Ed Sullivan Theater
1697 Broadway | also 213 West 53rd Street | Midtown | built 1927
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1927
Arthur Hammerstein opens a Gothic theater in honor of his father
Producer Arthur Hammerstein opened Hammerstein's Theatre on November 30, 1927, as a tribute to his father, impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. Herbert J. Krapp designed it in a neo-Gothic style, with a 13-story office tower on Broadway and an auditorium of more than 1,500 seats behind it on 53rd Street.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1927
Archie Leach, later Cary Grant, appears in the theater's first show, Golden Dawn
Hammerstein's Theatre opened with the operetta Golden Dawn, whose cast included an unknown British actor named Archie Leach. He soon became a Hollywood star under the name Cary Grant. The show also put topless chorus girls on a legitimate Broadway stage, described as a first for that kind of house, but it is remembered less fondly for a racist plot about white colonists rescuing a light-skinned woman from an African village.
Source: Untapped New York
- 1931
Arthur Hammerstein files for bankruptcy with $5.77 left, and the theater is sold at auction
Arthur Hammerstein paid for the theater with about $3 million in profits from his 1924 operetta Rose-Marie, but the Depression and a string of flops caught up with him. In 1931 he filed for bankruptcy, reporting just $5.77 in his account, and the building was sold at public auction. The house kept operating under a series of new names, including the Manhattan and Billy Rose's Music Hall.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1934
Billy Rose reopens the theater as a nightclub tied to Lucky Luciano
After Arthur Hammerstein's theater went bankrupt in 1931, showman Billy Rose leased the building and reopened it as a music hall staffed with a hundred singing waiters. Mobster Lucky Luciano got involved in running the venture while Rose was away, drawing a federal investigation, and Rose pulled out within months. The venue limped on under other operators before closing for good in 1936.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1936
CBS spends $25,000 to turn the theater into Playhouse No. 3, its largest New York radio studio
CBS took over the theater in 1936 and spent $25,000 on broadcast equipment and soundproofing, renaming it Playhouse No. 3. With 1,269 seats, it was the biggest of the network's studio theaters in New York. The house drew radio stars, and the host of Camel Caravan, Walter O'Keefe, invited each audience to stay and watch rehearsals for the next broadcast.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1944
Command Performance broadcasts to the troops from the theater, with Sinatra's fans kept in the balcony
During World War II the theater, then CBS's Playhouse No. 3, was the main stage for Command Performance, a Sunday variety show recorded for shortwave broadcast to American troops overseas. In 1944 a typical episode might pair Bob Hope's wisecracks with Judy Garland singing and Lana Turner frying a steak by special request. When Frank Sinatra performed, his young female fans were seated in the balcony so they could not rush the stage.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1956
Ed Sullivan books Elvis Presley for the first of three appearances on his show
In 1956, after Steve Allen's NBC show had beaten his in the ratings, Ed Sullivan signed Elvis Presley for what became the first of three visits to Studio 50, as the theater was then called. The source says the cameras framed Presley above the waist to keep his swiveling hips under wraps. On January 6, 1957, Sullivan reassured parents by calling him a real, decent fine boy.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1964
The Beatles make their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show
CBS began broadcasting radio from the theater in 1936 and turned it into television's Studio 50 in 1949. The Ed Sullivan Show ran here from 1953 to 1971, and on February 9, 1964, the Beatles made their first American appearance on its stage. CBS renamed the building the Ed Sullivan Theater in 1967.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1967
CBS renames Studio 50 the Ed Sullivan Theater, and the mayor helps unveil the new marquee
On the 20th anniversary of The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS gave Studio 50 a new name, the Ed Sullivan Theater. The dedication was televised on Sullivan's own program, and Mayor John Lindsay walked him outside to unveil the new marquee. CBS-TV president Thomas H. Dawson noted that Sullivan was the first television personality to have a Broadway theater carry his name.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1967
The Rolling Stones must change a lyric to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show
When the Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, they had to sing "Let's Spend Some Time Together" in place of "Let's Spend the Night Together." Mick Jagger appeared to protest quietly, rolling his eyes as he sang the revised line. Untapped Cities calls Sullivan's years at the theater, 1955 to 1971, buttoned-up compared with the topless chorus line of Golden Dawn and Billy Rose's nymphs.
Source: Untapped New York
- 1974
Carol Burnett and Alan Alda tape 6 Rms Riv Vu in the theater
Carol Burnett, who had been introduced on The Garry Moore Show from this studio in 1959, kept coming back after Ed Sullivan left. She chose the theater for Bob Randolph's 6 Rms Riv Vu, taped before a live audience with Alan Alda and telecast on March 17, 1974. She called it a great theater, recalling Calamity Jane in 1963 and Once Upon a Mattress in 1964.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
- 1993
David Letterman moves the Late Show into the theater
David Letterman's Late Show broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater from 1993 to 2015. Stephen Colbert took over the show in 2015 and hosted it here until it ended in May 2026. The city had designated the theater a landmark in January 1988.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
A renovation for Stephen Colbert uncovers the theater's original dome
When Stephen Colbert took over as host in 2015, a renovation of the neo-Gothic auditorium built in 1927 uncovered its original domed ceiling and restored stained-glass windows that decades of television use had obscured. The work brought back the cathedral-like interior architect Herbert J. Krapp designed for Arthur Hammerstein's theater.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2026
The Late Show gives its last broadcast from the theater, and the Colbert marquee is replaced by the theater's name
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert signed off from the Ed Sullivan Theater for the last time on May 21, 2026, and the venue then sat vacant. By September 2026 the Colbert marquee had been swapped for signage bearing the theater's name. Because of its landmark status the building cannot be demolished and must remain a theater, and CBS had named no new use. Office landlords and Broadway operators, among them the Shubert and Nederlander organizations, said they might want to buy it.
“The Late Show ran at the Ed Sullivan Theater until May 21, 2026, when it was canceled.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Ed Sullivan TheaterWikipedia
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