68th Street Playhouse
1164 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10065
1164 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10065
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 71 of 71 comments
I only went to this theater once in 1995 to see Woody Allen’s MIGHTY APHRODITE. Three years later, I was walking down Third Avenue and was shocked (and pissed!) to see it had closed.
Speaking of Woody Allen, the exterior of this theater can be seen in HUSBANDS AND WIVES, when Sydney Pollack and his girlfriend are walking out of the theater, having just seen RAN.
Now a film don’t last 8 weeks
This film had played here for an amazing 82 weeks by the time this ad was published in the Daily News on 12/12/80, and it continued on at the theater even while it expanded to a select few other theaters in Manhattan, Queens and Nassauc County:
La Cage expanded release
I saw the Henry Jaglom film “Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?” starring Karen Black here back around 1983. Also came here to see Paul Bartel’s dark comedy “Eating Raoul” which played the 68th Street Playhouse for quite a long run the previous year.
RobertR posted to the Loew’s State [NYC] page on this site a newspaper ad dated 1/28/1943. Mixed in among the ads is a small ad for Bette Davis in “Now Voyager” at the 68th Street Playhouse.
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I hadn’t realized the place was that old – even though I worked there – I thought it had been converted to a theatre in the early 1950’s.
There’s a chapter in Frank McCourt’s “‘Tis” describing an afternoon at the 68th Street Playhouse. Frank went to see “Hamlet” and brought in food from the outside, a no-no. A hilarious sequence involving ginger ale and lemon pie!
Stood on line a long time to see “Presumed Innocent”.Also took friends here to see “The Goodbye People” with Judd Hirsch. frankie from Brooklyn
Saw ‘La Cage Aux Folles’ here.
Smallest theatre I’ve ever seen a film in. Narrow auditorium with length being from back of theatre to screen. I’d liken the experience to watching a movie on a plane. Saw “Who’ll Stop the Rain”. Ceiling also had a large distracting and almost obtrusive air conditioning duct. Another theatre missing from 3rd Avenue.
This is the theatre that Syndey Pollack and Lysette Anthony come out of in Husbands and Wives after seeing Ran.
The 68th Street Playhouse wasn’t a great place to see a film, but it was the quintessential UES moviehouse; there isn’t a time when I pass by its former site when I don’t think about it.
I remember seeing “The Gods Must Be Crazy” here too and waiting in a long line behind some guy who was just divorced who was discussing his sex life. Only in Manhattan. I think “The Gods Must Be Crazy” ran for more than a year at the 68th Street Playhouse.
The best place to find a photo of this theatre is on a 12-in. single by the Aussie band INXS (circa 1986). The neon “68” is visible even though it’s a daytime shot. The record cover shows Third Avenue looking south from E. 69th St.
This is the first theatre where I had to yell at someone talking on a cell phone. It was during the final moments of the film “Picture Bride” (1994) and this idiot whipped out a large cell phone with a very bright green keypad and yelled, “Yeah, it’s almost over,” and I screamed at full volume (right behind him) “Get off the goddamned telephone!”
The 68th Street Playhouse closed on July 28, 1996; its final offering was the Ben Stiller-Patricia Arquette, David O. Russell-helmed comedy ‘Flirting With Disaster’. It sat dormant for 3-4 years until it was converted into a branch of The Children’s Place apparel chain.
The 68th Street Playhouse was a staple, one of those theaters where you always ended up from time to time. I was once told that when “La Cage Aux Folles” opened there, the theater was what they called at the time “four-walled,” meaning that the distributor actually rented the theater from the owner, and then banked all the profits. It was a gamble that really paid-off. It was easy access from Hunter College and the subway, a couple of blocks away.
I went to the 68th Street Playhouse many times over the years. The film I remember most that premiered here (in 1984) was the Danish ZAPPA, directed by Bille August, a potent story about adolescent turmoil. Despite fine reviews, ZAPPA was not a commercial success and seems to have completely disappeared from the planet.
In August 1969 the 68th featured the NYC premiere of “Take The Money & Run"
On the DICK CAVETT SHOW Woody Allen said that there was a tree blocking the marquee. He asked viewers to chop down the tree if the reviews for the film were good or to chop down the marquee if they were bad.
The 68th also introduced MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS to America when it premiered their first movie "And Now For Something Completely Different” in 1972
The 68th Street Playhouse was located at 1164 3rd Ave. and it seated 389 people.
Dear sir,
Please send us the plan of cinema theater.
Thank you.
Best regards
Faghihi
I was in here for “Gods Must Be Crazy” around 1984. The lobby was so small I don’t think they even had room for a snack bar.
Growing up a block away on 68th and 2nd, this really was my local theatre for many years.
Until the early 70’s a true second run neighborhood house meaning if you waited long enough it would come here. Owned for a good chunk of that time by Walter Brecher who owned the famous Apollo on 125th Street and later by City Cinemas. As a second run house remember seeing BONNIE & CLYDE, A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG. From then on a solid art house with the occasional commercial first run attraction, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES was here for a year, TAKE THE MONEY & RUN, MONSIEUR HIRE, LACOMBE LUCIEN, THIEVES LIKE US, TOMORROW. Run by City Cinemas until it closed in 97…A tiny single aisle house with barely more than 200 seats and a no waiting area usually with a line going a half a block between 3rd and Lexington Avenues