Converted from the Elgin Theater, a 1941 movie house, the Joyce theater building required a major renovation to create an elegant, intimate home for dance in New York City.
The Elgin was originally a revival movie house that was closed by the community when it became a pornographic movie theater.
The renovation took two years to complete and was guided by architect Hugh Hardy who preserved and expanded the patterned brick facade of the art-deco building. The entire interior was gutted to create a 472-seat theater with the technical specifications to serve the needs of small and medium-sized dance companies.
People think that 70mm means the screen image will be extra wide, rather that the film itself is 70mm wide and thus the picture on the (usual-sized widescreen) will be sharper and clearer.
An excerpt from Bosley Crowther’s New York Times' review of “Porgy and Bess,” which opened here on June 24, 1959 in a road show engagement:
“Considering the obvious essentials of colorfulness and vitality first, it is notable that Mr. Goldwyn has given this picture the strongest benefits of color photography and wide screen. The panel suffused with the action and the pungent atmosphere of the teeming quarters in old Charleston is the wide one of Todd-AO, a system that is almost as expansive and pictorially pervasive as that of Cinerama, which recently occupied this theatre’s screen. And the whole mise en scène of the production, designed by Oliver Smith, has a richness and subtlety of color that are a powerful dynamic in this ‘Porgy and Bess.’”
THE mills of the gods have ground slowly but they have ground exceeding well in delivering at last a fine film version of the famous folk opera “Porgy and Bess.” Almost a quarter of a century after its initial performance on the stage (and seventeen years after the revival that really established it), this most haunting of American musical dramas has been transmitted on the screen in a way that does justice to its values and almost compensates for the long wait.
For this we can thank Samuel Goldwyn, who was finally able to convince the solemn guardians of this sacred theatre treasure that he was the man most competent to bring it to the screen. And we can also thank his corps of artists, who have so beautifully and tastefully evolved George Gershwin’s musical translation of DuBose and Dorothy Heyward’s play that we can almost feel the motion picture medium is the one for which it was destined all the time.
The great values in this lyric drama of the Negro residents of Catfish Row, an old slum quarter in Charleston, S. C., are colorfulness, vitality and the eloquence in the music that expresses its characters' joys and sorrows. These are the essential values that are handsomely and throbbingly put forth in this film, which opened last night at the Warner Theatre for a road-show run.
Considering the obvious essentials of colorfulness and vitality first, it is notable that Mr. Goldwyn has given this picture the strongest benefits of color photography and wide screen. The panel suffused with the action and the pungent atmosphere of the teeming quarters in old Charleston is the wide one of Todd-AO, a system that is almost as expansive and pictorially pervasive as that of Cinerama, which recently occupied this theatre’s screen. And the whole mise en scène of the production, designed by Oliver Smith, has a richness and subtlety of color that are a powerful dynamic in this “Porgy and Bess.”
But more than the physical aspects of it, and the general fitness of the Irene Sharaff costumes, is the full flow of life and human feelings that is made to rush through this film. N. Richard Nash has adapted and Otto Preminger has directed a script that fairly bursts with continuous melodrama and the pregnant pressure of human emotions at absolute peaks.
From the moment crap-shooting Robbins is leaped on by bull-tempered Crown and beaten to death at the outset, there is violence or the threat of violence in Catfish Row and on that off shore picnic island to which its residents briefly go. Evil, like that dark, portentous buzzard, hovers in the air. If it isn’t Crown who is the spoiler, with his lust and rapaciousness toward Bess, it is Sport-in' Life with his “happy dust” and his persistence in stirring up strife.
These are the threads of vital conflict that have been pulled tight in the script and have been made to vibrate like humming harp strings all the way through the film. Always the pitiful groping of crippled Porgy for Bess and her fitful and frightened reaching for a futile relationship with him are constrained and imperiled by the presence of these evils in their midst. Mr. Preminger, with close and taut direction, keeps you keyed up for disaster all the time.
The duets and solos are likewise powerful, for all their familiarity and despite the fact that, in four of the key roles, the singing voices have been dubbed. Sidney Poitier’s performance of Porgy is as sensitive and strong as one could wish, but so is the voice of Robert McFerrin doing his musical chores. So, too, Adele Addison’s singing for Dorothy Dandridge, who plays Bess, enhances a characterization that could be improved upon.
