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Former theatre in Manhattan, New York
Lobby of the Rialto Theatre during
Cat People
premiere on 5 December 1942
TIMES SQUARE map in 1916 with the Rialto and other theatres
The
Rialto Theatre
was a
movie palace
in New York City located at 1481
Broadway
, at the northwest corner of
Seventh Avenue
and
42nd Street
, within the
Theater District
of
Manhattan
.
The 1,960-seat theater opened on April 21, 1916, on the former site of
Oscar Hammerstein
's
Vaudeville
venue the
Victoria Theatre
. Together with
Strand Theatre
, they were the most important movie theatres on Broadway at the time.
[1]
It exclusively played
Triangle Film Corporation
films
[1]
but beginning in 1919, the Rialto Theatre premiered many releases by
Paramount Pictures
(then known as the
Famous Players?Lasky Corporation
) 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.
Cat People advertisements at theater entrance in 1942
By the 1970s, the theater had become an
adult movie theater
. In February 1980, it abandoned adult films in lieu of
legitimate theater
, 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
). It was once home to
daytime
talk shows
hosted by
Geraldo Rivera
and
Montel Williams
, and was the production center of
WOR-TV
.
The building was torn down in 1998 and
3 Times Square
, a high-rise office building, was erected in its place.
[2]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
The Rialto's predecessor, the Hammerstein vaudeville venue, is featured in the 1948 film
Portrait of Jennie
. 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
cartoon playing in the background.
[3]
Box office receipts from the premiere at the Rialto Theatre of
Paramount Pictures
's 1926 movie
Old Ironsides (film)
, directed by
James Cruz
went to the
USS Constitution
restoration fund.
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