Metropolis Theatre opened as a
theater with 1,600 seats in 1893. It was converted to show
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s by 1914 as competition from the
Bronx Opera House
The Bronx Opera House is a former theater, part of the Subway Circuit, now converted into a boutique hotel in the Bronx, New York It was designed by George M. Keister and built in 1913 at 436 East 149th Street on the site of Frederick Schnaufe ...
(1913) took hold. It was in the southwest of the area known as the
Hub.
[Richard Butsc]
For Fun and Profit
the transformation of leisure into consumption
The '' Spirit of the Times'' reported on the new theater, the only one above 125th Street in an area made newly accessible by elevated, cable, and trolley cars, in its September 4, 1897 issue noting it was managed by Mortimer Theiss with a Klaw & Erlanger company performing ''In Gay New York
''In Gay New York'' is a musical revue with a script by C. M. S. McLellan, under his pseudonym Hugh Morton, and music by Gustave Kerker. The story revolves around two newlyweds from Maine who come to New York City, do some sightseeing, and see bit ...
'' The theatre was decorated in "very rich and very artistic" green, gold, and pink. It had a proscenium arch adorned with a picture "of" Giovanni a depicting "a group of maids and lads dancing to sylvan pipes and capturing kisses". The image was said to have exhibited at the Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
.
According to John McNamara, performers at the theater included Francis X. Bushman
Francis Xavier Bushman (January 10, 1883 – August 23, 1966) was an American film actor and director. His career as a matinee idol started in 1911 in the silent film ''His Friend's Wife.'' He gained a large female following and was one of the ...
, Leo Dietrichstein, Clara Kimball Young and Pat Rooney
Patrick Eugene Rooney (born November 28, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball player. Rooney played for the Montreal Expos in . He batted and threw right-handed.
Career
He was drafted by the Expos in the 20th round of the 1978 amateur draft ...
. He wrote that the theatre basement was a Rathskeller while on top of the building there was a roof garden.
Robert W. Snyder’s ''The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York'' gives a brief history of the Metropolis on page 94, stating that Loew’s never operated the Metropolis as a theater and previous owners hosted vaudeville, films, Italian stage shows, and finally burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. (precipitating a shut down by the police in 1926).
The Metropolis closed in 1926 and Loews used it for storage of the chains scenery, curtains, and draperies used in vaudeville and stage shows (until they were phased out) as well as for a shop that produced the signs and posters displayed at the chain's theaters. It was mostly demolished in the 1940s, leaving behind only facade. It was located at the corner of Third Avenue and 142nd Street.[Ken Ro]
Metrolpolis Theatre
Cinema Treasures
References
External links
photo of the building's remaining facade
{{coord, 40, 48.77, 0, N, 73, 55.43, 0, W, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title
Theatres in the Bronx
1893 establishments in New York (state)
Vaudeville theaters