Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
116 people
favorited this theater
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For Ed Solero and REndres —
Yes, Ed, that’s the photo. And, Robert, I’m sorry for the typo in your name in my first post.
I always was awed by the RCMH — and vivdly remember my first visit there to see “Father of the Bride” as a mere child…on a rainy day. The movie experience certainly was like none I had at the RKO Castle Hill or Loew’s American in the Bronx, and the stage show was awesome (I remember spending as much time looking at the spotlight beams coming from all over the place as watching the Rockettes…priorities to changed as I grew older.)
Finally getting in to see the booth and other workings was a great experience. Having learned how to run 35mm from a projectionist at a small theater on Long Island (Little Neck), seeing how it’s done in RCMH with 6,000 people in the house…with 3 operators…(one calling out the cues — “motor,” etc.) and those massive arc lamps…was memorable. For the documentary, we recorded the sound of a projector running as an effect, and interviewed the operators about changing tastes in movies….having done a bunch of interviews with audience members in the lobby earlier. Actually, I was surprised how quiet the proj was — we had to open the picture head door to get a good background sound effect.
Patricia was very nice to deal with — we had a great meal afterwards in the Rainbow Room, as I recall, courtesy of RCMH.
PeterKatz
That’s me. One of the guys here who had also worked on the Music Hall crew posted a bunch of pictures I had put together for an earlier documentary on the Hall. They ranged from one of me taken in a booth when I was 17, to one taken for an article that appeared in Home Theatre Magazine in 1997, with some taken during the run of “Napoleon” at the Hall. He was the one that christened this one “Hippie Bob”, and the one when I was 17 “Bob Jr.” Pretty strange to see your life in a series of photos from 1956 to 1997 in a string of booth pictures!
Hey Peter… Is this the image that you’re referring to? This is from my copy of the souvenir booklet that I purchased around Easter 1978 when I went to see “Crossed Swords” (billed at the time as the Hall’s “final attraction” – though that was not the case). I posted this image before, somewhere above, and recall Bob stating that the photo had been taken in 1974 – not too long after he took the position at the Hall.
Anyway, I believe Bob did confirm that he is the tall gentleman in the glasses and moustache (and snazzy mid-70’s necktie!) – if not, I’d have presumed as much if based on nothing else than the apparent ages of the other gentlemen in the photo.
That’s me. Pat Roberts interrupted a tech screening and called me upstairs to the booth to have that picture taken. I was annoyed at the time, but later glad that she did. That was the last Music Hall Pictorial, which in prior editions featured my predecssors in the Projection Department. I still have a couple of copies in my collection of Music Hall memorabilia (as well as a copy from 1956, the first year I visited the Hall.)
For REnders —
Here’s an easy question —–
I have an old RCMH journal which has a photo taken in the “cinema” booth with a caption which says that Robert Enders supervises a staff of projectionists. Are you the fellow on the left…tall with a moustache? The photo shows four men in the vicinity of the ends of the arc lamps of three of the projectors.
(As a teenager, some friends and I had a morbid interest in film projection but we were never able to wangle our way in to see the RCMH booth. I finally managed to do so some years later when working for ABC News I did a documentary on te movies and Patricia Robert arranged a visit to the theater.)
PeterKatz
REndres: “Perhaps someone who is doing a history of theatres will be interested enough to compile some of my recollections into a cohesive whole.”
Someone has been practically begging to do this for a permanent feature online, but you never answer.
Forgive my typo… i before e in piece!
Thank Bob. For those interested, here’s a link to the article referred to above. The excellent peice includes several photos – including one looking out over the stage and into the auditorium from that rear-screen projection booth that was discussed above and that has since been removed.
Hey, hey, hey — actually my Century’s didn’t leak much, but they were built when Larry Davee ran the company out in Long Island City,so as with Simplex they may have come from an era when things were better built.
I did most of the maintenance on the equipment at the Hall when I was there, although there wasn’t a lot to do on the machines. Bill Nafash, my predecssor had just rebuilt the #1 original X-L before he died (in fact the crew was putting it in when they found out about his death). The 35/70mm machines were in terrible shape when I went there. The man who was supposed to do the conversion and build them for the Hall had lost his company in a divorce settlement, and the rumor was that his accountant had put them together. When I announced to the crew that we were going to be running 70mm, one of them put his hands around my neck as if to strangle me and said, “We don’t want to run 70mm!” We took the heads off during the hiatus period before the 70mm run was to start and took them out to National Theatre Supply in Paramus where they were rebuilt by Leo Lucas who was in charge of the Simplex plant. He did find spacer washers on the wrong side of the projector frame among other things, which might have explained why they weren’t working well.
