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Lewisohn Stadium

May 21, 2023

Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY). It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973.

History

 
Performance of a Greek tragedy during the stadium's dedication on May 29, 1915

The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues, from 136th to 138th Streets.[1] Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction.[2]

It opened in 1915, with a seating capacity of 8,000. The stadium hosted many athletic, musical, and theatrical events. It was one of New York's public landmarks.[1][2]

Lewisohn Stadium was demolished in 1973 to make way for the $125 million North Academic Center.[3] In 1985, a plaza outside the center was rededicated as the Lewisohn Plaza, in memory of the stadium and its philanthropist.[2]

Athletics

 
Lewisohn Stadium in 1973, just before demolition

The CCNY football team played its home games at Lewisohn from 1921 to 1950. The final game played was a 33–6 Beavers victory over Lowell Textile on November 18, 1950, in front of 300 fans.[4] (It was CCNY's only win that season, and the program was discontinued the following year.)

Along with Jasper Oval (right across Convent Avenue, also now demolished), Lewisohn was used throughout the academic year for many of the college's uptown campus outdoor intramural sports.

The CCNY Varsity Rifle Team had its indoor, 50' small bore range under the stadium steps, entered through a doorway at the north end. The coach, Jerrold Uretsky (Jerry), was an accomplished expert marksman with numerous medals and championships. For many years, the CCNY Rifle Team excelled in national, regional and local competition and was consistently in the NRA-sponsored Top Ten national ranking, with the best record of any team at CCNY. They traveled around the U.S. to compete against different collegiate teams as well as against Army and Navy which were the only teams they could never beat. Unfortunately, the team dissolved within 3 years of the loss of Lewisohn. The range was notoriously loud, with a steel backstop and concrete walls, and no acoustic insulation.[5]

Concerts

External audio
  Lewisohn Stadium hosts: Richard Tucker with Licia Albanese and Alfredo Antonini in an All-Puccini program (1959), WQXR
  You may hear historic concerts broadcast on radio from Lewisohn Stadium
Here on wnyc.org

In addition to hosting sporting events, the stadium was used for musical performances for nearly five decades starting in 1918 under the supervision of Minnie Guggenheimer, who attended the stadium's inaugural concert with her son Randolph Guggenheimer.[6][7][8][9][2] For the admission price of merely twenty five cents, concertgoers at the amphitheater were treated to appearances by leading performers from the from the world of Jazz, Classical music and Opera.[6]

Several noted conductors appeared at the stadium in concert with the Lewisohn Stadium Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Alfredo Antonini conducted a series of open-air summer concerts at the stadium for three decades during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.[10][11][12] His Italian Night concerts often attracted an audience of over 13,000 guests for a single performance and featured noted soloists from the operatic stage including Licia Albanese and Richard Tucker.[13][14] Both Leonard Bernstein[15] of the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Adler of the Metropolitan Opera also made appearances at the stadium as conductors. Guest appearances were also made at the stadium's podium by: Pierre Boulez,[16] Andre Kostelanetz,[17] Henry Lewis.[18] Dimitri Mitropoulos,[19] Julius Rudel,[20] Alexander Smallens,[21]Max Steiner,[22] Alfred Wallenstein,[23] and Mark Warnow.[24]

Over the decades, a wide variety of noted soloists also appeared at the amphitheater including: Marian Anderson,[25] Louis Armstrong,[26] Harry Belafonte, Jack Benny, Leonard Bernstein,[27] Jorge Bolet,[28] Van Cliburn, Placido Domingo, Joan Field, Ella Fitzgerald, Kirsten Flagstad, Benny Goodman, Thomas Hayward, Jascha Heifetz, William Kapell,[29] Lotte Lenya, Yehudi Menuhin, Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, Leontyne Price, Paul Robeson,.[30]Pete Seeger, Frank Sinatra,[31] Renata Tebaldi, Richard Tucker and Yma Sumac[32][33]

The orchestra conductors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski each made a series of recordings for Everest with the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York." George Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue, and premiered his Cuban Overture at the stadium as well.[34][33][35]

Due to declining attendances, the regularly scheduled concerts were discontinued in 1966.[2]

Other uses

The stadium was used by City College for its commencement exercises. All CCNY campuses took part, including Liberal Arts, Engineering and Architecture, and its Manhattan Business School (now Baruch College). This practice continued through June 1973. (Graduation ceremonies for the class of 1969 were held at the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden.)

