The Embassy Theatre, also known as the Embassy 1 Theatre, is a former movie theater at 1560 Broadway, along Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the theater opened in 1925 on the ground floor of 1560 Broadway, the headquarters of the Actors' Equity Association. While no longer in use as a theater, the space is preserved as a New York City designated landmark, and it continues to operate as a store.
Within the former theater, an entrance vestibule connects to an outer lobby with marble trim and a coved ceiling. The inner lobby, decorated with woodwork and mirrors, was originally used to sell tickets; it was designed in a similar manner to the outer lobby. The auditorium originally had 598 seats, which were arranged on a single raked floor, facing a proscenium arch with a movie screen. The side walls of the auditorium contain piers with lighting fixtures, behind which are murals by Arthur Crisp. The ceiling contains plasterwork decoration and lighting fixtures by the Rambusch Decorating Company, including a central recessed dome. These design details remain intact except for the removal of the original seats and movie screen.
The theater opened on August 26, 1925, and was originally operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Its first manager, Gloria Gould, staffed the theater almost exclusively with young women. After Guild Enterprises began operating the Embassy in 1929, the theater became the first newsreel theater in the United States. The decline of the newsreel format forced the Embassy to revert to showing films in 1949. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the theater as an interior landmark in 1987, and the Embassy showed its last film in 1998. The Times Square Business Improvement District renovated the theater into a visitor center, which operated from 1998 to 2014. Following another renovation, the Embassy reopened in 2019 as a store themed to soccer star Pelé.
Description
The Embassy Theatre is part of the Actors' Equity Building at 1560 Broadway. The building is on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. It faces Duffy Square, the northern end of Times Square. The Actors' Equity Building abuts the I. Miller Building to the south, as well as TSX Broadway and the Palace Theatre to the north. The land under the building is owned by Actors Equity, while the building itself is owned by GFP. The theater is part of the building's retail space, which SL Green leases from GFP.
The theater was completed in 1925 and was designed by Thomas W. Lamb, with decorations by the Rambusch Decorating Company. It is housed in what was originally a retail space for men's clothes. The theater retains the floor plan of the original retail space; the floor and the ceiling are both at the same height as the original retail space. , the old Embassy Theatre itself is a retail space.
Lobbies
The theater's entrance vestibule has been modified several times since it opened. There are two lobbies: an outer lobby with marble trim and an inner lobby with woodwork. The outer lobby measures long and connects the theater's entrance vestibule and inner lobby. The inner lobby leads further inward into what was originally the auditorium. The lobby spaces are similar in design details.
Outer lobby Two sets of double doors lead from the entrance to the outer lobby. Each door is made of bronze with 20 glass panes; a transom window runs above the doors. The outer lobby's floor consists of black tile squares, separated by a grid of white marble. The space includes veined marble walls with wainscoting and illuminated sign displays. , the walls contain freestanding and wall-mounted truss structures with displays of sport wear. A plasterwork frieze, containing motifs of medallions and swags, runs at the top of the walls. The coved ceiling is surrounded by a molded band and contains two overhanging brass-and-crystal chandeliers, as well as ceiling vents for air conditioning. The outer and inner lobbies are separated by two brass-and-glass double doors, similar to those between the entrance and the outer lobby.
Inner lobby
The woodwork of the inner lobby was intended to give an intimate feeling. The space originally contained a ticket booth, and the renovated inner lobby contains a counter near the north wall. The walls contain blond-wood paneling with square mirrors; while these mirrors still exist, they are covered with vinyl stickers. Above the square mirrors are entablatures with friezes made of burled walnut, as well as gold-colored bas-relief panels with putti and vases. The square mirrors are separated by projecting, wood-paneled piers on each wall. The piers contain circular mirrors surrounded by carved wreaths. The coved ceiling is surrounded by a plasterwork frieze. The center of the ceiling has a gilded medallion, from which hangs a brass-and-crystal chandelier.
The inner lobby's south wall included entrances to lounges for men and women.; The lounge was decorated in a Francois I style, while the women's lounge was designed in a "Chinese Chippendale" style. Public telephones were placed in both rooms. These spaces have since been redecorated.
