Palace Theatre (New York City)
Theater $$
1564 Broadway, New York, NY 10014
Description
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway (at West 47th Street) in midtown Manhattan, New York City. From 1913 through about 1929, the Palace attained legendary status among vaudeville performers as the flagship of the Keith–Albee organization, and the most desired booking in the country."Supreme Vaudeville"Designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchoff & Rose, the 1,740-seat theatre was funded by Martin Beck, a vaudeville entrepreneur based in San Francisco, in an attempt to challenge Keith–Albee's east-coast monopoly. Albee in turn demanded that Beck turn over three-quarters ownership to use acts from the Keith circuit. Beck took the deal, and was in charge of the booking.When the theatre finally opened on March 24, 1913, with headliner Ed Wynn, it was not an instant success and lost money for months.Soon the Palace became the premiere venue of the Keith–Albee circuit. The theater owner Albee sometimes traded on the performers' desire for this goal by forcing acts to take a pay cut for the privilege. Even so, to "play the Palace" meant that an entertainer had reached the pinnacle of his vaudeville career. Performer Jack Haley wrote:Get to know Palace Theatre (New York City)
"Playing the Palace" has been the dream of many performers since the theatre opened in 1913. For many years The Palace was the pre-eminent vaudeville theatre in the country and an engagement in this theatre meant that a performer had "made it.