Earl Carroll Theatre
753 7th Avenue / New York City
Opened: 1922 / Demolished: 1930 / 3,000 seats
Located on the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and W. 50th Street (from 1927 across from the famed Roxy Theatre).
The first Earl Carroll Theatre was opened February 25, 1922 with a Russian melodrama Bavu which had William Powell
in its cast. It ran for only 25 performances. After a couple of other flops, it had its first hit The Gingham Girl
in August 1922. This was followed by the first edition of Earl Carroll Vanities (a rival to Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies).
The theatre was designed by architect George W. Keister and had 1,026 seats in orchestra and a single balcony levels
(there were no boxes). Various editions of Earl Carroll Vanities ran for several years, and the final production at
the theatre was the second of Earl Carroll's Sketchbook which ran for 400 performances in 1929. The Depression began
to hit and the theatre was leased to Radio Pictures who equipped the theatre with a RCA sound system and held the
World Premiere of Rio Rita starring Bebe Daniels on October 6, 1929. After several more movies (and World Premieres),
the first Earl Carroll Theatre was closed with the movie Puttin' on the Ritz starring Harry Richman on March 3, 1930.
The interior was gutted and a new enlarged Earl Carroll Theatre was built on W. 49th Street & W. 50th Street
Programs available from this theatre:
Earl Carrolls Vanities (1928)
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