Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre (1930–1947) 51st Street Theatre (1936–1937, 1940–1941) Warner Theatre (1947–1948) Mark Hellinger Theatre (after 1948) Times Square Church (1989–present)
The facade seen in June 2007
Interactive map of Mark Hellinger Theatre
Address
237 West 51st Street Manhattan, New York City United States
The facade on 51st Street is constructed with golden and brown bricks. The stage house to the west and the auditorium at the center are designed as one unit, with acornice above the auditorium. The eastern section, containing the building's current main entrance, includes statues flanking the doors, as well as an overhangingmarquee. The 51st Street facade was originally a side entrance; the main entrance was originally at 1655 Broadway but was closed in the 1950s. The interiorrotunda lobby contains eightfluted columns, a balcony, and a domed ceiling with several murals; a basement lounge exists under the lobby. The auditorium has acoved ceiling with murals, as well asboxes and a deep stage.
For the first two decades of the theater's existence, it largely served as a cinema under the Hollywood Theatre name.Vaudeville was presented in 1932, and somelegitimate live-theatrical productions were shown intermittently from 1934 to 1942. The theater was briefly known as the 51st Street Theatre around 1936 and 1941 and as the Warner Theatre from 1947 to 1948. Anthony Brady Farrell bought the theater and renamed it after Hellinger, reopening it as a legitimate theater in 1949. The theater was subsequently acquired by the Stahl family in 1957 and theNederlander Organization in 1976. The Hellinger hosted some hits from the 1950s to the 1970s, includingMy Fair Lady, but later productions such asTimbuktu! were mostlyflops. By 1989, a lack of Broadway productions prompted the Nederlanders to lease the theater to the Times Square Church. The church's congregation, which bought the theater in 1991, continues to operate it.
The theater's 51st Street facade as seen from the east
The Mark Hellinger Theatre, originally the Hollywood Theatre, was designed byThomas W. Lamb and was constructed in 1930 as amovie palace forWarner Bros. While the interior was designed in a 16th-centuryBaroque style, the exterior was treated in a style that was contemporary for the 1930s.[3][6]
The Hollywood Theatre's main entrance was originally at 1655 Broadway, with a narrow lobby leading to agrand foyer on 51st Street.[a] At the time of the theater's construction in 1930, cinemas that premiered films in theTimes Square area typically had entrances on Broadway, regardless of the width. While the Broadway entrance was narrow, it contained a bright marquee and a huge lighted vertical sign. The Broadway entrance was closed in 1934 and converted to retail space before being demolished completely prior to the late 1990s.[7]
The roof of the Hollywood Theatre's Broadway wing originally contained a V-shaped steel sign measuring 80 feet (24 m) tall and 210 feet (64 m) wide. Described in 1929 as "the largest electrical display in the world", the sign weighed 115 tons. A dedicated generator illuminated the sign's 20,000 bulbs, which were arranged so that 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) letters could be flashed.[8]
The only surviving facade is on 51st Street and consists of two modern-style sections, both made of brick and designed with vertical motifs.[7][9] The eastern section is a narrow tower containing the building's entrance. The other section, which contains the stage house and auditorium, is shorter but wider.[9] Although the 51st Street facade serves as the building's current front entrance, this was originally a side entrance.[7]
Entrance detail
The entrance section has awater table made of black granite. The entrance itself contains five double doors belowtransom windows, all made of glass with bronze frames. On either side are tall figures holding globe-shaped lanterns, as well as bronze display boxes. A modernmarquee is mounted over the building's entrance. The facade is made of gold-colored brick, with three strips of brown-brick rectangles above the marquee, rising to a set of three brown-brick squares. On either side are flutedterracotta panels, topped by stylized urns that contain plant forms. On all stories, the theater's brickcourses step outward to the left and right of the tower. The top of the entrance's facade contains aparapet with zigzag patterns.[9]