At any rate, I did take care of oil-change and general routine care. The Hall had a contract with RCA (naturally) for years with a man assigned just to the Hall to do maintenance on all of the booth and stage sound equipment. By the time I went there thay had hired him full time, but eventually let him go because he kept forgetting to change the oil in the soundheads and we lost several gears that way. After he left Warren Jenkins and I took care of things.
With the format change Warren left, but I had the help of Boston Light & Sound for shows like “Napoleon” with the three projector interlock system, and had a crew which included both a vice-president and tech director of the New York Dolby office. I tried to have crew members who had knowledge in specific areas I didn’t. One of the members had gone to work for Rangertone while still in high school, and by the time he graduated he was in charge of their mag head department. Obvioulsy he had a great background in machining, and also had served in Nam in the air force as an electronic technician as well.
I concentrated on working with the producers doing film effects for the stage shows, which included sheparding them through various effects houses to have them shot, and then coming up with lensing and aperture combinations to make them fit the scenery. (If you access Thomas Haurslev’s 70mm web-site, there’s an article on the Hall written by me which includes a picture of some of the odd aperture plates my predecessors and I had cut for the stage shows.)
I also had to figure out the rewiring of the changeovers for “Napoleon” (getting three to open at once when the #3 pedal was stepped on), and working with B.L.&S. to put variable speed motors with speed counters in for our silent film festival. And of course figuring out throws for equipment which ranged from 16mm to video projection for the various touring shows we did after 1979.
Made for an “interesting” place to work!
Okay, just my two cents here. I myself like the Simplex projectors for many different reasons. First, I just never seem to have to many service calls on them. They just don’t breakdown. I too like the oil bath. The best part about that is you never have to change the oil because it all leaks out anyway…lol…But seriously, I have had to repair way to many Century heads compared to Simplex heads. As far as booth responsibilities today at RCMH and other theaters are concerned, it depends on many things. As a service tech, I do all the oil changes, repairs that can’t be done by the regular operators, and general preventive maintenance. In a lot of the regular theaters, I do more than that because the operators don’t really care that much about it or they feel that they don’t need to do it because their hours are being cut. I am talking mainly about theaters outside of Manhattan.
Bob when you wrote about the projector maintenance I wondered how much did you do at RCMH. What was your maintenance schedule like, or did RCMH have a service contract with an outside source
We all had some part in maintaining our booths, some more than others. Other than cleaning and lubricating the projectors, many of us did simple things like pad roller adjustments and replacing gate tension bands etc. But some of us did much more, including complete projector overhaul or sprocket and gear train replacements. I also liked having spare complete heat syncs for the rectifiers, that way if a diode went bad, rather than take the time to test and determine which diode was bad I could simply change the entire module and troubleshoot the bad diode later on the bench. I also learned that when a diode shorted chances are all of them may have been effected and it was wise to replace them all. Something I would not want to do while an audience waited.
I am sure many of us would be interested if you would please share with us the RCMH maintained procedures.
Warren, thsnks so much for that link, I enjoyed it very much.
Bob,I guess I came on a bit hard about Ben, Actually I knew a lot of guys like that, good projectionist, but not at all interested in what made a projector tick. Some of them were just intimidated by it all and left the repairs to the technical people. You have to respect a guy who started as a reel boy before talkies.
I loved what you said to him. I’ll have to add that to
“BC and AD” along with “You ain’t been booed ‘til you’ve been booed by 6,000 people!”
Vito: actually, Ben wasn’t a bad operator. He had started as a reel boy in the silent days, and just wasn’t much into the technical side of projection. He was the last of the original crew when I came there to leave, and the only one to survive the transition. I must admit that when he said that “my” side of the projector had nothing to do with “his” side of the projector, I replied, “You do realize that if "my” side of the projector stops working, “your” side will shortly do the same?"
Ok Bob, I certainly see your point about the drive shafts, it was an easy exchange. In fact, sometimes when a gear blew, it was easier to just change the entire shaft. BUT, you mentioned the leaky intermittent, which I forgot about, which was another case for my dislike for the Century’s. I can not tell you how may times I went into a booth on a relief shift and found the intermittent oil dangerously low. The comment made by a projectionist â€Yes, but this side of the projector has nothing to do with my side of the projector.“ really reminded me of some of the less than professional projectionists (operators) we all hade to work with. Good grief!!
The Century intermittent seals were easily blown if you over oiled, and they leaked like a sieve. I certainly see your point you could avoid the grease mess on the Century’s if you applied light coatings grease and just kept an eye on it. But the Simplex bath was just easier, I always thought. Gee, is this our first fight :)
You also mentioned another old workhorse made by Brenkert. I rather liked those old machines; they were tough, and reliable. In fact my first booth experience was with brenkert’s at the old Paramount theatre on Staten Island. The Staten Island St. George had them as well before they switched to Century’s.
