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The Ed Sullivan Theater is a venerable radio and Television Studio in New York City . The 1200-seat theatre — of which 400 seats are currently used for TV audiences — has been used as a venue for live and taped CBS broadcasts since 1936. It is located at 1697 Broadway in Manhattan . It is best known as the longtime home of '' The Ed Sullivan Show '', though since 1993, it has been the home for '' The Late Show With David Letterman ''. The theater has also been home to several quiz and talk shows. During its tenure as a Reeves Entertainment teletape facility, it hosted the sitcom '' Kate & Allie .'' FIRST 66 YEARS The facility was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp . It was built by Arthur Hammerstein in 1927 and named after his father, Oscar Hammerstein I . It later went by the Manhattan Theater, ''' Billy Rose 's Music Hall''', and the Manhattan once again. In the 1930s, it became a popular nightclub; after CBS obtained a long-term lease on the property, the network began broadcasting from there in 1936. It had various names during the network's tenancy, including '''Radio Theater #3''' and the '''CBS Radio Playhouse'''. It was converted for television in 1950, when it became '''CBS-TV Studio 50'''. The theater was renamed for Sullivan at the beginning of the 1967-68 Season , though it is still TV Studio 50 in CBS's numerical list of New York television facilities, according to both the network and the actors' monthly ''Ross Reports''. Sullivan, who started hosting his variety show from the Maxine Elliott Theatre (CBS Studio 51) on 39th Street in 1948, moved to Studio 50 a few years later. In the 1960s, Studio 50 was one of CBS's busiest stages -- not only for Sullivan's program but also for several quiz shows. '' What's My Line? ,'' '' To Tell The Truth '' and '' Password '' called the studio home after CBS began broadcasting regularly in color (they had usually been taped around the corner at CBS-TV Studio 52, now the disco-theatre Studio 54 ). ''Line'' and ''Truth'' remained at Studio 50 even after they moved from CBS to first-run syndication in the late 1960s and early 70s. The Ed Sullivan Theatre was also the first home for '' The $10,000 Pyramid ,'' with its huge end-game board at the rear of the set. It is believed the last two game shows taped at the Sullivan were pilots of "White Star Block Out", and "Trip-Up", which never made it to CBS's daytime schedule. The Geoff Edwards -hosted game show Shoot For The Stars , which aired on NBC in 1977, originated from this studio as well. ''.]] ''THE LATE SHOW'' When David Letterman switched networks from NBC to CBS in 1993, CBS bought the theatre it had leased for nearly sixty years and had it reconfigured into a more intimate 400-seat studio, with lighting and sound adjustments. The architectural firm that did the work, Polshek Partnership , notes on its website that "to preserve the architectural integrity of the landmark, all interventions are reversible." In 2005, it took nearly four months to retrofit the theater with the cabling and equipment necessary to broadcast High Definition Television . EXTERNAL LINKS AND SOURCES
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