Loew's State Theatre (New York City)

Photo of the theatre's interior in 1959

Loew's State Theatre was a theatre in New York City, located at 1540 Broadway. Designed by Thomas Lamb in the Adams style,[1] it opened on August 29, 1921 as part of a sixteen-storey office building for the Loew's Theatre's company, with a seating capacity of 3,200[2] and featuring both vaudeville and films. Loew's became the last theatre in Times Square to continue booking vaudeville acts as the genre declined in the 1930s; when it hosted its last vaudeville show on December 23, 1947, sentimental goodbyes were made from the stage in recognition of the end of an era.[3]

In March 1959 the theater completed an $850,000 remodeling that reduced the number of seats from 3,316 to 1,885 but made them wider and increased the space between rows. The proscenium arch also was eliminated and a wide-screen projector was installed to permit the showing of CinemaScope and VistaVision (but not Cinerama) motion pictures. The interior was redecorated using a beige-on-gold palette. The remodeled theater reopened with the premiere of Some Like It Hot, with Marilyn Monroe in attendance.[4]

The theatre held a number of very notable world premieres including The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Some Like It Hot (1959), Ben-Hur (1959), Becket (1964), and The Godfather (1972).[5][6] It closed on February 19, 1987, and it is now the site of the Bertelsmann Building.

References

  1. ↑ "Loew's State Theatre - New York City". Nycago.org. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  2. ↑ Balio, Tino (2018). MGM. Routledge. ISBN 9781317429678.
  3. ↑ Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2006). Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America. Routledge. pp. 696–697. ISBN 9780415938532.
  4. ↑ (1959, March 28). "New Loew's State Reopens Tonight." The New York Times, p. 11.
  5. ↑ "Loew's State Theatre". Cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Arceri, Gene (2009). Rocking Horse - A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton. BearManor Media. ISBN 9781593933210.

Coordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°59′06″W / 40.757815°N 73.984877°W / 40.757815; -73.984877


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