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The Rialto Theatre was a 
By the 1970s, the theater had become an
The Rialto Theatre was a movie palace
A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...
in New York City located at 1481 Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, within the Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
The 1,960-seat theater opened on April 21, 1916, on the former site of Oscar Hammerstein's Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
venue the Victoria Theatre. Together with Strand Theatre, they were the most important movie theatres on Broadway at the time. It exclusively played Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation (also known as Triangle Motion Picture Company) was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in July 1915 in Culver City, California and terminated 7 years later in 1922.
History
The studio was founded in July 1 ...
films but beginning in 1919, the Rialto Theatre premiered many releases by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
(then known as the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...
) until being supplanted by the newly built Paramount Theatre in 1926 as the movie studio's flagship theater in New York City.
When Paramount sold the building in 1935, the Rialto Theatre was demolished and rebuilt on a smaller scale, with the rest of the building dedicated to shops and office space.
By the 1970s, the theater had become an adult movie theater
An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films.
Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the patro ...
. In February 1980, it abandoned adult films in lieu of legitimate theater
Legitimate theatre is live performance that relies almost entirely on diegetic elements, with actors performing through speech and natural movement.Joyce M. Hawkins and Robert Allen, eds. "Legitimate" entry. ''The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dicti ...
, becoming host to live theatrical productions. The building also contained a TV studio called Times Square Studios (not related to the studio owned by ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
). It was once home to daytime
Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemis ...
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
s hosted by Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Riviera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and former television host. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the liv ...
and Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host, actor and motivational speaker. He is known for hosting the long-running daytime tabloid talk show '' The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 199 ...
.
The building was torn down in 1998 and 3 Times Square, a high-rise office building, was erected in its place.
In popular culture
The Rialto's predecessor, the Hammerstein vaudeville venue, is featured in the 1948 film ''Portrait of Jennie
''Portrait of Jennie'' is a 1948 American fantasy film based on the 1940 novella by Robert Nathan. The film was directed by William Dieterle and produced by David O. Selznick. It stars Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten. At the 21st Academy A ...
''. Jennie's parents are high-wire trapeze artists who perform at Hammerstein's until tragedy strikes. The Rialto itself also makes an appearance in the film, with a Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
cartoon playing in the background.''Portrait of Jennie'' (David O. Selznick, 1948). Box office receipts from the premiere at the Rialto Theatre of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
's 1926 movie Old Ironsides (film)
''Old Ironsides'' is a 1926 American silent film, silent historical film, historical war film directed by James Cruze and starring Charles Farrell, Esther Ralston, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft (actor), George Bancroft. It was produced and ...
, directed by James Cruz
James Cruz is a Grammy Award winning audio mastering engineer and owner of Zeitgeist Sound Studios in Long Island City, New York.
Biography
James Cruz started his career in 2002, at The Hit Factory during its "golden age" under the tutelage of T ...
went to the USS Constitution
USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized ...
restoration fund.
References
{{Times Square Former Broadway theatres Movie palaces Broadway (Manhattan) Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Former theatres in Manhattan Buildings and structures demolished in 2002 Theater District, Manhattan Seventh Avenue