Producer John Cort introduced the Cort Theatre in 1912, designed by Edward B. Corey and located east of Broadway on W. 48th Street. The Cort briefly housed "The Merv Griffin Show" between 1969 and 1972 before returning to legitimate theatre, and it later set a house record with 1,920 performances of the Stephen Schwartz musical The Magic Show. The Cort Theatre was renamed for Tony Award-winning actor James Earl Jones in 2022.
