Vito – I wish I had seen some of those shows you did – they sound wonderful. In my own limited way, I try and recreate that at the Lafayette with my classic shows (though with only a single traveler curtain and limited lighting choices, I can’t go that far).
Thanks for the update, Howard. That’s the same 35mm IB Technicolor print that played in NYC a few years ago. I sure hope the Ziegfeld has invested in getting their two projector setup running and is not subjecting this one of a kind print to the platter.
Thanks, vito. I figured it would have to be off DVD since the theatres are all playing the same titles on the same nights and the likelihood of there being that many 35mm prints of those titles available is nil. Any way you can find out who is supplying the DVDs? There are some versions that are better than others.
Would you allow me to reproduce it on the Lafayette’s website with a credit to you? I’m slowly expanding our collection of vintage photos as we come across them and that 1947 shot would be wonderful to display. Feel free to contact me by direct e-mail (click my name, then click the “e-mail” link on my profile page).
We tend not to re-run things during our Saturday morning shows, so that’ll be it for a long time on that one. Come by this Saturday for James Cagney in Public Enemy!
Bill – They appear to only block a video or television release. It has screened a number of times in the past decade in California and in NYC at the AMMI or MoMA (I’m not sure which).
No, you can buy tix for the Succasunna classics online. This week’s show on MovieTickets is listed and available to buy (though does anybody really think The Breakfast Club is a classic of any kind?)
It looked and sounded excellent, if I may say so. Very dynamic with nice separation – it sounds as if they either used the original 4-track mix (assuming it had one) or made a new mix using the original stereo music tracks (which were unearthed a few years ago for a double CD of the complete soundtrack) and then did a nice “steering” of the dialog and effects.
Bill – there’s word on another forum that someone went to the Ziegfeld to get tickets and was told that the showings might be canceled. If you look at MovieTickets, you can’t buy actually tix for any of the shows.
Here is the fall season of Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette – hope to see you at the shows! Showtime is 11:30am, doors open at 11 for pre-show music on the Mighty Wurlitzer. All tickets are $6.00
September 8
THE GREAT ESCAPE
Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough
Presented in Panavision
September 15
THE PUBLIC ENEMY
James Cagney, Jean Harlow
September 22
ANCHORS AWEIGH
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
September 29
AFTER THE THIN MAN
William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart
October 6
Billy Wilder’s ONE, TWO, THREE
James Cagney, Horst Bucholz, Arlene Francis
Presented in Panavision
October 13
Stanley Kubrick’s THE KILLING
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
October 27
THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD
Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher
Special Visual Effects by Ray Harryhausen
November 3
ALL THE KING’S MEN
Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru, John Ireland
November 10
TARZAN AND HIS MATE
Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan
Original UNCUT version
November 17
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE
W.C. Fields, Mae West
November 24
Ian Fleming’s GOLDFINGER
Sean Connery as James Bond – 007
December 1
Alfred Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHES
Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave
December 8
Stanley Donen’s CHARADE
Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
December 15
Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers
PLUS: The Lafayette Theatre’s Christmas Spectacular!
Re: The Great Escape – it’s a print struck a couple of years ago by MGM. The print should be in Dolby Stereo. A 4-track mag of The Great Escape – if they even exist any longer – would be badly faded as it was not a Technicolor release.
One reason I absolutely wouldn’t go to a platter with a single screen is if you have a mechanical breakdown in the projector head, you’ll lose the show completely and your entire gross for the show. If you have dual projectors, you can at least finish the show with a break between reels and have minimal refunds.
I would suggest adding 6000' (1 hour) reel capacity to your machines, that way most films only require one changeover, but you can also screen festival and vault prints via 20 minute reels.
Justin – movable masking for multiple aspect ratios has been a staple of virtually all theatres for years and years. They’re talking about curtains in front of the screen (since the audience should never ever see a blank white screen).