External video
  Photograph of Lewisohn Stadium from the air at C.U.N.Y on Getty Images
Here on Getty images

It was also used for CCNY's annual Army ROTC's reviews at the end of each academic year.

On August 16, 1946, the stadium was the site of a benefit concert for Sergeant Isaac Woodard, an African-American soldier in the U.S. Army who, upon being honorably discharged and returning home from service in the Pacific theater of World War II, had been brutally attacked and blinded with a blackjack by a white police officer in South Carolina earlier that year. The sold-out concert, organized by the New York Amsterdam News as the atrocity was gaining national attention, included performances by musicians Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Carol Brice, Woody Guthrie,[36] and Billie Holiday. Orson Welles, who had helped to publicize the cruel attack on his radio program and in his New York Post column, also attended, and the event was co-chaired by boxer Joe Louis and New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer.[37][38]

In film

The stadium appeared as the setting of the final scene of the 1945 film Rhapsody in Blue in which Oscar Levant performs the title composition, with an orchestra conducted by Paul Whiteman, as a memorial to the composer. The derelict stadium was also used in the 1973 film Serpico, directed by Sidney Lumet, in a scene with Tony Roberts and Al Pacino.

References

  1. ^ a b "Chief Points of Interest in Upper Manhattan". Automobile Blue Book. 1920.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rimer, Sara (May 15, 1985). "Commemorating Lewisohn Stadium". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Horsley, Carter B. (April 5, 1973). "Lewisohn Stadium, Center for Culture, to Be Razed". New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2008. A $90-million academic center is planned to replace Lewisohn Stadium-the amphitheater and athletic field of City College that served as the city's summer cultural center for about half a century.
  4. ^ Luchter, P.S. (June 2, 2018). "College of the City of New York (CCNY) All-time football records". Lucky's Amazing Sports Lists. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  5. ^ David Keller, CCNY '67, member CCNY Varsity Rifle Team
  6. ^ a b The New York Times - "Commemorating Lewisohn Stadium" May 15, 1985 Section B. p. 1 on NYTimes.com
  7. ^ Biography of Minnie Guggenheimer on Encyclopedia.com
  8. ^ The New York Times "Au Revoir; After Nearly Half a Century Minnie Guggenheimer Leaves the Stadium" August 16, 1964 Section X p. 9 on Google Books
  9. ^ The New Yorker -"Minnie", Charles Cook, July 10, 1937 p. 7 on New Yorker.com
  10. ^ The New York Philharmonic - Leon Levy Digital Archives, Programs of Alfredo Antonini conducting the New York Philharmonic. Accessed 29 December 2022.
  11. ^ City University of New York CUNY Academic Works - Music for the (American) People: The Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium 1922-1964 Johnathan Stern. The City University of New York, New York, 2009, p. 204
  12. ^ "Search | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News". WNYC.
  13. ^ Straus, Noel (2 July 1948). "OPERATIC EXCERPTS HEARD AT STADIUM; Alfredo Antonini Offers Italian Music Before 14,000 -- Four Soloists Join in Concert". The New York Times. ProQuest 108130355.
  14. ^ Stadium Concerts Review - Stadium Symphony Orchestra, Herald Square Press, Volume XLII, No. 1, 22 June 1959, p. 17
  15. ^ Photograoh of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium in 1941 on Getty Images
  16. ^ Photograph of Pierre Boulez conducting at Lewisohn Stadium on Getty Images
  17. ^ Andre Kostelanetz conducts the Lewisohn Stadium Orchestra on July 5, 1955 on wnyc.org
  18. ^ "Porgy and Bess Comes to the Met" - Henry Lewis conducts at Lewisohn Stadium in 1965 on metopera.org
  19. ^ Photograph of Dimitri Mitropoulos rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in the 1950s on Getty Images
  20. ^ Julius Rudel conducts Mozart's Symphony # 35 ("The Hoffner")at Lewisohn Stadium in 1957 on wnyc.org
  21. ^
    Alexander Smallens conducts "Don Juan" at Lewisohn Stadium in 1959 on wnyc.org
  22. ^ Photograph of Max Steiner rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1943 on Getty Images
  23. ^ Alfred Wallenstein conducts at Lewisohn Stadium in 1959 on WNYC.org
  24. ^ Photograph of Mark Warnow conducting Paul Robeson at Lewisohn Stadium in 1940 on Getty Images
  25. ^ Photograph of Marian Anderson and Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images
  26. ^ Photograph of Louis Armstrong backstage at Lewisohn Stadium in 1960 on Getty Images
  27. ^ Photograph of Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at the piano at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images
  28. ^ Julius Rudel conducts Jorge Bolet in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 30 at Lewisohn Stadium July 31,1957 on wnyc.org
  29. ^ Photograph of William Kapell and Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images
  30. ^ Photograph Paul Robeson performing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1940 on Getty Images
  31. ^ Photograph of Frank Sinatra performing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1943 on Getty Images
  32. ^ Stern, Jonathan (2009). Music for the (American) People: The Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium, 1922-1964 (Ph.D.). Vol. I. New York: The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. pp. 204–205. Retrieved February 4, 2019. YMA SUMAC sings Clair de Lune at Lewisohn Stadium NYC
  33. ^ a b Stadium Concerts, Inc. (June 22, 1959), Stadium Concerts Review, Stadium Symphony Orchestra, Lewisohn Stadium, College of the City of New York, vol. XLII, Herald Square Press, Inc., p. 17
  34. ^ Beidler, Philip D. (2014). The Island Called Paradise: Cuba in History, Literature, and the Arts. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 68. ISBN 9780817318208.
  35. ^ Joan Peyser, The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin, 1998 ch. 3, p. 199
  36. ^ . 2005-01-14. Archived from the original on 2005-01-14. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  37. ^ Gergel, Richard (2019). Unexampled courage: the blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring. New York. ISBN 978-0-374-10789-5. OCLC 1036096926.
  38. ^ ""American Experience" The Blinding of Isaac Woodard (TV Episode 2021)", IMDb, retrieved 2021-07-29[unreliable source?]

