Looking Back at New York’s Legendary Ziegfeld Theater (PHOTOS)
After nearly 90 years, the midtown Manhattan theater is closing down and will reemerge as an event space in 2017. See photos of some notable premieres and attendees through the years.

Frankie Ziths/AP

After nearly 90 years, the famed Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan is closing down as a theater and will reemerge as an event space in 2017. The Daily Beast takes a look back at some of its notable premieres and attendees.
At left, the opening day of the Ziegfeld Theater at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, Feb. 2, 1927.
NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Crowds outside the Ziegfeld for the opening of Cabaret.
Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-94) stands in a doorway at an invitational preview of the film The Day of the Dolphin, directed by Mike Nichols, at the Ziegfeld Theater on Dec. 17, 1973.
Photo by Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

David Bowie poses with Belgian actress Monique van Vooren at the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the Ziegfeld Theater on Nov. 15, 1977.
Tim Boxer/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Gilda Radner and Bill Murray attend the premiere of Manhattan on April 18, 1979, at the Ziegfeld.
Ron Galella/Getty

Liza Minnelli and actor Desi Arnaz Jr. attend the Cabaret premiere on Feb. 13, 1972, at the Ziegfeld.
Ron Galella/Getty

Steve Martin, right, Chevy Chase, center, and Martin Short arrive at the Ziegfeld Theater on Dec. 9, 1986, for the opening of their film Three Amigos.
Frankie Ziths/AP

The stars of the film Steel Magnolias pose backstage at the Ziegfeld Theater Nov. 5, 1989, at the movie’s premiere. Shown from left: Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, and Daryl Hannah.
Ed Bailey/AP

Exterior view of of the Ziegfeld Theater on Feb. 10, 2013, when The Weinstein Company hosted a screening of Escape From Planet Earth.
Henry S. Dziekan III/WireImage
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