I often had a tough time cutting plates for the Simplex XLs, hard time getting rid of the fuzz; I always liked a clean aperture edge. I suppose that was my only complaint about the Simplex projector.
In the 50s, a lot of the old palaces like the (Paramount) had no masking, so a clean aperture line was very important. But you are so right about hiding flaws with masking; you could hide the rough edges so well.
I love chatting with you Bob, as I said before it would have been an absolute pleasure and a heck of a lot of fun had we had the opportunity to work together. Especially during the RCMH glory days.
Well, they do meet your own criteria for being called a “Premiere” (an initial “event” followed by a run in the same house). I will admit most of them were pretty forgettable, which is why it took me a while to remember them. On the other hand, I would classify “Lion King” as a hit that adults seem to love too. Our run at the Hall coupled with the El Capitan in L.A. placed the film in the top ten the week of the premiere with it playing on just two screens in the country.
I was told we could have had “The Godfather”, which certainly had Music Hall class and popularity, but it would have been the Easter attraction and they couldn’t see coming right out of the violence at the end of the feature into the “Glory of Easter”. The whole industry was changing, and it was harder to find adult films that wouldn’t exclude families and still fill the place. After all, a couple of the biggest hits for the Hall, “Airport” and “The Odd Couple” were G-rated, or at least family friendly. To fill 6,000 seats at that time you kind of had to go for a lowest common denominator status as our window of exclusivity kept shrinking and audiences were fleeing the city to the suburbs. Another aspect of “the changing times” noted above.
Ha Vito: For once we’re in disagreement. I liked the Century’s on an RCA soundhead. I would apply grease to the gears, and then wipe any excess thrown off of the inside of the case and found they were pretty clean. They were also simple with just basically a horizontal and a vertical shaft. At one point we had a couple of the Indian made copies of the Century at the Hall in the #1 and #5 positions. While they weren’t as good as the machines made here, and the intermittents leaked, I still enjoyed having them for trial. At one point I took one of my older, skeptical projectionists around to the the gear side and opened the door while the machine was running to show him how simple it was. His comment, “Yes. But this side of the projector has nothing to do with my side of the projector.” !!!
The Hall had a long-running relationship with Simplex, although Ben Olevsky told me that the main booth opened with Brenkerts because the largest tenant of the Center was RCA. Later both Bill Nafash and Warren Jenkins worked directly with National Theatre Supply which owned Simplex, and the relationship with the Hall continued. Obviously, the sound systems both for movie and P.A. use used RCA components and service exclusively.
Since we used condenser arc lamps with a narrow light gathering range, the aperture shadow was fairly sharp with most of the lenses. When we went to xenon the fuzz line widened because of the wider angle of collected light, but masking hides a plethora of sins!
REndres wrote:
“At one point I was pictured in a National Theatre Supply handout pointing out that every model Simplex machine made was in place in the Hallâ€.
Bob, RCMH made a good choice, Simplex is a great projector.
I worked with all the models.
The original simplex was a true work horse and then when the E-7s came along I especially liked the oil pump. But the XLs were the best in my opinion. I thought the oil bath for the gears was a great innovation.
I guess Century for run a distant second, I hated all that grease that had to be applied to the gears, it made such a mess, Of course if you waited to long to change the grease, you had a thick gooey mess on your hands and the purpose of the grease was greatly compromised. No, for me the Simple XL with oil bath was the best.
Bob did you have to add a second back aperture plate in order to get a sharp crisp edge to the image?
Even the 35/70 Simplex models were far better than the Century. Again with Century you had all that greasing to contend with and a big problem came with the design of the film path. If you made the lower loop just one or two sprockets to large, the print would slap up against the intermittent causing a rain scratch in the center of the image. The lower loop had to be a perfect size.
Of course, #1 when it comes to 70mm, you could not beat Norelco. Gosh I loved working with those machines. They also had an oil bath and were so easy to maintain and keep clean.
So REndres, how might one contact you to document your experiences??
To all: repeating a question from ages ago, Has CHRISTMAS AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, the 2 disc RCA album of Holiday music on The Mighty Wurlitzer, turned up on DVD yet? This is an entirely instrumental album of the music played between shows during the Holiday season, not to be confused with other albums featuring the Christmas show itself. I have a vinyl copy and have been hoping to get it transferred to digital at some point.
