Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 251 - 275 of 1,209 comments
You guys are looking at it from the standpoint of the emotions you have for these buildings (which I share, by the way).
My grandfather, Mason Rapp, was the last to run the firm of Rapp & Rapp. It was work to those guys. It was a way to support their families. The guys at B&K would call and say: we need a theater of so many seats on such and such a site. Then Rapp & Rapp would go to work.
If the firm were in business today they would be designing multiplexes, because that is what the market demands. Or they might be doing something else altogether. In fact my grandfather had to find other things to do after the big theater work dried up in the 1940’s. He designed bank buildings for instance.
While I don’t think it exactly thrilled him to see movie palaces demolished in the 50’s & 60’s, it also didn’t give him much pause. He went on about his life with only slight reflection on the glory days of the 1920’s.
Good times come and go, and you roll with the punches.
Re:I beg to differ. This was not an office building he created but what was the largest theater built at the time dubbed “The Cathedral Of The Motion Picture”. The Roxy cannot fade in anyones mirror . We are all entitled to our opinion . We will never know. At least Lamb was long gone before they started an all out assault on his theaters.
I agree.
The NYT’s very brief obituary for Ahlschlager in 1965 noted that his most famous of many buildings was the NY ROXY, “now demolished”. No mention was made of the NY BEACON, which still stands and was recently restored.
I beg to differ. This was not an office building he created but what was the largest theater built at the time dubbed “The Cathedral Of The Motion Picture”. The Roxy cannot fade in anyones mirror . We are all entitled to our opinion . We will never know. At least Lamb was long gone before they started an all out assault on his theaters.
Not to be a downer, but it is possible that he was not destroyed by this fact. He was paid well to contruct his buildings. By the time of his death, assuming he was retired many years, it all may have faded into the rear-view mirror.
I read that Ahlschlager died in Texas in 1965. I wonder what his feelings were when he heard his masterpiece would be torn down.It had to be a huge blow.
Here’s the cover for a Roxy Theatre program from July 11, 1930. THE ROGUE SONG starring Laurel & Hardy was playing that week. You can see the entire program at The Silent Film Still Archive.
RE: Watch the move The Naked City
In the very beginning are shots of people toiling at various jobs at night. One small bit is a single woman with a pail & mop mopping the floor in that huge rotunda.
Talk about thankless jobs
Why do you not use search feature, this has been already mentioned several times above!
If I remember correctly, Rose Marie was the first MGM musical in CinemaScope.
Watch the move The Naked City
In the very beginning are shots of people toiling at various jobs at night. One small bit is a single woman with a pail & mop mopping the floor in that huge rotunda.
Talk about thankless jobs.
This photograph of the Roxy Theatre was taken in 1937 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
the Sommer Bros purchased the ROXY site from Zeckendorf and bulid the office buiding current on the site. The Sommer’s were influencial in building 1950’s “car ready” shopping malls in upsate NY as the following 1952 article states:
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100,000 Visit Thruway Plaza Opening
An estimated 100,000 persons arriving by autos, buses, and on foot invaded the new Thruway plaza at Walden and Harlem yesterday afternoon and evening in what plaza officials called the most spectacular opening of any building development of its kind.
The crowds saw the $7,000,000 plaza – the largest in the state and second largest in the country – sprawled on its 69-acre site exactly as it lookedo n the architect’s drawings.
Police Chied Walter J. Marynowksi of Cheektowaga said the 3,000 car parking area in front of the plaza was filled within 50 minutes after opening ceremonies at noon. A police detail of 50 kept traffic moving smoothly and directed the overflow of about 1,000 cars to the rear parking area. Marynowski estimated 50,000 persons visited the plaza within four hours after it opened.
“Shopping once was a chore and burden,” declared Sigmund Sommer, president of teh Sommer Bros. Construction Co. of Iselin, N.J., which built and will operate the plaza. “In design of this new plaza and of each store, we have tried to turn shopping into fun for the whole family.”
