Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
73 people
favorited this theater
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then one look at photos of this palatial movie palace is worth about a million. Often cited as the most impressive movie palace ever built, the Roxy Theatre was called “The Cathedral of the Motion Picture” by its creator and namesake, Samuel ‘Roxy’ Rothafel. Roxy was arguably the greatest showmen of his time and he built a theater that has seemingly outlasted his own legend.
With its nearly 6,000 seats and multi-tiered balconies, the Roxy Theatre was the showplace of New York City and of the nation. Construction began on March 22, 1926 and it opened on March 11, 1927 with Gloria Swanson in “The Loves of Sonya”. It was designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager of Chicago (who also designed New York’s Beacon Theatre), with interior decoration by Harold W. Rambusch of New York. Its rather modest entrance at the Taft Hotel disguised one of the most cavernous lobbies ever built and a magnificent auditorium that has lived on in its patrons' imagination. Whatever adjectives can be used for the Roxy Theatre, they all fail to signify the theatre’s achievement.
Sadly, the decline in attendance that had begun in the 1950’s spilled over into the early-1960’s and the Roxy Theatre closed with Dirk Bogarde in “The Wind Cannot Read” which began its run on March 9, 1960. Despite numerous protests, it was razed in 1961. In its place sits a nondescript and unremarkable office building. The neighboring Taft Hotel survives to this day (now the Michangelo Hotel) and is the only evidence that this epic structure was ever here. A TGI Friday’s restaurant occupies the theatres' original entrance.
The legacy of the Roxy Theatre is almost as impressive as the theater itself once was. The name ‘Roxy’ has since adorned movie theaters, nightclubs, restaurants and a host of other establishments around the world all attempting to give to their patrons what Roxy always brought to his own: entertainment.
The end of the Roxy Theatre signified the beginning of the end for thousands of movie palaces across the country. With its destruction, New York City began to destroy its past for urban renewal and the city, and movie palaces, have never been the same.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 1,397 comments)
Sigh…
I totally agreed with Mark Hite’s comments. Mark is a member of Theatre Historical Society for years!
Tonight (March 11) marks the 86th anniversary of the grand opening of the Roxy Theatre. Here’s a quick link to one of the many ads published for the event: movie-theatre
How about the answer to where the huge rotunda rug went?
Sorry if this is disappointing. The great oval rug got worn out after 20 years and millions of feet took their toll. It was replaced with regular carpet in the sometime in the 1940s.
And as Eliza wondered about her late aunt, “what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me?”
Oh Mike, that’s cute you can never go wrong with a “My Fair Lady” reference :)
Except that “My Fair Lady” never played at the Roxy.
Indeed, sadly the Roxy was dust by the time MFL opened. Still it’s nice to reference the great lines from the movie here and there.
The Roxy was very much in existence in 1956 when the original My Fair Lady musical opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. And I’m sure many people who attended the Roxy had seen the Broadway musical or would later see the movie. (That’s about as close as the Roxy gets to a connection with My Fair Lady!)