Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 951 - 975 of 1,209 comments
Warren, that’s a special airing that only plays once in a while, most of the movies are not presented that way and when they are, the movie will also show soon before or after without that silly stuff.
FMC presents the movies with very good prints and usually letterbox.
It’s the second best movie channel on cable but lacks the charm and
movie knowledge of the incomparable Robert Osburne.
Thanks Warren for the great post, I worked for 20th Century Fox during the 50s and attended every one of those movies. Now I watch them in letterbox on Fox movie channel.
Warren, How many times a day did the Robe play at the Roxy? Were there extra early morning perfs and what about midnight showings? At the Hall there were only 4 complete perfs a day.
To Paulb what films did you see at the Plaza? The Ziegfeld in NY is only 50 ft! But I seem to be the only one that finds that lame.
I would like to add my thoughts about CinemaScope screen size.
Let us not forget the main object of anarmorphic or large format photography, and that is to enable the director to photograph a larger area on a single frame. In my opnion, although screen size does enhance the viewing of the image,it may not be the most important aspect. I offer the example of watching a movie in a letterbox version, the screen need not be large to enjoy the advantage of a film shot in an anamorphic process.
Regarding CINERAMA and Cinemascope screen widths, here in Sydney Australia we had the 1300 seat single level PLAZA. The Cinerama screen installed there in 1958 was a wall-to wall head swivelling 91ft wide. It closed in 1977.
It’s all dependent on the size of the auditorium. Both the Roxy’s and the RCMH’s original CinemaScope screen were larger than the Broadway’s original Cinerama screen. However, the effect was much more startling at the Broadway. There are pictures of both the original CinemaScope and Todd-AO screens at the Rivoli on the American WideScreen Museum site.
When I saw 7 Brides at the Hall in the late 70’s it seemed larger than the Panavision or 70mm screen there. It was huge. I can’t even begin to imagine what 90 to 100 ft Cinerama screens were like. Now I’m beginning to think that the 60ft Todd AO screen at the Rivoli was on the small side.
So what was the size of the Roxy screen from 27 til 53? Then what was the size of the Cinemascope screen that people were overwhelmed by?
Concerning Veyoungs comment I believe it was Harry and Walter go to New York that put Radio City on showcase in ‘76. You would think they could have gotten better movies if they were so flexible.
Warren: interesting point! But, just to illustrate the complexity of the “problem” when one tries to do valid cost comparisons, I would think that the ticket prices for the first run road shows would also vary by location. And since BoxOfficeBill’s original comment was about the price of standing room — which also depends upon one’s location — the comparison between these three still holds.
But, as you point out, it is important to remember that Radio City Music Hall (and I’m guessing, the Roxy too) also offered many, many seats (in fact, the vast majority of seats) at a lower price, one that should also be brought into the “equation” — as they are comparable to the seats offered at first run non roadshow theaters and at neighborhood movie houses.
I’m assuming (but am not really sure) that first run, non roadshow Times Sq. theaters and neighborhood theaters, like the Valencia, had a single price policy for seats throughout the theater (depending, of course, on the time of day). So at the Valencia, for instance, a seat cost at a particular time of day cost the same price whether you sat in the orchestra, the loge or the balcony (which allowed, I believe, smoking).
Why do i seem to remember that it all started to go way downhill when Universal-International booked a film into the Hall (I think “Swashbuckler” was the feature) and also opened it simultaneously in the boroughs, or at least, Long Island? RCMH no longer was “exclusive.” Someone pls enlighten me on this.
BoxOfficeBill: Thanks for all that terrific pricing info. With regards to the 1956 prices, I assume “Around the World in 80 Days” at the Rivoli was a “hard ticket” roadshow engagement. If so, then it would seem that for all three years, 1956, 1960 and 1964, roadshows had the highest “top” tickets ($3.50, $3.50, and $5.50); Radio City Music Hall, or the Roxy, had the second highest priced top tickets ($2.50, $2.75 and $2.75) and first run, non-roadshow theaters had the third highest priced top tickets ($2.00, $2.00 and $2.00). I assume the neighborhood theater prices I remember from around 1960 (which I’m guessing were top priced tickets for a neighborhood theater like the Valencia, Alden or Merrick), $1.00 for adults and $.50 for children, would then have been the fourth highest priced ticket.
