RKO 23rd Street Theatre
265 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10011
265 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10011
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 49 comments
Pike opened it after his opera house in Cincinnati burned down.
Opened in 1868 as Pikes Opera House, later renamed, Grand Opera House.
I just uploaded a 1938 group photo from inside the RKO 23rd St. Does anyone recognize these folks. Gent on the right side looks like Douglas Fairbanks.
JwPhillips – the image following “the box office street shot” shows “We’re in the Money” on the RKO 23rd Street marquee. Notice the Grand Opera House designation. I believe the double feature was a re-release.
Sorry, typo – that’s “Hugh"Herbert. Short (under 90 minute) comedy features were quite the thing for double feature in the 30s. My old man worked for RKO short features as an advance man during this time – before moving back to Paramount.
Thought you all might be interested to know that the box-office street shot provided with this address is actually from the earlier location for this 23rdSt. Proctor’s RKO between 6th & 7th on the west side of 23rd in the middle of that block. I can tell from the buildings being reflected in the glass case displaying the poster for “In the Money.”
Also, “In The Money” was a 1935, mid-August, release. It starred Joan Blondell, Hug Herbert, Glenda Farrell, and it does have a funny bit by Lionel Stander in his usual gravel-voiced character bit: as ‘Butch’ Gonzola. The Grand Opera was still looking for a buyer in 1935 and RKO didn’t convert it until 1938.
Oldtimer, I grew up around the corner from the old RKO, my dad was an usher there in the 40s. It truly was beautiful. I remember The Chelsea from the outside but don’t remember going inside. We also went to The Terrace on 23rd Street. When did you attend the old RKO?
The ad shown here should really be under the newer RKO 23rd Street that opened in the 60s.
I grew up in the Chelsea area of NYC. There was the RKO on the corner of 23ST. &8th Ave. There was also the Chelsea between 8th & 9th Ave. on 23rd St. I saw MEn of the Fighting Lady at the Chelsea. The RTko was beautiful. To me as a child it was liking going to a palace.
I am doing some research on the theater from the Grand Opera House days to the RKO 23rd St. If you’d like to share some information or memories please post or email me. Thanks. Jerry
Joe:
A belated thank you. Great pix. Funny how I remembered the color of the carpeting. The place meant a lot to us. Jerry
Jerry: The scan is a bit blurry, but Boxoffice Magazine of October 15, 1938, ran an article about the conversion of the Grand Opera House into the RKO 23rd Street, and it has a pair of before-and-after photos showing the foyer and the auditorium.
Here is another 1937 photo by Berenice Abbott:
http://tinyurl.com/mexc7m
According to the front of the Grand Opera House marquee, the double feature playing on September 3, 1937, the date the photo was taken, was displayed as…
MARRIED BEFORE BREAKFAST with
ROBT YOUNG & FLORENCE RICE
BANK ALARM with CONRAD NAGEL
Both were released in mid June of 1937.
Here is a 1937 photo by Berenice Abott. I bought the book of her photos the other day, “Changing New York 1935-1938”, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys seeing NYC in the 1930s.
http://tinyurl.com/kw3eks
beautiful photo. Thank you.
Easy Mr. Harris. I probably did copy some of yours and I know that you will find many there that you do not “own”.
Imagine me having the nerve to copy a posted image of my childhood theater. I’m disgraced.
Lighten up, we are all in this for one thing, to relive memories. Or so I thought.
Sorry for the confusion. Lost Memory’s link will do it for you.
Hope to hear from folks with memories of the old RKO.
I think that’s because when you copy a link from your own photobucket account thumbnails pages, or certain pages, the link is set to be loggedin, so it will log into your “my photobucket”, which of course is different for everyone. The same thing happened to me, but it has something to do with the cookies on your computer, and the particular “my photobucket” page he linked to.
I think he has to use a different link that is publically accessible, which certain ones in each of our accounts aren’t, so the cookie on your computer sends it to you own logged in page.
Here is a link to my photobucket album of RKO 23rd St images that I’ve accumulated.
View link
Thanks!
July 8, 2005
Jul 14, 2005
Oct 26, 2005
A lot of the links to the historic images of this theater don’t work. Any current links available?
Heartbreaking photo of the fire in 1960. I was a young lad standing with my dad watching from this angle. The theater had already been shut down, tragic enough without this happening. Note the OPERA sign in the window.
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Jim Fisk was a Wall Street shark and took control of the Erie Railroad along with Jay Gould. The Erie Railroad general Offices were in the Grand Opera House building which was owned by Fisk in the 1870’s. In 1945, one outer door remained with the initials ER still marked on it on 28th Street, long after the Railroad had moved out.
As the Grand Opera House this was showing films at least as early as January 1923 when it ran TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY.
Excerpt from 1870 NY Illustrated article in two parts:
View link
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Jerry