The stage house to the west and the auditorium at the center share a facade, with gold-colored brick above a black-granite water table. Horizontal brown-brick strips run across the first story. The first floor also contains display boxes with brick headers around them, as well as an office door, a former stage door, and a wide garage door. On the upper stories, the central section (auditorium) contains a large brick panel surrounded bysoldier courses. There are rectangular openings to the east (right) of this panel, with grilles above them. The top story of the auditorium contains stylized brickbrackets, which support a decorative coppercornice; there are octagonal panels between the brackets. The stage house contains window openings between shallow brickpiers. There is asetback on the stage house's upper stories, with plain brick behind it.[9]
The Hellinger'srococo interior was similar to that of other 1920s movie palaces. The interior spaces were designed by Leif Neandross, chief designer of theRambusch Decorating Company.[7][10] The original decorative scheme was gold with highlights of red and blue.[11]
The original lobby from Broadway (since demolished) was designed in a modern French style.[7][11] It wasArt Deco in design[12] and led to the present main lobby.[13][11] According to a contemporary account, the Broadway lobby had mirrored walls with bronze and marble decorations, in addition to a plaster ceiling.[11] The Broadway lobby was designed to potentially support a taller building that was canceled during theGreat Depression.[10]
The lobby's walls contain marble bases, above which are panels surrounded by ornamental moldings. Lightingsconces are mounted onto the walls, and there are openings to the auditorium's orchestra level on the west wall.[17] Doors on the south wall lead back to the ticket lobby.[18] The north wall contains a grand staircase to a balcony at the auditorium's mezzanine level. Additional staircases connect to that level from the lobby's entrance.[14]
The balcony overlooks the lobby.[11][18] The staircases from the lobby contain wall panels with ornamental moldings as well as lighting sconces; there are also mirrors at the landings. Underneath the balcony, next to the columns on the north wall, aresegmental arches that are supported byconsole brackets. The balcony itself has abalustrade with motifs of scallops and cherubs, while the underside of the balcony has moldings. The walls of the balcony also have panels with moldings; there are doorways decorated withcartouches andswags, which lead to lounges. Ribs divide the balcony's ceiling into panels, and there are moldings along the border of both the ribs and the panels. Candelabras and globe chandeliers are suspended from the balcony ceiling.[18] There was originally furniture along the balcony.[11]
The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony,boxes, and astage behind theproscenium arch. The auditorium is slightly wider than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in lowrelief.[19] The auditorium's seating capacity is 1,603,[20][21] though historically it could fit 1,506 people.[7] The orchestra alone could fit 900 people.[20] The seats are upholstered in red velvet and finished in wood.[22] From the outset, three hundred seats were equipped with "Warner Theatre-phones" to both amplify and clarify sound for hard-of-hearing users.Damask curtains were placed on the walls to increase insulation.[23][24] The auditorium curves inward near the proscenium.[25]
The rear (east) end of the orchestra contains a shallow, curving promenade.[19] The walls of the orchestra promenade have doors, above which areexit signs with flankingvolutes. Both the orchestra and the promenade contain flat pilasters on the walls, between which are panels with moldings on their borders.[26] The orchestra is slightlyraked, sloping down toward an orchestra pit near the stage.[25]
The underside of the balcony, above the orchestra, contains globe-shaped light fixtures and three coves with scallops and foliation.[27] Though the balcony is also raked, its underside is convex, preventing sound-deadening air pockets from accumulating at the orchestra's rear wall.[23] The balcony also has a promenade at its rear, separated from the main balcony by decorated vertical piers.[26] The balcony and promenade walls contain flat pilasters and panels with molded borders. The side walls contain arched doorways with molded frames.[19] The rear wall has a standing rail and lighting sconces.[28] The balcony level is divided into front and rear sections by a crossover aisle,[25] which runs between metal railings on either side.[28] The balcony's front railing has foliate motifs, which are aligned on a vertical axis.[19] A projection room was placed at the rear of the balcony, measuring 30 feet (9.1 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) tall.[23]