I think I now see your point about standing room ($2.00, in the evening) being equivalent to the price of a movie — a first run, non roadshow movie in Times Sq. ($2.00 in the evening). That is a bargain, especially when you consider that standing room is right on the orchestra level, right behind the last row of seats where, in 1960, people were paying around $9.00 (for Friday or Saturday evenings).
Although it’s possible, I tend to doubt that I ever received a questionnaire from you as I think that would have been a “big thing” to a kid like me, and I don’t remember something like that happening. Actually this is the first I ever recall hearing about such a polling project — sounds interesting.
And thanks for the info on “El Cid”! I vaguely recall seeing it with my class in the springtime (which is also a “natural” time for a class trip of that sort). In any case, “spring of 1962” makes it a grade school trip, instead of a junior high trip as I had thought — pretty “neat” for a grade school trip!
I looked up the McCourt book and hope to at least take a look at those pages when I get the chance.
Benjamin— You were an active theater-goer in ’61, the year most of those plays opened (perhaps I foisted a Playbill questionnaire upon you at one time?). For standee prices, the years I referred to were ‘56-’64, when I patrolled the terrain on active duty (so-to-speak). And during this time, expenses remained agreeably constant. I would think of the estimates you cite as those at neighborhood movie houses.
Variety lists the following scale [the first figure represents morning or matinee prices; the second, evening prices] for first-run houses in Dec. ’56: the Roxy, $1.25-$2.50 for “Anastasia†with stage show; the Astor, $.75-$2.00 for “The Mountainâ€; the Rivoli, $1.25-$3.50 for “Around the World etc.†roadshow. In Dec. ‘60 prices held steady: RCMH, $.90-$2.75 for “The Sundowners†(the Roxy had closed the previous Spring; prices for “Li’l Abner,†its final Christmas show, were $.90-$2.50); at the Astor, $.75-$2.00 for “Inherit the Windâ€; at the Rivoli, $1.50-$3.50 for “The Alamo†roadshow. In Dec. ’64 tickets went for $.95-$2.75 at RCMH for “Charadeâ€; $1.25-$2.00 at the Astor for “Lillies of the Fieldâ€; and $2.50-$5.50 at the Rivoli for “Cleopatra†roadshow. I could be mistaken, but I remember standee prices as likewise stable (my tight, tight budget made me acutely aware of these costs).
I know of no public or parochial schools that made live theater so lavishly available to young students. That proved wonderful for you! And I know of no special deals for school-groups at the Roxy or elsewhere. I do recall that some Catholic elementary schools arranged upper-grade outings (at regular prices paid by interested students) to Christmas and Easter shows at RCMH. I also recall that at RCMH, regardless of the season, you’d always see habit-clad nuns attending morning performances; because of their obstructive wimples, they sat self-effacingly in the rear orchestra rows. Perhaps the Chancery at nearby St. Patrick’s had struck a deal for clergy prices (doable as long as the picture got a General Patronage nod from the Legion of Decency, no?). “El Cid†opened at the Warner on 14 Dec. ’61. James McCourt writes of standees celebrating the Roxy in “Mawrdew Czgowchwz†(first ed., p. 23; 2nd ed., p. 17). I lack the grace of commitment.
But I think that basically there was no longer a paying audience even for $3.00. The Hall was no longer getting the cream of Hollywood films(that’s why they would play a dubbed foreign film like Sunflower and crud like See No Evil) and the stage shows were becoming increasingly threadbare. I went to many Saturday performances during this era that were not well attended and I believe up until the mid 60’s the weekends always had lines.
Another example-when The Way We Were was new the Hall was showing The Optimists. And after the summer of 70 Bolero was never done again and it was I think after the holiday shows its most popular stage attraction.
Benjamin a first run non roadshow movie for instance at the Loews State cost $3.00. $2.00 was the afternoon price at the Music Hall until 6pm. So if you saw the 6pm stage show and then the movie you payed the afternoon price. I believe weekday prices were 1.50, 2.00, 2.50.
Prices went up that summer with Darling Lili. At that point the evening price matched the price of a first run movie. 1.75 became the mornng weekday price at the Hall. This was an incredible bargain even for the time. I mean a movie a symphony orchestra, a ballet, and the Rockettes and the place itself. And this was the 70’s!
