Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
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MEMORIES OF A ROXY USHER (1950-1954)
I started there as an usher , hired by Chernof at 35 cents per hour. We had to go through a training class and learn a manual. The manual was devoted to How many seats are there? How many Lightbulbs are there in the Crystal Chand in the Routonda? How do they replace the light bulbs or clean it.
SOME OF THE MOVIES THAT PLAYED THERE WHILE I WAS THERE
Prince Valiant
Titanic ( Clifton Webb)
Theres No Business Like Show Business
With a Song In My Heart ( Jane Froman story)
Bus Stop ( Marilyn Monroe classic)
What Price Glory ( Dan Dailey and James Cagney)
12 Mile Reef ( Robert Wagner)
Peter Pan
The Thief ( Silent Movie)
The Robe ( and start of a new sound system and Ice Stage)
Gentlemen Perfer Blondes
Three Coins In The Fountain
Rains of Ranchipur
STAFF OF THE ROXY
Sydney Katz ( Managing Director)
Arthur Knoor ( Producer)
Bob Bouche ( Orchestra Leader)
William ( Big Bill) Moclair ( General Manager)
Jack Galloway
Steve Banovich
Zeke Miller ( all Assistant Managers)
Al Kaufman ( Captain of Ushers)
Don O'Connell ( Chief of Staff)
Mr. Levy ( Concession Manager)
Mr. Levy (2) who sold programs and dolls for each performance at the main lobby.
SOME ADDITIONAL SERVICE STAFF NAMES
Al Frick
Connie Wagner
Suzie Mc Cluskey
Mary Ann Tenbrink
Charlie Roe
Ray Beckett ( another Captain)
Gladys Sweeney
Bob Myers
Don Pollack ( another Captain)
Lynn Fradnick
The Roxy closed down for two weeks to install the Ice Stage and run tests of the new sound system. I remember sitting in the orchestra when they ran the tests and had movies of racing cars, with the sound startig at one side of the theater and going around to the other side.
I also remeber standing for inspection by the Captains at the time, checking to make sure that our shoes were shined, hair trimmed, and white gloves were white. We then started a formation in the upper balcony and marched down the rotunda staircase and took our positions. We also wore cardboard dickeys for the front of our shirts and white cardboard cuffs. this would cover out tee shirts. We had our own tailer who cleaned the uniforms ( as shown in pictures of the staff in other parts of this site)
IN THE STAGE SHOW AREA
I remember the UNITED STATES MARINE CORP BAND coming through the Orchestra Doors and down the Aisles to the main stage.I also remember some names of the stars that appeared TONY BENNET, THE HARMONICATS, ELLIOT REED, ROCHESTER, KAY STARR, MEL TORME, just to name a few. They were all gracious and gave autographed photographs ( Oh where are they now… the pictures)
Most of all I remember the beautiful building that I had the pleasure of working in, the Chinese Restaurant across from the Stage Door as well as the Greek Diner. Also remember being a House Checker where we went out every four hours to the Movie Theaters on Broadway and estimated the number of patrons.Of seeing On The Waterfront, as well as Judy Garlands Farewell at the Palace.
THOSE TRULY WERE THE DAYS.
Hi Myron:
Both those movies played in Cinerama at the Loew’s Capitol in New York. It was on Broadway between 50th and 51st Sts. When “How the West Was Won” played there, it was known as the Loew’s Cinerama, but it later reverted to its original name, the Capitol. It was torn down and replaced by an office tower in 1968.
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I don’t know where else to post this, in the 60’s we saw Cinerama films “How The West Was Won” and “2001: A Space Odyssey”. They were both at a Cinerama Theatre but I can’t remember the name, can you help ?
What was the dimensions of the Roxy’s Cinemascope screen? I always felt their screen was longer in length than the Radio City Music Halls'. Also the Roxy’s had a curvature for Cinemascope; while the Music Halls’s screen screened almost flat. Maybe it was just an illusion. However, the RCMH’s screen looked higher than the Roxy’s. I can’t find the dimensions of the Roxy’s screen for Cinemascope; yet the Music Hall screen’s dimensions are given on this website. Does anybody know?