But Sammy Davis Jr. does his own singing as the mischievous Sportin' Life and in every respect he is the sharpest and most insinuating figure in the show. His is the complete expression of the creeping corruption that imperils this little cluster of innocent people. There’s nothing funny about him. He’s sly and bad.
Pearl Bailey’s billowing Maria, the cook-shop woman, is, conversely, a pillar of strength and delivers some vocal eloquencies with Miss Bailey’s fine and throaty voice. Brock Peters as Crown is thunderingly powerful, dramatically and vocally, and Diahann Carroll beautifully plays the young mother whose haunting “Summer-time” Loulie Jean Norman sings. Ruth Attaway as Serena (with Inez Matthews' singing voice) and Clarence Muse as Peter, the aged “honey man,” are excellent, too.
To be sure, there are some flaws in this production. Miss Dandridge is too sinuous and sleek and got up to look too much like Kiki to give a fully satisfying portrayal of Bess. A couple of duets are somewhat static. And the climatic incident in the plotâ€"the desertion of Bessâ€"has been covered in a much too mildly allusive scene.
But, for the most part, this is a stunning, exciting and moving film, packed with human emotions and cheerful and mournful melodies. It bids fair to be as much a classic on the screen as it is on the stage.
The Cast
PORGY AND BESS, screen play by N. Richard Nash; based on the folk opera with libretto by DuBose Heyward, lyrics by Mr. Heyward and Ira Gershwin, which was derived from the play “Porgy” by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward; music by George Gershwin; directed by Otto Preminger; produced by Samuel Goldwyn; distributed by Columbia Pictures. At the Warner Theatre. Broadway and Forty-seventh street. Running time: 146 minutes, plus an intermission.
Porgy … . . Sidney poitier
Bess … . . Dorothy Dandridge
Sportin' Life … . . Sammy Davis Jr.
Maria … . . Pearl Bailey
Crown … . . Brock Peters
Jake … . . Leslie Scott
Clara … . . Diahann Carroll
Serena … . . Ruth Attaway
Peter … . . Clarence Muse
Annie … . . Everdinne Wilson
Robbins … . . Joel Fluellen
Mingo … . . Earl Jackson
Nelson … . . Moses La Marr
Lily … . . Margaret Hairston
Jim … . . Ivan Dixon
Scipio … . . Antoine Durousseau
Strawberry Woman … . . Helen Thigpen
I’m always amazed that once upon a time you could just go to the movies at these places — you know, walk up to the box office, pay a dollar or two (and often less!), and suddenly you’re whisked away for a few hours of magic.
Now, THIS is a beautiful place for repertory and offbeat film, including the occasional revival. Big screens, bright images, clear sound, high ceilings, great sightlines, theatrical ambiance…and only slightly uncomfortable seats (remember — one has to suffer for one’s art).
Bob, you sound so happy, but…although this War and Peace was filmed in 70mm, I don’t think Film Forum has 70mm capabilities, at least not according to this list (and FF’s promos don’t mention it, either, AND, the screens ain’t so big!) http://www.redballoon.net/current70mmus.html
Sorry for the double post! (And I should have said WHICH the New York Times has for sale…)
Here’s a shot from 1910 when it was known as the Comet, that the New York Times has for sale: View link
Is this the same Comet? View link
From the Joyce Theatre website:
Converted from the Elgin Theater, a 1941 movie house, the Joyce theater building required a major renovation to create an elegant, intimate home for dance in New York City.
The Elgin was originally a revival movie house that was closed by the community when it became a pornographic movie theater.
The renovation took two years to complete and was guided by architect Hugh Hardy who preserved and expanded the patterned brick facade of the art-deco building. The entire interior was gutted to create a 472-seat theater with the technical specifications to serve the needs of small and medium-sized dance companies.
People think that 70mm means the screen image will be extra wide, rather that the film itself is 70mm wide and thus the picture on the (usual-sized widescreen) will be sharper and clearer.
I’ve never seen a marquee and verticle sign like that. Wow!
I was here Wednesday night; saw two movies and visited the box office, concession stand and the restroom. Everything was just fine.
This really is the end of an ear. And that balcony was so very, very steep.
