Rivoli Theatre
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
33 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 825 comments found
Fifty years ago today, 20th-Fox’s eagerly-awaited “Cleopatra,” starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison, started its exclusive reserved-seat engagement at the Rivoli Theatre. The previous evening, a world premiere performance raised $70,000 for the benefit of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. Pickets from an African-American church in Harlem protested the casting of a white actress in the title role. Taylor and Burton were in London for the filming of “Becket” and did not attend the celebrity-studded gala, which drew more than 10,000 spectators and 100 police to control them.
It’s hard to believe they would destroy such a beautiful theater. I remember my parents taking me to see The Sound of Music here. Even as a boy that huge screen really blew me away. A great treasure…at least we have our memories of it…
Never made it to a road show in the Rivoli but was there for Jaws on Saturday night 10:30 show high up in the rafters second day of release…a great audience experience highlighted by a lady in a very very green suit – a hostess from Air Pistachio as per my friend JC’s comments United Artists never really got the good Broadway bookings after that – most went to Loews Astor Plaza and State or the Criterion multiplex…the house met a sad end as the United Artists 1 and 2
Thanks indeed Sam Irvin for your story about MY FAVORITE YEAR. I remember passing the Rivoli (fall of 1981 maybe?)when that faux HOUSE OF WAX sign was waiting to be hoisted to its spot in front of the real marquee. I was quite confused and intrigued as to what this was all about. It wasn’t until I went to see MY FAVORITE YEAR the following October (at the Paramount Theatre at Columbus Circle) and saw the opening sequence that I put two and two together.
I saw “The Last Starfighter” at one of the Rivoli Twins in July, 1984. I was aware “South Pacific” had played a long run there in Todd-AO, having transferred from the Criterion. Whilst being impressed by the cinema I was in, I wish I’d seen the large theatre in its 70mm. heyday. All the above info. is fascinating and I now know just how important the Rivoli was.
Thanks for that insight Sam. “My Favorite Year” is one of my favorite movies. I had to chance to tell that to Mark-Linn Baker when he was performing off broadway a few years back. When he asked my favorite, telling him “Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” he didn’t seem to mind.
“House of Wax” played its NYC premiere engagement exclusively at the Paramount Theatre in Times Square, with Eddie Fisher heading the stage show. So much for Hollywood Historical Accuracy!
Just put Great Waldo Pepper Marque photo and partial Program with guest list.
The Rivoli Theatre can be seen in the opening crane shot of the film “My Favorite Year” (MGM/UA, 1982) starring Peter O'Toole. The movie is set in 1954 and the marquee to the Rivoli is emblazened with a display for the classic Vincent Price horror film “House of Wax” (Warner Brothers, 1953) presented in “3 Dimension.” The slogan reads: “Every thrill of its astounding story comes off the screen right at you!” The key art on the marquee shows a line of chorus girls and a shadowy figure kidnapping one of them. I actually worked on “My Favorite Year” as a production assistant for the New York location shooting (under New York unit producer A. Kitman Ho — who went on to produce such films as “Wall Street,” “JFK,” “Platoon,” and “Born on the Fourth of July”). I remember well the day of the crane shot outside the Rivoli Theatre (at Broadway and 50th Street) because I was such a huge Vincent Price fan and a fan of “House of Wax.” I remember discussing our love of the film with the movie’s director Richard Benjamin and the production designer Charles Rosen (a fellow North Carolina native who had production designed the 1978 remake of “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers”). There was also a sidewalk newsstand on that block that was decorated with period 1954 magazines and newspapers. During the lunch break, it was my job to guard the newsstand — and, let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Many tough New York pedestrians were rushing by, blindly plopping down coins to purchase the daily newspaper, not realizing that these newspapers were mockups of 1954 newspapers. I kept having to stop them from just grabbing them. I literally got into tugs of war with more than one annoyed passerby. Lots of other pedestrians were trying to buy tickets for “House of Wax” at the Rivoli boxoffice and got extremely miffed when they were told that “House of Wax” was not really playing there and that the marquee had been mocked up for a new movie being shot that day. Instead of laughing it off as if they’d just been punk’d on “Candid Camera,” most of these jaded New Yorkers were simply pissed by the inconvenience. So much for the glamor of filmmaking. And, luckily, no one was hurt during the melee.
I love the JAWS marque…I was MGR. during that time..My question is where did that photo come from and props to you…
Pictured in 1948 in a two-page trade ad that also includes signage for the Roxy and Mayfair: Boxoffice
In Ross Melnick’s book “AMERICAN SHOWMAN” he mentions that Roxy had been using scent at the Rialto in December 1916.
so where did you get that article from?
