Times Square Theatre/ Marc Ecko Store- Page 2

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 2:58pm

It makes me so angry to see all these beautiful theaters torn down, decaying, and being converted to other uses. Bring these treausres back to legitimate use!

Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:23pm

Is the Candler being turned into the new Ripley's Believe It Or Not?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 2:58pm

The Candler (also known as the Harris) was torn down. The Ripley's is in the space that was formerly the Liberty.

[Justin D]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 4:15pm

I thought it was Mme Tousauds that went into the candler, or liberty, either way something is taking up those 2 spots on 41st st. I'll have to check that book i have on times swuare that has drawings of the area and what is taking up what.

also, that AMC empire, I assume when they moved it it was basically just the front of house they moved? I;ve never been inside to see how much of the interiur look they kept, the sketches made it look like they were going to keep the look of the auditorium and proscenium for the lobby area.

[Justin D]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 7:15pm

looking at the re dev. porject map from 2001, the candler/harris thratre is now mme. tousauds. it has the liberty listed as the site for a new hilton (as far as i know there is no hilton there today, was the liberty theatre finally torn down?

it also would have lost its 42nd st. entrance, but it is a good size theatre, inside is similar to the shubert.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/21/07 at 12:49am

Once again, the Candler/Harris Theatre was the one that was demolished, and the space where the auditorium stood is now occupied by Madame Tussaud's. The entrance to the Candler/Harris was on 42nd Street on the right hand side of the Candler office building, which still stands, but the auditorium itself was knocked down in the mid '90s.

The Liberty's 42nd Street facade still stands (although it is covered with signage), and the auditorium, which was mostly located on 41st Street, is still with us, but appears to be incorporated into the new Ripley's Museum. Actually, the Liberty's interior was not like the Shubert. It really didn't look quite like any other theatre.

[myManCape]

Posted: 6/21/07 at 12:58am

The Liberty currently houses an internet checking location. The facade is visible under the signage.

The Harris was torn down in 1996. Madame Tussaud's now stands on the site, but uses none of its features.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:23pm

any news on the Marc Ecko store? I'm so sick of seeing that big banner coverint the facade....

also...any news on what will become of the old Howard-Johnson landplot on 46th and B'way (next to Little Mermaid)????

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:29pm

Everything still status quo with the Mark Ecko store. Nothing new seems to be going on there. Must be the same construction company working on the new TKTS booth.

I think I recall reading that a retail structure of limited height will be going up on Howard Johnson's site.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 10:49pm

When they moved The Empire they moved the auditorium also. The auditorium is now the main lobby to the complex above and behind. Its a great place and is well preserved.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 10:52pm

Well the Eltinge/Empire auditorium was ransacked and pillaged over the years. There's just a little bit of the original mural still left, and some very bad and cheap looking attempt at recreating some of the relief work.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 11:00pm

Are there any other theatres hidden in the theatre district that could possibly be restored other than the Times Square Theater and the Liberty?

[MaronaDavies]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 2:45am

The Liberty auditorium hasn't been touched or incorporated into anything else at all. On the map below, you can see how everything has been built around it. Ripley's is where the Easy Internet Cafe used to be; Tussaud's is in front of it. The only things from the Liberty that have been taken away are the lobbies, etc. The Liberty auditorium apparently has a very high preservation requirement and cannot be demolished.

http://www.new42.org/MapOfNew42ndStreet.pdf
Interview with New 42nd Street: http://www.nytheatre-wire.com/ab00123t.htm

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 7:31am

>Are there any other theatres hidden in the theatre district that could possibly be restored other than the Times Square Theater and the Liberty?<

The Hudson (44th Street, East of Broadway) is used as a convention center for the Millenium Hotel, but is absolutely gorgeous. I think I read here that it has very limited wing space. But boy would I like to see a play in there again someday.

The Mark Hellinger (West 51st Street), currently the Times Square Church and often discussed here, could return to being a theatre in a heartbeat, and is a much needed large musical house. It's in positively superb condition.

Hammerstein's (Broadway and 54th Street) had a very brief career as a legit house and has spent most of its life as the Ed Sullivan Theatre, with its stained glass interior covered over by paint and panels. I've wondered what may happen to it when Letterman is finished, but CBS has owned it for so long, that I doubt they would ever relinquish it.

The Diamond Horseshoe (West 46th Street), an intimate nightclub/theatre in the basement of the Paramount Hotel, spent a bit of time in the 60s, 70s and early 80s as a Broadway theatre called the Century. It is apparently still there and not used.

The Edison (West 47th Street) is now used as the Supper Club. After Oh, Calcutta ended its long run there, it found trouble attracting tenants and was converted into a nightclub.

