Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#0Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 2:35pm
For those of you too young to have ever seen a show there, and for the rest of us that miss it as a Broadway theatre, I found this wonderful online photo album of shots taken in January, 2006 of the interior (as well as some wonderful historical photos, including a shot of the Broadway entrance when the theatre was a movie house known as the Hollywood).
Click on the link below.
Mark Hellinger Theatre photo album
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#1re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:08pmThat's really cool, thanks for posting.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#2re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:26pmSomeone buy it back! If I were Donald Trump or ALW I would try and buy that theater back. It's gorgeous.
#3re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:36pmI agree, RentBoy. This theater needs to be a Broadway house again. Some of my all time favorite shows played there (and I haven't even seen them!). I really want to attend a Broadway performance at the Mark Hellinger before I die.
#4re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:51pmThat looks very similar to the "tour" I took earlier this year. Thanks for posting those photos.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#5re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:51pmWhat a waste of a beautiful theater. I can't wait for the day it is a Broadway house again.
#6re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:57pmYes, and what a fantastic tour it was, right Dottie? You even pointed out the exact seat you sat in when you saw SUGAR BABIES!
#7re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 3:57pmthey filmed the "Chorus Line" movie there.
#8re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:02pmYes, WAT, it was a fabulous tour. It's too bad that Sugar Babies was the only show I saw at that theatre. I absolutely love the staircase to the mezzanine area.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#9re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:11pm
After LEGS DIAMOND, only God could save that theatre... Looks like he did a good job!
Thanks for posting the picts. It brought back many memories.
"It's not so much do what you like, as it is that you like what you do." SS
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." GMarx
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." GMarx
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#10re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:12pm
>they filmed the "Chorus Line" movie there.<
But we won't hold that against the theatre.
I think at various times, Michael Bennett, Cameron Mackintosh, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jujamcyn had wanted to buy the house. But the Nederlander Organization sold it outright to the Times Square Church. And thankfully, the Church has kept it in beautiful condition - much better than when it was still a theatre, and bits of plaster were falling off the ceiling. Still, one hopes to see it back as a legit house in our lifetimes.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#11re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:46pm
That needs to be a theatre again...I'm too young to have seen a show there, but looking at those photos I can almost feel the atmosphere...it looks incredible...
Time Square Church...SELL IT BACK, PLEASE! (And not to the Nederlanders...they wouldn't take good care of it!)
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
#12re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:46pm
I saw SugarBabies there. It was a wonderful experience and almost completely makes up for the bad experience I had with the star of the show in person.
That lobby is SO amazing for New York. Only Radio City rivals it. Can you imagine what The Ziegfeld (the real one) was like in its' heyday with that amazing Joseph Urban design?
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
#13re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:49pmOK, I'll bite. Allofmylife, care to tell?
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#14re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:52pm
vintage Mickey Rooney big little book in mint condition. ask for autograph. enraged star throws book against wall and says **** that. I was never paid a cent for that.
IT WAS 1937 FOR GODS SAKE
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
#15re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 4:54pmWow, and I thought the story was going to be about Ann Miller. I got Mickey Rooney's autograph, too, and he was very nice to me. But I had him sign the Playbill though.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#16re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:08pmI would give my right lung to have seen and stage doored ANY show at the Mark Hellinger...especially 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Dear World!
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#17re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:23pm
Is the backstage/dressing rooms and all that still entact?
I love the statues of the lamps - how its this guy holding the lamp, rather than having it hang. so creepy.
#18re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 5:47pmIf memory serves me correctly, it was originally a movie theater and was sporadically used in the 30's and 40's for live productions and never had a real hit until My Fair Lady (but what a hit). So the dressingrooms were probably built in later on after its completion (I could be wrong) and perhaps the church has removed them or uses the space for some other function...?
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#19re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 6:00pmThe stage door, loading door and dressing room stacks appear to be intact.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#20re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 6:21pm
I thought this was announcing an upcoming tour
The original lobby, under the Novotel, was demolished years ago.The side entrance is now the main entrance. It was designed by Thomas Lamb in French Baroque
Great photos of a beautiful theater. This was one of Lambs minor theaters. In Times Square he also did the following:
Mark Strand - Demolished
Rivoli - Demolished
Capitol - Demolished
Embassy - Now Visitors & Convention Bureau
Loews State - Demolished
It was an old vaudeville theater & as such would have had dressing rooms when originally built. All big old theaters like this had them
Poster Emeritus
Updated On: 9/7/06 at 06:21 PM
BroadwayBulldog
Broadway Star Joined: 6/5/06
#21re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 8:56pm
The Mark Hellinger was also home to that zany, crazy, madcap musical comedy of 1955, ANKLES AWEIGH, which starred Betty and Jean Kean as two American sisters searching for love with the U.S. Navy stationed in Italy.
Love that fun score.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#22re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 9:05pmNot to mention, Smaxie, in his one and only stage role, appeared at the Mark Hellinger.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#23re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/7/06 at 9:09pm
With so many shows chomping at the bit for a theatre it amazes me that no one has purchased the Hellinger.
Especially since word through the grapevine is that Disney wants another theatre.
But I believe I read somewhere that they plan to build their own.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#24re: Tour the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Posted: 9/8/06 at 1:01amIt would just make sense to build their own. Sure, with a classic theatre you get great decor, but the stage house are SO small. Disney needs barn-sized stages (well, they do hav plenty of animal-themed shows...)
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
