Strand Theatre (Manhattan)

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Coordinates: 40°45′34.81″N 73°59′6.96″W / 40.7596694°N 73.9852667°W / 40.7596694; -73.9852667
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Photograph of the Strand Theatre, taken from the corner diagonally opposite
Strand Theatre, June 1914

The Strand Theatre was an early movie palace located at 1579 Broadway,[1] at the northwest corner of 47th Street and Broadway in Times Square, New York City. Opened in 1914, the theater was later known as the Mark Strand Theatre,[2] the Warner Theatre, and the Cinerama Theatre. It closed as the RKO Warner Twin Theatre, and was demolished in 1987.

History

The Strand Theatre was built in 1914 as part of the chain of

Hobart, Tasmania, which was initially intended to be a replica of its New York namesake.[4]

The theatre was under contract and mostly showed films distributed by Paramount Pictures.[5]

In 1928, the Mark Strand became the Warner Strand when

Warner Bros acquired the theatre to showcase its films on Times Square. It was eventually renamed the Warner Theatre in 1951. After closing for renovation in 1952, the theater reopened as the Warner Cinerama Theatre in 1953 with the widescreen film This Is Cinerama (1952). The Warner was the primary New York home of Cinerama films during the remaining years of the 1950s and in 1963 installed an even larger screen to present such 70mm films as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).[citation needed
]

In 1968, the theater was converted into three separate cinemas by RKO Stanley Warner Theatres. The 1,000 seat Warner Cinerama now occupied the original theater's main floor. The 1,200 seat Penthouse Theatre occupied the former balcony and the Cine Orleans was created in the stage house of the old Strand, entered from 47th St. The Cinerama and Penthouse were renamed again in the 1980s as the RKO Warner Twin. The entire building closed on February 8, 1987. It was demolished to make way for the

Morgan Stanley Building, part of the redevelopment of Times Square.[1]

Memorable films that had their New York premieres at the Strand include Captain Blood (1935) starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, "Oliver" (1968), "Huckleberry Finn", "1776" (1972), "Black Beauty", "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), and "Man of La Mancia" (1966).[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Strand Theatre". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  2. ^ "The Stage Door" New York Tribune 1919-10-17:11 col. 7: "All the Strand theaters in the country, which are controlled by the Mitchell [sic] H. Mark Realty Company, will from now on be known as Mark Strand Theatres. There is one in New York at Forty-seventh Street and Broadway."
  3. ^ Reviews of the opening:
  4. ^ McIntyre, Paul (9 November 2015). "The history of Hobart's Odeon Theatre, the 'finest building in Tasmania'". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  5. ^ Terry Ramsaye (January 1925). "The Romantic History of the Motion Picture". Photoplay. p. 120. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  6. ISBN 0-02-860429-6
    .

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Strand Theatre (Manhattan).
Lobby
Stage
Stage
Boxes
Exterior sign
Balcony
View from stage
  • New York Public Library photograph: "Night view".
    NYPL Digital Gallery
    .

40°45′34.81″N 73°59′6.96″W / 40.7596694°N 73.9852667°W / 40.7596694; -73.9852667

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