The Mayfair/De Mille/Embassy 345 is a boarded up former movie theatre on Seventh Avenue near 47th Street. It was once used as a vaudeville house, but I have no idea if it still has a stage, fly space, etc.

I think that's everything.

Posted: 12/12/07 at 11:41am

Didn't the building that house's the Scientologists on 46th Street next to the Paramount Hotel used to be a theatre?

Also doesn't the facade of the entrance to the Edison hotel on 46th Street look like it was once a theatre?

There is also a theatre on the ROOF of the New Amsterdam which I would LOVE to see!!!

[Smaxie]

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

>Also doesn't the facade of the entrance to the Edison hotel on 46th Street look like it was once a theatre?<

I haven't really felt so.

>Didn't the building that house's the Scientologists on 46th Street next to the Paramount Hotel used to be a theatre?<

I think that building was once a hotel, and had a small theatre in it at one time, but it wasn't a Broadway house.

>There is also a theatre on the ROOF of the New Amsterdam which I would LOVE to see!!!<

The New Amsterdam roof theatre is stripped to the walls and used for storage. Nothing to see up there.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 12:05pm

Found a picture of the Scientology Building's past. It was once called the Hotel Sharon. Here is a photo of it.

Posted: 12/12/07 at 12:47pm

Thanks Samxie. I mean the facade on the 46th Street side of the Hotel Edison. It looks like a very small theatre could have once been there.

I also thought Disney had plans for the new Amsterdam roof. I'll have to look at the book I have at home about the new Amsterdam and see what it says...I had no idea it was stripped bare.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 12:53pm

Yes, I know you mean the red brick front on the 46th Street side of the hotel. It's too low key, I think, to look like the entrance to a theatre.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 12:30pm

Years ago when the New Amsterdam Theatre was being rebuilt/refurbished, the construction foreman invited me to go on a tour of the work in progress. We started at the Roof Theatre where Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolics used to take place. As Smaxie has already said, the roof theatre has been completely gutted, with the stage area being evident but with nothing else being present. Incidentally, during the period when the New Amsterdam was a movie grind house, the roof theatre was used as a rehearsal space for upcoming Broadway shows. For example, the original production of GYPSY had auditions there. In a biography of Ethel Merman, there is a description of how very nervous Jack Klugman was at his audition. Merman, trying to calm him down, said "You do the acting and I'll do the singing, and we'll get through this together," and she sang very softly for their brief duet.

When the Nederlander's owned the theatre, they allowed the roof of the New Amsterdam to deteriorate to the point that rain was coming in, further making the roof theatre unusable. Then Disney came along to solve that problem. The rest is history.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 1:33pm

The New Amsterdam Roof Theatre was the original intended house for Peter Brook's La Tragedie de Carmen in 1984. In prep work for that production, it was discovered that metal beams in the structure were severely rotted, and the space deemed too potentially unsafe to house the production, which ended up going to the Vivian Beaumont. The Nederlander Organization's neglect of the roof did more than make the Roof Theatre unusable. It caused severe flooding in the main theatre over a period of something like four years, ruining it to the point of almost no return. (Prior to the Nederlander ownership, the interior had gotten worn from misuse and the boxes had been removed, but the damage caused by the Nederlander Organization's negligence was far worse than anything that had happened to it in the theatre's 50 years as a grind movie house.) Say what you want about Disney, the restoration of the New Amsterdam was nothing short of miracle work.

[winston89]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 2:05pm

My ex girlfrien's brother ( this was when we were daiting) was a stagehand at the New Amsterdam. She knew that I am into theatre and got him to give me a behind the scenese tour of the new amsterdam.

He took me to the upstairs theatre. That place is nothing more then the unoffical storage space for Disney on broadway. I saw lots of stuff there from peices of the Beast's costume to headpeaces from the Lion King. He told me that they kept those there because they didn't fit any of the actors that were currently playing the roles. But, at some point they might need them and it is cheaper then making a new one.

[MaronaDavies]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 3:38pm

I had also heard that one of the issues with returning the roof theatre at the New Am to use as a theatre was that even if it was completely renovated and restored, there was no way to bring it up to current fire codes/provide enough exits for the audience.

I've heard all about its condition from a number of people, but I'd still love to see it someday.
Updated On: 12/13/07 at 03:38 PM

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 5:32pm

This is so interesting. I love architecture and abandoned spaces; I wish there was a way to view all of these old, closed theatres. (I also can't wait for the MTA to hold another walking tour of abandoned subway stations; enthralling!)

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 6:17pm

Are there any pictures of the upstairs theatre at the New Amsterdam Theatre?