Variety originally estimated opening week gross with “Christopher Strong” as $75,000, but in following issue reported $58,000, “the lowest yet” since film/stage policy started.
“Christopher Strong” ran just one week, and was replaced by Fox’s “Sailor’s Luck,” a romantic comedy with James Dunn and Sally Eilers, and new stage show on March 16th. “King Kong” continued for a third and final week at the New Roxy, still with a theme-related stage show.
For the USA, this was a terrible economic period, with many banks closing, and some to never re-open.
Jean Harlow was hardly a “Great Star” at the time, but rapidly developing into one thanks to fan magazine coverage and a new exclusive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The opening week gross of “King Kong” at the two new Radio City showplaces totaled around $121,000 ($88,000 at the Music Hall and $33,000 at the New Roxy), which was strong business for those Depression times but not enough to hold over at both theatres.
The modernized premises of the El Capitan had become “America’s Most Distinctive Theatre,” with “Love Seats,” “Milk Bar,” “Tropic Lounge,” and “World’s Most Beautiful Usherettes.”
Curiously, the list of “Nearby Theaters” for Radio City Music Hall doesn’t include the Roxy, which was just one block away and its largest and most serious competition.
Curiously, the list of the Roxy’s “Nearby Theaters” doesn’t include Radio City Music Hall, which was just one block away and its largest and most serious competition.
The gala event was for one performance only, to promote the opening of the B&W musical comedy two days later in midtown Manhattan at the Capitol Theatre (with stage show).
This appears to be the centerfold for a weekly program distributed at theatres. Only the Huntington Theatre is represented here. Perhaps the Shore was featured on the front cover, and the Station on the back? Or was this a program for the Huntington Theatre exclusively? The Huntington is still operating as a concert venue as the Paramount
The photo of a street stunt for a double bill of “Walking Dead” and “Revolt of the Demons” was one of the last published of the Lexington’s entrance before modernization the following year.
Comparison here
Warner Brothers had started leasing “legit” playhouses to showcase its increasing numbers of Vitaphone features. Lower left corner of the ad lists “The Singing Fool” at the Sam H. Harris Theatre on West 42nd Street. The Jolson musical had been bumped from the Winter Garden by “Noah’s Ark.”
The British import was a sequel of sorts to “Victoria The Great,” which had played at Radio City Music Hall in 1937. Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook returned as Victoria and Albert, but this time in glorious Technicolor throughout. The previous feature was primarily in B&W, with
final scenes in color.
After a disappointing midtown debut, Republic’s rare Technicolor release didn’t reach the neighborhoods until late September, when the RKO circuit booked it as supporting feature to “I Was a Male War Bride.” Ad displayed here
Front corners of the Broadway Theatre marquee (lower right) had vertical signage for Cine Roma, the current tenant. Photo courtesy of NYC’s Municipal Archives.
Due to its Downtown Brooklyn location, the Metropolitan was exclusive first-run for the borough until the advent of “Showcase” distribution in the 1960s. But a product split with the Brooklyn Paramount, Fox, and RKO Albee deprived the “Met” of some films that ran on the Loew’s neighborhood circuit, causing frequent hold-overs, even when business didn’t warrant them.
Paramount made no attempt to coordinate with the Christian holy day of prayer, but delivered one of the “Golden Turkeys” of that Thanksgiving holiday season.
Highlights of two nights of concerts were later released by Century Records as a direct-to-disc LP “George Wright Plays The Chicago Theatre Organ.”
Variety originally estimated opening week gross with “Christopher Strong” as $75,000, but in following issue reported $58,000, “the lowest yet” since film/stage policy started.
“Christopher Strong” ran just one week, and was replaced by Fox’s “Sailor’s Luck,” a romantic comedy with James Dunn and Sally Eilers, and new stage show on March 16th. “King Kong” continued for a third and final week at the New Roxy, still with a theme-related stage show. For the USA, this was a terrible economic period, with many banks closing, and some to never re-open.
Jean Harlow was hardly a “Great Star” at the time, but rapidly developing into one thanks to fan magazine coverage and a new exclusive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The opening week gross of “King Kong” at the two new Radio City showplaces totaled around $121,000 ($88,000 at the Music Hall and $33,000 at the New Roxy), which was strong business for those Depression times but not enough to hold over at both theatres.
The modernized premises of the El Capitan had become “America’s Most Distinctive Theatre,” with “Love Seats,” “Milk Bar,” “Tropic Lounge,” and “World’s Most Beautiful Usherettes.”
Curiously, the list of “Nearby Theaters” for Radio City Music Hall doesn’t include the Roxy, which was just one block away and its largest and most serious competition.
Curiously, the list of the Roxy’s “Nearby Theaters” doesn’t include Radio City Music Hall, which was just one block away and its largest and most serious competition.
A double feature PLUS a 42-minute tour of the one-and-only Disneyland in CinemaScope and Technicolor.
Full-page newspaper ad published on September 2nd, 1979, the day before the Labor Day holiday of that year.
Central dome obscured by fluorescent lighting fixtures.
A sampling of front covers for the Utopia Theatre’s programs can be viewed here
Following the stage festivities, Texas Guinan hosted an advance screening of her first feature movie, the aptly titled “Queen of the Night Clubs.”
The B&W musical comedy had its gala world premiere two days earlier in downtown Brooklyn at Loew’s Metropolitan. Ad displayed here
The gala event was for one performance only, to promote the opening of the B&W musical comedy two days later in midtown Manhattan at the Capitol Theatre (with stage show).
MGM’s anti-war drama was set seven years into the future, by which time some of its prophecies had become tragic realities.
This appears to be the centerfold for a weekly program distributed at theatres. Only the Huntington Theatre is represented here. Perhaps the Shore was featured on the front cover, and the Station on the back? Or was this a program for the Huntington Theatre exclusively? The Huntington is still operating as a concert venue as the Paramount
The photo of a street stunt for a double bill of “Walking Dead” and “Revolt of the Demons” was one of the last published of the Lexington’s entrance before modernization the following year. Comparison here
Warner Brothers had started leasing “legit” playhouses to showcase its increasing numbers of Vitaphone features. Lower left corner of the ad lists “The Singing Fool” at the Sam H. Harris Theatre on West 42nd Street. The Jolson musical had been bumped from the Winter Garden by “Noah’s Ark.”
The British import was a sequel of sorts to “Victoria The Great,” which had played at Radio City Music Hall in 1937. Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook returned as Victoria and Albert, but this time in glorious Technicolor throughout. The previous feature was primarily in B&W, with final scenes in color.
After a disappointing midtown debut, Republic’s rare Technicolor release didn’t reach the neighborhoods until late September, when the RKO circuit booked it as supporting feature to “I Was a Male War Bride.” Ad displayed here
Front corners of the Broadway Theatre marquee (lower right) had vertical signage for Cine Roma, the current tenant. Photo courtesy of NYC’s Municipal Archives.
Due to its Downtown Brooklyn location, the Metropolitan was exclusive first-run for the borough until the advent of “Showcase” distribution in the 1960s. But a product split with the Brooklyn Paramount, Fox, and RKO Albee deprived the “Met” of some films that ran on the Loew’s neighborhood circuit, causing frequent hold-overs, even when business didn’t warrant them.
Paramount made no attempt to coordinate with the Christian holy day of prayer, but delivered one of the “Golden Turkeys” of that Thanksgiving holiday season.
If the Palace was the largest cinema in Connecticut, it goes without saying that it was also the largest in Bridgeport.