Designed in 1903 by
John H. Duncan, the architect of
Grant's Tomb, it was built at a time that Columbus Circle was expected to become a theatre district. Initially named the
Majestic Theatre, the venue seated about 1,355 and hosted original musicals and operettas, including
The Wizard of Oz and
Babes in Toyland, and some plays. In 1906 it housed the seminal African-American musical
Abyssinia. It was renamed
Park Theatre in 1911, opening with
The Quaker Girl, and it again presented plays, musicals, and operettas. The
Shuberts,
Florenz Ziegfeld, and Billy Minsky, in succession, owned the house but did not find success there. In 1923, it was purchased by
William Randolph Hearst, renamed the
Cosmopolitan Theatre, and played movies. The name was changed to the International Theatre in 1944. In 1949, NBC leased the theatre, and made it into a television studio rechristened as
NBC International Theatre, with the
Admiral Broadway Revue being one of the first TV shows aired from this location. In 1953, the venue hosted a portion of the
25th Academy Awards, which was the first Academy Awards to be broadcast, as well as the first to be aired from both New York City and Los Angeles. The theater was demolished in 1954 to allow for wider sidewalks in front of the
New York Coliseum, which in turn was torn down to make way for the
Time Warner Center in 2000. ==References==