Exit: Thanks for reminding me about “Pete’s Dragon”. Warren above questioned whether Radio City did any premieres, defining them as immediately preceeding a run of the film, rather than a one event rental. I listed a few that I remembered that met his standard, but forgot about “Pete’s Dragon” until last night and meant to post it but forgot until your post. It certainly was a premiere, complete with a Disneyland type parade around Rockefeller Center with a dragon float ridden by Helen Reddy and Mickey Rooney, and perhaps the children starring in the film. And it did lead into the Christmas run as I recall. It was one of our bigger premieres in the days of the “classic” Music Hall format.
Many thanks to William, for listing the broadcast dates of Diamond at the Rock. Had I not read it here, I would have missed it. And yes it is carried on DirecTV. I have just added it to my DVR record list.
Dear Mr. Endres, There IS a well deserved spotlight searching for you. There is indeed someone who has been yearning to document your acheivements and experiences in a long detailed form, Attempts have been made to reach you by phone and through posting here but to no avail.
I have known your name since reading it in the RCMH souvenir book from the 70s. My first visits to NY in 68 and 72 included ODD COUPLE, WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, and BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, After I moved to NYC in 76 I saw SLIPPER AND THE ROSE, PETE’S DRAGON (at the World Premiere, which had media coverage, star entrances, etc. The premiere was open to the public, but the first Mezz was reserved for the cast and other VIPs). Pretty much everything you have written here has gratifyingly validated all the passion I have for Cinema Showmanship.
You have tremendous value to the moviegoing experience, past, present, and future, I envy anyone who gets to experience your professional showmanship today. Your experiences and recollections MUST be compiled and documented. So please let me know how you can be contacted.
Vito: You’re welcome to use my BC to AD comment — it goes along with the other comment I’ve been credited with, “You ain’t been booed ‘til you’ve been booed by 6,000 people!”
For all the lamenting about the digital onslaught, I got to thinking last night of some of the advantages. We now have access to our favorite films at any time we want them. I have over 500 Laserdiscs (the equivalent of vinyl) in my collection as well as 500 or so DVD’s. Louis B. Mayer wouldn’t have had been able to have the access to films for screening in his private screening room that we do (and his secretary would have had to book a projectionist to show them.)
One irony is that Stewart makes a curved screen with movable masking for home use that matches almost exactly the specifications for CinemaScope, and there are anamorphic lenses for video projectors that enable “films” to be seen as they were meant to be seen with a common height and Scope being wider that 1:37 or 1:85. That means we can see pictures at home presented more correctly than they can be seen in most theatres. Sad perhaps, but I do appreciate the capability.
On the other hand, I did have one of the nicest cinema experiences in quite a while this summer. The Normal Theatre is an art-deco theatre like the Music Hall built in the town of Normal, IL in 1937 and now owned by the city. It was the first theatre in the area designed specifically as a “movie” theatre. They do a cinema retrospective program called Secret Cinema and show films of interest to people of our generation. Last summer they screened “Wake Up and Live” with Walter Winchell and Ben Bernie. It was made in 1937 the same year the theatre opened, and the nightclub and radio studio sets fit perfectly with the Normal’s art-deco coved ceiling and walls. That kind of experience with an appreciative audience can’t be duplicated at home. Its nice to know there are still a few theatres around that can create the experience we grew up with.
William, That is correct, and as of a year ago he still edits that way as well. As Spielberg put it “It’s Tradition”. Gotta love that!
brucec, you hit the nail on the head, when I retired in ‘05 I was told the age of film is over. Digital continues to improve, and the new generation of movie makers are no longer intersted in film at all. Digital may look and sound magnificent, but I still have my vinyl and 78 RPM records, along with my 16mm film, to comfort me in my old age.
Like REndres I am glad I got out when I did.
Oh by the way Rob, I loved that BC to AD I hope you won’t mind if I use it.
Well it’s more Lucas on the Digital bandwagon than Spielberg. Spielberg still shoots film.
Economics have caused the studios to go Digital as film will no longer be used. With the saturation release of movies in thousands of theatres at once the cost to strike so many prints have become to expensive. The directors such as Spielberg and Lucas are now on the digital bandwagon as the technology has improved. I remember back in the late 1970’s when they were trying to figure out not to use film prints but a signal beam to theatres across the nation,but this never happened. I am amazed how long film has lasted but the studios and exhibitors are now going to share the cost of going digital. It always come down to economics. I loved the era of carbon arc film projection but time marches on and the era of film will be a fond memory.The movie industry is not the same as when I was growing up nor are the theatres they are shown in. Film will always be part of classic Hollywood which was far superior than the Hollywood of today. The studios could use the Music Hall with film premieres but there is very little showmanship left in todays Hollywood. Thank god for Turner Classics they help keep classic Hollywood alive. Who woould of thought that the movie industry’s arch enemy would be the one to keep classic H0llywood alive.brucec