External links

  • The Lost World of CCNY: Architectural Gems of Our Past at The City College Library
  • 1952 Concert at Lewisohn Stadium with Marian Anderson and Mischa Elman at The WNYC Archives
  • Alfredo Antonini, Richard Tucker, Licia Albanese in concert at Lewisohn Stadium broadcast on the radio as cataloged at WNYC.org
  • Photographs of concerts at Lewisohn Stadium on Getty Images

Further reading

Stern, Jonathan. Music for the American People: The Lewisohn Stadium Concerts. Hillsdale: Pendragon Press, 2019.

Coordinates: 40°49′09″N 73°57′04″W / 40.819105°N 73.95119°W / 40.819105; -73.95119 (Lewisohn Stadium)

May 21, 2023
lewisohn, stadium, amphitheater, athletic, facility, built, campus, city, college, york, ccny, opened, 1915, demolished, 1973, contents, history, athletics, concerts, other, uses, film, references, external, links, further, readinghistory, edit, performance, g. Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York CCNY It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973 Contents 1 History 2 Athletics 3 Concerts 4 Other uses 5 In film 6 References 7 External links 8 Further readingHistory Edit Performance of a Greek tragedy during the stadium s dedication on May 29 1915 The Doric colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues from 136th to 138th Streets 1 Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction 2 It opened in 1915 with a seating capacity of 8 000 The stadium hosted many athletic musical and theatrical events It was one of New York s public landmarks 1 2 Lewisohn Stadium was demolished in 1973 to make way for the 125 million North Academic Center 3 In 1985 a plaza outside the center was rededicated as the Lewisohn Plaza in memory of the stadium and its philanthropist 2 Athletics Edit Lewisohn Stadium in 1973 just before demolition The CCNY football team played its home games at Lewisohn from 1921 to 1950 The final game played was a 33 6 Beavers victory over Lowell Textile on November 18 1950 in front of 300 fans 4 It was CCNY s only win that season and the program was discontinued the following year Along with Jasper Oval right across Convent Avenue also now demolished Lewisohn was used throughout the academic year for many of the college s uptown campus outdoor intramural sports The CCNY Varsity Rifle Team had its indoor 50 small bore range under the stadium steps entered through a doorway at the north end The coach Jerrold Uretsky Jerry was an accomplished expert marksman with numerous medals and championships For many years the CCNY Rifle Team excelled in national regional and local competition and was consistently in the NRA sponsored Top Ten national ranking with the best record of any team at CCNY They traveled around the U S to compete against different collegiate teams as well as against Army and Navy which were the only teams they could never beat Unfortunately the team dissolved within 3 years of the loss of Lewisohn The range was notoriously loud with a steel backstop and concrete walls and no acoustic insulation 5 Concerts EditExternal audio Lewisohn Stadium hosts Richard Tucker with Licia Albanese and Alfredo Antonini in an All Puccini program 1959 WQXR You may hear historic concerts broadcast on radio from Lewisohn Stadium Here on wnyc orgIn addition to hosting sporting events the stadium was used for musical performances for nearly five decades starting in 1918 under the supervision of Minnie Guggenheimer who attended the stadium s inaugural concert with her son Randolph Guggenheimer 6 7 8 9 2 For the admission price of merely twenty five cents concertgoers at the amphitheater were treated to appearances by leading performers from the from the world of Jazz Classical music and Opera 6 Several noted conductors appeared at the stadium in concert with the Lewisohn Stadium Symphony Orchestra the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Alfredo Antonini conducted a series of open air summer concerts at the stadium for three decades during the 1940s 1950s and 1960s 10 11 12 His Italian Night concerts often attracted an audience of over 13 000 guests for a single performance and featured noted soloists from the operatic stage including Licia Albanese and Richard Tucker 13 14 Both Leonard Bernstein 