Theatre Majestic, Columbus Circle

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The Majestic Theatre at Columbus Circle & 59th Street with "Wizard of Oz" on the marquee Glasgow Tailors visible next door.The Majestic Theatre was a theatre located at 5 Columbus Circle, the present site of the Time Warner Center. 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, the theatre, which seated about 1355, hosted original musicals and operettas, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Toyland, and some plays. 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 1925, it was purchased by William Randolph Hearst, renamed Cosmopolitan Theatre, and played movies as well as live theatre. Its last name as a playhouse was International Theatre.