Eltinge Theatre

The theatre was named for Julian Eltinge, one of the most famous female impersonators of all time. The theatre had a relatively short life as a legitimate house and from 1931 until the early 1940s it became a burlesque house. In 1942 it became a movie theatre called the Laff Movie House largely showing comedies and cartoons. Then in 1954 it was renamed as the Empire cinema and continued as that until the mid 1980s. By this time 42^nd Street had acquired a rather sleazy reputation but then came the initiative to revive the Times Square – 42^nd Street area and the Empire had one last trick up its sleeve. As part of the new 42^nd Street the old cinema was to remain a movie house but with a difference. The outside of the builing was subject to a preservation order and so the owners, the AMC Corporation, decided to keep the exterior as the entrance to their new 25 screen cinema complex. But to achieve this, on 1^st March 1998, they bodily moved the whole building 200 feet from 236 W 42^nd Street to 234 W 42^nd Street and the new complex opened in April 2000.