The studio was originally constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 to provide the company with a facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short subjects were filmed there between 1920 and 1933. The first Sherlock Holmessound film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was made at the studio by the British producer Basil Dean. The Dance of Life was a film musical shot on sound stages, with most exterior scenes filmed on a back lot that existed at that time. The first two films featuring the Marx Brothers, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, were shot at the Astoria Studio. It was also known as the Paramount Studio. After Paramount Pictures moved all studio operations to California in 1932, the Astoria location was turned over to independent producers whose films were released through Paramount or other Hollywood film companies. All the films starring Tango icon Carlos Gardel made in the United States were shot at the Kaufman Astoria. Gloria Swanson cites the studio as, "the studio where I'd been making all of my pictures since 1923" in her autobiography Swanson on Swanson] In 1942, the United States Army Signal CorpsArmy Pictorial Service took over the studio for the making of Army training and indoctrination films until 1971, including The Big Picture that was shown on American television as a network television series. The property was designated a national historic district and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The district encompasses six contributing buildings. In 1982, the property was taken over by real estate developer George S. Kaufman and renamed Kaufman Astoria Studios.
21st century
Kaufman Astoria Studios has seven sound stages including the new Stage K, designed by the Janson Design Group. In 2008, Martin P. Robinson, who plays Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, and Slimey the Worm on Sesame Street, married Annie Evans, a writer for the show on the Sesame Street set. The ceremony was performed on the steps of 123 Sesame Street and the reception was held throughout the rest of the set. On December 3, 2013, a 34,800 square foot backlot was dedicated. It is the only studio backlot in New York City. In 2014, Kaufman Astoria Studios announced plans to build a new 18,000-square-foot sound stage on its Astoria campus within two years. In 2020, Kaufman Astoria Studios announced a five-block redevelopment project around the studio, in conjunction with Larry Silverstein, Bedrock Real Estate, and ODA Architecture. The area would be called Innovation QNS and stretch from 37th to 43rd Streets from 35th to 36th Avenues. The project, to cost $2 billion, would add 2,700 residential units, for shops and restaurants, and for creative industries. Construction could begin in 2023.
Notable productions
Motion pictures filmed there include the musicals Hair and The Wiz, and the films Goodfellas and Carlito's Way. In 1984, The Jacksons' music video "Torture" was filmed there as well. The 1986 movieThe Money Pit starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Many sequences, especially the 'visitation' sequence in 2002 TV mini seriesAngels in America, were also shot there. A 2009 remake, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, also used the studios. In 2011, the remake of Arthur filmed a few scenes there. Television shows filmed at the studio include Sesame Street, Onion News Network, Johnny and the Sprites, Oobi, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, and its successor Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? Other projects recorded at the studios have included Judge Judy, Power of 10, The Cosby Show, Cosby, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Swans Crossing, Law & Order, Million Dollar Password, the 2009 pilots of The $1,000,000 Pyramid, Video Power, Spin City, and Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged. WFAN, a local sports radio station owned by CBS, was formerly based at the studio before moving to lower Manhattan in the fall of 2009.