15 of the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Adler of the Metropolitan Opera also made appearances at the stadium as conductors Guest appearances were also made at the stadium s podium by Pierre Boulez 16 Andre Kostelanetz 17 Henry Lewis 18 Dimitri Mitropoulos 19 Julius Rudel 20 Alexander Smallens 21 Max Steiner 22 Alfred Wallenstein 23 and Mark Warnow 24 Over the decades a wide variety of noted soloists also appeared at the amphitheater including Marian Anderson 25 Louis Armstrong 26 Harry Belafonte Jack Benny Leonard Bernstein 27 Jorge Bolet 28 Van Cliburn Placido Domingo Joan Field Ella Fitzgerald Kirsten Flagstad Benny Goodman Thomas Hayward Jascha Heifetz William Kapell 29 Lotte Lenya Yehudi Menuhin Jan Peerce Roberta Peters Leontyne Price Paul Robeson 30 Pete Seeger Frank Sinatra 31 Renata Tebaldi Richard Tucker and Yma Sumac 32 33 The orchestra conductors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski each made a series of recordings for Everest with the Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York George Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue and premiered his Cuban Overture at the stadium as well 34 33 35 Due to declining attendances the regularly scheduled concerts were discontinued in 1966 2 Other uses EditThe stadium was used by City College for its commencement exercises All CCNY campuses took part including Liberal Arts Engineering and Architecture and its Manhattan Business School now Baruch College This practice continued through June 1973 Graduation ceremonies for the class of 1969 were held at the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden External video Photograph of Lewisohn Stadium from the air at C U N Y on Getty ImagesHere on Getty imagesIt was also used for CCNY s annual Army ROTC s reviews at the end of each academic year On August 16 1946 the stadium was the site of a benefit concert for Sergeant Isaac Woodard an African American soldier in the U S Army who upon being honorably discharged and returning home from service in the Pacific theater of World War II had been brutally attacked and blinded with a blackjack by a white police officer in South Carolina earlier that year The sold out concert organized by the New York Amsterdam News as the atrocity was gaining national attention included performances by musicians Nat King Cole Cab Calloway Duke Ellington Carol Brice Woody Guthrie 36 and Billie Holiday Orson Welles who had helped to publicize the cruel attack on his radio program and in his New York Post column also attended and the event was co chaired by boxer Joe Louis and New York City Mayor William O Dwyer 37 38 In film EditThe stadium appeared as the setting of the final scene of the 1945 film Rhapsody in Blue in which Oscar Levant performs the title composition with an orchestra conducted by Paul Whiteman as a memorial to the composer The derelict stadium was also used in the 1973 film Serpico directed by Sidney Lumet in a scene with Tony Roberts and Al Pacino References Edit a b Chief Points of Interest in Upper Manhattan Automobile Blue Book 1920 a b c d e Rimer Sara May 15 1985 Commemorating Lewisohn Stadium The New York Times Horsley Carter B April 5 1973 Lewisohn Stadium Center for Culture to Be Razed New York Times Retrieved December 15 2008 A 90 million academic center is planned to replace Lewisohn Stadium the amphitheater and athletic field of City College that served as the city s summer cultural center for about half a century Luchter P S June 2 2018 College of the City of New York CCNY All time football records Lucky s Amazing Sports Lists Retrieved February 4 2019 David Keller CCNY 67 member CCNY Varsity Rifle Team a b The New York Times Commemorating Lewisohn Stadium May 15 1985 Section B p 1 on NYTimes com Biography of Minnie Guggenheimer on Encyclopedia com The New York Times Au Revoir After Nearly Half a Century Minnie Guggenheimer Leaves the Stadium August 16 1964 Section X p 9 on Google Books The New Yorker Minnie Charles Cook July 10 1937 p 7 on New Yorker com The New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives Programs of Alfredo Antonini conducting the New York Philharmonic Accessed 29 December 2022 City University of New York CUNY Academic Works