Auditorium The former auditorium is accessed from the inner lobby and was designed with a single level of seating. There was neither a balcony nor boxes. Originally, the auditorium had 598 seats, later cited as 582. The original seats contained tapestry coverings; lacquered carmine-colored arms; and lacquered black-and-gold seat backs. Aisles ran along each side of the auditorium. The room has a slightly raked floor that slopes down toward the proscenium arch on the east wall. The Pele Soccer store's floor is largely a flat surface placed on footings above the raked floor, which is still extant. The store's raised floor is designed to resemble a soccer field. To the north and south of the raised floor are ramps that are actually part of the original raked floor.
On the north and south walls of the auditorium are four piers. Each pier contains oval marble panels surrounded by floral designs, as well as gilded lighting fixtures above the marble panels. These piers were originally decorated with gilded details, and damask curtains were draped between the piers. The piers are topped by arches containing grotesque heads. The lighting fixtures were designed so they appeared to be resting on mermaids' backs. Air vents were placed within the bottoms of each pier. This created what Exhibitor's Trade Review magazine called "the latest and most effective heating and ventilation system".; The walls are topped by a cornice with brackets and paneling; this cornice contains some air-conditioning grilles. There were formerly "gilded Hermes" above some of the piers.
Behind the piers are six murals painted by Arthur Crisp. The six murals are decorated with architectural subjects. Two additional murals formerly existed near the proscenium, flanking the organs there. The organ itself was a three-manual console, leased for two years from M. P. Möller from 1925 to 1927. By the late 1980s, the two murals near the proscenium had been removed, while the remaining murals were in poor condition. The two murals near the rear of the auditorium were visually divided by a sound wall, although they remained physically intact. The remaining murals were restored in 2019 as part of the Pele Soccer store's construction. The westernmost mural on the north wall had been damaged, so a freestanding sign describing the theater's history was placed in front of the damaged mural.
The east wall of the auditorium contains the proscenium arch. In front of the arch, there was originally a stage measuring about deep, as well as an orchestra pit and a motion-picture screen. The screen was removed in 1997 and replaced with a mural by artist Jessica Daryl Winer. Entitled Curtain Call, the mural depicted 200 notable Broadway personalities. The modern Pele Soccer store has an LED display within the proscenium opening, measuring tall by about wide.
The auditorium's ceiling is mostly flat but is designed with plasterwork in low relief. The center of the ceiling has a wide recessed dome, which is surrounded by eight smaller brass-and-crystal lighting panels. The central dome is surrounded by gilded filigree decorations, which were subsequently painted cream to match the surrounding ceiling. Rambusch Studio designed the lighting fixtures. According to Exhibitor's Trade Review, the lighting fixtures were designed specifically for the theater, with a mixture of direct and indirect lighting.
History Movie palaces became common in the 1920s, between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. In the New York City area, only a small number of operators were involved in the construction of movie palaces. These theaters' designers included the legitimate-theater architects Thomas W. Lamb, C. Howard Crane, and John Eberson. In particular, many movie palaces were built around the Times Square area in the early 20th century.
Original theater use Billboard magazine reported in April 1925 that Joel Weinstock would operate the 600-seat Embassy Theatre adjacent to the Palace Theatre, a vaudeville house. The Embassy was planned to be the first movie house in New York City to operate 24 hours a day, charging 25 cents for admission at all hours. In July 1925, it was announced that socialite Gloria Gould had signed a contract to manage the new theater, which would be operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Nineteen years old at the time, Gould was described in Exhibitors' Trade Review as "the youngest person, either male or female, to have ever achieved the distinction of directing a modern motion picture theatre, and that in the great metropolis of the world". Also unusual was that Gould had no previous experience managing a cinema. The Embassy Theatre officially opened on August 26, 1925, with the film The Merry Widow. Opening-night tickets were $5.50 each (); about half the audience were "local or national celebrities", protected by a police reinforcement.
When the theater opened, Gould said the theater would not host any comedies or newsreels.; All seats were reserved and cost $2 each (), as Gould wanted the theater to cater to impatient "society people", rather than the general public. Furthering the Embassy's exclusive nature, "beggars, vagrants, peddlers, bootleggers and blind persons" were not allowed to enter. Gould also announced that all of the Embassy's staff would be women, from the ushers to the musicians, in the belief that women could work more efficiently than men; she said MGM vice president Major Bowes supported the effort. Gould's ushers had to be blondes in their late teens or early twenties, at most tall, with white teeth and the "ability to wear clothes with dignity". Almost four hundred women applied for staff positions, including a "white-haired widow" and a "daughter of a Russian general", according to Gould. According to the American Guild of Organists, there were still four men on staff: a porter and three operators.