View from the right of the auditorium, looking toward the boxes and left wall
On either side of the proscenium is an archway with a single box that is curved outward. The balcony's front railing extends onto the box's front railing, supporting two flutedCorinthian columns on either side of each box. Underneath the front railing of each box is an arch at orchestra level, which contains a pair of console brackets with a cartouche at the center. There are also cartouches beside the arches, under each pair of columns; these in turn are flanked by brackets with cherubs and swags. Above each box is another arch, which rises from volutes atop the Corinthian-column pairs.[26] Small pendant chandeliers are placed in front of the boxes' column pairs.[28]
Next to the boxes is an inverted proscenium arch. The proscenium arch contains Corinthian-style fluted piers and columns on either side, topped by console brackets. The top of the arch is designed as an ornate entablature.[19] The center of the proscenium contains a largeplaster-of-Paris crown,[7][13] supported by abroken pediment with winged figures.[26] The stage has a depth of 45 feet (14 m).[29] Although the Hellinger was built as acinema, the theater's large stage could also be used to present large musical shows.[11][23]
Proscenium cove
Below the ceiling, wrapping around the whole auditorium, is an entablature with a leaf molding.[26] The edges of the ceiling are split into numerous coves, separated by console brackets with cartouches at their centers. Each of the coves contains a painted mural with a round frame and a cartouche above.[26] There are twelve frames in total, which depict 18th-century French aristocratic scenes;[13][28] each mural signifies a different part of the year.[11] The main portion of the ceiling contains additional molded bands, which contain more murals and surround an oval panel at the center.[27] The oval panel contains a fan design while the surrounding panels are designed in theAdam style. There are small pendant-style chandeliers hanging from the outer panels of the ceiling.[28] A large globe-style chandelier hangs from the center of the oval panel.[22][28]
Directly below the lobby is an oval basement lounge.[18] There are eight pairs of imitation-marble columns, topped by Tuscan-style capitals.[30] The walls contain panels with molded borders, and there are molded doorway openings with entablatures.[25] One wall contains a fireplace, themantelpiece of which consists of a shelf supported on console brackets. The immediate opposite wall has doorways to the women's and men's restrooms.[30] The lounge formerly also had a bar, which was installed in the 1960s.[31]
The ceiling dome is shallow and contains a central medallion with overlapping circles, from which hangs a large chandelier. The rest of the ceiling contains moldings and beams, which divide the ceiling into sections, each with a central medallion and a smaller globe-style chandelier.[25] A staircase curves upward to the lobby and contains paneled walls with molded borders, as well as a paneled ceiling with suspended globe-style chandeliers.[30]
Movie palaces became common in the 1920s between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression.[32][33] In the New York City area, only a small number of operators were involved in the construction of movie palaces. These theaters' designers included thelegitimate-theater architects Thomas Lamb,C. Howard Crane, andJohn Eberson.[34]
In April 1929, Warner Bros. leased the lots at 217 to 233 West 51st Street and 234 West 52nd Street at an annual rate of $40,000. The lease was to run for 17 years, with options for two 21-year extensions. Warner Bros. immediately started planning a movie palace on the site.[35][36] The company planned to build an entrance from Broadway, on the eastern end of the block.[36][37] The theater was to have 1,600 seats on an orchestra and a balcony level, and it would be the first Broadway theater built specifically for films.[37][38] Warner Bros. had chosen this site specifically because it was close to the establishedTheater District around Times Square. That area, by the 1920s, was starting to see the development of movie theaters alongside legitimate venues for live theater.[39]
The Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre opened on April 22, 1930, with the WarnerTechnicolor musical filmHold Everything, starringWinnie Lightner andJoe E. Brown.[40] The storefronts on Broadway were leased out for uses such as aLindy's restaurant.[41] For its first two years, the Hollywood only screened films.[42] These includedMoby Dick[43] andThe Beggar of Bagdad in 1930,[44] as well asBought[45] andThe Mad Genius in 1931.[46]Lou Holtz announced his intention in early 1932 to lease the theater for vaudeville.[47] Holtz's vaudeville revues opened that February,[48] but they stopped two months later because Holtz said his simultaneous acting and producing of these revues was "strenuous".[49] Vaudeville returned in November 1932 whenArthur George Klein took over the theater for twice-a-day revue performances.[50] By February 1933, the Hollywood was again dark,[51] and the theater returned to hosting films afterward.[52] During 1933, Warner Bros. acquired additional land at 235 to 239 West 51st Street from theShubert brothers.[53] Generally, the Hollywood's films were not successful, and the venue stood empty for long periods.[54]
Warner Bros. announced in October 1934 that it would renovate the stage for theatrical use and add 32 dressing rooms.[55] These changes were to accommodate Hollywood's first theatrical production:[56]Calling All Stars, a musicalrevue withMartha Raye, which opened in December 1934[57][58] and ran 35 performances.[57][59] In October 1935, the Hollywood hosted the premiere of the Warner Bros. filmA Midsummer Night's Dream, starringJames Cagney andOlivia de Havilland.[60] The following March,Earl Carroll negotiated with Warner Bros. to rename the Hollywood Theatre for himself[61] and stage musicals there.[61][62] The theater was leased toGeorge Abbott and renamed the 51st Street Theatre in late 1936.[63] The theater's main entrance was relocated from Broadway to 51st Street,[64][65] as Warner Bros. wished to use the Broadway entrance for films and the 51st Street entrance for legitimate productions.[64] Abbott's playSweet River opened that October[66][67] and closed after five performances.[59][67]
The theater reverted to the Hollywood Theatre name and again began showing films.[76] A renovation of the Hollywood Theatre was announced in mid-1941, whenEddie Cantor's musicalBanjo Eyes was booked.[83]Banjo Eyes opened in December 1941 and ran for 129 performances,[78][84] ultimately closing after Cantor became ill.[85] FollowingBanjo Eyes, the Hollywood returned to showing films exclusively for several years.[74] The filmCasablanca, which subsequently became a hit and a classic, premiered at the Hollywood in 1942.[86] Among the films screened at the Hollywood in the mid-1940s wereThis Is the Army (1943),[87]Old Acquaintance (1943),[88]The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944),[89]The Corn Is Green (1945),[90] andNight and Day (1946).[91] The Hollywood Theatre became the Warner Theatre in August 1947 with the premiere of the filmLife with Father.[76][92]
Signboard and brickwork to the east (right) of the entrance
The producer Anthony Brady Farrell agreed to purchase the Warner Theatre in June 1948 for about $1.5 million;[93] the sale was finalized the next month.[94][95] Farrell announced plans to rename the theater forMark Hellinger,[96] a Broadway journalist and critic who had died the year before,[97] and he proposed renovating the theater for legitimate plays and musicals.[94] The theater was dedicated under its new name on January 16, 1949,[98] and Farrell's musicalAll for Love opened the next week on January 22, withPaul Hartman,Grace Hartman, andBert Wheeler.[99][100]All for Love lost money[76] but ran 121 performances.[100][101] This was followed byS. M. Chartock's three-week-long showcase of Gilbert and Sullivan productions in late 1949.[102][103] Despite a string of early losses, as well as a weekly expenditure of $4,500 to $5,000 for the Hellinger's maintenance, Farrell was optimistic about the theater's potential to make money.[104] Farrell's musicalTexas Li'l Darlin', featuringKenny Delmar, opened at the end of 1949.[105]Texas Li'l Darlin' was the first hit in the Hellinger's history,[52] running for 293 performances.[102][106]
The Girl in Pink Tights, the final show of the late composerSigmund Romberg,[122] premiered in 1954[122][123] and closed after 115 performances.[124][125] The Ballets Espagnols also performed at the Hellinger that November for a four-week run.[126][127] TheAmish-themed musicalPlain and Fancy opened in January 1955[126][128] and was a hit with 461 total performances, some at the Winter Garden Theatre.[124][129] The same year, the Hellinger hostedAnkles Aweigh for 176 performances.[130][131] The Hellinger had its greatest success with the musicalMy Fair Lady, with lyrics byAlan Jay Lerner and a score byFrederick Loewe.[132]My Fair Lady opened in March 1956[126][133] and eventually ran more than 2,700 total performances across multiple theaters, becoming thelongest-running Broadway production ever at the time.[134][135] Prior to the success ofMy Fair Lady, there was a rumor in the theatrical community that the Hellinger was destined to never host a hit.[136] A year afterMy Fair Lady opened, Farrell sold the Hellinger to Max andStanley Stahl, who had already purchased the neighboring building on Broadway.[137][138] The new owners chartered a company called Mark Hellinger Theatre Inc.[138]
