Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 1,209 comments
“The Robe,” the first film in CinemaScope, premiered here sixty-five years ago today.
Didn’t Roxy Music name themselves after this venue?
Hello-
thank you to Simon S. for your reply. the reason I asked is simple. I’ve always considered souvenir programs an integral part of a roadshow engagement. this is especially true in the prime Sept. 1952 to Dec. 1972 period. to which I wonder how many films the studio involved thought highly enough of that they had a souvenir program as well even though they were being released on as regular continuous performance basis to use an old term.
The Roxy always had a free (at least) two page sepia-toned program. Patrons could pick up program on a table near the entrance of the rotunda. The only paid program might have been for Windjammer which played on a reserved seat basis.
Hello-
I’m guessing like the Music Hall the Roxy handed out a two page leaflet with each film playing there. to which my question. did many of the films that played the Roxy sell souvenir programs?
I could be wrong but as I remember the Vista Vision screen at the Paramount it was not only curved from the horizontal perspective but also appeared to be curved forward slightly at the top which gave additional illusion of depth. I hope it isn’t my imagination, but the feeling of depth was also increased by being in the Paramount which was a more intimate theater (about 3600 seats)than the Music Hall (5900 seats). The Paramount also had greatly superior sound than RCMH.
And the Paramount and the Roxy screens had to be flown when there were stage shows so I’m sure that kept the stage hands busy. Interesting that the Music Hall kept it flat. I guess the extra 6 ft was too unwieldy or they were worried about sightlines.
The Paramount Vistavision must have been really impressive.
As per the NY Times article, Thursday April 21, 1955. The Roxy screen was 64 ½ x 26 ½ and curved. The Paramount VistaVision was 64 x 35 and curved.
The Warner Cinerama was 67 and 24 ½ and seriously curved.
Check out photo 131 on p7. Its plenty big and slightly curved and just fits inside the proscenium. Of course I was never in the Roxy, but if you search for the photo that shows the Roxy’s pre-CinemaScope standard screen you can see why it must have thrilled audiences. And, for what it’s worth, the Roxy was already gone 2 years when the Capitol installed its 90 foot Cinerama screen.
MarkD you say on the Capitol page the Roxy CinemaScope screen was 68ft wide. Did this have any curvature as one sees in the ads? This also had to be inside the proscenium if it was to be ‘flown’ and therefore did not have the immersive effect the ads would like you to believe?
Just don’t read the terrible comments.
And watch the 11 minute film after which is the New York of one’s dreams.
Brief color film of the Roxy Theatre and surrounding midtown area in 1946 can be viewed here
In the Picture of Miss Swanson standing on the rubble are the set of doors behind her to the auditorium or the street?
I’ve probably written this before.
Stephen Sondheim’s favorite movie theater was the Roxy and he went often. He even wrote an entire musical based on the very famous Life photo of Swanson the Roxy’s first movie star standing in the rubble as it was torn down.
Comfortably Cool posted the ad of Hangover Square the attendance of which Sondheim claimed was a seminal moment in his life because of the Herrmann score.
So the Roxy’s history still reverberates in our cultural life today.
When the Capitol was torn down I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the auditorium was intact. It looked like they just built a smaller capacity Cinerama theater within it. Same with the Strand.
Like what happened with the El Capitan when it was modernized. Sad to think those great original auditoriums were unseen for so many years and then demolished before anyone could see them again. Who knows what treasures the demolitionists found and then destroyed.
The Rivoli was twinned in 1981.
What vindanpar says is true. Even if somehow the Roxy had survived and continued as a first-run theatre, it would soon have been divided into two and later 3 or more screens/theaters. The only midtown movie palace to avoid this fate was Radio City and that was because of its special status as the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center. Well, the much smaller Rivoli also remained a single screen venue, showing mostly long-run roadshow attractions.
You can find this on Wikipedia or many other sources, but just quickly: A so-called A movie was one with a large budget, major stars and directors, top original story or book adaptation. It was released to the top theatres owned by the studios across the country, then it went to the small towns and finally the second-run neighborhood theatres and drive-ins before winding up their- run.
An A movie could be anything from a routine programmer on a tight budget but still with excellent acting and production to an all-out massive epic.
The B movie usually had a small budget, limited production values, very good but lesser known actors and directors. They were made quickly and cheaply to fill out the programs at theatres. They would most often be released as the second feature on a double bill along with an A movie at major chain theatres but also might be the main attraction at second-run and rural theatres.
That’s just the major and minor films made by the major studios. Over time the B movie on the lower half of a double feature replaced most (but not all) of the short subjects that had been popular earlier in the studio era. Newsreels and cartoons were the exceptions and continued into the early 60s.
We actually had this exact discussion before. Scroll up to the comments from November 2014. (Geez I thought it was a few months ago.) The Wind Cannot Read which was the last movie at the Roxy was a relatively obscure British film, but not a B movie. The last few weeks, once the Roxy was officially slated to close, it showed a revival double bill and this British film. Prior to that it showed strictly first-run major studio releases, as Simon explained. Cheers.
Even an A house occasionally would have to play a B picture. Also didn’t the Roxy shortly before this play a double bill of Waterfront and another perhaps Brando film? Normally at this time what you’d find on 42nd Street.
An ignominious end to a glorious theater but they pretty much all ended that way. Especially if they made it to the 70s. They became mausoleums for exploitation films.
Hello-
I thank Simon S. for his reply. but it prompts another question. exactly how was an A movie differentiated from a B movie? for instance I had never heard of “The Wind Can Not Read” until I went thru the photo pages for this theater. so since I had never heard of it I assumed it was B movie.
Bigjoe59, You need to purchase and read and memorize every word in “American Showman” by Ross Melnick, the story of Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel. In it you will see that the first years the theater concentrated on its lavish stage productions and booked often B product (but sometimes A move-overs from other first-run B'way houses)… mixed in with A. It wasn’t until after the British Gaumont relationship ended in the mid (during the Great Depression) to the late thirties that the theater then again played strictly A product mostly from TCF. The Roxy was strictly an A house until it closed.
Hello-
the often pined for Golden Age of Hollywood lasted from the beginning of the sound era to approx. the early 60s which is where my question comes in. it is my impression that during this roughly 34 year period Hollywood operated very much on the A movie and B movie production levels. so for someone who has a detailed knowledge of the Roxy’s bookings would you say the theater played as many B movies as A movies?
The Roxy seating capacity was greatly reduced from 5,900 seats to less than 3,000 seats with the Loge completely closed because of poor sight lines. Only a portion of the orchestra and balcony was used with much of the proscenium and theater’s interior beauty and side walls covered up. The reserved seat engagement did poor business and did not encourage the production of another film in Cinemiracle.