaded to the Photos Section.