Rivoli Theatre
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
49 people
favorited this theater
Showing 451 - 475 of 1,005 comments
With the Wall-E salute to HD(and I am not refering to High Def)
I think I should point out that this was the last genuine 70mm film to open at the Rivoli.
Too bad it was such a failure and only lasted 7 months at the theater. It’s a much better film than the critics gave it credit for and gets better as the years go on.
It should have run at least a year but the people writing reviews then hated musicals. And as Ethan Mordan has written they reviewed these mammoth films as if they were personally billed for them.
How else to explain why they trashed movies like PYW, SC, and HD.
All three are terrific and I only wish we could still see them as they were first seen on their hard ticket runs.
Thank god they were made so we have them and their lavishness to enjoy today.
For Wednesday July 24th, 1963, the feature would be “Cleopatra” in Todd-AO at the Rivoli. It opened on June 13th, 1963 and ran for 64 weeks.
For Wednesday January 18th, 1967, the feature would be “The Sand Pebbles” at the Rivoli. It opened December 21st, 1966 and ran for 35 weeks.
Wow. I’m amazed at the amount of information that has been contributed to this site. I hae 2 ticket stubs from the Rivoli and I’m looking to identify the films that were playing on those particular days:
Wednesday July 24th 1963
Wednesday January 18th 1967
If anyone wants the stubs for archival reasons, drop me an email and I’ll send them off to you at no charge.
Stephen
What a kick it was to see big pictures here such as “Star” and “The Sand Pebbles.” Sorry my regular NYC access had not begun early enough to catch “West Side Story” here.
Hi Bwayniteowl!
In response to your post of April 14, in actuality before the automobile cities were even noiser, and dirtier too. Cars make a lot of racket what with horn blowing, engine noises, radios, and such, but if you read accounts of street noise in the day of the horse it was much worse. Imagine the noise created by thousands of iron shod horses continually passing by, pulling carts, carriages, and wagons, all with iron rimmed wheels, plus the frequent shouts of the teamsters (who were known for colorful language). Then add to that the droppings of all these animals getting ground into a powder by the constant traffic and then being blown into your eyes, nose and mouth. Yuchh. Articles I’ve read stated that pedestrians on the sidewalks of lower Broadway (which was Manhattan’s chief shopping district in the mid 19th century) would sometimes have to shout to talk above the racket.
During the summer of 1949 or 1950, I was an usher in the Rivoli, across from Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant. (He sat in the window signing autogrtaphs.) I had gotten the job through pull with the owner Spyros Skouras (I was a relative of William Bendix) and “Come to the Stable” played all summer: I saw it 125 times. The audience changed with the type of movie so mostly we got priests and nuns instead of hoods that you’d get with the noir movies. In the lobby, they had a photo contest so I clued my girlfriend of the week in to the answers and she won. The summer was hot but the Rivoli was cool.
I just found out that the Wurlitzer organ that was originally in the Rivoli has recently been restored and installed in the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. This attraction is a children’s museum that is housed in a former shoe factory. The Wurlitzer has been installed in the “Enchanted Caves” section of the Museum. You can read a brief description of it at http://www.citymuseum.org/organ.html Also, there is a video describing this instrument at http://youtube.com/watch?v=vP4YL7EAv7k
You can view a video description of the Museum itself on Youtube under “City Museum in St. Louis by OFFICIALBESTOF.com TV Series.” Very interesting way to expose theater organ music to the younger generations.
The Chicago Theatre (Chicago) had a shaft running down to railway freight tunnels forty feet below street level for the purposes of cooling.
In the older houses “air cooling” was done by storing blocks of ice in what are referred to as “ice tubs”. They were large rooms in the plenum with sloped floors and drains. If you look closely you will see circular covers in the orchestra floor. Most of the time you will trip over them. Using convection the cooler air stayed close to the more expensive seats and the rest of the audience endured the heat. Today the tubs are used as a return for the air conditioning system.
I’ve even come across some older theaters that didn’t have “air tubs” at all but relied on opening large skylights using a winch and a cable running into the projector booth. Back in the days before automobiles, noise would have not been an issue.
In response to Bwayniteowl’s comment of 4/12, I believe that the Rivoli was not one of the first, but was THE first theatre to have actual air conditioning (as opposed to the earlier “air cooling” systems).
