The criterion (Humoresque, part II)
One hundred years ago today … Humoresque continued its run at The Criterion. In our June 4 post we reported on the movie; today’s post is about the theater, already, by 1920, one of NYC’s most storied entertainment spaces.
May 1920. “Criterion (Vitagraph) Theater,” NYAgo.com.
The Criterion was located at 1514 Broadway at 44th Street, in Times Square. It occupied part of an entertainment complex built in 1895 by Oscar Hammerstein. In 1914 it began service as a 900-seat cinema, an early version of what were eventually called “movie palaces,” named the Vitagraph. It was renamed the Criterion in 1918 (the name taken from the famous London theater), continuing to show both movies and stage productions.
By the time Humoresque’s May 31 debut, 1920 had already been a significant year for the Criterion, having staged several landmark plays: Eugene O’Neil’s Beyond the Horizon and Steven Hayet’s The Letter of the Law, starring Lionel Barrymore, and Pietro, written by Maud Skinner and Jules Eckhart.
Otis Skinner and Ruth Rose in Pietro at the Criterion Theater, 1920. Shadowland, Feb. 1920, p. 29. Internet Archive.
According to NYAgo.com, the theater underwent a 1920 ownership change:
In 1920, Paramount-Famous Players, which also ran the Rialto and Rivoli, took over the Criterion to showcase some of its most important releases, including "Beau Geste," "The Covered Wagon," and DeMille's first "Ten Commandments."
In addition to these films, The Criterion also screened (as we reported in our May 6 post) DeMille’s Why Change Your Wife, whose title appears on the marquee in the photo above.
NYAgo.com, furthermore, reports that the Criterion debuted a new Wurlitzer organ, dated March 19, 1920.
Wurlitzer 160, dated 1912. Carousel Organ 5, 2000, p. 3.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JUNE 5, 2020.
Tags: Criterion, movie theaters, Broadway, theater, musical instruments