The roadshow reserved seat movie was at its height in the mid 1960’s. Every studio wanted to produce two event films with large budgets released on a long run basis so the studio could receive profits over a long period of time.I remember Radio City wanted Fiddler on the Roof for there holiday attraction but United Artists wanted the Rivoli for a long run. Fiddler was the last successful Roadshow presentation in the early 1970’s.The studios had so many large big budget flops between 1968-1970 that the studios gave up on the reserved seat roadshow film. After 1970 the average budget at MGM and Warner Bros dropped to 1.5 million things were so bad.“Love Story” released in 1970 saved Paramount and was produced on a small budget.Paramount during this period tried to sell the studio lot to the cemetery next door. MGM sold off its back lots and held a huge studio auction selling off its props,sets and costumes.Every studio was in bad shape except Columbia and Disney. Then Columbia got in trouble a couple of years later and was saved by Ray Stark.Columbia sold off its studio lot and moved to the Warner Bros lot and the studio was renamed the Burbank Studios. The studios at this time thought the youth market and low budget films that didn’t require a studio lot was the way to go, like “Easy Rider”. I remember when Paramount was going to make the “Godfather” with a budget of 6 million the studio was nervous. The Godfather became the biggest hit in Paramount history and played many exlusive runs downtown in 1972.It broke records at the Savoy(Opera HOUse} in Boston,the Chicago Theatre in the loop,the Fox in Downtown Philidelphia,Loew’s State 1 in NYC,Paramount in Hollywood and the Village in Westwood. As the studios release patterns got wider and wider through the years there was no longer the need for the deluxe movie theatres that played exclusive run films.The Roxy was just to large to house the big roadshow films of the 1960’s.The Capitol reduced its seating in 1960 to become a Cinerama roadshow house. Radio City was a rare example and became a modern day presentation showcase that lasted until 1967-68 until it could no longer book the major films which were no longer family oriented,and went into a steady decline. Julie Andrews who had been the number 1 box office attraction since the mid 1960’s was washed up in films by 1970 and would only make the “Tamarind Seed” in 1974 and “10” in 1979. The women in film fared very badly after 1970, only Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda were considered box office for most of the 1970’s. Most of the stars and directors produced from the studio system weren’t able to get a job after 1970. The old Hollywood was dead and the new Hollywood was born. I remember a line from Mickey Rooney who said the old Hollywood had died but wasn’t given its last rights.The old MGM with help of Kirk Kerkorian was reduced to a meow by 1970 and released its last big budget film David Lean’s “Ryans Daughter”.Hollywood was a disaster area during this time it was television that kept many of studio lots going.brucec
What killed movie musicals(and roadshow pictures in general) in the late 1960’s was twofold: the decline of the many urban downtowns and the rise of X-rated pictures. In 1969 & 1970, it was not unusual to see theaters showing films like Vixen, Fanny Hill, Female Animal, Midnight Cowboy, Succubus, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls(all of which were released with an X-rating) simply because they made more profit for theater owners (and in some instances, X-rated films were the only draw to downtown theaters after dark). Some of the theaters would wind up showing XXX product within another 2-3 years due to the popularity of films such as Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones.
I’m just curious: re-reading Warren’s synopsis above dated Feb 13, 2004 of the Roxy’s final downfall. When the final first run movie ended it’s run, was there ANY outcry from the public over it’s closing? Was there any notice or discussion…ANYTHING??? Articles in the Times or any other paper telling people about it? Or did the public simply not care (in general, I mean. I assume some people did care…) I remember my Mother saying that she nearly cried the day she heard the Roxy was destroyed. She said she never expected it to go away. She thought it would last forever. Then she got another shock when Pennsylvania Station was demolished. Again, she thought it could never be destroyed….
There have been countless articles about what killed the movie musical and the best arguement is that it was “The Sound of Music.” Now, now…all you “Sound of Music” fans, don’t get your panties in a bind over that statement. It’s not a reflection on that film. Whether you like it or not is a matter of taste. It’s what the studios saw in the HUGE $$$$ that movie made. Instead of creating interesting, thought provoking adult musicals like they did in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s along with the family fare musicals, the studios sank all their money into rather nauseating family musical films like the ones you cite above (and you left out “Song of Norway” and “Half a Sixpence”). The end result was a flood of awful, family oriented musicals. And their collective awful-ness completely turned the movie going public against this kind of movie. In addition, the “new American wave” of movies was beginning which also didn’t help this kind of stuff.
Star Wars which was released after Jaws still opened on a rather exclusive basis. Many theatres played this film from 6 months to a year. I managed a theatre which played “Star Wars” on an exlusive run for more than 6 months. The wide saturation started with the building of the megaplex 14-25 screen theatres. Most films released today drop almost 50% by the second week because they are showing on 3000 screens. I think the year 1967 was a year where the old Hollywood met the new Hollywood. All the studios were very profitable in 1967. Studios such as Fox and MGM were showing profits from the long runs and wide release of both “The Sound of Music” and “Dr Zhivago”. MGM enjoyed the re-release of “Gone With The Wind” on a roadshow reserved seat which was a huge hit. Attendance had climbed in 1967. Starting in 1968-1970 the studios started releasing one big budget bomb after another with a few exceptions. The following movies almost forced the studios out of business,“Star”,“Hello Dolly”,On a Clear Day,Paint Your Wagon,Darling Lili,Goodbye Mr Cips,Sweet Charity,Ice Station Zebr,Finean’s Rainbow and many more. This period pretty much killed the movie musical for more than 30 years.brucec
I know a lot about films and such but why was 1967 such a banner year? You had some “new” Hollywood films that year like “The Graduate” and “Bonnie & Clyde”. Curious to know why 1967 was such a success financially? It’s a curious issue.
