Longacre Theater

Named for the original Longacre Square, the French neo-classical Longacre Theater was designed for Broadway impresario Harry Frazee. Frazee is now better remembered--fondly by New Yorkers, with a bit acrimony by Bostonians--as the owner of the Boston Red Sox who, needing money for his Broadway ventures, sold Babe Ruth's contract to the NY Yankees. Not a bad deal for the Yankees; the Red Sox didn't win a World Series for over 80 years.

The Longacre's first show was a production of the William Hurlbut-Frances Whitehouse comedy Are You a Crook, on May 1, 1913. Except for a 10-year period as a television studio in the mid '40s to early '50s, the Longacre has been operated as a legitimate Broadway venue.