Good question, Jeff. That’s what we were told by some folks from the school system – I don’t know if it was called Lafayette Avenue at the time or if it also got named that at the same time.
You’re welcome. One thing that’s missing from the profile I wrote above is that the theatre had no name when it was being built. At some point during the construction phase, a contest/survey was held among the local school children and they were the ones who named it “Lafayette”, after the Revolutionary War figure who had been in the area. Perhaps they constructed the marquee to facilitate adding the name later? Sadly, the microfilm I was using didn’t go back to the 20s.
Lost Memory -
The Lafayette opened in 1924, so the Nanook showing must have been a later run of the film. When I was researching the newspaper archive a few years ago prior to our 3D festival, the earliest ads from around 1934 said ‘Lafayette Theatre’ on them. We also have a very old newspaper from around 1927 on display in the lobby that has listings and it also says only ‘Lafayette Theatre’.
Blade Runner is still a great picture, but only in its original theatrical version, not the subsequent “director’s cut” nonsense. Saw it opening day at the Loews Secaucus 6, which was also the opening week for that theatre complex, IIRC; it was 35mm mono. Was so impressed that I went into Manhattan to see it in 70mm at the Criterion Center.
I ran ET at its first sneak preview at the Cinema 46 in Totowa and did not like it then and now. Still can’t understand how a remake of Lassie Come Home became the biggest box office hit of all time :)
Any information about the premiere tonight at the Music Hall of the new film “Live Free or Die Hard”? They’ve been talking about it on the radio today.
No, the “Cinerama” (single panel, no 3-panel prints were ever made) prints of Mad Mad World would have been in 70mm format and no longer exist. It was a 35mm print that just ran at the Loews.
It’s a documentary about the creation of Cinerama, it’s not in Cinerama.
Vito – I wish I had seen some of those shows you did – they sound wonderful. In my own limited way, I try and recreate that at the Lafayette with my classic shows (though with only a single traveler curtain and limited lighting choices, I can’t go that far).
“Downgraded” to run reel-to-reel? Whatever…
Thanks for the update, Howard. That’s the same 35mm IB Technicolor print that played in NYC a few years ago. I sure hope the Ziegfeld has invested in getting their two projector setup running and is not subjecting this one of a kind print to the platter.
Thanks, vito. I figured it would have to be off DVD since the theatres are all playing the same titles on the same nights and the likelihood of there being that many 35mm prints of those titles available is nil. Any way you can find out who is supplying the DVDs? There are some versions that are better than others.
The Ziegfeld has stadium seating for the back half. The rest of the seating is the normal preferred orchestral rake.
Vito –
I’ve read about these screenings on another forum and the attendees stated that they are showing these off DVD. Is that true?
Great photo, Bea-Anita.
Would you allow me to reproduce it on the Lafayette’s website with a credit to you? I’m slowly expanding our collection of vintage photos as we come across them and that 1947 shot would be wonderful to display. Feel free to contact me by direct e-mail (click my name, then click the “e-mail” link on my profile page).
We tend not to re-run things during our Saturday morning shows, so that’ll be it for a long time on that one. Come by this Saturday for James Cagney in Public Enemy!
Bill – They appear to only block a video or television release. It has screened a number of times in the past decade in California and in NYC at the AMMI or MoMA (I’m not sure which).
No, you can buy tix for the Succasunna classics online. This week’s show on MovieTickets is listed and available to buy (though does anybody really think The Breakfast Club is a classic of any kind?)
It looked and sounded excellent, if I may say so. Very dynamic with nice separation – it sounds as if they either used the original 4-track mix (assuming it had one) or made a new mix using the original stereo music tracks (which were unearthed a few years ago for a double CD of the complete soundtrack) and then did a nice “steering” of the dialog and effects.
Bill – there’s word on another forum that someone went to the Ziegfeld to get tickets and was told that the showings might be canceled. If you look at MovieTickets, you can’t buy actually tix for any of the shows.
