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Daly's 63rd Street Theatre
	Exterior of the Experimental Theatre, a Federal Theatre Project venue, in 1936
Former names	63rd Street Music Hall (1914–1921); Cort's 63rd Street Theatre (1921); 63rd Street Music Hall (1921); Daly's 63rd Street Theatre (1922–1928); Coburn Theatre (1928–1929); Recital Theatre (1932); Park Lane Theatre (1932); Gilmore's 63rd Street Theatre (1934); Experimental Theatre (1936–1938); Daly’s 63rd Street Theatre (1938–1941)
Address	22 West 63rd Street; New York City; United States
Capacity	1,024
Production	Shuffle Along
Construction
Opened	1914
Closed	1941
Demolished	1957
Years active	1921–1941
Architect	Thomas W. Lamb, Erwin Rossbach

Daly's 63rd Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre, which was active from 1921 to 1941. It was built in 1914 as the 63rd Street Music Hall and had several other names between 1921 and 1938. The building was demolished in 1957.

History

The building which subsequently housed the theater was originally designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb for the Davenport stock company. Construction began in 1909, but financial issues stalled it soon after. Later on, architect Erwin Rossbach was hired by the Association of Bible Students to complete the structure. The organization intended it to serve for religious lectures and screening Biblical films. It was completed in 1914, and named the 63rd Street Music Hall. From 1919, it served as a children's cinema.

On January 31, 1921, Cort 63rd Street Theatre was opened in the building. In 1922, the theater was renamed Daly's 63rd Street Theatre, in honor of Augustin Daly.^[1] The theater's name was changed on several occasions: it became the Coburn Theatre in 1928 and was renamed Recital Theatre in 1932, only to become the Park Lane Theatre several months later. From 1934 to 1936 it was known as Gilmore's 63rd Street Theatre, and afterwards as the Experimental Theatre. From 1938 until its closure in 1941, it returned to be Daly's 63rd Street Theatre. The building was demolished in 1957.^[2]

The first production in the theater in 1921 was the premiere of Shuffle Along, the hit musical revue by Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, Noble Sissle, and Eubie Blake.^[3] Other notable premieres at the theatre were Mae West's Sex in February 1926^[4] and the English-language version of Friedrich Wolf's Professor Mamlock in 1937.^[5]

Selected productions

Marquee of the Experimental Theatre, March–April 1936

Shuffle Along (1921)
Liza (1922)
Desire Under the Elms (1925)
Sex (1926)
Africana (1926)
Keep Shufflin' (1928)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1932)
Awake and Sing! (1938)
The Miser (1936)
Professor Mamlock (1937)

References

^ Nicholas Van Hoogstraten. Lost Broadway Theaters, pp. 123–124. Princeton Architectural Press (1977). ISBN 978-1-56898-116-1
^ Phyllis Hartnoll. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre, p. 205. Oxford University Press (1983). ISBN 978-0-19-211546-1.
^ Sandra L. West, Aberjhani. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, p. 188. Checkmark Books (2003). ISBN 0-8160-4539-9
^ Maurice Leonard. Mae West, Empress of Sex, p. 64. Citadel Press (1992). ISBN 978-1-55972-151-6
^ Peter Bauland. The Hooded Eagle: Modern German Drama on the New York Stage, p. 267. Syracuse University Press (1968). ISBN 978-0-8156-2119-5