Taken in 1959 from somewhere near B’way and 48th. Otto Preminger‘s Porgy and Bess opened on 6.24.59. Notice that John Ford’s The Horse Soldiers, playing at the Astor, is billboarded in the distance. Ford’s film opened on 6.12.59.

This Is Cinerama opened on 9.30.52. It played for at least a year at the Warner. After one year in four cities (New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago), pic had grossed $4,305,000, with $2,208,000 in New York alone.

William Wyler’s Detective Story, promoted on two-side Mayfair billboard, opened on 11.6.51. The fact that Audrey Hepburn (whose biggest 1951 credit was a small part in The Lavender Hill Mob) isn’t wearing a cold-weather coat suggests pic was shot right after Wyler’s film opened.


NYC premiere, October 1945 — WWII had been over for several months but they’re selling Victory Bonds.