Morosco Theatre- Page 4

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 2:22pm

In the top of these three photos , what building is that to the left of the Helen Hayes is it another of these lost beauties?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 4:12pm

It's the top of the Gaiety Theatre (no, not THAT Gaiety Theatre), which spent most of its life as a movie theatre called the Victoria.

EDIT: And you don't see the Fulton/Folies-Bergere/Helen Hayes Theatre in this shot, because the Gaiety was built in 1908 and the Fulton was built around three years later.

Updated On: 12/12/07 at 04:12 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 6:34pm

Thanks Smaxie. So sad. Broadway is all about its history, and it seems like producers don't care about that, just making some money.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 9:46pm

Well, it's also a producer's job to make money. They are not necessarily to blame for the terrible things that happened to Times Square in the 80s.

There are always bad things that happen to cities in the mindset of urban development. Lots of cities destroyed their very fabric with ill-conceived construction and terrible demolition, particularly in the '60s, '70s and '80s. New York City is no exception. Penn Station is the most conspicuous example... tearing down a magnificent building that made you feel like you were being welcomed into the greatest city in the world, to the current complex that makes you feel like you are scurrying in like a rat.

There was a mindset around Times Square in the 70s that if you can't clean up the streets, it was time to knock everything down and start over. Broadway and Seventh Avenue were once lined with an eccentric assortment of low-slung commercial structures, and small office buildings. Now, it's a windy canyon with soulless office buildings with neon signs draped around their ankles, meant to convey the spirit of what was lost. The Marriott Marquis is a particularly horrendous example of mid 80s construction, wrong-headed in design, location, scale, purpose. It just ruins the block, blotting out sunlight, like a hulking grey mass. It's a building with no connection to its neighborhood or immediate surroundings. Once inside, you could literally be anywhere in the United States.

The Marriott was meant to spearhead redevelopment of the Times Square district. But it did so by wrongheadedly taking out three active Broadway theatres, the heart, soul and lifeblood of the neighborhood, even if the theatre district is cleaner, safer and more tourist-friendly than it was. The good that came out of the destruction of the Morosco, Helen Hayes and Bijou is the interior and exterior landmark status now granted to almost all of the surviving vintage playhouses in the area, so that other theatres will not fall to the wrecking ball. But the loss of those theatres, and the blight of the Marriott's physical presence is still a major miscalculation of urban renewal.

Updated On: 12/12/07 at 09:46 PM

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 12:24am

Am I the only one who loves the Marriot Marquis? I think the hotel is sleek and modern (The view at 'The View' restaurant is truly MAGIC), and the newly renovated 8th floor lobby is gorgeous with pillars of water and the gorgeous sushi bar....Not to mention that the theater inside is one of the best on Broadway - sure it's not that attractive, but there's not a bad seat in the house!

[Timmer]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 12:25am

Here is a page with information about the Morosco:

http://www.ibdb.com/venue.aspx?id=1278

Here's a page where you can find some pictures of it:

http://www.ibdb.com/VenueImages.asp?Id=1278

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 10:42am

I just re-read this entire thread which started last year and still find it fascinating. Here are a few random thoughts:

The Studio 54 Theatre opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927. It then turned to legitimate theatre use with ELECTRA, featuring Antoinette Perry(of the Tony Awards). It had a succession of flops and in 1933 it was converted into a nightclub-restaurant called The Casino de Paris. It shifted to other uses through the years. In 1942, CBS acquired it and named it Studio 52(despite its location on 53rd Street, with the auditorium on 54th Street). It remaied a CBS studio until Steve Rubell bought it in 1976 when it was shortly turned into the disco palace, Studio 54. Its last name before the current name was the Ritz Theatre which specialized in rock concerts.

I'm still interested in the Liberty Theatre, with its former entrance on 42nd Street, and with the auditorium on 41st Street. Marona Davies or Smaxie, do you have any current information on the status of this theatre? Is the 42nd Street Hilton Hotel doing any restoration of it as I had been lead to believe by talking to their front desk representative a few years back? When I visited the interior of the theatre many years ago, when the 42nd St. Hilton Hotel was being built, I was struck by its ordinariness. Its dilapidated state may be hiding any distinctive aspects.