From Rosie O'Donnell’s blog at www.rosie.com
Kathy writes:
Q: PLEASE, PLEASE ANSWER … Do U remember where U where when U heard Elvis Presley died? I do and I was only 7. Luved that man!
A: I was at the rko movie theater in commack long island
“OKC Tuesday Night Cinema Discussion Group” sounds like something out of Blazing Saddles — think food fight scene the studio commissary.
The balcony was the place to go when the movie got a little slow…
How many seats?
Any photos of the auditorium?
>>Mundorff declined to disclose box office or concession counter revenues but said the Rialto was rarely more than half full.
Which means that if it was a 600 seat theater it would always be full, and if it was a 500 seat theatre it be often sold out.
An excerpt from Bosley Crowther’s New York Times' review of “Porgy and Bess,” which opened here on June 24, 1959 in a road show engagement:
“Considering the obvious essentials of colorfulness and vitality first, it is notable that Mr. Goldwyn has given this picture the strongest benefits of color photography and wide screen. The panel suffused with the action and the pungent atmosphere of the teeming quarters in old Charleston is the wide one of Todd-AO, a system that is almost as expansive and pictorially pervasive as that of Cinerama, which recently occupied this theatre’s screen. And the whole mise en scène of the production, designed by Oliver Smith, has a richness and subtlety of color that are a powerful dynamic in this ‘Porgy and Bess.’”
Porgy and Bess (1959)
By BOSLEY CROWTHER
Published: June 25, 1959
THE mills of the gods have ground slowly but they have ground exceeding well in delivering at last a fine film version of the famous folk opera “Porgy and Bess.” Almost a quarter of a century after its initial performance on the stage (and seventeen years after the revival that really established it), this most haunting of American musical dramas has been transmitted on the screen in a way that does justice to its values and almost compensates for the long wait.
For this we can thank Samuel Goldwyn, who was finally able to convince the solemn guardians of this sacred theatre treasure that he was the man most competent to bring it to the screen. And we can also thank his corps of artists, who have so beautifully and tastefully evolved George Gershwin’s musical translation of DuBose and Dorothy Heyward’s play that we can almost feel the motion picture medium is the one for which it was destined all the time.
The great values in this lyric drama of the Negro residents of Catfish Row, an old slum quarter in Charleston, S. C., are colorfulness, vitality and the eloquence in the music that expresses its characters' joys and sorrows. These are the essential values that are handsomely and throbbingly put forth in this film, which opened last night at the Warner Theatre for a road-show run.
Considering the obvious essentials of colorfulness and vitality first, it is notable that Mr. Goldwyn has given this picture the strongest benefits of color photography and wide screen. The panel suffused with the action and the pungent atmosphere of the teeming quarters in old Charleston is the wide one of Todd-AO, a system that is almost as expansive and pictorially pervasive as that of Cinerama, which recently occupied this theatre’s screen. And the whole mise en scène of the production, designed by Oliver Smith, has a richness and subtlety of color that are a powerful dynamic in this “Porgy and Bess.”
But more than the physical aspects of it, and the general fitness of the Irene Sharaff costumes, is the full flow of life and human feelings that is made to rush through this film. N. Richard Nash has adapted and Otto Preminger has directed a script that fairly bursts with continuous melodrama and the pregnant pressure of human emotions at absolute peaks.
From the moment crap-shooting Robbins is leaped on by bull-tempered Crown and beaten to death at the outset, there is violence or the threat of violence in Catfish Row and on that off shore picnic island to which its residents briefly go. Evil, like that dark, portentous buzzard, hovers in the air. If it isn’t Crown who is the spoiler, with his lust and rapaciousness toward Bess, it is Sport-in' Life with his “happy dust” and his persistence in stirring up strife.
These are the threads of vital conflict that have been pulled tight in the script and have been made to vibrate like humming harp strings all the way through the film. Always the pitiful groping of crippled Porgy for Bess and her fitful and frightened reaching for a futile relationship with him are constrained and imperiled by the presence of these evils in their midst. Mr. Preminger, with close and taut direction, keeps you keyed up for disaster all the time.