“Star Wars” defined the mass saturation releases that are used today but it was “Jaws” that was THE first film the “go wide” BIG time. When the studios say the $$$$$ pouring in when the did the wide release, any thought of the old time limited release was dead.
Remember the Roxy was the flagship for 20th Century-Fox. The Music Hall played the top films of the day from various studios. The Roxy followed the decline of the studio system in the late 1950’s. The Music Hall had its last great year in 1967 and the old Hollywood had died by 1970 with the beginning of the new Hollywood. Hollywood had its best financial year since 1946 in the year 1967.The industry went into a severe decline after 1967 and didn’t start a revovery until 1972. The release of “Star Wars” changed the industry forever.The industry has been very stable since with all the large studios being owned by deep pocketed media companies such as Time Warner,News Corp,Disney,Viacom,Sony and General Electric’s NBC Univeral. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer a shadow of its former self with a huge library of non-M_G_M films will be taken over by Sony next year.The growth of Cable,Dvd,pay on demand has made the film libraries very valuable to these companies. I still think the industry produces some very good films each year along with a lot of crap.Its a testament to the old Hollywood that the years 1939-1941 at the height of the studio system and it movie palaces,produced the greatest number of mass quality films in Hollywood history.The Roxy and the Music Hall were two of the industries shining stars at the time.brucec
Look, the entire reason why I found this great website is because of The Roxy. I will never forget my parent’s describing this place. Their descriptions have remained with me to this day. My Mother often commented as I “ooh-ed” and “ahhh-ed” at the Music Hall how it paled in comparison to The Roxy. “Now that was a place” she would always say. So I don’t mean any offense.
As to the ROXY being “tacky” one only has to read the extensive chapters in the late Ben M. Hall’s landmark book THE BEST REMAINING SEATS: THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE PALACE to learn that the ROXY started out with just the same programming that the Music Hall did, but that by 1931 the ROXY was deprived of both Mr. Rothafel, as well as most of the financial backing it originally had. The Rockefellers were in a much better position to fund RCMH, and so it took the higher ground the ROXY was forced to abandon. In its last years, the venerable ROXY was humbled repeatedly and took anything the audiences fleeing to TV might accept. Sic transit gloria.
Note that these “quotes” are by writings of Roxy’s son, Robert, not the great man his father was: Samuel Lionel Ropthapfel (legally changed to Rothafel in the Teutophobic years after WWI). Whether Robert intended to honor his Dad’s style is not known. Of course, hyperbole was always the concommitant of show business!
Awwarkâ€"you made me do it. I cracked open my cache of programs and playbills sealed up since a move in 1976. Here, from the program for “Bus Stop†in Sept. ’56, is “A story in verse†by the Roxy’s Managing Director Robert C. Rothafel, announcing the ice show “Magic of the Stage.â€
All stage magic, dear people, and please hear me well,
Has a charming, and most wond’rous story to tell… .
Now the bone, and the rag, and the hank of dyed hair,
The Director auditions on stage, bleak and bare… .
… ‘Tis the tale of the magic of Scenery to tell… .
And now, the Director has taken his stand,
Thus the God-likened power of light, to command… .
Tireless master halts briefly for passing review
Of effects in HI-FI, the magnetic and new… .
Costumes and make-up cast magical spell,
Over all on the stage and the patrons as well.
It’s a hoot from a stuffed owl, and you gotta love it! In prose, Rothafel also wrote a Personal Message to the Patrons for each new stage show. Here, from the program for “The Sun Also Rises†in August ’57, is his blurb for “Showplane,†devised on the theme of air travel: “In essence, containing perhaps more showmanship than many show business ventures, Miss Betty Murray’s idea for ‘Showplane’ was brought to reality by Pan American World Airlines… . Ever seeking the timely and the new, ‘Showplane’ offers to the Roxy, highly imaginative, new sources for new faces and new formats. Thus working cooperatively with Pan Am and Miss Murray, makes an exciting reality of bringing to the Roxy stage, outstanding personalities and ideas from Showplane’s travels throughout Pan Am’s world of 82 countries.†I reproduce the purple prose verbatim. What might a ‘50s school marm do with its non sequiturs, redundancies, whimsical punctuation, and broken syntax?
