Here are ads copied from microfilm in 1972, my first year of college. That explains the poor quality – microfilm readers have improved quite a lot since then – but I’m glad I still had them. The first is in two parts, from 1953:
I saw it there with 4 other people, and it was so crowded we had to split up and sit separately (first time I ever had to do that). Other films I saw here: “Swept Away”, “Seven Beauties”, “Days of Heaven”, “The Man Who Fell to Earth”.
Vincent is right – it was a Bergen Record ad. I saw “Hawaii” at the Montauk in Passaic (featured in the ad). I always thought it was a big roadshow hit because it played for almost a year (41 weeks) at the DeMille in Manhattan, and Julie Andrews was tops at the box office – at least until “Star” came along.
Isn’t it strange how you can remember an image you passed on a drive-in screen for almost 40 years? The one that I remember best is Charlton Heston getting sprayed with a firehose in “Planet of the Apes” at the Route 3 Drive-In in Rutherford.
“Free Coffee Served in Our TV Lounge”. I guess that was for between shows. If the movie was as good as “Judgment at Nuremberg”, who’d want to sit in the TV lounge instead? :)
Look directly above the Lafayette ad. You can see evidence of the end of one great acting career (Joan Crawford in “Trog”) and the beginning of another (Bob De Niro in “Born to Win”).
Jerry, that is indeed a nice shot. That Saul Bass graphic on the Victoria marquee is so powerful, like all his graphics and logos. Apparently that’s all that was indeed for people to know that the movie was “The Man With the Golden Arm”.
They’re acting like “Goldfarb” was a movie the world was waiting for. Or maybe Fox knew it was a stinker, and figured an ad like this might drum up some curiosity in it?
This is an ad for “Goldfinger” featuring the DeMille’s 24-hour continuous playing times during Christmas week 1964. I’d love to see how many people attended that 4 AM show.
This theater has a great mural-sized poster of Burt Lancaster’s “The Kentuckian” (a favorite guilty pleasure of mine with a beautiful Herrmann score) hanging over the staircase to the 2nd floor.
I’m waiting patiently (or trying to) for the announcement of the dates for the rumored Fall 2005 engagement of “How the West Was Won”. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a Cinerama festival (3-strip as well as 70mm) and showed “2001” at the same time?
I looked through my old Variety clippings and found mostly reviews and ads, but I did find one page of NYC grosses, including the Music Hall. Unfortunately it was for one of the Music Hall’s worst bombs ever. The date is March 9, 1977. “Star Wars” was a little more than 2 months away.
Variety could display showmanship even in these box-office reports. There are all kinds of witty asides and funny in-jokes here (e.g. “Barbra and subordinates eye $375,000”, a theater that switched to showing porn going “the way of all flesh”, etc.)
I looked through my old Variety clippings and found mostly reviews and ads, but I did find one page of NYC grosses including the Music Hall. Unfortunately it was for one of the Music Hall’s worst bombs ever. The date is March 9, 1977. “Star Wars” was a little more than 2 months away. I’m posting here at the Roxy because the Music Hall page is still not working.
Ron: I have lots of old Variety clippings. I’ll look through them and see if I have any for the Music Hall grosses. I started buying the paper in 1974, when it was only (I think) 60 cents. Now it must be $3 or $4 or even more per issue.
From December 1931. All seats 35 cents:
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From August 1939:
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This played at the Route 3 for three weeks – most movies didn’t play there for more than one week:
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Here’s part of another ad for “Kiss Me, Stupid”:
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Here are ads copied from microfilm in 1972, my first year of college. That explains the poor quality – microfilm readers have improved quite a lot since then – but I’m glad I still had them. The first is in two parts, from 1953:
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The next is from 1959:
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Here is an ad from when the Mall had the exclusive area showing of one of the biggest hits of 1967:
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I saw it there with 4 other people, and it was so crowded we had to split up and sit separately (first time I ever had to do that). Other films I saw here: “Swept Away”, “Seven Beauties”, “Days of Heaven”, “The Man Who Fell to Earth”.
