The destruction of the “fallen five” theaters (if I may coin that term)-the Morosco, Helen Hayes, Bijou, Victoria, and Astor-was seen not merely as a failure of the city to preserve its culture and architectural heritage, but as the opening salvo in a war to remake Times Square. “I felt like I was being hit,” Papp told the press. As soon as police moved the celebrities out of harm’s way (many were handcuffed for the cameras and then booked for trespassing), the wrecking ball crashed into the side of the Morosco. Two and a half weeks earlier, United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall had stayed the demolition of the theaters pending a review by the full court however, just as the protesters were arriving that morning, the court vacated that stay. Carrying signs that read “Keep Broadway Alive!”, the group had come that morning in a last-ditch effort to save five historic Broadway theaters that were to be razed to make room for the Marriott Marquis hotel and a new pedestrian mall in Times Square. Led by Public Theater impresario Joseph Papp, the group featured a number of famous faces, including Tony Award-winning actress Colleen Dewhurst, Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons, Treat Williams, Richard Gere, and Susan Sarandon. On March 22, 1982, a crowd of about 170 people marched into a vacant lot just west of Broadway, between the shuttered Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters.

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