LOL Comedy Lounge
711 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
711 7th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 55 comments
Went to 711 7th Avenue just yesterday. It is now the Sage Theater, an off-off Broadway venue and rental house. The marquee is still there, but it has been given over to advertising, with a small SAGE THEATER sign flashing from on top. For more information, please go to www.sagetheater.us
Here are a pair of ads from 1985 in the Spanish language publication El Diario evidencing Spanish language programming in both auditoriums:
El Carro de la Muerte 9/20/85
La Hija sin Padre 9/20/85
For good measure, here is El Diario’s neighborhood movie guide, catering to its Spanish speaking and bilingual readers:
Cartelera Cinematografica 9/20/85
Did this theater show Spanish language films continuously from the 1970’s through the ‘80’s? Or did it switch back and forth between mainstream and Spanish language before going porno for its last few years?
As per previous posts, the address should be listed as 711 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10036.
Here it is from the Cinecom Agee 1 & 2 days. I wonder who thought “Airport” was a Disney film?????????
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In 1972 I saw the Peruvian film “The Green Wall” (“La Muralla Verde”) which played here and got some critical acclaim. The film was nice but I wasn’t impressed with the theatre at all.
PS, caspers42, your comment and my response seem to be posted on the wrong page. I’ll repost them on the Cine 42 site.
Enchanted? Like from a Grimm fairy tale. There was no charm in this barely functional grindhouse, whose seats were not even upholstered and whose patrons had wandered in from a Monogram horror movie. That said, I too wonder what is behind the facade.
The Cine 42, which can easily be seen from the movie Taxi Driver is actually still in tact. The building sits to the right of the New Amsterdam and is probably the most hidden theatre on 42nd street. Disney’s giant billboards cover the facade and what used to be the theatre’s lobbies is now the new amsterdams box office. The street level of the theatre was actually a disney store until some months ago when it closed down. What is Disney doing with this theatre if their even in charge of it? It probably has been abandoned now for 13 years and I can only imagine what lies behind the giant lion king billboard and inside the walls of this enchanted theatre space. Anybody have any info??
The deal was always that the theatres could not be listed in the block ads although some of the schlock films that would open day and date on Broadway & 42nd would list them both. The majors never allowed it, and from the huge grosses 42nd St did it never mattered. My friend Steve Young was DM for Brandt Theatres and mentioned to me recently that the Godfather opened on 42nd St four weeks into the run at Loews State.
42nd street always played day and date with broadway
Here’s something I wondered about some time ago, but had forgotten about until Robert began adding listings for some of the seemingly lesser-known Times Square movie houses (the Cine 1 & 2, the Cine 42 Twin 1 & 2, and the MoviePlex 42) – why were the major studios so accomodating to allow the theatres on the Deuce to double-book their product with the chain houses (the Criterion, the Astor Plaza, the Embassy 1 and Embassy 2-3-4, among others)? Was it because the theatres on 42nd Street weren’t considered a threat to the chain sites? And why weren’t the 42nd Street theatres included in the newspaper print ad listings (beyond the newspaper-coordinated listings in the Post and Daily News)?
You’re right, Dave, it was, but I wonder how he got control of that old Basciano-owned porn house which became the MoviePlex 42…
Wasn’t the Cine 42 group of theatres run by Norman Adee?
The MoviePlex 42 had six screens. Instead of being a traditional double-bill Deuce movie house, patrons could move from a film in one auditorium to another film in another auditorium (to accomodate this, all features – save for ones with longer running times, such as ‘Casino’, for example – had the same starting times… 11:10 am, 1:20, 3:30, 5:40, 7:55, and 10:10, with 12:20 am late shows on Fridays and Saturdays).
Ah thats the one I was thinking of Movie-plex 42.
The Cine 42 had two screens, Robert. (As a matter of fact, for a time – in its final months/years, I forget which – it was formally renamed the Cine 42 Twin 1 & 2; the theatre ultimately closed sometime in ‘92.) I may be wrong about this but it might have been Richard Basciano, the owner of Show World, who may have been the operator of the 42nd Street movie houses pre-cleanup as it was one of his former porn palaces on the Deuce which was renovated as the short-lived MoviePlex 42 in the mid-'90s (and which also opened, following numerous delays, the day after the Harris closed in June of '94)…
br91975
Thanks, I also recall that when Brandt pulled out off all the theatres they were run for a very short time by another company. This must be associated with them because the theatres were being listed in the papers as Cine-Selwyn, Cine-Lyric etc. Do you recall how many screens the Cine-42 had?
this theater was even scary in the day
‘Broadcast News’ and ‘Wall Street’ had extended runs at the Cine 1 & 2 in 1987-1988; if I’m not mistaken, one of the last films to show at the then-West Side Cinema 1 & 2 was that somehow Academy-neglected flick ‘Showdown in Little Tokyo’ in the fall of 1991.
I’ve been here during its time as an all nighter. What a place!
The theatre you’re thinking of, Robert, was the Cine 42; the building which formerly housed it is presently occupied by the New Amsterdam box office; the Cinema 1 & 2 you make reference to, lostmemory, is (or was) the Cine 1 & 2.
Wait, of all names could it have been the Roxy?
It was near the New Amsterdam and open a very short time. Everyone knew the whole block was coming down. I have to check some of my old booking records and see if any of their grosses are on any of the sheets.
I lived in NYC from 76-83 and I don’t rememebr this theater. The only thing I remember on seventh ave is the Embassy 2,3,4. Can anybody shed any light onmy memory?
There was another theatre on 42nd street that ran video of these type of films. I think then when Brandt closed all the big houses they put in 35mm projectors and ran double bills. he name escapes me. Was it Cine 42 or something? Another theatre not on here is the 42 St Harem.