The Mercury Theatre opened as the Comedy Theatre in 1909, located at 110 W. 41st Street. Architect D.G. Malcolm designed the Comedy Theatre for the Shuberts. Renamed Collier’s Comedy Theatre, the venue housed Eugene O’Neill’s first Broadway production, the one-act play In the Zone. The theatre featured talents such as Humphrey Bogart, Holbrook Blinn, Peggy Hopkins, Walter Abel and Paul Robeson. Following the stock market crash, the venue changed ownership several times, and it was renamed the Mercury and finally the Artef. Limited by its intimate size, the theatre struggled to book major productions, and it was ultimately demolished as the Artef in 1942.