Theatre Names

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 6/27/03 at 11:36pm

Would anyone else be offended if a theatre named after them is changed......or are most people dead when they change it? The theatre where man of la mancha is playing changed.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 6/27/03 at 11:38pm

Yes, but Martin Beck and Al Hirscfeld are dead.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 6:45am

The following theaters have had their name changed:

1. Uris - Now The Gershwin
2. Alvin - Now the Neil Simon
3. 46 th st - Now Richard Rodgers
4. Little Theater - Now Helen Hayes (There was one in between)
5. Martin Beck - Al Hirschfeld
6. Ehrlanger - Now the St James
7. Mansfield - Now the Brooks Atkinson

Many of the broadway theaters not listed here started out life under a different name. There are only so many theaters so eventually they will change another theaters name when they need to

My question is "Who is Alvin" ?

[magruder]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 7:24am

ALex Aarons and VINton Freedley, theatrical producers who built the ALVIN and combined their names for its name.

As for others:

The Walter Kerr was originally the Ritz.

The Virginia (named for Jujamcyn's Virginia Binger) was originally the Guild and then the ANTA.

The Lunt-Fontanne was originally the Globe.

The Little Theatre/Helen Hayes was also the Nora Bayes.

The 'American Airlines' was the Selwyn.

The Belasco was originally the Stuyvesant.

The Nederlander was originally the National, the Billy Rose and the Trafalgar.

The Apollo and Lyric Theatres became the reconstituted Ford Center.

The Eugene O'Neill was also the Forrest and the Coronet.

The demolished Helen Hayes Theatre on West 46th Street was also the Folies-Bergere and the Fulton.

The demolished George Abbott Theatre on West 54th Street was also the Craig, Adelphi and 54th Street.

The demolished Harris Theatre on 42nd Street was originally the Candler.

The current Ed Sullivan Theatre was originally the Hammerstein.

And the grand champion of name changes (thanks to IBDB for this one), Studio 54 has variously been known as: Gallo Opera House, New Yorker Theatre, Casino de Paris, Palladium Theatre, Federal Music Theatre, New Yorker Theatre, CBS Radio Playhouse, CBS Studio No. 52 and Studio 54

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 10:56am

WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT IBDB?!?!

[Butch2]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 11:09am

Fill up the message boards with a lot of posts?

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 11:11am

LOL!

[Alvin and My Sheepdog Rex]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 1:47pm

Who is Alvin? I am Alvin!

And if if I had to lose the name of my theatre to someone, it's a honor that it was Neil Simon.

[Phantom05]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 1:52pm

I wish that they would have kept several of those really cool looking old theatres from the 20's and 30's, instead of demolishing them, I always like seeing poictures of them, they look so neat!!!

Phantom05

[magruder]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 2:04pm

The biggest two losses as far as MAJOR theatrical architecture, were the Earl Carroll Theatre (which stood at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue) and the REAL Ziegfeld Theatre (which was on 54th Street near Sixth Avenue and is not to be confused with the movie theatre of the same name that stands near, but not on that site). The Earl Carroll was an art deco masterpiece. The Ziegfeld had the shapeliest facade of any Broadway theatre (Robin Wagner paid tribute to it in Crazy for You: the design of the Zangler Theatre was a facsimile of the Ziegfeld facade) and had those magnificent Joseph Urban murals inside that seem Klimt-influenced? Perhaps someone else can shed more light on these two lost houses.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 4:15pm

To Phantom 05, let me know where you are located & I should be able to tell you where your nearest Movie Palace is although it probably no longer shows movies.

To Magruder - I beg to differ with you re a theater being architecturally unique. The theaters below were really momumental losses when they were demolished:

1.Paramount - NYC
2.Roxy - NYC
2.Loews 72nd St- NYC
4.Loew Triboro - Astoria NY
5.Fox Theater - Brooklyn
6.Paramount - Brooklyn NY - Building still up but mostly gutted.

As far as the Earl Carroll, it was right across the street from the Roxy - For years , it was intact above a false ceiling in a Woolworths Dept Store. It went down when Woolworths building was demolised

The Ziegfield was designed by noted theater architect Thomas Lamb. I believe the last show that played there was either the Bert Lahr musical "Foxy" or "Anya" - For years after that, it was a television studio for NBC when games shows were done in NYC. It came down when NBC no longer needed it & it became apparent it was too far from Broadway to make it commercially viable again. It was torn down & replaced by an office building which for a period was Burlington Industries & The Mill

Updated On: 6/28/03 at 04:15 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 8:42pm

I wasn't really focusing on the movie palaces, more the great Broadway theatres that have been lost. But several you mentioned, Mr. Roxy, were indeed spectacular.

And I believe the entirety of the Ziegfeld was designed by Joseph Urban, but I could be wrong. I'll do some online research...

[magruder]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 8:44pm

How do you like that. We were both correct. Here's the info from IBDB.

Ziegfeld Theatre
6th Avenue at 54th St., New York, NY

Florenz Ziegfeld built, financed by William Randolph Hearst. and designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas A. Lamb. It became a movie house in 1933 until Billy Rose bought it in 1944 and returned it to legit theatre for 11 years. In 1955, NBC used the theatre as television studio until 1963. Then live entertainment returned until 1967 wthen it was razed for a skyscraper.

Anya was the last tenant.

[Phantom05]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 8:47pm

I do remember seeing pictures of the old Paramount Theatre, that was an AWESOME theatre!!! I wish that it was still around!!! Just out of curiostity, what is the oldest theatre on Broadway that is still standing today?

[CJR]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 8:48pm

The Times Square Church used to be the Mark Hellinger (sp?) Theatre... coincidentally, it was also where the inner-theatre shots of the A Chorus Line Movie were done :)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/28/03 at 8:51pm

To Theater 05

The oldest theater is I believe the Lyceum designed by Herts & Tallant who also designed the New Amsterdam which opened in 1903 or therabout. The Lyceum was before that.

Updated On: 6/28/03 at 08:51 PM