Editing Studio 54 (section)

== Broadcast studio ==
The Bowery Savings Bank again owned the New Yorker Theatre by late 1940, and the bank's real-estate agent Joseph O'Gara was looking to lease the venue.<ref name="p1032227074">{{Cite magazine |date=October 5, 1940 |title=Radio-Television: NBC-RCA Shopping for Theaters For Large Screen Tele; Some Legit Houses Dickering Now |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]] |pages=6 |volume=52 |issue=40 |id={{ProQuest|1032227074}}}}</ref> That October, [[RCA Manufacturing]] signed a one-year lease for the theater, exhibiting television projectors there.<ref name="p1032229069">{{Cite magazine |date=October 19, 1940 |title=Radio: RCA Leases New Yorker Theater For Tele; Deal With IA Pends |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]] |pages=8 |volume=52 |issue=42 |id={{ProQuest|1032229069}}}}</ref> RCA subsidiary [[NBC]] installed a {{convert|9|by|12|ft|adj=on}} television screen by the end of 1940.<ref name="p1505853602">{{Cite magazine |last=Morrison |first=Hobe |date=December 4, 1940 |title=Radio: Theatre Television Experiments Next, Rca Works Toward Networks |magazine=Variety |pages=37 |volume=140 |issue=43 |id={{ProQuest|1505853602}}}}</ref> Early the following year, NBC installed a {{convert|15|by|20|ft|adj=on}} [[projection screen]] on the stage,<ref name="nyt-1941-04-06">{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=T.R. Jr. |date=April 6, 1941 |title=Engineers Send Theatre-size Images; Noted Sports Promoter Sees Experiment – Predicts Teleview-Theatre Networks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/06/archives/engineers-send-theatresize-images-noted-sports-promoter-sees.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914211404/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/06/archives/engineers-send-theatresize-images-noted-sports-promoter-sees.html |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="p1285763145">{{Cite magazine |date=April 23, 1941 |title=Miscellany: RCA Theatre Television Demonstration |magazine=Variety |pages=2, 55 |volume=142 |issue=7 |id={{ProQuest|1285763145}}}}</ref> spending $25,000 to $30,000 on the project.<ref name="p1285763145" /> The first public exhibition of the theater's screen was in May 1941, when over a thousand audience members watched a live broadcast of a boxing match between [[Billy Soose]] and [[Ken Overlin]] at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 10, 1941 |title=Television Show Given in Theatre; 1,400 in Audience Here Witness First Public Program on Large-Size Screen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/10/archives/television-show-given-in-theatre-1400-in-audience-here-witness.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914212812/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/05/10/archives/television-show-given-in-theatre-1400-in-audience-here-witness.html |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="p1256075315">{{Cite news |date=May 10, 1941 |title=Large Screen Television Has First Public Showing: 1,200 at New Yorker Theater Watch Title Fight at Garden |work=[[New York Herald Tribune]] |page=6 |id={{ProQuest|1256075315}}}}</ref> In September 1941, the Top Dollar Theatre company unsuccessfully tried to lease the venue from the Bowery Savings Bank.<ref name="nyt-1941-09-24">{{Cite news |date=September 24, 1941 |title='The Distant City' Has Short Career; E.B. Self's Drama, Starring Gladys George, Closes After Second Performance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/24/archives/the-distant-city-has-short-career-eb-selfs-drama-starring-gladys.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914211423/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/24/archives/the-distant-city-has-short-career-eb-selfs-drama-starring-gladys.html |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The New Yorker Theatre then briefly hosted the children's play ''The Adventures of Marco Polo'' at the end of that December.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 27, 1941 |title='Clash by Night' Opening Tonight; Long Deferred Odets Play to Arrive at Belasco and Star Tallulah Bankhead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/12/27/archives/clash-by-night-opening-tonight-long-deferred-odets-play-to-arrive.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914162427/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/12/27/archives/clash-by-night-opening-tonight-long-deferred-odets-play-to-arrive.html |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