I have had a horrible day…until I sat for 3 hours and read most of the comments above. This site thanks to Cinema Treasures and the priceless contributions above are just exhilarating. Yes it is a tragedy The Roxy is gone but the information and anecdotes…and hilarious quotes etc are just so fascinating and entertaining. I hope this site particularly remains unedited so we can all spend wonderful hours scrolling down from the start/top time after time, making detours into the picture links and continually marvelling at every piece of info here. I love it and wish I could have you all over for dinner…except I live 12,000 miles away! Thank you to each and every person and their truly exciting and enlivening contributions. I just love it when there is new comments posted, I read them over and over. And after a crummy day I read them all over again. Yes I have a life ( a great one in Sydney Australia, home of the incredible State and Capitol Theatres) but this site and its NY theatre info and Roxy love affair is the icing on the cinema cake. Thankyou to each and every one of you. PAUL BRENNAN .
With all these prices, along with their helpful dates, being listed, I noticed something interesting.
In 1970 a movie cost about $1.75 (that’s my guess); at $2.00, Radio City Music Hall probably cost a bit more than a movie; a chow mein dinner cost about $2.50; and a top Broadway ticket was $15.00 for a Saturday night. So a $2.00 ticket to Radio City Music Hall was “positioned” closer to a movie ($1.75[?]) than to the top price of a Broadway show on Saturday night ($15.00).
If you multiply all these prices by a factor of six you, get the following prices, adjusted for inflation: a movie costs $10.50, an “old-time” Radio City Music Hall ticket should cost $12.00, a chow mein dinner costs $15.00, and top price of a Broadway show on Saturday night is $90.00. While this is off a bit, it is roughly true for a movie and a Broadway show (don’t know about the chow mein dinner). But, obviously, the management of Radio City Music Hall has “repositioned” a show at Radio City Music Hall to be seen more like a $100 Broadway show (like the “Lion King” or “Beauty and the Beast”) and less like a trip to the movies ($10.50).
There was a chinese place near the Music Hall on 50th Street between 7th and 6th. It was on a second floor. Could this have been Ho Ho?
I ate there after seeing Airport. It was $2.50 for a complete chow main dinner. Everything mentioned above including an egg roll.
Airport with the Easter show was $2.00.
OK so today the Christmas show is $100.00. But I don’t think a full chow main dinner would cost $125.00 even accounting for inflation.
Speaking of prices, no visit to the Roxy was complete for me without a visit to one of two Chinese restaurants within a half-block of the theater. They were Ding Ho and Ho Ho, and the chicken chow mein lunch special included wonton soup, noodles, rice, ice cream, and tea. During the mid-50’s, the meal was 55 cents. (Shrimp chow mein was 65 cents.)
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, I thought the price of a “regular” ticket for a movie was $1.00 (50 cents for a child’s ticket)? So although those great standee prices ($1.50, $2.00) were cheaper than a real seat, they would still seem to be not quite the same price as a movie. And using the “rule of thumb” index for inflation (a movie today is approx. 10x the price of a $1.00 movie in the early 1960s), a $1.00 movie costs $10.00 today (which it more or less does), so $1.50 or $2.00 standing room would $15.00 or $20.00 today (don’t know if that is the case).
I also liked to compare my great theater bargains to the price of a movie also. Although I wasn’t aware of the Playbill program (too young then anyway), my junior high (I think?) had some kind of program in the early 1960s that allowed students to see a Broadway show for, I believe, a dollar — which happened to be (I think) the price of an adult ticket to a movie! Got to see “Carnival” (rear orchestra), “A Man for All Seasons” (rear orchestra), “Mary, Mary” (balcony or second balcony) this way.
Don’t know if all NYC public schools had this, or if my school was lucky. Also wonder if the fact that a fellow student’s father was the conductor for “The Sound of Music” had anything to do with it. (Like maybe he alerted the school authorities at my school to this program?)
I wonder if the Roxy ever had movies that allowed schools to use a trip to the Roxy as a class trip. (I know in junior high (?) our school had a class trip to see “El Cid” — an historical drama about the unification of Spain? — at either the Capitol or the Warner, I believe.) A trip to the Roxy could have been a TRULY educational experience (with talks about silent films and the impact of the “talkies,” movie “palaces” for people who weren’t rich, etc.).
Also saw many shows with standing room. Most memorable standing room experience?: “Camelot” (second to last performance) and “How to Succeed” (early in its run, when it was still a “hot” ticket).
Over the years, got a few front row center seats with TKTS or twofers too. Best twofer deal?: $1.00(?) to see Barbra Streisand in “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” (twofers, last row of the second balcony on a Saturday matinee).
