Elgin Theater
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Elgin Theater opened in 1942 on Eighth Avenue in New York City. It was designed in the Art Moderne style by Simon Zelnik and was a popular movie house for decades seating 600. It served as a home to cult films and revivals and, later in its career, as an adult theater. In 1978 the community forced it to close. Even while it was an adult theater, it still kept up its program of showing midnight movies. The Elgin is credited inspiring other New York theatres to show midnight screenings. In 1970, the managers showed Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1970 surrealist western El Topo at midnight with the idea spreading midnight showings to other New York theaters.
Notable Midnight Films
A list of films played at midnight during the 70's at the Elgin
- El Topo
- Eraserhead
- Freaks
- The Harder They Come
- Night of the Living Dead
- Pink Flamingos
- Reefer Madness
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Targets
- Un chien andalou
- Invocation of my Demon Brother
Joyce Theater
It was returned to service as the Joyce Theater in 1982 and it is now a 472 seat Dance and Performance theater. The interior was completely gutted and the structure restored by architect Hugh Hardy. Hardy also preserved the marquee and façade outside. The theater hosts nearly 140,000 people a year and serves as a popular Dance venue in the city. The new name is in memory of the late daughter of LuEsther Mertz, who made possible the purchase of the theater in 1979, at a cost of $225,000.
See also
