Anco Cinema

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photo of exterior of The Hackett Theater in 1909, with signs announcing that actress Grace George is starring; inset shows photo of James K. Hackett's face
254 West 42nd Street: The Hackett Theater in 1909, during the run of A Woman's Way.[1]

The Anco Cinema was a former Broadway theatre turned cinema at 254 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1904 and was originally named the Lew Fields Theatre. It continued to operate as a playhouse under various names until it was converted into a movie theatre in 1930. Its block was famous for its concentration of Broadway theatres turned cinemas. After World War II, the street declined and the Anco Cinema eventually became a pornography venue. It closed as a cinema in 1988 and was gutted for retail use. The building was demolished in 1997.

Playhouse

In 1903, producer Fred R. Hamlin and producer/director Julian Mitchell had a big Broadway hit with The Wizard of Oz, a musical staging of the L. Frank Baum story, and they had another with Babes in Toyland, a Victor Herbert[2] operetta, later in the year. In 1904, Oscar Hammerstein I[3] announced plans to build his eighth Manhattan theater (after the Harlem and Manhattan opera houses, the Olympia and Victoria music halls, and the Columbus, Olympia and Republic theaters), on vacant land he had recently bought at 254–58 West 42nd Street,[4] calling it the National. It would be designed by Albert E. Westover,[5] a Philadelphia architect who designed several theaters in that city for vaudeville operator B. F. Keith and is credited with Hammerstein's Republic.[6] The same year, comedians Joe Weber[7] and Lew Fields[8] ended their decades-long partnership, giving their final show May 28, at the New Amsterdam Theatre.[9] On May 31, the new partnership of Hamlin, Mitchell, and Fields contracted to lease Hammerstein's (not-yet-built) new house. They announced they would name it for Fields and produce musicals and burlesques.[10]

254 West 42nd St.[11]
As of Name
December 5, 1904 Lew Fields
August 27, 1906 Hackett
August 31, 1911 Harris
September 7, 1920 Frazee
November 12, 1924 Wallack's
1940 Anco Cinema
1997 [demolished]

Their first offering was a new Victor Herbert operetta, It Happened in Nordland, with libretto and lyrics by Glen MacDonough,[12] starring Fields and Marie Cahill,[13] together with a burlesque of The Music Master, a current hit play. The Lew Fields Theatre opened on December 5, 1904, eight days after Hamlin's unexpected death.[14] The show was a hit;[15] the production ran through April 29, 1905, went on a road tour,[16] resumed on August 31 with Blanche Ring instead of Marie Cahill, and closed on November 18, for another tour.[17]

On May 23, 1906, Fields formed a corporation with Lee Shubert of the Shubert Brothers, taking joint possession of the Herald Square Theatre.[18] Fields and Mitchell moved there in August, and the former Lew Fields Theatre was leased by the well-known actor-manager James K. Hackett, who renamed it for himself.[19] The Hackett Theater opened August 27 with a farce imported from London, The Little Stranger, starring Edward Garratt.[20] Its first big success was the seven-month run of The Chorus Lady, starring Rose Stahl, from October 15, 1906, through June 1, 1907. (The play had opened at the Savoy Theatre on September 1.)[21] In the first week of February 1907, Hammerstein sold the theater to Henry B. Harris,[22] the theatrical producer who bought the Hudson Theatre the next year and built the Folies-Bergere in 1911.[23] Hackett retained his lease and the playhouse its name.

Humphrey Bogart and Shirley Booth in Hell's Bells at Wallack's Theatre (1925)

Another big success at the Hackett was the Shubert production The Witching Hour, a dramatic play by Augustus Thomas, which played from November 20, 1907, to June 27, 1908, and from August 17, 1908, to September 19, 1908 (when it moved to the West End Theatre on 125th Street).[24] From September 21 through October 10, 1908, Hackett reprised his starring role in The Prisoner of Zenda, which he had first played on February 10, 1896.[25] (In 1913, he starred in the novel's first film adaption, which was produced by Adolph Zukor and was the first production of the Famous Players Film Company.)

