Bruce, claude... The "art house" on 42nd street back in the day was called the Apollo. I used to go there late at night, after doing my college homework, and see double bills of old Ingmar Bergman movies, like THE NAKED NIGHT and MONIKA. It was a "grind house'..just kept repeating the shows all day and all night. The Theater is still there but It has been converted into a legitimate playhouse now, under a different name, repudiating its somewhat unsavory past. So has the theater next door, the Victory.
Across the street is the New Amsterdam , which was originally used as a legit theater for the Ziegfeld Follies. When I was in college, it had fallen into disrepair and was just another grind house showing third-run American movies and exploitation films...but signs of its former glory were still visible. After almost falling apart, the theater was beautifully restored and the musical version of THE LION KING was installed there. I think disney put up a lot of the money for the restoration, as they did in LA for the El Capitan. Around 1960, i once went down to the penny arcade on the corner of 42nd St. and Broadway to see the flea circus. Yes, it was a real flea circus (HUBERT'S FLEA CIRCUS) where the guy had put thin-stretched strands of gold wire around the necks of these tiny fleas, which he kept in a box filled with cotton wadding. he could pick them up by the wire, and then attach them to toy chariots to stage a chariot race, or turn them upside down and place balsa wood balls on their legs to stage a 'who can kick the ball farthest" contest. he also had cut out tiny paper triangular costumes in different colors and placed one over each flea. the fleas wold then naturally start to jump, and the costumes would wriggle, which, when set to music, became 'the dancing fleas". The cost for this never-to-be-forgotten display of weirdness? One quarter! Ah, New York, New York. I'm with Claude...a total New York-o-phile. but I had to move to LA in 1976, and I have to admit it's pretty nice there, too...Academy screening are one of the nicest things about life here. ciao for now... Richard Richard Del Belso Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:32:37 -0400 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] NEW YORK THEATERS To: [email protected] In the 70's there were a huge amount of those theaters and peep shows in that area. This went from 8th Ave to 6th Ave and from 40th St to 50th St. There were also a huge amount of street walkers hanging around all the theaters and they were very dangerous if you were not polite. I remember when one man was approached and instead of saying "no thanks" called her a whore. She stabbed him right in broad daylight. In my college years I went to a theater on 86th St. where they only showed films in German. I used to go on Fridays when classes ended early. 86th St. was known as Germantown. We went to a famous German restaurant there when I graduated from law school. I don't recall the name. The real estate boom also killed the area and the developers moved in. Today it hardly exists. This is a part of town that I really miss. Claude In a message dated 6/20/2009 9:21:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: In my youth they would still show some classic movies in the falling down Times Square theaters. I think the admission was like $1.75. I remember once I went to some classic movie, and a scary guy was hanging by the ticket booth. I gave $2 to the ticket taker, and was handed a quarter back, and the scary guy said, "Give me the quarter". I just kept walking and he said, "Give me the quarter or I'll kill you"! I kept walking, and he said, "I am going to wait right here, and whenever you come out, I will kill you." I went in and watched the movie, and the whole time I kept thinking of that guy. When it was over I went out, and he was nowhere to be seen. If that was the present day, I would give him the quarter! Bruce On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 7:47 AM, Claude Litton <[email protected]> wrote: I have seen them all since I was 17 years old. I went to college and law school in New York City and have spent my working life there. I have walked the streets of NYC for over 50 years and have always been thrilled with everything. I have been involved with NYC real estate all these years and still love it. I went to NYU in Greenwich Village and my friends and I used to peek in at the old burlesque theaters (before we got kicked out) and got to the movies in virtually every theater already mentioned in other emails (so I wont repeat them). I remember all the old decrepit Times Square theaters before they cleaned up the area. The police used to walk 4 abreast because the area was so dangerous and I am speaking about daylight hours, not just at night. I remember going to the theaters on 57th street when one of them was an art theater and the other was showing xxx films. I remember Deep Throat and the Devil In Miss Jones playing for many years as a double bill. The Paris Theater showed art films for many, many years before the real estate got too valuable and getting old movies on VHS destroyed the market for these theaters. My office is at 295 Fifth Avenue across from the Empire State Building and if anyone is in NYC they are welcome to visit. I have over 50 movie posters framed in my office suite including 6 of my Chan 3 sheets. Joe Bonelli stopped in last year and we had a great time. Just email me in advance to make certain I am in because I don't work as many hours as I did when I was younger. I stopped going to work on Fridays 9 years ago and leave at 2 pm. Claude Litton In a message dated 6/20/2009 3:06:34 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I was lucky enough to be in NYC when HORROR OF DRACULA had just opened at the Marfair Theater so I got to see the hugh Times Square wrap-around billboard poster above the theater. I also got to see the display of the fiends (in a hugh fish tank) from FIEND WITHOUT A FACE located right in front of the theater in Times Square. Anybody else in our group see these fantastic advertising displays???? Larry Springer Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. No virus found in this outgoing message. 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