=== CBS Studio 52 ===
The Columbia Broadcasting System ([[CBS]]) leased the New Yorker Theatre in August 1942 for use as a [[radio]] soundstage.<ref name="nyt-1942-08-19">{{Cite news |date=August 19, 1942 |title=Rents Another Theatre Close to Times Square |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/08/19/archives/rents-another-theatre-close-to-times-square.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914171829/https://www.nytimes.com/1942/08/19/archives/rents-another-theatre-close-to-times-square.html |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="p1335152006">{{Cite news |date=August 19, 1942 |title=Broadcasting Co. Rents West 54th St. Theater |work=[[New York Herald Tribune]] |page=30 |id={{ProQuest|1335152006}}}}</ref> The theater operated as a radio and [[television]] studio for three decades,<ref name="Haden-Guest p. 25" /> known as '''Radio Playhouse No. 4'''<ref name="Bloom2007" /><ref name="b1165" /> or '''Theater No. 4.''',<ref name="p1269906833">{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1945 |title=Gen. Roosevelt War Company Inducted Here: 452 Women Entrain for Camps After Ceremony in C. B. S. Radio Theater |work=[[New York Herald Tribune]] |page=21 |id={{ProQuest|1269906833}}}}</ref> then converted for television in 1949, becoming CBS-TV Studio 52.<ref name="Ellerbee p. 50">{{harvnb|Ellerbee|2016|p=50|ps=.}}</ref>{{efn|In a 1997 book by Anthony Haden-Guest, the studio's associate director Ed Gifford said that the theater was known as "Studio 53". However, this claim is not corroborated by any other source.<ref name="Haden-Guest p. 26">{{harvnb|Haden-Guest|1997|p=26|ps=.}}</ref>}} Shielded television cameras had to be developed due to strong magnetic interference from equipment at a neighboring power substation for the New York City Subway system.<ref name="Ellerbee p. 44">{{harvnb|Ellerbee|2016|p=44|ps=.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=January–March 1967 |title=Broadcasting |magazine=Broadcasting |publisher=Broadcasting Publications Incorporated |page=94 |volume=72 |issue=1}}</ref> The studio was one of seven that CBS operated in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lohman |first=Sidney |date=May 1, 1949 |title=News and Notes of Television; Eisenhower War Film Series to Start Thursday – Other Items |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/05/01/archives/news-and-notes-of-television-eisenhower-war-film-series-to-start.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125173934/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/05/01/archives/news-and-notes-of-television-eisenhower-war-film-series-to-start.html |archive-date=January 25, 2022 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> At that time, several Broadway theaters had been converted to TV studios due to a lack of studio space in the city.<ref name="p1285972745">{{Cite magazine |date=August 9, 1950 |title=Radio: Legit to AM-TV Scorecard |magazine=Variety |pages=27 |volume=179 |issue=9 |id={{ProQuest|1285972745}}}}</ref><ref name="p1335476080">{{Cite news |last=Allison |first=Gordon |date=October 9, 1950 |title=TV Networks Adding to Space On Large Scale: Six More Theaters Taken, With Total at 15; Other Leases Throughout City |work=[[New York Herald Tribune]] |page=30 |id={{ProQuest|1335476080}}}}</ref>

Likely the first television show to be produced at Studio 52, was ''The 54th Street Revue'', which premiered in May 1949.<ref name="Ellerbee p. 50" /> Another early show produced at Studio 52 was ''[[The Fred Waring Show]]'' in 1950.<ref name="p1879113211">{{Cite magazine |date=February 6, 1950 |title=The Waring Show on TV |magazine=Newsweek |pages=52 |volume=35 |issue=6 |id={{ProQuest|1879113211}}}}</ref><ref name="Ellerbee p. 57">{{harvnb|Ellerbee|2016|p=57|ps=.}}</ref> Studio 52 and the neighboring Studio 50 (now the [[Ed Sullivan Theater]]) were among CBS's busiest stages by the early 1960s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=November 7, 1962 |title=Radio-Television: Overcrowded Studio Facility Snag Creates Gleason-'Candid Camera' Impasse With CBS-TV in the Middle |magazine=Variety |pages=21 |volume=228 |issue=11 |id={{ProQuest|1017079921}}}}</ref> The theater hosted such shows as ''[[What's My Line?]]'', ''[[The $64,000 Question]]'', ''[[Video Village]]'', ''[[Password (American game show)|Password]]'', ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'', ''[[Beat the Clock]]'', ''[[The Jack Benny Show]]'', ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'', ''[[The Original Amateur Hour|Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour]]'', and ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who We Are: Studio 54 |url=http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/About/Our-History/Studio-54.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125550/http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/About/Our-History/Studio-54.aspx |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=July 11, 2014 |website=[[Roundabout Theatre Company]]}}</ref><ref name="Ellerbee p. 57" /> Studio 52 was used to tape many of the CBS shows that involved [[panel discussion]]s. Members of the public could also buy tickets to view these tapings. ''The New York Times'' said in 1965 that many of the regular audience members were older women.<ref name="p116885037">{{Cite news |last=Rinzler |first=Carol |date=June 6, 1965 |title=The Town's Best Bargain: A TV 'Sit-In' |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=X17 |id={{ProQuest|116885037}}}}</ref> The soap opera ''[[Love of Life]]'' was produced at Studio 52 until 1975 and was the last show to be taped there.<ref name="Ellerbee p. 57" /> CBS moved most of its broadcast operations out of Studio 52 in 1976 and placed the theater up for sale.<ref name="Ellerbee p. 56">{{harvnb|Ellerbee|2016|p=56|ps=.}}</ref>