“Ever afterward (or at least until the Roxy closed in ‘61), the name of Rothafel’s World Famous Theater provided a consoling by-word for a band of foot-weary standees in Gotham, eventually making its way into pages of fiction.”
This sounds interesting, please explain. Are you saying that one of the friends included this experience in a novel he/she wrote? Or do you mean something more prosaic?
To these discussions about relative price scales at the Roxy and other theaters, I’d like to add that NYC’s best value in the late ‘50s-early '60s was the day-of-performance standing-room sale for live performances, which was as cheap as or cheaper than most first-run films. Matinees cost $1.50 and evening performances cost $2.00 for a spot at the rear of the orchestra seats. Both matinee and evening performances at the Met Opera cost $2.00 for a spot beside the orchestra seats and $1.25 for a spot beside the family circle seats.
As a high school and college kid at the time, I saw everything (well, practically everything) that way. In the early ‘60s, Playbill, Inc. had a special deal for students that included free standing room in exchange for distributing and collecting questionnaires during the first weeks of a new show. When hit shows were sold out months in advance, standing room guaranteed entry as long as you arrived well before the box office opened on the day of performance. After the lights dimmed, standees were allowed to fill empty seats. (This was especially good at the Met, where certain subscribers left at the first intermission or else didn’t show up at all). When the Met moved to Lincoln Center in '66, it then placed its standing room tickets on sale a month before the performance, which killed any build-up and climax attending the day-of-performance sales (a cantatus interruptus).
My standing-room days ended in Spring ‘81 when, after prevailing on our feet for “Amadeus” at the Broadhurst (prices had by then risen to $4.00, still cheaper than first-run films), my wife announced that we were getting too old for that sort of thing (thirty-nine? Jack Benny’s age?). Since then, it’s been a continual hunt for cheap seats in the balcony. Bah.
What’s this got to do with the Roxy? In Dec. ‘57 some friends and I were turned away from a sold-out standing-room for “Aida†at the Met. Dejected, we walked up to the Roxy where we saw a terrific stage-and-screen combo featuring Lana Turner in the sex-laden “Peyton Place.” Ever afterward (or at least until the Roxy closed in '61), the name of Rothafel’s World Famous Theater provided a consoling by-word for a band of foot-weary standees in Gotham, eventually making its way into pages of fiction.
In other words, if the Roxy (and ocean liners) were still around, they would be a stupendous value, but people don’t want value, they want fast and cheap!
Benjamin, I really enjoyed your comment from January 16th! I got my movie prices from upstate New York where moviegoing is considerably cheaper than in Manhattan. I love your new “quote”.
In the book “We Americans” the author makes an interesting observation as to why movies fell from favor. He doesn’t believe that it’s because of alternative amusements (they always existed in one form or another), but rather because Hollywood has lost it’s way. They no longer produce films that make us feel good about ourselves or that make us WANT to have our lives be like the lives of people up on the screen. Moviegoing has long since ceased to be the communal emotional experience it once was.
I have to admit I agree, and you’re right, the world HAS gone cheap!
Bob, the Roxy’s organ was a comedy of errors from day one. Installing it under the stage rather than the conventional approach of organ chambers on either side of the prosecenium was error number one. With musicians in the pit, the sound was obscured (and must have been hell for the musicians) since the orchestra masked the sound. Extending the stage apron blocked the sound completely. The main console was buried at the bottom of the lift. One of the managers hit on the idea of moving the console to one of the side boxes, but the only way for the organ to be heard was through the house PA system (barely hi-fi at the time). Finally, the perpetual leaking from the ice rink through the stage floor ruined it completely.
Warren— Thanks for clarifying my post of 8 Jan with circumstantial detail. I recounted that post from memory, but checked dates in the NYT Directory of the Film. I didn’t realize that “Give My Regards to Broadway” launched the first ice show, nor that Martin and Lewis performed a stage act with it. I do recall the Viennese ice waltz on with “That Lady in Ermine.” Photos of the marquee in the Joe Coco Collection of THSA at historicthraters.org reveal that the ice show with “Carousel” was titled “Springtime,” not “Gala Paree” as I had claimed: what mad reaction-formation drove the Roxy to name a February ice show “Springtime”? (I ask this question as snow and zero-degree temperatures currently invade our NE region.)