To this structure of pictorial color and dramatic vitality, there is added a musical expression that is possibly the best this fine folk opera has ever had. Under André Previn’s direction, the score is magnificently played and sung, with some of the most beautiful communication coming from the choral group. Surpassing, indeed, is the whole sequence of events in the hurricane, with the storm that rages on the giant screen accompanied appropriately by massive orchestral and vocal expressions of agony and defiance.
The duets and solos are likewise powerful, for all their familiarity and despite the fact that, in four of the key roles, the singing voices have been dubbed. Sidney Poitier’s performance of Porgy is as sensitive and strong as one could wish, but so is the voice of Robert McFerrin doing his musical chores. So, too, Adele Addison’s singing for Dorothy Dandridge, who plays Bess, enhances a characterization that could be improved upon.
But Sammy Davis Jr. does his own singing as the mischievous Sportin' Life and in every respect he is the sharpest and most insinuating figure in the show. His is the complete expression of the creeping corruption that imperils this little cluster of innocent people. There’s nothing funny about him. He’s sly and bad.
Pearl Bailey’s billowing Maria, the cook-shop woman, is, conversely, a pillar of strength and delivers some vocal eloquencies with Miss Bailey’s fine and throaty voice. Brock Peters as Crown is thunderingly powerful, dramatically and vocally, and Diahann Carroll beautifully plays the young mother whose haunting “Summer-time” Loulie Jean Norman sings. Ruth Attaway as Serena (with Inez Matthews' singing voice) and Clarence Muse as Peter, the aged “honey man,” are excellent, too.
To be sure, there are some flaws in this production. Miss Dandridge is too sinuous and sleek and got up to look too much like Kiki to give a fully satisfying portrayal of Bess. A couple of duets are somewhat static. And the climatic incident in the plotâ€"the desertion of Bessâ€"has been covered in a much too mildly allusive scene.
But, for the most part, this is a stunning, exciting and moving film, packed with human emotions and cheerful and mournful melodies. It bids fair to be as much a classic on the screen as it is on the stage.
The Cast
PORGY AND BESS, screen play by N. Richard Nash; based on the folk opera with libretto by DuBose Heyward, lyrics by Mr. Heyward and Ira Gershwin, which was derived from the play “Porgy” by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward; music by George Gershwin; directed by Otto Preminger; produced by Samuel Goldwyn; distributed by Columbia Pictures. At the Warner Theatre. Broadway and Forty-seventh street. Running time: 146 minutes, plus an intermission.
Porgy … . . Sidney poitier
Bess … . . Dorothy Dandridge
Sportin' Life … . . Sammy Davis Jr.
Maria … . . Pearl Bailey
Crown … . . Brock Peters
Jake … . . Leslie Scott
Clara … . . Diahann Carroll
Serena … . . Ruth Attaway
Peter … . . Clarence Muse
Annie … . . Everdinne Wilson
Robbins … . . Joel Fluellen
Mingo … . . Earl Jackson
Nelson … . . Moses La Marr
Lily … . . Margaret Hairston
Jim … . . Ivan Dixon
Scipio … . . Antoine Durousseau
Strawberry Woman … . . Helen Thigpen
I think there’s been some confusion with the Village East Cinemas, which ARE part of City Cinemas.
The Esquire /theaters/1146/
and the Colorado /theaters/2531/
Ken, post those ads! If they were Ok for the newspapers to print, our delicate sensibilities here should be able to take it.
I’m always amazed that once upon a time you could just go to the movies at these places — you know, walk up to the box office, pay a dollar or two (and often less!), and suddenly you’re whisked away for a few hours of magic.
Any photos of this place?
“Park Slope’s Finest First Run Theatre” post-closing but before the church. View link
From a distance View link
Another angle View link
Early shot (re-post from 10/17/05) View link
Now, THIS is a beautiful place for repertory and offbeat film, including the occasional revival. Big screens, bright images, clear sound, high ceilings, great sightlines, theatrical ambiance…and only slightly uncomfortable seats (remember — one has to suffer for one’s art).
Bob, you sound so happy, but…although this War and Peace was filmed in 70mm, I don’t think Film Forum has 70mm capabilities, at least not according to this list (and FF’s promos don’t mention it, either, AND, the screens ain’t so big!) http://www.redballoon.net/current70mmus.html
No curtains at Film Forum. What I call hi-tech/low tech.