Vincent is right – it was a Bergen Record ad. I saw “Hawaii” at the Montauk in Passaic (featured in the ad). I always thought it was a big roadshow hit because it played for almost a year (41 weeks) at the DeMille in Manhattan, and Julie Andrews was tops at the box office – at least until “Star” came along.
Isn’t it strange how you can remember an image you passed on a drive-in screen for almost 40 years? The one that I remember best is Charlton Heston getting sprayed with a firehose in “Planet of the Apes” at the Route 3 Drive-In in Rutherford.
Talk about your showmanship – this midnight double feature looks like it was composed of nothing but. I wish they still did things like this today:
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Announcing the opening of the Spring Valley Theatre, July 1962:
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“Free Coffee Served in Our TV Lounge”. I guess that was for between shows. If the movie was as good as “Judgment at Nuremberg”, who’d want to sit in the TV lounge instead? :)
An excellent article on the Route 59 from Roland Lataille’s Cinerama website:
http://cinerama.topcities.com/route59.htm
Here is an ad for its inaugural attraction, “West Side Story”:
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This has gotta be the first time an ad used gay prostitution to sell a movie. Leave it to Otto Preminger to break another taboo:
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1971: Like everybody else, the Lafayette was showing X-rated movies:
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Look directly above the Lafayette ad. You can see evidence of the end of one great acting career (Joan Crawford in “Trog”) and the beginning of another (Bob De Niro in “Born to Win”).
The Lafayette was showing this crowd-pleaser in August 1965:
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Sorry – that date is August 12, 1964.
Announcing the opening of Cinema 46 in July 1964:
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Not exactly a Music Hall ad, but an indication of the power of the Music Hall name with the moviegoing public in 1967:
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Jerry, that is indeed a nice shot. That Saul Bass graphic on the Victoria marquee is so powerful, like all his graphics and logos. Apparently that’s all that was indeed for people to know that the movie was “The Man With the Golden Arm”.
Check out this unusual ad, under the one for “Kiss Me, Stupid” at the Astor.
View link
They’re acting like “Goldfarb” was a movie the world was waiting for. Or maybe Fox knew it was a stinker, and figured an ad like this might drum up some curiosity in it?
This is an ad for “Goldfinger” featuring the DeMille’s 24-hour continuous playing times during Christmas week 1964. I’d love to see how many people attended that 4 AM show.
View link
This theater has a great mural-sized poster of Burt Lancaster’s “The Kentuckian” (a favorite guilty pleasure of mine with a beautiful Herrmann score) hanging over the staircase to the 2nd floor.
Thanks for the ad, Robert. I never knew that “Die! Die! My Darling” was in Stabbing Color. I love the ‘60’s.
I’m waiting patiently (or trying to) for the announcement of the dates for the rumored Fall 2005 engagement of “How the West Was Won”. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a Cinerama festival (3-strip as well as 70mm) and showed “2001” at the same time?
I looked through my old Variety clippings and found mostly reviews and ads, but I did find one page of NYC grosses, including the Music Hall. Unfortunately it was for one of the Music Hall’s worst bombs ever. The date is March 9, 1977. “Star Wars” was a little more than 2 months away.
Variety could display showmanship even in these box-office reports. There are all kinds of witty asides and funny in-jokes here (e.g. “Barbra and subordinates eye $375,000”, a theater that switched to showing porn going “the way of all flesh”, etc.)
View link
View link
View link
View link
I looked through my old Variety clippings and found mostly reviews and ads, but I did find one page of NYC grosses including the Music Hall. Unfortunately it was for one of the Music Hall’s worst bombs ever. The date is March 9, 1977. “Star Wars” was a little more than 2 months away. I’m posting here at the Roxy because the Music Hall page is still not working.
View link
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Ron: I have lots of old Variety clippings. I’ll look through them and see if I have any for the Music Hall grosses. I started buying the paper in 1974, when it was only (I think) 60 cents. Now it must be $3 or $4 or even more per issue.