Morosco Theatre

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:31pm

Do you guys remember it. It was tourn down in 1981{i think}, to make room for the marriot marquis and theatre

[Ryguy7]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:33pm

I remember the line from Drowsy Chaperone about it. It was real? I saw a picture of something depicting the theatre in the souvenir program - guess it existed..

But no - I was born in that year and didn't make it to New York until 20 years later.
RY :)

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:35pm

My dad worked there so he had LOTS of pictures. It was really nice. Very comforting {as my dad says!}

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:40pm

A great theatre and I miss it. And I frankly would prefer that it and the old Helen Hayes Theater, which was also torn down, were still there rather than the ugly as sin Marriott Marquis (and that lousy theater inside it).

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:48pm

The Morosco was nice and comfortable, if a little worn late in its life. The old Helen Hayes, however, remained pretty gorgeous to the end.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:54pm

The Morosco did not have a beautifully designed interior in an esthetic sense, but I always thought it was the best Broadway theatre in which to see a play or small musical.

The old Helen Hayes had a gorgeous interior.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:58pm

They were lovely. Some very prominent theatre professionals were arrested for protesitng durring the demolition (I believe) of the two theatres. Among them were Joe Papp and Tammy Grimes.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 4:59pm

Ugh, damn corporate America! Mow aren't most, if not all, Broadway houses landmarks to avoid this?

[jv92]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:01pm

I know. Hopefully in 30 years we won't have to worry about the St. James coming down to build a hotel to make 8th Avenue family friendly. Hopefully we won't have to worry about any theatre coming down. Especially the old ones.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:02pm

I've always been kind of intrigued by these theatres that were demolished to build the Marriot Marquis. Were they ever able to justify the tear down (claiming the buildings had structure damage etc.) or was it more the product of the times? Times Square and Broadway theatre after all were not at a very optomistic place in 1982. It's hard to imagine something like this happening today - I would have thought a bigger attempt might have been made to incorporate at least one of the theatres into the standing structure of the Marquis Hotel.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:13pm

As a result of those demolitions and the enormous outcry that followed, the city has landmarked nearly all of the older Broadway theaters so that this can never happen again. In the case of the Henry Miller, only the facade was landmarked, but because of the that, the company building a skyscraper on the site had to keep and protect the facade and is building a new Broadway theatre inside on the bottom floors of the building, which opens, I believe, in 2009.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:13pm

I don't think think there were any claims of structural unsoundness or anything like that.

Also lost was smaller Bijou. Not a great space but a decent one that because of it size would probably be useful today. Although it did OK even back then, housing Mummenschanz for a long time.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:17pm

I just dug up a Times article from an earlier thread on the destruction of the theaters:

From the New York Times

Published: March 23, 1982

Demolition of the Morosco and Helen Hayes Theaters began yesterday after the United States Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay and removed the last major impediment to construction of the 50-story Portman Hotel in the Times Square area.

The high court's order was handed down shortly after 10 A.M. but about 170 demonstrators prevented work crews from beginning demolition work immediately. The protesters, including some prominent Broadway performers, demonstrated in an empty lot adjoining the Morosco on West 45th Street.

By prior arrangement with the police, they were arrested and taken away in 13 police vans. Just after 2 P.M., a huge hydraulic backhoe, with the name Godzilla on its side, thrust its steel jaws into the remaining wall of the Bijou, a theater that until two weeks ago had stood next to the Morosco, and pulled it down. Then, while the crowd shouted 'Don't do it! Don't do it!' the machine bit into the east wall of the Morosco and tore out a gaping hole.

Dust in Their Eyes

Some spectators wept openly even before the brisk March wind whipped the cloud of brick dust into their eyes. By late afternoon most of the demolition work at the Morosco had been completed. Work also was begun on tearing down the Helen Hayes Theater.

The Supreme Court stay was granted last week at the request of environmental groups and others seeking a review of a lower court ruling that demolition could proceed. Yesterday's order concluded a long legal battle through state and Federal courts but did not completely end the controversy over the proposed hotel.
______________________________________________________________

By 9:30 A.M. yesterday, nearly 1,000 demonstrators had gathered around a portable stage on West 45th Street to hear cast members of several Broadway shows and a succession of well-known performers, including Jose Ferrer, Celeste Holm, Tammy Grimes, Treat Williams, Colleen Dewhurst and Estelle Parsons, plead that the theaters be saved. At 10:45, the producer Joseph Papp announced that the protest was in vain. 'I'll tell you frankly,' his voice boomed out of the loudspeakers, 'these theaters are going to come down. The Supreme Court has lifted the stay.'

A groan rose from the crowd but the succession of speakers continued. The actor Christopher Reeve said, 'Even if they win today we must never forget how we feel here.'

'It's increasingly a battle between artists and technology,' he continued. 'We have to band together to insure that New York never becomes another Pittsburgh or Seattle or Houston.'

