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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
PALACES TO PARKING LOTS, July 6, 2001
This review is from: Lost Broadway Theatres (Paperback)
Anyone interested in the history of American Theatre or the history of New York City, itself, will want to dip into this exhaustive survey of the "lost" theatres of Broadway. It is also, unfortunately, a history of commerce overtaking art; of pleasure palaces giving way to parking lots because only thirteen of the fifty four theatres in the book still exist. Here are original, fascinating black and white photographs of theatres many of us have never even heard of, never mind seen: For example, built expressly for intimate, short plays The Princess on West 39th Street, became the home of the Jerome Kern musicals. Imagine, before vocal amplification, seeing a musical in a theatre with only 299 seats! And Henry Miller's Theatre which does still stand on West 43 Street. It housed musicals, plays and then to keep the doors open, it showed movies, then adult movies and was, most recently, reinvented as a nightclub. Or, Hammerstein's Theatre on Broadway and 53rd Street which was a home to plays, musicals and the Federal Theatre Project WPA, long before it became the studio for Dave Letterman's television show. The pictures show us, also, how the streets looked in those days--what was playing at the theatres and how people dressed, how the cars looked that they drove. Those are just a few of the facts one can find in this fascinating, informative, entertaining book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating!, February 12, 2001
This review is from: Lost Broadway Theatres (Paperback)
Most students of theatre learn about actors, plays and producers. However, we very rarely learn about the theatres that played such an integral part of the development of Broadway. "Lost Broadway Theatres" really fills that gap in early 20th-century Theatre History. It includes photos and historical data on the construction, productions and demise of some of the earliest theatres on the Great White Way. Although major theatres such as the Roxy and the Hippodrome are mentioned, the author also pays attention to interesting smaller venues, such as the Punch and Judy Theatre. A few of the theatres mentioned in the book have been restored; others have been altered; however, most no longer exist. One of the nicest features of this book is the street map on the first two pages, which clearly shows the locations of both the "lost" and current Broadway houses. This definitely gives one a new perspective of the Times Square area: how sad to think that cars are now parked where grand theatres once stood! Most of the theatres in this book were torn down years before I was born, and have left few monuments behind. It has been wonderful, then, to have the chance to read about them and learn more about the history of Broadway.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A glimpse at a lost era, September 6, 2000
This review is from: Lost Broadway Theatres (Paperback)
When I made my first trip to New York in the late '70s, I ignored the advice of friends and made my way to Times Square and 42nd Street. A number of the theatres listed in this book were still standing, mostly playing porno films, sad reminders of bygone days. It was a sad moment, and I wished I could have seen these houses in their full glory. Looking through this book allowed me to experience just a little of what some of those theatres looked like when they were among "the" entertainment houses in the country. It also allowed me to take a nostalgic trip back to theatres I had visited during that trip which have now disappeared -- the Helen Hayes, the Morosco and several others -- gone due to neglect, mismanagement, or political deals. There are also some surprises, such as discovering Earl Carroll's theatre ended life as a Woolworth's, with dressing rooms and decorations still intact behind drop ceilings and sealed elevator shafts. No single volume has the room to deal fully with the scope of this subject, but this volume is an excellent appetizer if the subject interests you. My main quibble? Not enough color photos of the theatres themselves, though I know it is likely none exist for some of the earliest theatres.
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