With regard to large signs in the Times Square-Theatre district, mention should be made of the sign above the Winter Garden Theatre which has always heralded the show then playing there. It is unique to any NY legitimate theatre.

With regard to large signs in general in this area, mention should be made of the old Camel Cigarette sign, which featured a man blowing smoke(actually steam) from his mouth. It was located on the east side of 7th Avenue around 45th street. Very impressive, as signs go.

Thanks should be given to JayStarr for his photo essays of theatre marquees and interiors of Boston theatres. I look forward to more theatre interior photos from him.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 11:09am

I love the Winter Garden billboard. It used to run the length of the building, but was shortened a few years ago. Here's a photo of the Vargas girl logo for Mexican Hayride going up at the Winter Garden.

Gypsy, I don't think anything is happening with the Liberty, currently. It was going to be used at one point for a Cipriani restaurant space, but I don't think anything happened with that. So for now, the auditorium is just hidden behind a wall when you exit the AMC movie complex.

I was only in the Liberty once, for Fiona Shaw's reading of The Waste Land. The only thing that is really left to the auditorium of any distinction is the proscenium arch, which is very strange and a little frightening looking.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 1:49pm

I wish they would incorporate the Morosco marquee into the Marriot Marquis Theatre's Marquee because the one now just gets lost among all the hub-bub of time's square.

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 7:02pm

Oh, Smaxie, we'd love to see the Mexican Hayride billboard but for some reason it won't display or open!

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 7:04pm

Oh, yes, now it does. Thanx.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 1:07am

BrianIdol i think your on your own. i walk past there tonite and its a true monster!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 7:50pm

While on the subject of what 45th Street used to look like, here is a rare shot of the Klaw (aka the Avon), which stood next to the Imperial. That kinda ugly parking garage and empty lot stands there today. In this photo, the Music Box stage door is on the right, then the Imperial, and then the Klaw on the left.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:02pm

Ooh! And another nifty shot of Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets, where the Marriott now stands. Here again are the Astor and Gaiety (aka Victoria) Theatres.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:08pm

A lovely interior detail from the original Helen Hayes Theatre.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:11pm

A great shot of the Astor Hotel. The Minskoff Theatre and the Minskoff Building (1515 Broadway/Viacom) now stand on this spot.

Updated On: 12/16/07 at 08:11 PM

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:13pm

Wow!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:21pm

Since we're coming up on New Years, let's also remember that this...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:23pm

Used to look like this, before Allied Chemical destroyed the old New York Times building in the 1960s, stripping off all of the exterior.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:30pm

While walking thru Times Square 2day we say the TGIF restaurant on 7th and 46th. The top 3 fllors looked like offices maybe, but, along the top of the building just below roof level was some brick work 'THE SHOW FOLKS SHOE SHOP. DEDICATED TO THE BEST IN FOOTWEAR' Below this on the window pillars were statues of Barrymore, Pickford and many more. Anyone have more info on the history of this site? Stand outside the camera/luggage shop and loop up 7th and you cant miss it! Ive been going to NY for 25 years and never noticed this even tho im someone who is always looking for new spots of interest. x

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:42pm

It was indeed the I. Miller Shoe Store. It's Ethel Barrymore, Mary Pickford and Marilyn Miller, I think.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:49pm

Yep those are the names. Smaxie, thanks so much. dont stop the good work.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:01pm

Here's a good shot of the north side of 42nd Street... with the marquees for the Rialto, Cine42, Victory, Lyric, Apollo, Times Square, Selwyn and down the street, the Harem, a porno theatre that I think caught on fire.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:06pm

I have just found this thread and WOW, what a brilliant thread with so much info, its all kinda sad though (sobs) but fascinating

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:11pm

Here's the Rialto, with its entrance on Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 42nd Streets. It had a brief career as a Broadway theatre in the 80s ... no hits, alas: Caterbury Tales, Musical Chairs, The World of Sholom Aleichem, Blues in the Night, A Reel American Hero and last, but not least, the legendary Marlowe all played there, albeit, briefly. The Reuters building now stands on the spot.

Updated On: 12/16/07 at 09:11 PM