The City and The Theatre

Stanley A. Waren THE CITY The Way We Are... ELTINGE, 1977 118 THE THEATRE The Way We Were... 119 The gradual decay of New York City's 42nd Street and its environs offers a striking example of how intimately entwined is the fate of legitimate theatre to blight in an urban community. Yet the increasing restoration of live theatre and other performing arts In the area can serve as a model of the integrating power of arts institutions in a community urban redevelopment plan. That such a plan is evolving for the uplifting of 42nd Street and its adjacent areas is no longer a matter of conjecture. But what has never been clearly stated is first, how such a plan, which revitalizes spaces fallen into disuse, affects the legitimate theatre, and, in turn, the community; and second, how this massive undertaking is the result of combined efforts that represent the applied pressure and cooperative action of the various groups that make up such a vast urban community. The decline of legitimate theatre on 42nd Street historically parallels the economic, cultural and social decline of the street and it contiguous neighborhoods. One need only walk down 43rd Street or 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and note the huge stage houses (the rear of theatre buildings) which dominate these streets-such .old legitimate playhouses as the Lyric, Apollo, Victory (Bryant and Belasco), and Selwyn on the south side of 43rd Street, and the New Amsterdam, Harris , Liberty, and Empire (Eltinge) on the north side of 41st Street. The old theatres and stage houses on these blocks symbolize what remains of the heyday of legitimate theatre on 42nd Street, that essential portion of the physical movements northward of live theatre in New York City to 42nd Street and the '50s all within touching distance of Broadway. This phase of the movement took place from about the turn-of-the-century through the twenties, creating a district in which the theatre and the surrounding commercial area flourished until the great depression of 1929. The enormous growth in the construction of legitimate theatres came to a halt after the twenties, a victim of the depression and of the competition of "talking movies," and later, of other developing media, e.g., television, and of constantly Inflating real estate values. In the following decades, the number of live playhouses in the Broadway area began to shrink and continued to shrink throughout the sixties. The loss was most dramatic in the twelve or so legitimate theatres that dominated 42nd Street. Those still standing on the street are now used to showing "B" movies. Significantly, however, the symbolic and real value of the Times Square area-one of the country's foremost tourist attractions-as the center of America's commercial legitimate theatre continues to the present day. The decline of legitimate theatre on 42nd Street accelerated the change in the social and economic fabric of the street, which in turn spilled over into neighboring areas. Over the years, street characters once considered a "colorful" part of the theatre world were replaced by a more violent street breed. Crime Increased, as did the density of short lease, sex-oriented businesses in the midtown area: massage parlors, porno movie houses, peep shows, and book stores. 42nd Street, in spite of its symbolic value, had become a classic example of urban rot with the potential of infecting 120 not only adjacent legitimate theatres and communities, but the economic life of the city as a whole. Live theatre, along with the other performing arts and popular entertainment activities generally, has become a significant focus of overall plans to reclaim the street and area. This consciousness of the value of live theatre results not only from the perceived symbolic value of the legitimate theatre to the city, nation, and world, but to the real economic value of the theatre to the city and to the nation. The performing arts generate hundreds of millions of dollars directly into the economy, and the additional income generated through tourism, hotels, restaurants, garages, department stores, and other businesses has been measured in the billions of dollars. Furthermore, a healthy theatre is not only important to...