The theater in the film was not located in Times Square. The real theater, Variety Photoplays, was located on Third Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets in the East Village. It can be seen in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" in the scene where Jodie Foster jumps into Robert DeNiro's cab to get away from her pimp. The marquee can clearly be seen out the back windshield.
Shot in the Variety theater from 12 a.m. to six or seven a.m. in the morning, and it had its world premiere there.