Here is the fall season of Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette – hope to see you at the shows! Showtime is 11:30am, doors open at 11 for pre-show music on the Mighty Wurlitzer. All tickets are $6.00
September 8
THE GREAT ESCAPE
Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough
Presented in Panavision
September 15
THE PUBLIC ENEMY
James Cagney, Jean Harlow
September 22
ANCHORS AWEIGH
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
September 29
AFTER THE THIN MAN
William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart
October 6
Billy Wilder’s ONE, TWO, THREE
James Cagney, Horst Bucholz, Arlene Francis
Presented in Panavision
October 13
Stanley Kubrick’s THE KILLING
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
October 27
THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD
Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher
Special Visual Effects by Ray Harryhausen
November 3
ALL THE KING’S MEN
Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru, John Ireland
November 10
TARZAN AND HIS MATE
Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan
Original UNCUT version
November 17
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE
W.C. Fields, Mae West
November 24
Ian Fleming’s GOLDFINGER
Sean Connery as James Bond – 007
December 1
Alfred Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHES
Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave
December 8
Stanley Donen’s CHARADE
Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
December 15
Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers
PLUS: The Lafayette Theatre’s Christmas Spectacular!
Re: The Great Escape – it’s a print struck a couple of years ago by MGM. The print should be in Dolby Stereo. A 4-track mag of The Great Escape – if they even exist any longer – would be badly faded as it was not a Technicolor release.
One reason I absolutely wouldn’t go to a platter with a single screen is if you have a mechanical breakdown in the projector head, you’ll lose the show completely and your entire gross for the show. If you have dual projectors, you can at least finish the show with a break between reels and have minimal refunds.
I would suggest adding 6000' (1 hour) reel capacity to your machines, that way most films only require one changeover, but you can also screen festival and vault prints via 20 minute reels.
I would doubt 70mm, Bill. If they struck a new 70mm print of this, they would certainly not let it be run on a platter.
Justin – movable masking for multiple aspect ratios has been a staple of virtually all theatres for years and years. They’re talking about curtains in front of the screen (since the audience should never ever see a blank white screen).
Good question, Jeff. That’s what we were told by some folks from the school system – I don’t know if it was called Lafayette Avenue at the time or if it also got named that at the same time.
You’re welcome. One thing that’s missing from the profile I wrote above is that the theatre had no name when it was being built. At some point during the construction phase, a contest/survey was held among the local school children and they were the ones who named it “Lafayette”, after the Revolutionary War figure who had been in the area. Perhaps they constructed the marquee to facilitate adding the name later? Sadly, the microfilm I was using didn’t go back to the 20s.
Lost Memory -
The Lafayette opened in 1924, so the Nanook showing must have been a later run of the film. When I was researching the newspaper archive a few years ago prior to our 3D festival, the earliest ads from around 1934 said ‘Lafayette Theatre’ on them. We also have a very old newspaper from around 1927 on display in the lobby that has listings and it also says only ‘Lafayette Theatre’.
Blade Runner is still a great picture, but only in its original theatrical version, not the subsequent “director’s cut” nonsense. Saw it opening day at the Loews Secaucus 6, which was also the opening week for that theatre complex, IIRC; it was 35mm mono. Was so impressed that I went into Manhattan to see it in 70mm at the Criterion Center.
I ran ET at its first sneak preview at the Cinema 46 in Totowa and did not like it then and now. Still can’t understand how a remake of Lassie Come Home became the biggest box office hit of all time :)
Very cool, thanks for the info REndres. I assume the projectors run concurrently so that an instantaneous switch can be made if there’s a problem?
Any information about the premiere tonight at the Music Hall of the new film “Live Free or Die Hard”? They’ve been talking about it on the radio today.
No, the “Cinerama” (single panel, no 3-panel prints were ever made) prints of Mad Mad World would have been in 70mm format and no longer exist. It was a 35mm print that just ran at the Loews.