In 1911, Hackett's lease expired and Henry B. Harris took over, making major interior and exterior alterations. (The adjacent 1909 picture shows, in addition to the canopy, that the lobby projects beyond the building line. The city ordered such encroachments removed in 1910 for the narrowing of the sidewalks on 42nd Street and Times Square.)[26] He named the playhouse The Harris Theatre in honor of his father, William Harris Sr., also a theater owner and producer, and an associate of the Theatrical Syndicate,[27] and opened on August 31 with a new play, Maggie Pepper, again starring Rose Stahl.[28]

Henry B. Harris died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912.[29] His estate operated the theater for the next two and a half years, and September 21, 1914, leased it to Selwyn and Company; i.e., Crosby Gaige and the Selwyn brothers.[30] (Four years later the three opened their own theater across the street, now called the American Airlines Theatre.) They mounted several productions at the Harris, the first on October 23: The Salamander, by Owen Johnson (adapted from his book), starring Carroll McComas.[31] When the Selwyn & Co. lease expired on July 1, 1920, Harris's widow sold the theater to H. H. Frazee, a producer and theater owner and owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team,[32] who again made renovations and opened the Frazee Theatre with a new play September 7: The Woman of Bronze, starring Margaret Anglin, which ran for 252 performances.[33] Dulcy, a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, opened on August 13, 1921, made Lynn Fontanne a star, and ran through March 11, 1922.[34]

In late 1924, John Cort leased the theater, naming it Wallack's Theatre (his Cort Theatre on 48th Street was already using his own name); in two years he had no hits. Frazee sold it in October 1926, and it was leased out again, housing nothing but flops. The last was called Find the Fox, and its third performance, on Saturday evening, June 21, 1930, brought the legitimate career of this theater to an end.[35]

Cinema

Later that year the theater was leased to Max A. Cohen's company, Excello Estates, which used it to show movies. According to Henderson, "Cohen bought the land underneath Wallack's in 1940 ... tore out the second balcony, put stadium seating in the orchestra" and replaced the facade "with a windowless sheet of bland stucco." He named it Anco Cinema, after his wife, Anne. After World War II, the street declined until eventually many of the once-famous theatres, including the Anco Cinema, were showing pornography. In 1988, the Anco was gutted and turned into retail space. In 1997, the building was demolished, as part of the 42nd Street Development Project. Its site is now occupied by the facade and other remaining parts of the Empire Theatre which was moved in 1998 170 feet to the west,[36] and whose remnants serve as the entryway of a multi-screen cinema.[37][38]

