New Victory Theater
209 West 42nd Street | also 207 West 42nd Street | Times Square | built 1903
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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.
- 1900
Oscar Hammerstein's Republic Theatre opens with Lionel Barrymore in Sag Harbor
Oscar Hammerstein's small Republic Theatre opened on September 27, 1900, with Lionel Barrymore in James A. Herne's Sag Harbor, after which In the Palace of the King played for six months. The interior was painted green, ivory and gold, with marble stairways and a gilded dome, and it included life-size figures of Harmony and Melody.
Source: new42.org
- 1902
Belasco's rebuild of the Republic floods after workers hit a spring
David Belasco meant to spend $15,000 to $20,000 on remodeling the Republic in 1902 but ended up gutting the interior at a cost of $150,000. A basement was dug beneath the stage for trap doors and an elevator, and workers digging there struck a spring by mistake and flooded the site. His assistant Louis Hartmann also persuaded him to add a laboratory above the dome for testing lighting and stage effects.
“As workers were excavating an area under the stage, they hit a spring by mistake, flooding the site. ... a laboratory directly above the dome to test out lighting and stage effects.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1902
David Belasco takes over the theater and renames it after himself
In 1902 David Belasco assumed control and renamed the house for himself. He added a glass canopy at the entrance and rebuilt the stage area with trapdoors, lifts and revolving platforms, among the most advanced of its day. For about eight years it hosted hits with performers such as Mrs. Leslie Carter, George Arliss, Tyrone Power, Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Cecil B. DeMille.
Source: new42.org
- 1914
Hammerstein wins a lawsuit that stops Belasco from turning the Republic into a movie house
In January 1914 Belasco let the Universal Film Company take over the Republic to show movies, a plan Hammerstein opposed. Oscar Hammerstein, who feared people would boycott the theater, sued, claiming the lease permitted only first-class theatrical performances. He won in March 1914, and Belasco gave up his lease. A. H. Woods took the lease late that March and opened The High Cost of Loving there that August.
“Hammerstein won his lawsuit against Belasco and Universal in March 1914, prompting Belasco to give up his lease.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1922
Abie's Irish Rose moves to the Republic and goes on to a record 2,327 performances
Oliver D. Bailey leased the Republic in July 1922 and moved the comedy Abie's Irish Rose over from the Fulton Theatre. The play ran for 2,327 performances through October 1927, which made it the longest-running Broadway show up to that time. It held that record for six years.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
Billy Minsky turns the Republic into 42nd Street's first burlesque house
Billy Minsky leased the Republic in January 1931 and reopened it on February 12 as Minsky's Burlesque, the first burlesque house on 42nd Street. Its stars included Georgia Sothern, Margie Hart, Ann Corio and Gypsy Rose Lee. Police raided it as early as April 1931, which only boosted its popularity, and the license commissioner's refusal to renew its license ended burlesque there for good in 1942.
“The theater reopened as a burlesque house on February 12, 1931, becoming the first burlesque venue on 42nd Street.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
The Victory becomes the first theater on 42nd Street to show pornographic films
In 1970 the Victory became the first 42nd Street theater to screen pornographic films. The city government soon began cracking down on adult theaters, and under threat of arrest the managers had to change the marquee and pull shows.
“The theater became the first on 42nd Street to exhibit pornographic films in 1970. The city government quickly started cracking down on adult theaters.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1990
Live plays return to the Victory after decades of movies
After burlesque ended, the Republic became the Victory, named for the World War II effort, and showed second-run films. By the early 1970s it had become 42nd Street's first and only porn house. Stage plays returned in 1990 with Crowbar, and in 1991 Theater for a New Audience staged Romeo and Juliet, shortly before the New 42 nonprofit took a lease on seven theaters in 1992.
Source: new42.org
- 1991
Theater for a New Audience stages Romeo and Juliet in the former porn house
Theater for a New Audience staged Romeo and Juliet at the Victory in 1991. It followed Crowbar, which had brought legitimate theater back to the stage by 1990. Before that the building had been a movie house, and by the early 1970s it had become the first pornographic movie theater on 42nd Street.
Source: new42.org
- 1992
New 42 signs a 99-year master lease for the Victory and six other theaters
In May 1992 the nonprofit New 42 took a 99-year master lease from New York City and New York State covering seven historic 42nd Street theaters, the Victory among them. The lease put the Victory in the hands of the group that would open it as the New Victory on December 11, 1995.
Source: new42.org
- 1995
The theater reopens as the New Victory, devoted to young audiences
After a restoration, the New Victory opened under New 42 on December 11, 1995, and was seen as the first concrete sign that 42nd Street was changing. It was dedicated to theater, dance, music, circus, opera and puppetry for young audiences and families, along with education programs. The nonprofit holds the theaters under a 99-year master lease signed in May 1992 with the city and state.
Source: new42.org
- 2012
The New Victory wins a special Drama Desk Award
In 2012 the New Victory won a special Drama Desk Award. The citation credited it with offering an enchanting, sophisticated theater and with nurturing a love of theater in young people. The award came seventeen years after the theater reopened in 1995 as a theater for young audiences.
Source: Untapped New York
Further reading
- New Victory TheaterWikipedia
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