Morosco & Helen Hayes Theaters

[whh2125]

Posted: 8/6/17 at 5:56pm

Hi all -- I'm a graduate student up at Columbia University, and am currently researching a project about the fight to save the Helen Hayes and Morosco Theaters. I'm looking to speak with folks who were involved in that effort, however casually. Did you attend any of the rallies? Did you volunteer with Equity? Were you there when the theaters came down? If so, I hope you'll reach out -- I'm eager to hear whatever you remember. Please feel free to shoot me an email at [e-mail] ... and thanks in advance!

-Harrison

[Malinda5000]

Posted: 8/6/17 at 6:23pm

Well ... although I was NOT part of any rallies to save the razed theatres, I do remember all the hoo haa that was going on back then.    I used to be an usher at the Lunt-Fontanne in the late 70s and early 80s and the Helen Hayes theatre was directly across from the Lunt.   Anyways..."Sophisticated Ladies" was playing at my theatre (the Lunt) and at curtain call the actors would try and raise money and bring awareness to save the theatres and stop the God awful Marriott Hotel from being built..  I would also clean the 46 Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers) on Wednesdays and Saturdays (between shows) "Nine" the original production was playing then...and the cast would also do the curtain call speech to save the theatres...but as we all know to no avail.   Just a note that may not have anything to do with your question...but Broadway was magical  back in those days...and I remember those marches and actors picketing to save the Helen Hayes. Morosco...and Bijou from being torn down.    by the way...the Morosco ...although a legendary theatre...was  a mess inside by 1981-1982....I worked there in the 1970s in one of the last few shows to play there.   The seats were torn, the carpet was stained, the paint was chipped...but they still could have saved it.

I hope this helped.    

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/6/17 at 8:42pm

There is some other chat that focuses on this a lot.  You may want to check it out.  Per the state of the Morosco, I remember hating to go to that theatre (which had a lot of great shows in the interval between my starting to attend the theatre regularly and its being torn down) because it was a real dump.  I actually doubt that it was ever nice, since it was a drab space that just happened to be in the perfect location.  I was never at the Bijou, but I LOVED the Helen Hayes.  To me, it was almost perfect, my only complaint being that it had a really tiny orchestra level lobby; the auditorium itself was a jewel box.

When they were torn down, I have to admit that I only lamented the Hayes; and, although I do not love the Marriott, I do absolutely believe that the Marriott was one of the key contributing factors to the revitalization of the Times Square / Theatre District, which was really in seriously depressing shape at the time.

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/7/17 at 2:17pm

I have vivid memories of how strongly emotions ran at this time.  I was in my early 20s.  I'd been attending the theatre for around 12 years and had seen a few plays at the Morosco, the last being Hugh Leonard's A Life, and a few less at the Helen Hayes. My most vivid memory of the Hayes is of the first non-musical piece I ever saw, Hadrian VII, which featured a remarkable lead performance by Alec McCowen.  Amazingly I re-read the play a couple of years ago and was surprised by how much of it I remembered.  It left quite an impression.  

Anyway, my impression in that time period was that those two theatres were the premier theatres for non-musicals (although the Hayes hosted The Me Nobody Knows in the early 70s). Though the area around them had deteriorated, with the Astor and Victoria movie theatres having shuttered some time before, it was still a shock to hear that the Morosco and Helen Hayes were to be demolished.  I attended many rallies, and many people from the theatre community gave impassioned speeches in Shubert Alley, just across from the Morosco.  At one point I remember Christopher Reeve and Treat Williams joined by two actresses I do not recall reading through Tennessee Williams' Period of Adjustment, which had played the Hayes..  Other plays were read as well, and many actors participated.  I remember Glenn Close being one of them, although I could not tell you what she read.  I vividly remember Colleen Dewhurst, who had memorably played the Morosco in A Moon For The Misbegotten, speaking passionately against the demolition.  

There were many protestors there day after day, and many actors speaking or reading from plays that had played the two theatres, but it was all to no avail.  

What I most remember was the defiant act of the new owners in smashing a hole into the side of the Morosco (after the surrounding buildings, which included smaller theatres, had been destroyed, as if to throw into everyone's face the fact that nothing was going to sway them.  It stood there like that, with a gaping hole in its easternmost wall, and it brought back eerie memories of Follies (although the Morosco was not in any way the glamorous palace the Weissman had been) until the wrecking ball took it down.

I miss those two theatres to this day.  Maybe they woke us all up to how hard we had to fight to honor our legacy.  There has been no talk of any such demolitions since, has there?

Interestingly, within the prior twelve years two long-standing Broadway houses were demolished without any protest that I know of (I could easily have not been aware if there had been).  The Playhouse on the north side of 48th Street just West of 6th Ave, directly across from The Cort, made way for another 6th Avenue skyscraper in the late 60s, and the George Abbott Theatre on 6th Avenue and 54th Street went down in the mid-70s after housing too many flop musicals.  Perhaps their off-the-beaten-path locations made their destructions less upsetting?  In any event, the exterior of The Playhouse can be viewed in Mel Brooks' original film of The Producers (I believe the interior of the theatre is used as well), and exterior photos of the Abbott (once the 54th Street Theater) reveal it to have been a grand, old-style palace.

It always struck me as unfair that Mr. Abbott and Helen Hayes saw the houses named after them torn down.  Hayes, at least, lived long enough to see The Little Theatre renamed for her.

Updated On: 8/7/17 at 02:17 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/7/17 at 3:29pm

It's still amazing to me that that one theater stands empty on 42nd street. That has to be some prime real estate, and it just sits there. Surely they can figure out a way to make it work? 

Also, someone posted an article, I think it's old, about finding pieces of a theater underneath the big Toys R US building. That sounds amazing, and wish we still had that. 

Doesn't seem like we'll be getting any new houses anytime soon, which sucks. The lot next to the Imperial, again, seems like prime real estate for something. 

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/7/17 at 3:41pm

Yes, The Olympia Theatre.  Nothing recognizable as a theatre seems to remain: http://www.playbill.com/article/see-more-pics-of-old-theatre-found-beneath-times-square-toys-r-us

[whh2125]

Posted: 8/7/17 at 9:19pm

Thanks, everyone for posting -- great to hear all you remember, and if there's anyone else out there, I hope you'll get in touch! ([e-mail])