Rialto Theatre

The corner property at the “Crossroads of the World” became too valuable and could only be re-developed vertically with an office building. Also, the Rialto quickly became “old-fashioned” as larger and more grandiose cinemas were built in midtown.

Here is a Rialto Theatre program from July 27, 1919. Dorothy Gish’s NUGGET NELL (1919) was the main feature, and 10% of the ticket price went to the government for a war tax.

The Rialto Theatre was featured in this 1932 trade ad: boxofficemagazine

Thanks Tinseltoes,Bela Lugosi was the Man of Horror in those days of real Horror movies,not this trash they peddle today for Horror.

An item appearing in Billboard on 9/15/1916 with the headline “It Fooled Rathapfel”:

When Sam Rothapfel got back on the job at the Rialto recently, after a five-day trip, he thought for a moment that some one had slipped a new pipe organ into his theatre. Anything the organ had ever done sounded almost half hearted compared with what it was doing now. Then he remembered that the original scenic background had been ripped out and replaced by a set of transparencies. The plaster had cut off the sound from several groups of pipes, and when it was removed the organ preceded to let out a roar of relief that shook the auditorium.

Here’s an ad for the original Rialto’s final booking, a Universal horror that opened on May 9th, 1935, and ran for one week. Demolition started on May 16th, and a new but much smaller Rialto would open on Christmas Day with the Frank Buck documentary feature, “Fang and Claw.” Arthur L. Mayer, who’d been managing director of the original Rialto in its final years, would also run the New Rialto and continue his policy of exploitation films with “masculine appeal”:
View link

From my own collection, here’s a closer view of the entrance and the spectacular (for its day) animated electric sign: View link

“The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu” would soon move on to the Loew’s neighborhood circuit, where it was the first film to be shown at the brand new Paradise Theatre in the Bronx (9/7/1929).

A January 1918 ad for the Rialto and its younger sibling. Note how the names of the starring actors were given much more prominence than the titles of their movies:
View link

New direct links to previously posted images of the original interior. I believe that the decor had been considerably “modernized” by the time of the 1931 “Palmy Days” engagement:
View link
View link

There’s a fabulous B&W photo showing the Rialto’s entrance in the recent pictorial paperback, “Dietrich,” published by Taschen as part of its “Movie Icons” series. The photo was taken in 1931 during the engagement of Paramount’s “Dishonored.” Marlene Dietrich’s name is spelled out in large electrified letters across the front of the marquee. Each of the Rivoli’s eight entrance doors is covered with a different portrait of Dietrich in a provocative pose. An entrance-wide sign above the doors and boxoffice has more photos and blurbs like “She Triumphs Again!” and “The Woman Who Is All Woman!” The boxoffice, which had yet to open for the day, has a sign reading “40 cents to 1 PM.”

A wonderful opening day ad for a “cine-miracle” that was also having its American premiere (March 5th, 1927): www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/metrorialto.jpg

Too beautiful for words. Check out the link while it lasts and look for the Capitol lobby postcard.

View link