Mark Hellinger Theater
| Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre (1930-1948) 51st St. Theatre (1940) Mark Hellinger Theatre (1948-1991) Times Square Church (1991 - present) |
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Times Square Church, June 2007
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| Address | 237 West 51st Street New York City, New York United States |
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| Coordinates | Coordinates: 40°45′44″N 73°59′02″W / 40.76222°N 73.98389°W |
| Type | Former Broadway & cinema |
| Capacity | approx. 1,506 |
| Current use | Times Square Church |
| Construction | |
| Opened | April 22, 1930 |
| Closed | 1989 |
| Architect | Thomas W. Lamb |
The Mark Hellinger Theatre is a former Broadway theatre and cinema complex, located at 237 West 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Since 1991, it has been home to the Times Square Church. The former theater, which remains largely unaltered in appearance, is most notable for having been the site of the original production of My Fair Lady, which ran from 1956 to 1962.
Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb, the theater was built by Warner Bros. as a deluxe movie palace to showcase their films on Broadway. It opened as the Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre on April 22, 1930 with the Warner Technicolor musical film Hold Everything starring Winnie Lightner and Joe E. Brown.
Although built as a cinema, the theater's stage, one of the largest on Broadway, was designed with the capacity to present large musical shows. As early as 1934 the Hollywood began presenting legitimate Broadway musicals, returning to films between live engagements. The first of these was Calling All Stars, a musical revue with Martha Raye.
Still a Warner theater, on October 9, 1935, the Hollywood was the site of the New York premiere of Warner Bros's lavish film of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The film's many stars included James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland.
In 1940, the theater was briefly renamed the 51st Street Theatre, under which name it operated again as a live theater, this time presenting ballet and classical drama. In 1941 it returned to the name Hollywood Theatre. In all there were eight live shows at the theater between 1934 and 1941. Of these, only George White's Scandals (1939) and Banjo Eyes with Eddie Cantor (1941) had long runs.
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