Apparently the 1960-era “Smell-O-Vision” gadget that wafted odors to match the action on the screen in “Scent of Mystery” wasn’t so new, according to this article from the Rivoli’s opening:
“Another and in this case an entirely novel feature of The Rivoli will be the introduction of perfume to supplement the appeal made to the other senses. Several thousand dollars have been expended on a newly devised compressor plant which operates in connection with an intricate system of atomizers and by means of which any delicate odor desired can be wafted instantly to all parts of the house; incense for Oriental scenes, clover and new mown hay when the stage setting reveals a country landscape at dusk, a myriad variety of floral scents if a garden is to be suggested, and any other blending of odors so long as they are aesthetically possible and have a definite suggestive value.”
The rest of the article reads:
“In the way of stage setting and scenic effects Mr. Rothapfel will have far greater scope for his ingenuity than he has had heretofore. For the opening of the theater the stage setting will be known as "The Conservatory of Jewels.” It will consist of a dome within a dome, each studded with huge crystal gems after the manner of the celebrated Tower of Jewels at the Panama Pacific Exposition. These will flash with kaleidoscopic effect when the light plays upon them from the front and will glow softly in their several colors when another set of lights is brought into play behind them. The base of the inner dome will be incrusted with a fine jeweled mosaic and at the rear of the scene the eye will be led away in perspective down a magnificent avenue of palms. The brightest jewel of all of course will be the screen and this will be arranged so that it fits in as a component part of the stage picture. There will be two sets of curtains, a screen curtain and a tableau curtairf, thus adding another innovation to houses of this character.
Fifty in Orchestra
“So far as music is concerned, interest in the new theater centers largely around the orchestra. Mr. Rothapfel announces that it will consist of approximately fifty musicians, under the general direction of Hugo Riesenfeld, though except on special occasions Dr. Riesenfeld will continue to conduct at The Rialto. Unusual interest has been stimulated by the announcement that once each week the orchestras of The Rivoli and The Rialto will be combined in what is to be known as the Rothapfel Symphony Orchestra, of a hundred or more pieces, which will render a popular symphony concert in the new theater. Members of both orchestras will be liable for duty at either theater and the conductors and assistant conductors will interchange duties also upon occasion. Just as the conductors at the Metropolitan Opera House are called upon to interpret those compositions best suited to their special training, so the men handling the batons at The Rialto and The Rivoli will be assigned to whichever program will best bring out their particular capabilities. The grand pipe organ at The Rivoli is the largest and most complete ever installed in any theater in the world. It was built by the Austin Organ Company, of Hartford, Conn., and delivered at the theater on four huge auto trucks, in order to avoid possible delay because of freight tie-ups. It is equipped with every attachment known to the organ builder’s art and will supply adequate musical atmosphere for those performances at which the orchestra is not present.”
To think that the Rivoli was still in operation when I first went to NYC in 1971 makes me sad that I didn’t go there, at least I would have seen one of the legendary showcases before they were all destroyed! I know nothing stays the same in this world but I sometimes get very nostalgic for the great days of going to the movies, I’m just old enough to remember how great it was compared to today’s banality.
My grandmother took me to see Cleopatra here in the summer of 1963. I’m not sure which amazed me the most: the movie or the incredibly beautiful theater. I remember that the sound system was fantastic.
A photo and advertising featured in this 1935 merchandising article on “Red Salute” Boxoffice
I was 8 years old during the summer of 1975 and my father took me to see “Jaws"at this fantastic theatre.I remember that it was big inside.Never saw another movie there again.
All that work, and the place was shuttered a mere 5 years later.
So much for Hollywood’s historical accuracy. “House of Wax” opened originally in NYC at the Paramount Theatre, accompanied by a stage show.
As it says in the article, “My Favorite Year” starring Peter O'Toole and Mark Linn-Baker were filming and that’s the faux marquee of “House Of Wax” that can be seen in the opening credits.
The article opens with a false claim that the Rivoli was built in the 1920s as a “legit” showcase. But it actually opened in 1917 as a purpose-built cinema. To get the maximum number of seats, it had the mere suggestion of a stage, and no facilities for putting on plays.
Forest Bay mutilation described in this 1982 trade article: Boxoffice
I recall an even earlier ad in Variety in which the “Cleopatra” cast consisted of Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd and Peter Finch. I’d forgotten that Collins was the first to drop out. Or perhaps, as the budget escalated, Fox opted to replace her by (famously) agreeing to pay Elizabeth Taylor the $1 million she asked for.
Talk about wishful thinking. This ad from August 1960 in Boxoffice magazine announces that “Cleopatra” will be in theaters in June 1961. Of course it didn’t get finished until June 1963, with a completely new cast (except for Liz), director and screenwriter.