[8] Author Gary Lachman claims that the film Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) "inaugurat[ed] the midnight movie cult at the theater.

The New York Times' film critic Vincent Canby observed, "There is a heaven for movie buffs and it could be here and now thanks to The Elgin, The Thalia, The Symphony and all those other houses that occasionally recall the past.

"[11] In May 1977, while continuing to present film, the theater began to mount programs of rock music and allied acts.

[12] On March 20, 1977, Roger Euster, the owner of the Elgin, evicted his tenants, Gould and Zlatkin, for non-payment of rent totaling $21,393.

He immediately signed a lease with Tel-a-Gay, a producer and exhibitor of gay films, who launched an all-gay-pornography program on March 21.

They agreed to return the theater to its previous programming format on a trial basis to see if the operation could be sustained on the income.

It was purchased in early 1979 by the Eliot Feld Ballet with the intention of converting it to a theater for smaller dance companies.