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Hellinger as a landmark in 1982,[214] with discussions continuing over the next several years.[215] The LPC designated the Hellinger's interior as a landmark on November 17, 1987,[216] followed by the facade in January 1988.[1] This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters.[217] TheNew York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988.[218] The Nederlanders, theShuberts, andJujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Hellinger, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified.[219] The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and theSupreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.[220]
In February 1989, the Nederlander Organization leased the Hellinger to the Times Square Church, headed by the Rev.David Wilkerson, for $1 million per year on a five-year lease.[221][222] At the time, the church occupied the 1,150-seatNederlander Theatre, which was atstanding-room only capacity five days a week.[223] In addition, the Broadway theatrical industry was struggling to stage works, andJames M. Nederlander said: "It's a short-term lease—five years is short term for me. It'll pass before you know it."[224][222] Had the Nederlanders retained the Hellinger as a legitimate venue, the organization could have rented the theater for large musicals at $1.04 million a year, but it would be far from a consistent income stream.[224]Legs Diamond closed later the same month.[225] According toThe New York Times: "To many theater people, the leasing of the Hellinger, [...] which has long been considered one of the best and most beautiful theaters for musicals, was a sad symbol of both the state of Broadway and of the Nederlander organization."[226]
The Times Square Church moved to the Hellinger in March 1989.[223] That August, the LPC held a hearing on whether the westernmost 26-foot-wide (7.9 m) section of the theater could be demolished to make way for a hotel developed bySilverstein Properties.[227][228] The planned hotel would have usedair rights from above the theater, which would have necessitated restoring the Hellinger for legitimate use.[228] The producerCameron Mackintosh expressed interest in leasing the Hellinger for his productionMiss Saigon in 1990, but he ultimately leased the nearby Broadway Theatre.[229][230]Rocco Landesman of the rival chain Jujamcyn had also offered to buy the theater, but he said high maintenance costs precluded him or any other producer from offering more than $7 million.[231]
In December 1991, the Nederlanders sold the Hellinger to the church's congregation[229][232] for a reported $17 million.[231] Wilkerson then spent several years renovating the theater for his congregation.[233] In the years after the Times Square Church's purchase, the church became so popular that the Hellinger could not accommodate all congregants, despite the theater's 1,600-seat capacity.[15][234] The congregation at the theater numbered 4,000 in 1997 and doubled within the next year.[235] As a result, in the late 1990s, an 800-person overflow room and eight secondary meeting rooms were leased in the neighboring Novotel hotel.[234][c] By 2001, screens were installed both in the lobby and in a neighboring annex to allow additional congregants to view services.[15]
Theatrical producers have made several unsuccessful attempts to buy the Hellinger from the Times Square Church. As early as 1993, Lloyd Webber had proposed acquiring the theater for his production ofSunset Boulevard.[237] In addition to Mackintosh and the Bennett estate, offers were reportedly made by former Canadian impresarioGarth Drabinsky, theatrical operatorShubert Organization, and corporate producersDisney andClear Channel.[238]
The Times Square Church maintains the theater's interior decor and opens it to the public for regular services.[238] The church also hosts tours of the theater,[239] as during Christmas 2016, when it gave tours along with live performances of theNativity playBethlehem on Broadway.[240]
Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway productions and live shows; it does not include films screened there.[241][242]
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