John Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street | Times Square | 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.
- 1924
Irwin Chanin, once sent to a separate door for cheap seats, sets out to build theaters with one entrance for all
As a Cooper Union student, Irwin Chanin could afford only fifty-cent gallery seats and had to use a separate door, which he recalled as humiliating. In 1924 he entered theater building with the Shuberts' architect, Herbert J. Krapp, determined that shopgirls and aristocrats would enter by the same door. He also wanted wider seats, more legroom and better dressing rooms; his firm later built the Theatre Masque, now the Golden.
“…all I could afford was an occasional fifty-cent seat in the top gallery. To reach this, I had to go to a separate door…”
- 1927
The Theatre Masque rises with the Royale, the Majestic and a 30-story hotel as one Chanin project
The Chanins built the Theatre Masque, the Royale and the Majestic together with the thirty-story Lincoln Hotel on Eighth Avenue. They marked the finish by pushing two gold rivets into the hotel's steel frame, the last unit of $12,000,000 in west-side construction. The Masque's 800 seats were meant for fine plays of the artistic or intimate type.
“…the Theatre Masque in West Forty-fifth Street, with 800 seats, is intended to be the home of fine plays of the 'artistic' or 'intimate' type…”
- 1927
The Theatre Masque opens with Puppets of Passion, which lasts only twelve performances
The Chanin brothers' small Theatre Masque opened in February 1927 with Puppets of Passion by the Italian playwright Rosso di San Secondo. The play ran just twelve performances. The Comic, which began in April 1927, lasted only 15, setting a pattern of short runs for the house's early years.
- 1937
Producer John Golden moves next door and names the Theatre Masque after himself
In 1930 the Chanins traded their interest in the Masque, the Royale and the Majestic to the Shuberts, who handed the Royale to producer John Golden, and he renamed it the Golden. In 1937 he moved his operations to the Theatre Masque and gave that house his name, making it the third theater to carry it; the old Royale went to the Columbia Broadcasting Company. Golden was an actor, playwright, songwriter and philanthropist, whose plays were known for folksy, clean humor.
- 1937
Curtain Call plays only four performances, one of the shortest runs in the Golden's history
Soon after the Theatre Masque took John Golden's name, the play Curtain Call opened in March 1937 and closed after four performances. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's history says it was reported to be based on the life of the Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The commission notes that the pattern of short runs was not immediately affected by the new name.
“One of the shortest runs was Curtain Call, which played four performances in March 1937, and was said to be based on the life story of Eleanora Duse.”
- 1941
Angel Street opens at the Golden with only three days of playbills ordered and runs nearly 1,300 performances
Angel Street premiered at the Golden in 1941, and over the next three years it ran close to 1,300 performances. Expectations were so modest that the theater ordered playbills for only three days of the initial run. It remained the theater's longest-running show until Avenue Q.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1946
The Shuberts hand the Golden to a foreign-film exhibitor, and it shows movies into 1950
In 1946 the Shuberts handed the Golden to an exhibitor of foreign films, and for a time a screen replaced the stage. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's history says the theater played movies from 1946 to 1950, apart from a few short live engagements. One of those was Maurice Chevalier's one-man show in February 1948.
- 1953
Victor Borge opens his one-man Comedy in Music and plays 849 performances
In 1953 Victor Borge took the Golden's stage with his show Comedy in Music, which ran for 849 performances. He returned in 1964 with a second Comedy in Music engagement that played another 192.
- 1956
Waiting for Godot opens at the Golden, with Bert Lahr and E.G. Marshall
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot opened at the Golden on April 19, 1956, with Bert Lahr as Estragon and E. G. Marshall as Vladimir. Alvin Epstein played Lucky and Kurt Kasznar played Pozzo, in a production directed by Herbert Berghof and produced by Michael Myerberg. It closed on June 9, 1956.
Source: playbill.com
- 1956
The Actors Fund unveils a memorial plaque to producer John Golden on the theater
The Actors Fund of America, a charity for theater people, put up a memorial plaque to Golden on the front of the building in 1956, a year after his death, with Mayor Wagner attending. Golden's career ran four decades, from his 1916 production Turn to the Right, made with Winchell Smith, to a 1953 revival of The Male Animal, with some 150 shows between. He also founded the Stage Relief Fund in 1932 and helped organize Stage Door Canteens in World War II.
“The year after his death, the Actors Fund of America, a theatrical charity, placed a memorial plaque to Golden on the theater in the presence of Mayor Wagner…”
- 1960
Comedy revues make the Golden home to Nichols and May and Beyond the Fringe
Michael Flanders and Donald Swann brought At the Drop of a Hat to the Golden in 1959, and An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May followed in 1960 for more than 300 performances. Beyond the Fringe, with Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore, then dominated 1962 and 1963, running 673 performances.
“Dominating 1962 and 1963 were Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore in Beyond the Fringe (673 performances)…”
- 1978
The Gin Game, with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, wins a Pulitzer Prize after 517 performances
D. L. Coburn's The Gin Game opened at the Golden in 1977 with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, who were later succeeded by E. G. Marshall and Maureen Stapleton. It played 517 performances in all. The production won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978.
“Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (succeeded by E.G. Marshall and Maureen Stapleton) in D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game, which played a total of 517 performances and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978.”
- 1987
The Landmarks Commission protects the Golden's facade and interior, and the Shuberts sue to overturn it
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated both the Golden's facade and its auditorium interior on November 17, 1987, as part of a push to protect Broadway houses. In June 1988 the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn sued to overturn the designations of 22 theaters, arguing that they restricted alterations. The case reached the United States Supreme Court, and the designations were upheld in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2003
Avenue Q opens at the Golden and becomes its longest-running show
The musical Avenue Q arrived from off-Broadway and opened at the Golden on July 31, 2003. It was a major hit and made back its production cost within a year. When it moved back off-Broadway in 2009 it had played more than 2,500 performances, the most of any show in the theater's history.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- John Golden TheatreWikipedia
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