References

  1. ^ "A Woman's Way is Pleasantly Shown" The New York Times February 23, 1909 and A Woman's Way at Internet Broadway Database
  2. ^ Browne, W.:233, "Herbert, Victor"
  3. ^ Browne, W.:218–19, "Hammerstein, Oscar"
  4. ^ See Bromley (1911), Plate 20. On land sale, see "Oscar Hammerstein Buys" Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide Vol. 73, No. 1869 [i.e. 1870] (January 16, 1904):111 and "Another Theatre for Forty-Second Street", ibid.:114, col. 2 (scroll down)
  5. ^ See
  6. ^ See
    • "Between 14th and 59th Streets" Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide Vol. 64, No. 1658 (December 23, 1899):990, col. 2: item beginning "2113 - 42d st, Nos 207–211 W". (207–211 is the Republic; Westover is named as architect.)
    • White, "New Victory Theater," location 8389
  7. ^ Browne, W.:444–46, "Weber, Joseph M."
  8. ^ Browne, W.:166–68, "Fields, Lew M."
  9. ^ "Stage Shows of Springtime" The Sun (New York) May 15, 1904, Third Section: p. 5 col. 1 paragraph 12; and advertisement for Weber and Fields farewell, same page, cols. 4–5
  10. ^ "Theatre for Lew Fields" The New York Times June 1, 1904 (scroll down)
  11. ^ Anco Cinema at Internet Broadway Database
  12. ^ Featuring the song "Absinthe Frappé". Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  13. ^ Browne, W.:68, "Cahill, Miss Marie (Mrs. Daniel V. Arthur)"
  14. ^ "Fred R. Hamlin Dead" The New York Times November 28, 1904
  15. ^ "Lew Fields Scores Again" The Evening World (New York) December 6, 1904, Evening Edition: p. 13 col. 1; and "Fields's Theatre Opens With Dainty Comedy" The New York Times December 6, 1904
  16. ^ "Musical Attractions" The New York Times April 16, 1905, col. 3
  17. ^ "Before the Footlights" New-York Tribune August 27, 1905, p. 2 col. 5 paragraph 4; Advertisement for Lew Fields Theatre New-York Tribune November 11, 1905, p. 8 col. 6; and "Miss Bentley Joins Lew Fields" New-York Tribune November 11, 1905, p. 9 col. 3 (scroll down)
  18. ^ "Lew Fields Has Joined Theatre Independents" The New York Times May 24, 1906
  19. ^ Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide Vol. 77, No. 1990 (May 5, 1906):857, col. 1: item "42d st, s s…Oscar Hammerstein…" and Browne, W.:212–14, "Hackett, James Keteltas"
  20. ^ "A Funny Little Stranger From the Curio Hall" The New York Times August 28, 1906
  21. ^ "The Chorus Lady and Her Friends" The New York Times September 2, 1906; "Before the Footlights" New-York Tribune October 14, 1906, p. 2 col. 2 item 10; and "Roof Gardens Open" New-York Tribune June 2, 1907, p. 6 col.1 item 3
  22. ^ See
  23. ^ Helen Hayes Theatre at Internet Broadway Database; Hudson Theatre at Internet Broadway Database; and "H. B. Harris Takes Hudson" New-York Tribune April 2, 1908, p. 1 col. 3 last item
  24. ^ "The Witching Hour" The New York Times November 21, 1907; "Stage Gossip and Amusement—Resort Theatres" The New York Times June 21, 1908, col. 3 paragraph 1; "Stage Affairs" New-York Tribune August 16, 1908, p. 3 col. 1 paragraph 4; and "Plays That Hold" The New York Times September 13, 1908, col. 3
  25. ^ "The Drama. A Revival at the Lyceum" New-York Tribune February 11, 1896, p. 7 col. 2 (scroll down); "Prisoner of Zenda Again" The New York Times September 22, 1908; and "Hackett in The Crisis" The New York Times October 11, 1908
  26. ^ See
  27. ^ For an account of the father see his obituary: "William Harris, Sr., Stage Veteran, Dies" The New York Times November 26, 1916
  28. ^ "Rose Stahl's Rescue Mission" and "The Harris Like New House" The New York Times September 1, 1911
  29. ^ "Concerning H. B. Harris" The New York Times April 21, 1912
  30. ^ "Deficit of $32,247 in Harris Estate" New-York Tribune July 2, 1914, p. 9 col. 7; "Deficit in Harris Estate" The New York Times July 2, 1914; "Selwyn & Co. Get the Harris" The Sun (New York) September 22, 1914, p. 7 col. 3 (scroll down); and Crosby Gaige at Playbill Vault website (retrieved October 2, 2015).
  31. ^ "The Salamander Comes as a Play" The New York Times October 24, 1914. See also the drawing by Dumas, Anthony F., "Harris Theatre and Loew's American Theatre". Museum of the City of New York Digital Collections, Digital ID: 75.200.54. The play Lilac Time, named on the theater, played the Harris May 14, 1917 to June 9, 1917.
  32. ^ Reports of the sale in two different newspapers include nearly identical statements which conflict with citations above. Among other questionable aspects is the middle initial of the father's name, which does not appear elsewhere in contemporary sources, including his obituary in The New York Times (cited above). The reports are:
    • "Frazee Buys the Harris" The New York Times March 27, 1920, which states, "The Harris ... was built at a cost of $500,000 in 1900 by William B. Harris, father of Henry B. Harris ..." and
    • "Frazee Takes Possession of the Harris Theatre" New-York Tribune July 24, 1920, p. 4 col. 6, which states: "The Frazee Theatre was built as the Harris in 1900 by William B. Harris, father of the late Henry B. Harris, at a cost of $500,000."
  33. ^ Woolcott, Alexander "The Play" The New York Times September 8, 1920 and The Woman of Bronze at Internet Broadway Database
  34. ^ Dudley, Bide "The New Plays" The Evening World (New York) August 15, 1921, Wall Street Final Edition, p. 17; and Dulcy at Internet Broadway Database
  35. ^ Henderson:139
  36. ^ See Bromley (1916), Plate 65.
  37. ^ Henderson:138
  38. ^ See
    • photograph: trash world (May 6, 2009). "42nd street Dec 1992". flickr. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016. The Anco, with blank walls, is on the right. The Empire, with the arched window above the marquee, is on the left.
    • "The Theater's on a Roll, Gliding Down 42nd Street" The New York Times February 28, 1998
    • Anco Cinema at Internet Broadway Database

Sources

External links

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