Loew's State Theatre (New York City)

Loew's State Theatre was a theatre in New York City, located at 1540 Broadway. Designed by Thomas Lamb in the Adams style,[1] it opened on August 29, 1921, as part of a sixteen-storey office building for the Loew's Theatres company, with a seating capacity of 3,200[2] and featuring both vaudeville and films. It was Broadway's first $1 million theatre.[3] It was initially managed by Joseph Vogel, who later became president of Loew's Inc. and then MGM.[4]

Photo of the theatre's interior in 1959

Loew's became the last theatre in Times Square to continue booking vaudeville acts as that medium declined in the 1930s; when it hosted its last vaudeville show on December 23, 1947, sentimental goodbyes were made from the stage in recognition of the end of an era.[5]

In March 1959 the theater completed an $850,000 remodeling that reduced the number of seats from 3,316 to 1,885 but made them wider and increased the space between rows. The proscenium arch also was eliminated and a wide-screen projector was installed to permit the showing of CinemaScope and VistaVision (but not Cinerama) motion pictures. The interior was redecorated using a beige-on-gold palette. The remodeled theater reopened with the New York premiere of Some Like It Hot, with Marilyn Monroe in attendance.[6]

The theatre held a number of very notable world premieres including The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Ben-Hur (1959) and Becket (1964).[7][8]

The cinema was split into two in 1968 with the former balcony re-opening on December 18, 1968 as the State II with 1,214 seats with the U.S. premiere of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[9][10][7] The orchestra was renamed State I with 1,172 seats.[9][7] In March 1972, State I held the world premiere of The Godfather, which also opened the following day at State II.[11]

It closed on February 19, 1987, and it is now the site of the Bertelsmann Building.

References
  1. "Loew's State Theatre - New York City". Nycago.org. Archived from the original on 2006-02-21. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  2. Balio, Tino (March 14, 2018). MGM. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-3174-2967-8. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  3. "Looking Backward: Loew's State '21". Variety. April 1, 1959. p. 17. Retrieved June 30, 2019 – via Archive.org.
  4. "Broadway Brushes Self Off". Variety. April 1, 1959. p. 5. Retrieved June 30, 2019 – via Archive.org.
  5. Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America. 2. Routledge. pp. 696–697. ISBN 978-0-4159-3853-2. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  6. "New Loew's State Reopens Tonight". The New York Times. March 28, 1959. p. 11.
  7. "Loew's State Theatre". Cinema Treasures. Archived from the original on 11 July 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  8. Arceri, Gene (2009). Rocking Horse - A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-5939-3321-0. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  9. "Balcony Deer Park No Longer; Loew's State Into Happy Twinhood". Variety. December 18, 1968. p. 18.
  10. "'Oliver' Cops 47G At Loew's State I". Variety. December 18, 1968. p. 9.
  11. "It's Everybody's 'Godfather'". Variety. March 22, 1972. p. 5.
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