page_title: 39th Street Theatre
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: 39th Street Theatre / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Actress Alla Nazimova, page 7 of the December 1919 Shadowland.
context_page_description: The 39th Street Theatre was a playhouse in New York City located at the corner of 39th Street and Broadway. Originally called Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre after the actress Alla Nazimova, it was in operation from 1910 to 1925 when it was demolished to make way for an office building. Throughout its existence, it was owned by the Shubert family. Its architect was William Albert Swasey, who had designed or remodelled several other Broadway theatres for the family.
context_section_description: In 1906 the theatrical entrepreneur Lee Shubert had presented Alla Nazimova in matinee performances of three Ibsen plays and was reportedly "bewitched" by the beautiful Russian actress. Hoping to become a major producer of serious drama in New York and to continue promoting Nazimova, he built a new theatre on 39th Street and Broadway which he named Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre. After a two-week delay from the announced date of 4 April 1910, the theatre finally opened on 18 April with Nazimova starring as Rita Allmers in Ibsen's Little Eyolf. While her acting was praised by the critics, the play was not. The New York Times, pronounced it "peculiar" and The Evening Post termed it "dreary, unprofitable, and obnoxious."
  Nazimova's business relationship with the theatre and Shubert was short-lived. By February 1911, she had signed with Charles Frohman instead. According to The Morning Telegraph, Shubert had offered her a guaranteed weekly salary of $1500 and a 50% share of the profits as an inducement to remain with his organization, but to no avail. When Nazimova signed with Frohman, Shubert immediately removed her name from the theatre, and it was known as simply the 39th Street Theatre for the remainder of its existence.
  Despite its parting of the ways with Nazimova, the 39th Street Theatre became a popular theatrical landmark. According to The New York Times, it was Diamond Jim Brady's favorite playhouse. Among the plays presented there were The Second Mrs. Tanqueray starring Mrs. Leslie Carter; A. E. W. Mason's Green Stockings. starring Margaret Anglin; and Believe Me, Xantippe starring John Barrymore, Mary Young, and Douglas Fairbanks. One of its longest-running plays was Cosmo Hamilton's Scandal which ran for thirty-nine weeks. The shortest was A Little Bit of Fluff. According to The New York Times, it opened and closed on the same night in August 1916.
  In May 1925 the Shubert Organization sold the theatre to A. E. Lefcourt, a real estate developer who was to erect a 20-story building with offices and showrooms on the site. The 39th Street Theatre was demolished in December of that year. During its existence,  it had seen over 21,600 performances.
caption: Alla Nazimova for whom the theatre was originally named
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