Music for the American People The Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium 1922 1964 Johnathan Stern The City University of New York New York 2009 p 204 Search WNYC New York Public Radio Podcasts Live Streaming Radio News WNYC Straus Noel 2 July 1948 OPERATIC EXCERPTS HEARD AT STADIUM Alfredo Antonini Offers Italian Music Before 14 000 Four Soloists Join in Concert The New York Times ProQuest 108130355 Stadium Concerts Review Stadium Symphony Orchestra Herald Square Press Volume XLII No 1 22 June 1959 p 17 Stadium Concerts Review program listing for Licia Albanese Alfredo Antonini Richard Tucker and The New York Philharmonic on 25 June 1959 p 17 on nyphil org Photograoh of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium in 1941 on Getty Images Photograph of Pierre Boulez conducting at Lewisohn Stadium on Getty Images Andre Kostelanetz conducts the Lewisohn Stadium Orchestra on July 5 1955 on wnyc org Porgy and Bess Comes to the Met Henry Lewis conducts at Lewisohn Stadium in 1965 on metopera org Photograph of Dimitri Mitropoulos rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in the 1950s on Getty Images Julius Rudel conducts Mozart s Symphony 35 The Hoffner at Lewisohn Stadium in 1957 on wnyc org Alexander Smallens conducts Don Juan at Lewisohn Stadium in 1959 on wnyc org Photograph of Max Steiner rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1943 on Getty Images Alfred Wallenstein conducts at Lewisohn Stadium in 1959 on WNYC org Photograph of Mark Warnow conducting Paul Robeson at Lewisohn Stadium in 1940 on Getty Images Photograph of Marian Anderson and Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images Photograph of Louis Armstrong backstage at Lewisohn Stadium in 1960 on Getty Images Photograph of Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at the piano at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images Julius Rudel conducts Jorge Bolet in Rachmaninoff s Piano Concerto No 3 Op 30 at Lewisohn Stadium July 31 1957 on wnyc org Photograph of William Kapell and Leonard Bernstein rehearsing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1947 on Getty Images Photograph Paul Robeson performing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1940 on Getty Images Photograph of Frank Sinatra performing at Lewisohn Stadium in 1943 on Getty Images Stern Jonathan 2009 Music for the American People The Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium 1922 1964 Ph D Vol I New York The City University of New York CUNY Graduate Center pp 204 205 Retrieved February 4 2019 YMA SUMAC sings Clair de Lune at Lewisohn Stadium NYC a b Stadium Concerts Inc June 22 1959 Stadium Concerts Review Stadium Symphony Orchestra Lewisohn Stadium College of the City of New York vol XLII Herald Square Press Inc p 17 Beidler Philip D 2014 The Island Called Paradise Cuba in History Literature and the Arts Tuscaloosa University of Alabama Press p 68 ISBN 9780817318208 Joan Peyser The Memory of All That The Life of George Gershwin 1998 ch 3 p 199 The Blinding of Isaac Woodward Woody Guthrie 1946 2005 01 14 Archived from the original on 2005 01 14 Retrieved 2021 07 29 Gergel Richard 2019 Unexampled courage the blinding of Sgt Isaac Woodard and the awakening of President Harry S Truman and Judge J Waties Waring New York ISBN 978 0 374 10789 5 OCLC 1036096926 American Experience The Blinding of Isaac Woodard TV Episode 2021 IMDb retrieved 2021 07 29 unreliable source External links EditThe Lost World of CCNY Architectural Gems of Our Past at The City College Library 1952 Concert at Lewisohn Stadium with Marian Anderson and Mischa Elman at The WNYC Archives Alfredo Antonini Richard Tucker Licia Albanese in concert at Lewisohn Stadium broadcast on the radio as cataloged at WNYC org Photographs of concerts at Lewisohn Stadium on Getty ImagesFurther reading EditStern Jonathan Music for the American People The Lewisohn Stadium Concerts Hillsdale Pendragon Press 2019 Coordinates 40 49 09 N 73 57 04 W 40 819105 N 73 95119 W 40 819105 73 95119 Lewisohn Stadium Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lewisohn Stadium amp oldid 1153231768, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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