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Loew's State Theatre

New York, Italy

Loew's State Theatre

The Loew's State Theatre was a movie theater at 1540 Broadway on Times Square in New York City. Designed by Thomas Lamb in the Adam style, it opened on August 29, 1921, as part of a 16-story office building for the Loew's Theatres company, with a seating capacity of 3,200 and featuring both vaudevil

le and films. It was the first theater on Broadway to cost $1 million. It was initially managed by Joseph Vogel, who later became president of Loew's Inc. and then MGM. For several years it was a second-run theater featuring live acts and a feature (most often an MGM film that would have premiered at the Astor Theatre before having its initial run at the Capitol, both Loew's movie houses located just a few blocks from the State), although it also had frequent personal appearances and short subjects. Loew's became the last theater in Times Square to continue booking vaudeville acts as that medium declined in the 1930s; when it hosted its last vaudeville show on December 23, 1947, sentimental goodbyes were made from the stage in recognition of the end of an era. A young Herbert Khaury, later known as Tiny Tim, worked at the theater as a messenger boy from March 1951 to August 1952. In March...

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