Mr. Papp announced that anyone willing to carry his protest to the point of being arrested should assemble in the empty lot adjoining the Morosco where the Bijou had stood. About 170 protesters assembled in the lot. According to the plan worked out in advance, they were asked by the police to leave. When they refused, they were escorted into a line of police vans and driven away.

Among those arrested were Miss Dewhurst, Miss Grimes, Mr. Williams, Mr. Papp, Miss Parsons, Miss Holm, the actress Susan Sarandon and the actor Michael Moriarty.

On the south side of 45th Street, behind police barriers, a bagpipe wailed and the remaining spectators chanted 'Shame on Koch!' Mayor Koch has given firm support to the Portman project.

The arrested demonstrators were taken to the Midtown North precinct station house on West 54th Street, where they were issued summonses for trespassing and released pending court appearances next month. Later, many of them, singing and chanting 'Shame on Koch,' marched back down Eighth Avenue to 45th Street, their pink summonses pinned to hats or lapels. 'Free the Morosco 200'

Soon thereafter, placards appeared along 45th Street that read: 'Free the Morosco 200.' Performers continued to sing and play on the portable stage through the afternoon while the demolition crews worked behind police barriers across the street.

It was the end of a two-week protest in which actors did marathon readings of famous plays that had been presented in the two theaters. For Mr. Papp, the confrontation was less successful than his last well-publicized fight with authorities. In that episode, two decades ago, he won the right to produce plays in Central Park over the bitter opposition of the Parks Commissioner at that time, Robert Moses.

Mayor Koch, the subject of much of the protesters' ire, was out of the city yesterday. But Herbert J. Sturz, chairman of the City Planning Commission, took note of those who mourned the loss of two famous legitimate theaters. Through an aide, he said, 'Now that the demolition has taken place, it's time to focus on the future and pivotal role of this project in the rejuvenation of Times Square and the Broadway theater district in general.'

He said the planned redevelopment of 42d Street would return eight theaters to legitimate use and that the proposed midtown rezoning plan 'would encourage the preservation of 44 legitimate Broadway theaters.'

In its ruling, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request from environmentalists and entertainment unions that wanted to block demolition until the high court could hear a full-scale appeal.

The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, last week refused to review another suit designed to halt demolition of the two theaters."



Earlier thread on the destruction of theaters for the Marriott Marquis

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:23pm

It still makes you wonder...they tore down two theatres, for a hotel, that has a theatre inside it, that is nearly impossible to locate...at least when they built the Ford Center it was reasonably nice.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:27pm

Well the grand irony is that I bet the Marriot Marquis won't live to see its fiftieth birthday before it in turn is torn down. It's just not very well made and already dated and continually being upstaged by newer - better hotels.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:28pm

Michael Bennett, I don't think anyone would protest that!!

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:39pm

husk_charmer...that was our problem with the theatre. I had not seen a show there until I saw Drowsy in June. We entered from the Times Square entrance and we were like...."Where the heck is the theatre". We were upstairs and getting out of there was a pain. It took us almost 20 minutes to get back down to street level.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:45pm

My first time to NY by myself, I saw the "La Cage" revival, and was running fine on time, i had at least 15 mins to curtain, and I got so turned around I had to barrel down the aisle to make my seat (Which ended up next to Jerry Herman, but that's another story)

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:52pm

The theatre that is most intriguing to me is the old Times Square Theatre which is still very much present on 42nd Street next to the entry way for the Ford/Hilton - whatever they are calling it now.

Anybody got any news on that? Is there still an operable theatre back there?

http://www.ibdb.com/VenueImageLarge.asp?pictureId=260

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 05:52 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:54pm

The old Helen Hayes was originally the Follies Bergere

I miss them & they are far superior to the charmless barn that is the Marriot Marquis. At least you did not have to run a race to get to the restrooms which are located outside the theater

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 05:54 PM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 7:46pm

Anyone know what happened to the 54th St. Theatre/George Abbott Theatre?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 7:50pm

Torn down after, I believe, Gantry opened & closed on opening night

The original name was the Adelphi

Updated On: 10/24/06 at 07:50 PM

[maybethistime]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 7:55pm

aka THE GEORGE ABBOTT Theatre

"Rumored to be named after a six year old boy, it closed just three years after opening. Dark from 1931 to 1934, it reopened as the Adelphi. By 1936, it was used by the Federal Theater Project but was dark again when that disbanded in 1939. In 1940, the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians reopened it and presented religious entertainments. In 1949, it was a TV studio, hosting "The Honeymooners." Returned to legit use from 1957 to 1970, when it was torn down by the Hilton chain to expand a hotel."

http://www.ibdb.com/venue.asp?ID=1123

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 8:29pm

Maybe I'm imagining this, but I seem to think that elements of the Hayes interior (or perhaps the Morosco's?) were supposed to be saved in the demolition but weren't.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 8:35pm

I think so, (I'm sure Margo could clear this up) but the designers and construction workers were so stupid that they forgot to put dressing rooms in the Marquis Theatre.