The Ziegfeld Theatre was a single-screen

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

located at 141 West 54th Street in

midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It opened in 1969 and closed in 2016. The theater was named in honor of the original Ziegfeld Theatre (1927–1966) which was built by the impresario

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the ''Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He also p ...

History

On December 17, 1969, a few hundred feet from the site of the original Ziegfeld Theatre, a new Ziegfeld opened as a single-screen movie house with the New York premiere of ''

Marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally (usually in passive voice) to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape ...

''. It was the flagship of the

Walter Reade ''Walter Reade'' was the name of a father and son who had an extensive career in the United States motion picture industry. Walter Reade Sr. Walter Reade, Sr. (1884–1952) was the man behind a chain of theatres which grew from a single theatre ...

movie theatre chain. Constructed by

Emery Roth & Sons Emery Roth ( hu, Róth Imre, July 17, 1871 – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-A ...

from designs by Irving Gershon it was built on part of the old theatre and was the first new theatre in the Times Square area since

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

was built in 1932. It was one of the last large-scale, single-screen movie palaces built in the United States. The gold and maroon interior was designed by John J. McNamara at a cost of $600,000. The theatre had 1,152 seats (825 seats in the orchestra section and 306 seats in the tiered rear section). After ''Marooned'' it showed reissues until July 1, 1970, when it had the world premiere of

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

' ''

The Boatniks ''The Boatniks'' is a 1970 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar and starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers, Don Ameche and Phil Silvers. It was made by Walt Disney Productions, released by Buena Vista Distribution. Young and awkward, ...

''. From then it was often used for world premieres and big-event press screenings, such as the November 1977 opening of ''

Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...

''. In 1987,

Cineplex Odeon Corporation Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators and live theatre, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. The Cineplex Odeon brand is still being used by Cineplex Entertainment at ...

acquired the Walter Reade Organization and took over operation of the theatre. The theater underwent extensive renovations in the late 1990s. It was a centerpiece site during the 2008

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

because of reconstruction work at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

that year. During the 2000s, digital projection was installed. The theater became the largest single-screen cinema operating in New York. The screen was 20 feet tall and 52 feet wide, making it the largest non-IMAX screen in New York City. From 2013 until its closing, the Ziegfeld was managed by Bow Tie Cinemas, on behalf of

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

, which owned the theater. The theater was previously part of the Clearview Cinemas chain, which was owned by Cablevision, prior to the chain's sale to Bow Tie; the actual ownership of the Ziegfeld building was excluded from the sale.

Closure

On January 20, 2016 owners announced that the Ziegfeld would close "within a few weeks" due to dwindling attendance and revenue. Eight days later the Ziegfeld Theatre closed its doors to the public as a large single screen movie theater with a final showing of the film '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens''. The theater underwent a major renovation and re-opened in October 2017 as a luxury event space called the Ziegfeld Ballroom.

References

External links

Cinema Treasures
*{{official, https://ziegfeldballroom.com 1969 establishments in New York City 2016 disestablishments in New York (state) Cinemas and movie theaters in Manhattan Emery Roth buildings Midtown Manhattan Theatres completed in 1969 Former cinemas in the United States

History

Closure

See also

References

External links