The photographer of this shot was standing on Broadway just south of Seventh St and the MGM-owned Loew’s State Theater. Playing at Loew’s was MGM’s “Double Wedding” paired with a Jane Withers movie, “45 Fathers” which was – surprisingly – A 20th Century-Fox release. This shot was taken at Christmas 1937, which explains why the sidewalk was packed with, I assume, holiday shoppers like woman in front with a package under her arm. It must have been a balmy holiday season that year—I’m not seeing any overcoats or furs.

Gene P says: “It wasn’t all that unusual for theaters owned by one studio to book films from others, so long as it didn’t bump their own movies off of the screen (as in this case it clearly didn’t). And what wasn’t widely known at the time was that Louis B. Mayer was a significant investor in Darryl Zanuck’s 20th Century Fox, so Mayer would have enjoyed a profit from TCF movies reaching as many movie screens across the country as possible. Doubtless he encouraged Loews to book Zanuck’s films often.”

The Loew’s is still there but is now a Spanish-language church. This image is from September 2021.

Here’s the poster for “Double Wedding” which is a Powell/Loy movie I’d never heard of.