I think it was “American Heritage” magazine in which I read about it. According to the article, the system was not ready in time. The theatre’s doors opened anyway, while the crew kept trying to get the air conditioning running. They finally got it started about 20 minutes into the show. A quote from the manager stated that he could see patrons all over the auditorium stop fanning themselves as the cool air reached them. As it turned out, the audience thought that the delay in the cooling was intentional to point up the difference between a non air conditioned auditorium and one with air conditioning.
To Warren
I will change it but in a way I felt I was keeping the name alive. I mean who in the world knows who this guy was except for you and me and about 4 other people.
He WAS famous and revered I’ll give you that but the people who knew of him are fast dying off.
And his name was known for the Glory of Easter and Nativity towards the end but we will never see those pageants again.
The Carrier Corporation contents that the Rivoli was one of the first theatre’s to be air conditioned.
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“The boom in human cooling spread from the department stores to the movie theaters, most notably the Rivoli theater in New York, whose summer film business skyrocketed when it heavily advertised the cool comfort.”
Anybody know why South Pacific moved from the Criterion to the Rivoli midway through it’s hardticket run? Especially because it was probably a very successful one.
As far as I know only a couple of Cinerama films switched theaters.
What an awesome photo, thanks for posting it Lost Memory! I too recognized it as the Rivoli from the columns in front, above the marquee.
I only saw two movies there, Easy Money and DC Cabb. Wish I had seen more, and I regret not seeing Moonraker there when it premiered in 1979. It only played for about two weeks then moved to the National.
I concur. The columns above the marquee give it away.
One scene from “The Sentinel” comes to mind: Christopher Walken, who didn’t even make the cast list in the ad, plays a cop and says the immortal line, “She went to a birthday party with eight dead murderers”, as only he can.
I think I actually saw it at the Rivoli, come to think of it. And I haven’t thought about it for many, many years.
Ugh! One of the worst movies I ever saw – but not at the Rivoli (I was suckered out of my money at the Century’s Green Acres in this particular situation). Thanks for jogging the memories just the same, RobertR. Keep those ads coming! Do you have an ad from when George Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD played here in 1979 by chance? I remember walking into the great vastness of the Rivoli for that zombie classic and there was a faint aroma of vomit at the rear of the auditorium. I almost walked out due to the odor, but as we approached our intended destination within the first 10 rows, the air – thankfully – smelled a bit fresher and more tolerable.
By the late 70’s the Rivoli was playing showcase runs pretty much all the time. At least they were still major releases. I remember they played all the Universal product at that time.
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Well the marquee for the Rivoli Theatre during the engagement had Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”
Mike Todd was a Director of Magna Theatre Corp. at the time of “Oklahoma”.
Warren,
would the Intro be accurate if “his” would be changed to “the” as in the following:
the Rivoli was one of New York City’s finest ‘roadshow’ theaters and was converted to 70mm Todd-AO with a deeply curved screen by Michael Todd for the feature, “Oklahoma!”
The Hello Dolly date was a typo and will get repaired. Sorry about that; thanks for the correction.
I believe you you are correct Erik, “Hello Dolly” opened in mid December 1969, at the Rivoli.I seem to recall playing it later at the D-150 on Long Island in March 1970.
The world premiere for “Dolly” was December 16th, 1969. The feature opened on Dec. 17th. 1969 to the public.
The October 16, 1969 date of the “Hello, Dolly” world premiere as recently added to the Rivoli summary is probably incorrect. I remember “Dolly” as a holiday season release, and the NY Times review is dated December 18, 1969. I assume the correct date is December 16, 1969.
When I first laid eyes on the UA Rivoli in the summer of 1967, it was playing the 70mm reissue of GONE WITH THE WIND “in New Widecreen Splendor” (which I didn’t know meant it was cropped at the top & bottom).
I vividly remember being shocked that the Rivoli had a permanent metal and neon blade sign made up specifically with the title of the film. I have video and pictures that show the same blade sign was completely redone that October to spell out STAR in neon, with star shapes alternating with each of the letters. (check out a little movie called THE PROJECTIONIST) to see a glimpse of the NY premiere of STAR! at the Rivoli)
Considering that they went to such expense to change the exterior of the Rivoli from one feature to another, I have absolutely no doubt that the OKLAHOMA! curtain was replaced the instant the picture left. If you look closely at photos of the OKLAHOMA! curtain, you’ll see it was so entirely themed to that one picture that it would be inappropriate for any other.
With showman Michael Todd involved in both OKLAHOMA! and 80 DAYS, I am certain he would not let his own 80 DAYS run with an OKLAHOMA! curtain. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear 80 DAYS had its own curtain at the Rivoli, but I’ve not seen or heard any indication that another picture there had a special curtain.