Here, finally, is Rothafel fudging the truth about CinemaScope 55 (much discussed in previous postings for the Roxy) in his Message for “The King and I†in June ’56: “For a motion picture of such magnitude, … we at the Roxy are grateful to Twentieth Century Fox. In this instance our appreciation is twofoldâ€"for grandeur and excellence in entertainment; and for pioneering developments in sound engineeringâ€"making possible the completed innovation of the century (introduced with CinemaScope 55 and “Carouselâ€)â€"Six channel magnetic sound. Spending again as much as was spent before, the Roxy now enjoys the finest and most modern equipment achievements, making possible the presentation of CinemaScope 55 with new six channel High Fidelity and True Directional Magnetic and Stereophonic Sound.†I like that: “the completed innovation of the century†and “equipment achievements.â€
Yes, the Roxy could be “tacky"â€"but who’d want to complain? Maybe "camp” is the better word—it confers an affectionate note.
Had S. L. ‘Roxy’ Rothafel not been ousted as grand poohbah of RCMH immediately after opening, who knows what direction presentations there might have taken. There is every possibility that it might have followed his previous efforts at his namesake theater just down the street.
“I remember their newspaper ads —always more brassy (for comedy) or lurid (for drama) than comparable ads for ever-so-dignified RCMH.”
You see? That’s what I mean. The Music Hall seemed to present a more “dignified” front while the Roxy appears to have put out a more sensationalistic approach to fill their seats. Very interesting.
And “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” in ‘45. The creme-de-la-creme would have to be “All About Eve” in October '50. Also in the running would be “Laura,” “Miracle on 34 Street,” “Night and the City,” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” I saw none of them there, but I remember their newspaper ads —always more brassy (for comedy) or lurid (for drama) than comparable ads for ever-so-dignified RCMH.
This site has been quite educating and one of the surprising impressions that I’m getting is that, as grand as the Roxy was, it sounds like both it’s decor and presentation was, well…tacky as compared to the Music Hall. Someone either on the Roxy board or the Music Hall even kind of comes out says that the Music Hall’s presentation was classier than the Roxy’s. Ok…so maybe that person worked at the Music Hall and has not buried his vendetta against the Roxy but is there a grain of truth in this?
Yes, Vito, natch', even if it was to see “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!” which opened there in Spring ‘48: that all-time stinker about a boy (Lon McCallister) and two mules (which he preferred to June Haver) marked Marilyn Monroe’s screen debut (as an innocent hayseed)—Natalie Wood is also in the pic (and it sometimes airs on TCM). The Roxy was pre-eminently the home of the garishly technicolored Betty Grable/Dan Dailey musicals (“Mother Wore Tights”!), which would be fun to see. Best of all might be Clifton Webb’s Mr. Belvedere series, starting with “Sitting Pretty,” which I remember seein there with a St. Patrick’s Day themed stage show (green-clad choruses singing “I’m looking over a Four-Leaf Clover”) in March '48 (with previews of the afore-mentioned “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!”).
Yes Bill, but wouldn’t we all just love to go back in time and see the grand curtain open with the Fox fanfare just one more time.
Yes, Warren, absolutely: and hundreds of good original scripts, too. The Roxy meanwhile showed few high-minded films, largely because its chief fare was 20C-Fox mainstream product(the higher-minded 20C-Fox films went to the Rivoli or the Mayfair). “Forever Amber” and “Peyton Place” were glitz-lit successes at the Roxy. In ‘56, however, “Bus Stop,” “Giant,” and “Anastasia” (following one another in succession) raised the bar a bit.
Myron, you couldn’t be more right: as the theatres grew smaller, so did the films! Hollywood is no longer the base of artists trying to achieve art, or even enterainment, just PROFITS. Get the video from PBS “The Monster That Ate Hollywood” to find out how the conglomerates are steadily destroying it by authorizing only cookie cutter product best able to guarantee profits. And with the TV writers' stike a few years ago, the studios are trying freeze out the writers to reduce fees. Since all the great novels have been converted to film, the source of good stories in a visual generation is drying up, what with few writers having the morals to write decently, and the studios wanting big effects and soft porn to sell big.
I am planning on seeing Aviator this weekend and plan on looking for a theatre that has a big screen to try to get that epic feel. I may drive to the Lafayette since it opens there on Christmas day. I am so sick of shoe-box theatres.
The movie palaces we enjoyed are mostly gone but so are the films, as well as most celebrities. I just saw “Finding Neverland” and almost fell asleep. This film is supposed to be nominated for best picture. What happened to all the great classic films we used to enjoy? I haven’t seen a great film since “Titanic” and whatever I do see on small multiplex screens do not offer the experience we used to have watching “Star Wars” in Dolby Stereo in 70mm, as an example. Many will disagree of course and say that today’s films are as good as past films. I don’t think so. The glamorous and talented actors are no longer around; except for a few exceptions. Where are the Brandos, Burtons,etc? Where are the great musicals? It seems the disappearance of great movie palaces is coinciding with mediocre films that can be viewed at home. It’s a sad situation.