The Earl Carroll Theatre was a

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

at 753 Seventh Avenue near 50th Street in the Theater District of

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 Buildi ...

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 ...

. Built by impresario

Earl Carroll Earl Carroll (September 16, 1893 – June 17, 1948) was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, songwriter and composer. Early life Carroll was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1893. He lived as an infant in the Nunnery Hill ( Fine ...

and designed by architect

George Keister George W. Keister (January 10, 1859 - December 27, 1945)"Keister, George," ''Leslie's History of the Greater New York'', vol. 3 (New York: Arkell Publishing Company, 1898): 640. was an American architect. His work includes the Hotel Gerard (189 ...

, it opened on February 25, 1922, and was highly successful for a number of years until it was demolished and rebuilt on a lavish scale. It reopened in August 1931 with Carroll's billing that it was "the largest legitimate theater in the world." However, the facility's operating costs proved astronomical and it went into foreclosure in early 1932 after which it was acquired by producer

Florenz Ziegfeld 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 ...

who renamed it the Casino Theatre. The Casino was the site of a very successful revival of Ziegfeld's production of ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' in 1932. However, Ziegfeld too went bankrupt only a short time later. The property was auctioned in foreclosure on August 18, 1933 to the Mutual Life Insurance Company for $1 million.

The French Casino

In 1934, after being acquired by a business consortium consisting of Louis F. Blumenthal, Charles H. Haring and Jack Shapiro the theater was refurbished, and on December 30, 1934 reopened as the French Casino night club. The chic nightclub offered dinner and a Broadway cabaret show and became very successful for several years. Its first revue was titled ''Revue Folies Bergeres''. The French Casino operated until its closure in 1937. Soon after, the Broadway producer

Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with s ...

acquired the building and renamed it Casa Manana, after the previous incarnation at the Frontier Centennial in Fort Worth, Texas. It opened with the show, "Let's Play Fair", a successful bid for Rose's ambition to secure the Aquacade show for the New York World's Fair. Under the helm of Rose, the venue traded until June of 1939. The French Casino reacquired the theater in late 1939 but was unsuccessful and closed in 1940. Thereafter, the building was converted into retail space and became a Woolworth's Department Store. The building was demolished in 1990.

Description

The building was six-stories, made of dark brick with retail stores on the street level and offices above. It was long and about deep, behind which the theater wing stretches to the left. Between the fourth and fifth floors, a big sign on the facade said "Earl Carroll Theatre" in capital letters. The right side of the office building had a marquee over the theater entrance, which is through the office building. There was another marquee at the theater wing on the left.

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* {{Broadway theatres 1922 establishments in New York City 1990 disestablishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures demolished in 1990 Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Former theatres in Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) Theater District, Manhattan Theatres completed in 1922

The French Casino

Description

References

Further reading

External links