No Crowds Need Apply

Floodlights made the still unfinished fac,ade stick out like a sore (but well-manicured) thumb. Under the rich-red-marquee and in the gold-tinted, glass-walled lobby, uniformed attendants and tuxedoed higher-ups bowed and bustled. The grand opening of Manhattan's Park Avenue Theater last week had all the hoopla of a Hollywood premiere, except for one thing. There were no crowds.

That made it all the more successful, in the opinion of baldish Walter Reade Sr., 63, the owner, and slick-haired Walter Reade Jr., 29, the operator of Manhattan's newest million-dollar movie palace. For Cineman Reade Sr., who owns and operates 40 theaters in the New York area, expects to make money because there will be 1) no crowds and 2) no double features.

On this basis, Reade has already got New Yorkers, including John Hay Whitney, Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Cole Porter, to subscribe from $62.40 to $93.60 each for year-round reservations. For their money, they will be able to see movies (but not first-run ones) without having to wait in line.* The fancy prices also cover the cost of 1) roomy love seats, 2) hearing aids, 3) telephone service direct to seats, 4) art exhibits, 5) free coffee and French cookies in a mirror-lined lounge equipped with backgammon tables and a television set, 6) free cosmetics in the champagne-colored ladies' room. Non-reserved seats will be sold (for 60-c-) at the box office. But Reade hopes there will be few available. Subscriptions to date: more than 50% of the theater's 599-seat capacity.

* Just like moviegoers in every U.S. small town -- and in most cities except indecently crowded Manhattan.

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