The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 1341 Sixth Avenue, corner of 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and despite public protests, it was razed in 1966.
History
With a seating capacity of 1,638, the Ziegfeld Theatre was named for the famed Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., who built it with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst. Designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas W. Lamb, it opened February 2, 1927, with the musical Rio Rita. The theater's second show was also its most famous—Jerome Kern's landmark musical Show Boat, which opened December 27, 1927, and ran for 572 performances.
Due to the decline in new Broadway shows during the Great Depression, the theater became the Loew's Ziegfeld in 1933 and operated as a movie theater until showman Billy Rose bought it in 1944.
NBC leased the Ziegfeld Theatre for use as a television studio from 1955 to 1963. The Perry Como Show was broadcast from the theater beginning in 1956. It was also used to present the televised Emmy Awards