It's weird to me that a complete theater is just situated back there. You'd think a non-profit with some extra cash (maybe Lincoln Center?) would try to spruce it up. Actually the smallish theater might work well for Lincoln Center since most of the plays it produces in a Broadway house are normally plays.
Sorry! yea its a board for the show at the Majestic. 'Charles Strouse covers 'Golden Boy' very well in his book 'Put On a Happy Face' - worth reading if have time. it comes across as show he wouldn't want to stage again in a hurry.
There is very little stage area left after all the chopping around when it was divided, first into 2 then 3 cinemas. It was a very bad job with very bad sight lines in all three of the auditoriums. A company like Lincoln Centre or Roundabout would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to make one decent theatre out of the mess thats there. This theatre will either return as full size house or be demolished- the latter getting more and more likely.
The theater opened 1/1/1910 & was called the Columbia It was designed by an architect called Mc Elfatrick. He mostly designed opera houses. In 1930, it was renovated by Thomas Lamb.The house is art deco & the seating capacity was 1735. It could be a big broadway house but it will never happen .
The Hippodeome was huge. They used to stage huge shows like a reenactment of civil war battles & water shows as the stage opened up & there were, I believe , 3 separate pools. It was a consistent money loser. The office building is simply named the Hippodrome.
We still have our Hippodrome in London and that staged the same kind of spectaculars with polar bears, sinking ships etc etc. It still stands but is no longer a theatre. It now houses a burlesque show until next year when it gets converted to a casino
The Criterion opened Sept 1936 & was for a while a Loews theater. It finished its life as part of the United Artists chain. The seating was almost 1700. It stood on the original site of the Olympia
Some of the big pictures that played there were:
1.South Pacific 2.Funny Girl 3.Lawrence Of Arabia 4.My Fair Lady 5.Patton
Smaxie, you made me very happy, too Amazing display, and THANKS for the memories! Wow, those prices were really something, indeed, Mr. Roxy =O I don't know what you could get for that price, nowdays. Not even one foot (toe?) into a Broadway theater Updated On: 11/23/08 at 07:16 PM