Gay movie theaters nyc

History

This venue was originally known as Henry Miller’s Theater. One fairly achieving gay-themed play appeared at the Henry Miller prior to the Wales Padlock Law (1927), which forbade the depiction of “sex perversion” on stage. Noel Coward had become a sensation in England in his play The Vortex, which he transferred here for his American debut in 1925-26. Coward’s character was a closeted gay man. The biggest LGBT-associated hit at the Henry Miller was Born Yesterday (1948-49), with Judy Holliday (opened at the Lyceum Theater). Another big smack was Dear Ruth (1944-46), with John Dall.

Productions by LGBT creators and with LGBT performers at the Henry Miller included:

• Lusmore (1919), with actor Eva Le Gallienne
• The Intimate Strangers (1921-22), with actor Alfred Lunt
• The National Anthem (1922), with actor Laurette Taylor
• Baby Cyclone (1927-28), with performer Spencer Tracy
• Our Betters (1928) by W. Somerset Maugham, with actor Constance Collier
• The Solemn Flame (1928) by W. Somerset Maugham
• 
  

  Bijou Cinema

  Opened in the early-1910’s as the Lyric Theatre. By 1910 it had been renamed Comet Theatre. In the the 1930’s it was presenting reside plays. In the 1960’s it was turned into the Jewel Theatre which played all male films when they left the Adonis Theatre on 8th Avenue. In the 1980’s it was re-named the Bijou Cinema and continued to play lgbtq+ male XXX films. In 1988 the city closed it down.

  It was remodeled and re-named the Cinema Village Third Avenue with the revival format moving here when the owner of the Cinema Village tried to make that an X home (with the mention Cinema 12). That lasted less than three months and the original Cinema Village returned with independant films for a short moment using the Cinema 12 name and then Cinema Village.

  This theatre then changed it’s name endorse to the Bijou Cinema and switched to a first run format opening with “War of the Roses”. By 1992 with all the competition from the new Loews Village and Village East, the theatre quietly went endorse to gay male adult films, and closed around 2002. The building was gutted to its brick walls in June 2005 and converted into office space. By 2017 it ha

  overview

  Opened in 1920, the Times Square Theater staged a number of productions involving major LGBT performers and creators, including Katharine Cornell, Tallulah Bankhead, Laurence Olivier, and Noel Coward, among others.

  Operating relatively briefly as a legitimate theater, the venue became a movie theater in 1933 and the interior was demolished in 1996.

  Header Photo

  Credit: Christopher D. Brazee/NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, 2022.

  Katharine Cornell in A Bill of Divorcement, 1921. Photo by White Studio. Courtesy of the Museum of the Capital of New York.

  The Exciters poster, 1922. Source: tallulahbankhead.weebly.com.

  Beatrice Lillie in Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924. Photo by White Studio. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

  Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward in Private Lives, 1930. Source: www.thestage.co.uk.

  Tallulah Bankhead and Ilka Chase in Forsaking All Others, 1933. Photo by Vandamm. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of Recent York.

  Apollo and Times Square Theaters. Photo by Wurts Bros, 1921. Courtesy of The New York Public Library.

  The Times Square Theater

  'Rise & Fall of the Adonis: NYC’s Most Notorious Same-sex attracted Adult Cinema' Webinar

  Tickets: $12 (includes access to the entire replay for one week)

  Click the link below to officially register for this experience:

  https://www.nyadventureclub.com/event/rise-fall-of-the-adonis-nycs-most-notorious-gay-adult-cinema-webinar-registration-1349769008439/

  Between 1975 and 1990, the Adonis Theater on Eighth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets was New York City's largest and most popular homosexual adult movie theater. It anchored what was then recognizable as the "Minnesota Strip" — an infamous stretch of Eighth Avenue optimal known for its porno theaters, peep shows, and prostitutes. How did this iconic theater enter to be and what roles did politics, real estate, health, and technology have in its rise and fall? It's time to explore the stories behind one of New York's most notorious movie theaters.

  Join New York Adventure Club as we uncover the history of the Adonis Theater, from when the building first opened in 1920 as the Tivoli Theater to its demise in the 1990s after serving as New York City's most notorious adult all-male movie theatre for a decade.

  Led by licensed NYC tour instruction Robert B