The Eltinge Theater was the eighth theater built on
Forty-Second Street. The
theater was built to honor the nationwide success of Julian Eltinge, a
female impersonator. The theater was very decorated, the interior held
bits and pieces of several cultures, including African, Roman, and Egyptian.
The front was
beautiful with a large window and carvings in green, blue, orange, and red
terra-cotta all around it. The architect
responsible for the design was Thomas A. Lamb. The theater held nine hundred people and had an orchestra, two balconies, and eight boxes.
The seats on the floor had an interesting quirk; they were in three sizes,
slender, medium, and stout, persons could choose which seat would fit them
best this was done so that a more rotund theater lover could be more comfortable.
The theater opened September 11, 1912, with the show
Within the Law. This
show ran a record 541 performances that was never beaten by any other show that
played in the Eltinge. Many other successful show ran in the Eltinge, including The
Song of Songs (1914) and Fair and Warmer (1915). The theater became known as a comedy house for the
first ten years of its existence. Many of the early shows in the Eltinge
were farces. Plays like Up in Mabel's Room, The Girl
in the Limousine, and Ladies Night helped make the theatre known for
its comedies. The melodramas at the Eltinge were often less successful
than the comedies. East of Suez ran in 1921, with 100
performances. Even with the popular actor Laurence Oliver, Murder on
the Second Floor did not last in the Eltinge. In 1935, the
theater was home to a historic event when Bud Abbot and Lou Costello first
performed as a team as the Eltinge stage.
The final legitimate show in the
Eltinge was a drama called First Night. After that, the economic changes in the
country forced the theatre into presenting strip shows for the next few
years. In 1942, the mayor of New York shut down the theater for moral reasons
and the Eltinge was remodeled into a movie palace that showed comedies. At the time of the conversion to a movie theater, the Eltinge was renamed
the Laff Movie theater. In 1954, the theater was renamed the Empire, and
began showing films around the clock.
By the mid 1980's, the theater was
closed. With a stage too small and with little need for another small house
for plays, the conversion of the Eltinge into part of the AMC movie complex
makes a great deal of sense. The interior and exterior of the Eltinge were
moved 200 feet to the east to create the entrance to the AMC movie center
complex. The complex, now called the AMC Empire 25, housed its debut
April 21, 2001. It contains 25 screens and seats 4, 961. The AMC
Empire 25 combines the historic features of the Eltinge with modern
conveniences, such as 14 escalators the longest of which is 72 ft long with a 36
ft vertical rise. The AMC Empire 25 currently hosts Meetings and
Conference programs, as well as AMC Movies.
To see pictures of the AMC Empire 25 Movie Complex, click here.
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