The carnival atmosphere at the opening was aided by the presence of the Cisco Kid, Western television star, who gave out some 25,000 autographed photographs. He left the Thruway site briefly to visit patients at Children’s Hospital and at Immaculate Heart of Mary Orphanage.
In the “bit top” behind the plaza, children watched animal acts offered by Gengler Bros. Circus. The circus and the Cisco Kid will remain at the plaza through tomorrow.
Also present for the opening ceremonies were Abraham Sommer, vice-president of the construction company, executives of the firm who have stores in the plaza and supervisor Benedict T. Holtz of Cheektowaga. Holtz cut the ribbon and accepted a television set from the Sommer brothers for the orphanage.
Several stores in the plaza are not yet completed and a 30-acre adjacent lot is reserved for possible later additions. A department store is scheduled to be added to the plaza next year.
One of the individual’s directly responsible for the ROXY’s demise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Zeckendorf
RE: On this day in 1959, the Roxy opened what proved to be its final Easter holiday package, with Howard Hawks' Technicolor western, “Rio Bravo,” on screen. John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson starred in the Warner Brothers release, with Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, and John Russell featured. On its truncated stage, the Roxy presented “Spring Fever,” starring Dorothy Keller, with support from Earl Hall, the Roxy Singers & Dancers Moderne, and the Roxy Orchestra under conductor Robert Boucher. That year, the Roxy’s competition from Radio City Music Hall consisted of MGM’s “Green Mansions,” with Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins, and a two-part stage revue including the sacred “Glory of Easter” and the secular “Spring Parade
It appears the ROXY had the better movie for Easter 1959.
crowds of people attending a demonstation of CinemaScope at the ROXY:
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Footage from the HALLS OF MONTEZUMA premiere:
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Thanks for the info Tinseltoes.
View link
A very interesting image from the Museum of the City of NY archives. This shows the foundations of the Roxy as it was being constructed. You can clearly see the diagonal layout that has been mentioned many times on this site.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories! I own 6 programs from 1938, but unfortunately, not your’s! I’ll keep searching!
Bill
P.S.: What was it like working for Fanchon & Marco?
I danced at the Roxy in 1938, military number,movie was A Yank in the RAF. I returned four years later as a regular Gae Foster Girl. Had to leave due to illness but have wonderful memories of my short but fulfilling career at the Roxy. This site brought back many happy memories.
Oh, and I’m thinking the gentleman I was looking for was probably closer to his early 50’s around that time. I’ll still check into it though :)
Thanks Bill! I will look into it. You never know were it might lead me. In the meantime keep passin along the info bc every bit helps. Thanks agin for taking the time to help me out :)
Dear Shanvdk, A shot in the dark: When I was an usher at Radio City Music Hall (1969-73), LEO Doughtery was the kindly, old, (70+) 50th -Street stage doorman (“Pops”). A million Doughtery’s in the the Naked City … but, you never know …!
Still working on it,
Bill!
Dear Shanvdk, Sorry, no luck yet in finding Jim Dougherty. Don’t give up hope … you’d be amazed what Roxy factsI I can find, give the time!
Lew White recorded organ music from the Roxy in 1927-28 for the Brunswick label. Unfortunately they were played on the 2-manual instrument in the broadcasting studio (not the auditorium’s) and are definately lackluster (compared to Jesse Crawford’s Victor, Paramount Theatre recordings from the same era). There were only a dozen or so made and occasionally come up on EBAY. The label must read: “Recorded at Roxy Theatre, N.Y.” otherwise, they read: “Recorded at "Lew White Organ Studio, N.Y.”… Know the difference! They are not great, but for Roxy historians, are a must! A recording also exists of “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”, recorded by Ben Hall ca. 1958-9 (I don’t own it, nor know where to get a copy). By that time the organ was piped through a P.A system and sounded
like “death-warmed-over”… but, again, a must for Roxy or theatre organ fans. Try contacting the “AMERICAN THEATRE ORGAN SOCIETY” Good luck!
Bill Savoy (508 612 5669)
Good luck!
Does anyone know if there are any recordings of the Roxy theatre Organ? I would love to hear what it sounded like.