Comments from Bill Huelbig

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Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Loew's Jersey Theatre on Jan 25, 2006 at 1:23 am

Vincent: The Loew’s did play the 1933 King Kong a few years ago. I think it was in 2002. I sat in the front row and stared up at it in awe.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Loew's Jersey Theatre on Jan 24, 2006 at 6:24 am

Sorry … “brought” not “bought”.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Loew's Jersey Theatre on Jan 24, 2006 at 6:23 am

When Bye Bye Birdie played the Film Forum a few years ago, audiences went crazy for it. It was so successful they bought it back at the end of the year for a special encore engagement.

I too would love seeing it at the Loew’s. I enjoyed seeing Jailhouse Rock there last year.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Paris Theatre on Jan 23, 2006 at 5:12 am

Thank you, Al, for all your hard work – I love seeing lists like this.

Amazing that “A Man and a Woman” played the Paris for a year and three months. My own best memory of the Paris is seeing “Another Woman” there in 1988, and hearing the audience laugh at it. Not with it – at it. Woody Allen had fallen out of favor with the so-called sophisticated New York audiences that used to worship him as a genius only a few years before. I thought that was one of his better movies, too.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Jan 20, 2006 at 4:27 pm

REndres: That’s a great story (though painful for you) about “Gandhi”. I went to the Ziegfeld to see “Gandhi” on the Friday night of that blizzard weekend in 1983. I and many of my co-workers had picked that night to go before we knew a blizzard was coming, and we decided not to call it off and go anyway. To our amazement, the place was packed to the gills. It’s still one of the most memorable shows I ever attended at the Ziegfeld.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Jan 20, 2006 at 1:41 am

And if any Clearview executives are reading this page: Thank You! I’m sure we at Cinema Treasures will be attending in force.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Jan 20, 2006 at 1:16 am

I’d say this falls under the heading of A Dream Come True. My only big concern is how many times I will get to attend a showing of “West Side Story”.

Thanks, Movieguy, for being the first to announce what we Ziegfeld lovers have long been waiting for.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about 8th Street Playhouse on Jan 19, 2006 at 4:48 pm

In 1979 the 8th St. Playhouse was the New York home of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” for a long exclusive run. My parents actually made the trip in from New Jersey to see it, and they hadn’t done that since the old days of a movie & stage show for 99 cents at Radio City.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Jan 19, 2006 at 8:58 am

I’d like to second Vincent’s request to Movieguy718 about the rumored revivals at the Ziegfeld. Wouldn’t that be great? They showed them a lot in the 1970’s in between big premiere engagements. I recall one especially good double feature: “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Yellow Submarine”. Another one: “West Side Story” and “Around the World in 80 Days” – that was the first show I saw at the theater (1972).

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Radio City Music Hall on Jan 19, 2006 at 8:45 am

Ed: I too used to watch the scrambled WHT picture with the DJ guy. I remember once watching the entire scrambled version of “The Spy Who Loved Me”. Thanks for the reminder!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Loew's Capitol Theatre on Jan 11, 2006 at 1:24 am

Thanks, Ed. I checked out my favorite Cinema Treasures picture, of the Capitol playing “2001” in 1968, and the vents in the sidewalk near the curb are the only things remaining from those days.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre on Jan 11, 2006 at 1:17 am

Thanks for your letter, Andres. Even if nothing comes of it, at least you made the effort – and it’s such a nice thing to dream about and hope for.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Radio City Music Hall on Jan 6, 2006 at 11:34 am

Ed: “2001” played in Cinerama on Long Island in 1968. I think it was the Twin South Theater in Hicksville (?). Was that near by to where you lived at the time?

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Radio City Music Hall on Jan 6, 2006 at 10:22 am

I did see it at the Rivoli, in ‘76 I think. I also saw it at the Music Hall in '75. Nothing compares to the long-lost Capitol, though. That was the biggest screen I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Of course, being 13 years old when I saw it might have something to do with that opinion, not to mention the colossal scale of the movie itself. I still remember how the curtains kept on opening and opening, and how the screen touched the ceiling and the floor. My dad took me to see it – he wound up not liking the movie but he sure was impressed by the size of the screen.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Radio City Music Hall on Jan 6, 2006 at 8:53 am

Vincent: I was 13 years old at the time. I don’t recall the exact reaction to the FU joke but I do remember that many of the lines of dialogue couldn’t be heard at all because the audience was still laughing so hard from the previous jokes. FU probably got a huge laugh that drowned out the next few lines in the script.

My other big memory of seeing “The Odd Couple” at Radio City involved my family walking back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal after the movie. My mom and sister wanted to go shopping on 7th Ave., but I did my best to get us to take a detour to Broadway and 50th St. so I could get one more look at the Capitol’s marquee featuring “2001” (which I’d seen a few weeks earlier. It’s still my all-time favorite movie). Since it wasn’t really on our way, I wasn’t successful. But now I have a picture of that marquee on my computer desktop, and I can see it every day.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Radio City Music Hall on Dec 27, 2005 at 8:40 am

I agree with BoxOfficeBill about the third mezzanine being a better choice than the first or second. I sat in the first for the 50th anniversary showing of “Gone With the Wind”, and it seemed very closed-off and restricted. You got no sense of the huge scale of the Hall, which you very definitely get from the third mezzanine.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Dec 19, 2005 at 6:14 am

Rhett and Vincent: well, at least we can look forward to the next best thing – “Ryan’s Daughter” on DVD February 7th from Warner Home Video (who will do it justice). Turn up the volume!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Dec 16, 2005 at 5:16 pm

Re: Vincent’s comment about “Ryan’s Daughter” at the Ziegfeld – for 35 years I’ve regretted NOT being able to see that movie there. In December 1970 I was standing outside the Ziegfeld with my cousin, all ready to go in, when he talked me out of it, saying it looked boring, etc. We wound up seeing “Love Story” at Loew’s State 1 instead. What a comedown compared to the great film experience “Ryan’s Daughter” turned out to be.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Dec 16, 2005 at 5:01 pm

Just got back from a hilarious showing of “The Producers” at the Ziegfeld. Worth every penny of the inflated $12.50 ticket price. Say what you want about the theater’s decor, its size as compared to the Roxy or Rivoli, etc. – I love the Ziegfeld and I’d hate to think what New York City would be like without it.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Movieland on Nov 22, 2005 at 5:42 am

To add to Don’s story: Sinatra wanted Mia Farrow to walk off “Rosemary’s Baby”, even though it was almost half finished, in order to star with him in “The Detective”. When she refused, that was the end of their marriage. They did remain friends, however, right up to the end of Sinatra’s life.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Loew's State Theatre on Nov 15, 2005 at 8:21 pm

Thanks for that thrilling photo, Warren. You think that’s “On the Beach” playing across the street from “Ben-Hur”?

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Victoria Theatre on Nov 15, 2005 at 8:11 pm

Interesting Joan of Arc ad, Robert – that may have been one of the first times a director of photography was given credit in a newspaper ad.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about U.S. Theatre on Nov 5, 2005 at 3:56 am

Thanks so much for the photo of the U.S., TC. It was my dad’s favorite place and I’d heard so much about it over the years, but never saw what it looked like until today.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Victoria Theatre on Nov 4, 2005 at 1:36 am

Here is the link to the Embassy’s page on Cinema Treasures:

/theaters/7212/

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig commented about Victoria Theatre on Nov 4, 2005 at 1:32 am

The New Embassy 46th was across the street and slightly uptown from the Victoria, between the Palace and the Loew’s State. It’s now the Times Square Visitors Center. where you can still get an idea of what the theater looked like back then.