The Apollo Theatre opened in 1920, financed by the Selwyn brothers. It was located 223 W. 42nd Street and constructed by architect Eugene De Rosa. The theatre housed Ed Wynn in Manhattan Mary in 1927, and Bert Lahr and Kate Smith starred in Flying High in 1931. The Selwyns lost ownership during the Depression, and the theatre served as a burlesque, then a movie theatre, into the 1970s. The theatre was renamed the New Apollo Theatre in 1979, opening with the play On Golden Pond. The New Apollo showcased Bent, starring Richard Gere, and Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July. Much of the Apollo Theatre was demolished, as the Academy, in 1996. Its surviving elements were integrated into the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in 1996, which was renamed the Hilton Theatre in 2004.