Legit Theaters R I P

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 1:45pm

Below is a list of legit theaters that are no more. My God, to have been in New York in the 30's & 40's

1. Abbott ( a/k/a 54 th St & Adelphi)
2. Casino
3. Century
4. Comedy
5. Earl Carroll
6. Empire
7. 48 th St
8. 44 th St
9. Gaiety
10.George M Cohan
11.Sam H Harris
12.Hippodrome
13.International
14.Knickerbocker
15.Liberty
16.Lyric
17.Maxine Elliott's
18.Playhouse
19.Princess
20.Republic
21.Selwyn
22.39 th St
23.Times Square
24.Vanderbilt
25.Victoria
26.Wallacks
27.Ziegfeld

Updated On: 2/7/04 at 01:45 PM

[bially082]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 5:59pm

Where did you get all that information? Thats quite a list?

[magruder]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 6:11pm

Several of those theatres are still with us, and two are in operation.

The Republic is the present New Victory.
The Selwyn is the present American Airlines.
The Times Square is still standing, empty, without a determined fate.
The Liberty also still exists, although I doubt we'll ever see it in operation again. (The auditorium is behind a blank wall in that space where that 42nd Street food court used to be).

[localonecrew]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 7:01pm

i worked at the princess on 2 shows. it was a fun little house

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 7:04pm

The Princess? That was a while ago when it was razed, wasn't it? Home to the Princess musicals and The Garrick Gaities.

I'm impressed Local One. You and OnceADancer are our treasured links to the theatre history.

Bulldog

[magruder]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 7:09pm

Well, there are two demolished Broadway theatres that went by the name Princess. The famous one of Jerome Kern musicals fame was on 39th Street, and was demolished in the 1950s. In the 1980s, a rather bizarre Broadway theatre opened in the former Latin Quarter on 48th Street, where the Hotel Renaissance now stands. It opened its doors as the 22 Steps (because of the number of steps it took to get to the auditorium), and was later known as the Princess Theatre and finally, the Latin Quarter again, before it closed for good to make way for the hotel. I was thinking Local One must be referring to the 48th Street Princess...

[Corine2]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 7:18pm

Thanks Macgruder,
Great info.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/7/04 at 8:27pm

Hm. Interesting thought Magruder. Let's see what Local One says. If it was The Princess Local One should be 75 to 85/90, and that's possible.

Does anyone else recall when they discovered the Earl Carroll behind Woolworth's on 7th & 50th, during the very late 80's? I"m sure you do Rox. There was an article in The Times. Very spooky.

I once completed a self-made walking tour of Manhattan visiting sites of former theatres. Accomplished it over several Sundays but hit them all from the Battery to The Century on CPW.

It's all very fascinating to me and wonderfully ghostly. It is a terrible shame that American capitalism has no respect for history, to wit the Morosco and the Helen Hayes who were the last to go as I recall.

Bulldog

[alterego]

Posted: 2/8/04 at 12:25am

An excellent book on this topic (with lots of interior/exterior photos)...

LOST BROADWAY THEATRES by Nicholas Van Hoogstraten. (Princeton Architectural Press).

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/8/04 at 10:15am

I have it & the book is great

As a postscript, below is a list of lost picture palaces in & around Times Square. Times Square is theater & these theaters were there so they deserve a mention

1. Roxy - The Cathedral of the Motion Picture
2. Paramount
3. Loew's Capitol
4. Loew's State
5. Mark Strand
6. Rivoli
7. Criterion

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/8/04 at 10:56am

isn't the gaeitey now more of a "gay"-ity on 42nd Street?

[magruder]

Posted: 2/8/04 at 11:11am

Different Gaiety. There was a legit theatre named the Gaiety that stood at the corner of Broadway and 46th Street (where the Marriott now stands), and was next door to the original spectacular Helen Hayes Theatre, which was also demolished to build the Marriott. The Gaiety housed shows for about 25 years, but spent most of its life as a movie theatre named the Victoria.

Interesting little detail down the street. The restaruant McHales at the corner of 46th and 8th must have been named Gaiety at some point, probably in honor of the theatre. The restaurant still has some frosted glass windows that say 'Gaiety' and they look vaguely late 20s/early 30s.