Roxy Theatre

Thanks!

(How do you add a live link to a message?) Thanks.

Somewhere in the internet universe I came across a photo, shot from the stage during an orchestral performance, that showed a great shot of the tiered balconies. I meant to save the photo so I could share it, but have since lost my browser bookmark. If anyone knows where to find it online, it’d be a great addition to the photo page for the Roxy.

Some views of the Roxy’s marquee can be seen midway through this silent B&W newsreel footage of 1948 street demonstrations over the upcoming 20th-Fox drama, “The Iron Curtain”: britishpathe

I don’t have any proof regarding the architect of the Beacon except my eyes. It sure looks a lot more like Ahlschlager than it does Rapp and Rapp. If the Rapps created that design then it was amazingly atypical for them. My guess is that the design is Ahlschlager’s and the Rapp Bros. supervised whatever additional work that was needed to open the theatre. Why would Warners waste money completely gutting and rebuilding the interior of a new theatre, especially in late 1929? But we may never know for sure.

Re: The comment by Life’s Too Short, I think that architect’s are capable, and likely, too develop emotional attachment to their creations, especially if you read how poetical Eberson could get about his theatres.

When the Hotel “La Posada” was being dismantled in the 1960’s the architect (whose name escapes me) was present at the auction of all the furnishings and art works she had chosen for the structure she designed. When asked for a reaction to what was going on her reply was “I now know that it’s possible to live too long”.

You guys are looking at it from the standpoint of the emotions you have for these buildings (which I share, by the way).

My grandfather, Mason Rapp, was the last to run the firm of Rapp & Rapp. It was work to those guys. It was a way to support their families. The guys at B&K would call and say: we need a theater of so many seats on such and such a site. Then Rapp & Rapp would go to work.

If the firm were in business today they would be designing multiplexes, because that is what the market demands. Or they might be doing something else altogether. In fact my grandfather had to find other things to do after the big theater work dried up in the 1940’s. He designed bank buildings for instance.

While I don’t think it exactly thrilled him to see movie palaces demolished in the 50’s & 60’s, it also didn’t give him much pause. He went on about his life with only slight reflection on the glory days of the 1920’s.

Good times come and go, and you roll with the punches.

Re:I beg to differ. This was not an office building he created but what was the largest theater built at the time dubbed “The Cathedral Of The Motion Picture”. The Roxy cannot fade in anyones mirror . We are all entitled to our opinion . We will never know. At least Lamb was long gone before they started an all out assault on his theaters.

I agree.

The NYT’s very brief obituary for Ahlschlager in 1965 noted that his most famous of many buildings was the NY ROXY, “now demolished”. No mention was made of the NY BEACON, which still stands and was recently restored.

Not to be a downer, but it is possible that he was not destroyed by this fact. He was paid well to contruct his buildings. By the time of his death, assuming he was retired many years, it all may have faded into the rear-view mirror.

Here’s the cover for a Roxy Theatre program from July 11, 1930. THE ROGUE SONG starring Laurel & Hardy was playing that week. You can see the entire program at The Silent Film Still Archive.

If I remember correctly, Rose Marie was the first MGM musical in CinemaScope.

Fifty-seven years ago today, 20th-Fox’s “Prince Valiant,” a CinemaScope and Technicolor epic based on the famous newspaper comic strip, opened its NYC premiere engagement as the Roxy’s Easter holiday attraction. Robert Wagner, wearing a pageboy wig that reminded of Jane Wyman, played the title role, co-starred with James Mason, Janet Leigh, Debra Paget, Sterling Hayden, and Victor McLaglen. Ads prominently displayed the honorary “Oscar” that had recently been presented to the CinemaScope process. The Roxy had gone to a “films only” policy with CinemaScope, so the only support to “Prince Valiant” was a CinemaScope short subject featuring the Roger Wagner Chorale and a Terrytoon entitled “Arctic Rivals.”…Down the street, RCMH was also offering CinemaScope with MGM’s “Rose Marie,” plus a two-part Easter spectacle on the stage.