40°45′28″N73°59′06″W / 40.757815°N 73.984877°W /40.757815; -73.984877
TheLoew's State Theatre was amovie theater at 1540Broadway onTimes Square inNew York City. Designed byThomas Lamb in theAdam style,[1] it opened on August 29, 1921, as part of a 16-story office building for theLoew's Theatres company, with a seating capacity of 3,200[2] and featuring bothvaudeville and films. It was the first theater on Broadway to cost $1 million.[3] It was initially managed byJoseph Vogel, who later became president ofLoew's Inc. and thenMGM.[4]
For several years it was a second-run theater featuring live acts and a feature (most often an MGM film that would have premiered at the Astor Theatre before having its initial run at the Capitol, both Loew's movie houses located just a few blocks from the State), although it also had frequent personal appearances and short subjects.
Loew's became the last theater in Times Square to continue bookingvaudeville 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. Theproscenium arch also was eliminated and a wide-screen projector was installed to permit the showing ofCinemaScope andVistaVision (but notCinerama) motion pictures. The interior was redecorated using a beige-on-gold palette. The remodeled theater reopened with the New York premiere ofSome Like It Hot, withMarilyn Monroe in attendance.[6]
The theater held several world premieres includingThe Three Musketeers (1948),Annie Get Your Gun (1950),Ben-Hur (1959),Becket (1964), andDoctor Dolittle (1967).[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 ofChitty 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 ofThe Godfather, which also opened the following day at State II.[11] The theater was sold to developerBruce Eichner in 1986.[12][13] It closed on February 19, 1987,[7] and was replaced by theBertelsmann Building.[14]