General question regarding theatres that were razed for the MarriottMarquis

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 4:57pm

I didn't realize that a total of 5 theatre's were razed in order to build the Marriott Marquis. As I was still in high school when the demolition took place, the details are sketchy to me. I also remember walking by and seeing the stage of the Helen Hayes Theatre still intact, but nothing else, and how sad it made me feel.

My question: How is it that those theatre's were not protected for historical significance (my mind is drawing a blank about the correct term). Wasn't that Jackie Kennedy's point in order to save Grand Central Station?

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 04:57 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:01pm

Those theatres -- The Morosco, The Helen Hayes, The Astor, the Bijou and The Gaiety -- unfortunately were not landmarked, but their demolition led to a movement that resulted in the landmarking of nearly every one of the remaining Broadway theatres.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:04pm

Thanks, Margo. Landmark is the word I was looking for.

It also makes me think of theatre's that were demolished before those, especially the former Metropolitan Opera House (which I hear was gorgeous). It just makes me wonder, "what were people thinking".

[pianoman215]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:04pm

I can't speak to the other 4 theatres in Margo's post, but The Gaity to my knowledge, over Howard Johnson's, wasn't razed to make way for The Marquis. It only just closed. Was there an original Gaity theatre that moved over Hojo's?
Updated On: 4/25/06 at 05:04 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:06pm

I think there was another Gaiety (according it IBDB).

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:24pm

This is the Gaiety Theatre that Margo is talking about. It spent most of its life as a movie theatre called the Victoria. It was very near the demolished Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway and the south side of West 46th Street.

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 05:24 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:27pm

Joe Papp and a few others went and protested the destruction. I think they were arrested for it.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:47pm

Yes, I was NOT referrring to the little hustler stripper joint over HoJo's that recently closed and also happened to have the name The Gaiety. Sheesh.

Unlike what happened to these Broadway houses, The Metropolitan demolished its own theatre once it's Lincoln Center home was completed. They took out their photos and paintings and costumes and sold the site to a developer who turned it into parking deck and office buildings. Friends who used to go to the original Met back in the early 60s describe it as having been a real jewel with flawless acoustics. Too bad.

I still remember Papp, Colleen Dewhurst, Tammy Grimes, Estelle Parsons, Susan Sarandon, Tony Randall and several others chaining themselves to the front of Morosco etc.... challenging the bulldozers. Yes, they were arrested -- it was quite a sight.

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 05:47 PM

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:48pm

Where's ROXY!?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:51pm

From the New York Times

Published: March 23, 1982

Demolition of the Morosco and Helen Hayes Theaters began yesterday after the United States Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay and removed the last major impediment to construction of the 50-story Portman Hotel in the Times Square area.

The high court's order was handed down shortly after 10 A.M. but about 170 demonstrators prevented work crews from beginning demolition work immediately. The protesters, including some prominent Broadway performers, demonstrated in an empty lot adjoining the Morosco on West 45th Street.

By prior arrangement with the police, they were arrested and taken away in 13 police vans. Just after 2 P.M., a huge hydraulic backhoe, with the name Godzilla on its side, thrust its steel jaws into the remaining wall of the Bijou, a theater that until two weeks ago had stood next to the Morosco, and pulled it down. Then, while the crowd shouted 'Don't do it! Don't do it!' the machine bit into the east wall of the Morosco and tore out a gaping hole.

Dust in Their Eyes

Some spectators wept openly even before the brisk March wind whipped the cloud of brick dust into their eyes. By late afternoon most of the demolition work at the Morosco had been completed. Work also was begun on tearing down the Helen Hayes Theater.

The Supreme Court stay was granted last week at the request of environmental groups and others seeking a review of a lower court ruling that demolition could proceed. Yesterday's order concluded a long legal battle through state and Federal courts but did not completely end the controversy over the proposed hotel.
______________________________________________________________

By 9:30 A.M. yesterday, nearly 1,000 demonstrators had gathered around a portable stage on West 45th Street to hear cast members of several Broadway shows and a succession of well-known performers, including Jose Ferrer, Celeste Holm, Tammy Grimes, Treat Williams, Colleen Dewhurst and Estelle Parsons, plead that the theaters be saved. At 10:45, the producer Joseph Papp announced that the protest was in vain. 'I'll tell you frankly,' his voice boomed out of the loudspeakers, 'these theaters are going to come down. The Supreme Court has lifted the stay.'

A groan rose from the crowd but the succession of speakers continued. The actor Christopher Reeve said, 'Even if they win today we must never forget how we feel here.'

'It's increasingly a battle between artists and technology,' he continued. 'We have to band together to insure that New York never becomes another Pittsburgh or Seattle or Houston.'

Mr. Papp announced that anyone willing to carry his protest to the point of being arrested should assemble in the empty lot adjoining the Morosco where the Bijou had stood. About 170 protesters assembled in the lot. According to the plan worked out in advance, they were asked by the police to leave. When they refused, they were escorted into a line of police vans and driven away.

Among those arrested were Miss Dewhurst, Miss Grimes, Mr. Williams, Mr. Papp, Miss Parsons, Miss Holm, the actress Susan Sarandon and the actor Michael Moriarty.

On the south side of 45th Street, behind police barriers, a bagpipe wailed and the remaining spectators chanted 'Shame on Koch!' Mayor Koch has given firm support to the Portman project.

The arrested demonstrators were taken to the Midtown North precinct station house on West 54th Street, where they were issued summonses for trespassing and released pending court appearances next month. Later, many of them, singing and chanting 'Shame on Koch,' marched back down Eighth Avenue to 45th Street, their pink summonses pinned to hats or lapels. 'Free the Morosco 200'

Soon thereafter, placards appeared along 45th Street that read: 'Free the Morosco 200.' Performers continued to sing and play on the portable stage through the afternoon while the demolition crews worked behind police barriers across the street.

It was the end of a two-week protest in which actors did marathon readings of famous plays that had been presented in the two theaters. For Mr. Papp, the confrontation was less successful than his last well-publicized fight with authorities. In that episode, two decades ago, he won the right to produce plays in Central Park over the bitter opposition of the Parks Commissioner at that time, Robert Moses.

Mayor Koch, the subject of much of the protesters' ire, was out of the city yesterday. But Herbert J. Sturz, chairman of the City Planning Commission, took note of those who mourned the loss of two famous legitimate theaters. Through an aide, he said, 'Now that the demolition has taken place, it's time to focus on the future and pivotal role of this project in the rejuvenation of Times Square and the Broadway theater district in general.'

He said the planned redevelopment of 42d Street would return eight theaters to legitimate use and that the proposed midtown rezoning plan 'would encourage the preservation of 44 legitimate Broadway theaters.'

In its ruling, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from environmentalists and entertainment unions that wanted to block demolition until the high court could hear a full-scale appeal.

The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, last week refused to review another suit designed to halt demolition of the two theaters."

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 05:51 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 5:57pm

Thanks, Margo.

Regarding the old Metropolitan Opera House, it's a shame, because they just to build halls like that anymore (especially with great acoustics).

Updated On: 4/25/06 at 05:57 PM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:39am

Of the five houses lost, the best by far was the Morosco. Great sightlines and acoustically perfect.

Every play that came into town wanted the Morosco.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:45am

It should be stated that the Met still has perhaps the best acoustics of any theatre in this country.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:51am

Thanks for the article Margo. That would have been a sight to see. Needless to say, it really shows the true dedication and love these people have for the theatre.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 10:36am

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing the article.