Center Theatre

Here’s a 1933 trade ad reporting the first four days gross of “King Kong” in its dual engagement at the New Roxy and Radio City Music Hall (both with stage shows). Amount is equal to about $1.59 million in 2012: archive

Here’s a two-page trade ad for the opening film, “The Animal Kingdom”: archive

If you want to see some great photos of this place, find a library with a copy of American Architect December 1932. It has a multi page spread from when it was still the RKO Roxy. Lots of great detail shots of things like the ashtrays, drinking fountains, and various lounges.

Mark, Ed Sullivan didn’t broadcast from the Center, but from the theatre on Broadway which now bears his name. In the day, I believe, it was Hammerstein’s.

Also – Ed Sullivan every night looked into the theatre and pointed out the celebrities in the audience. All seated downstairs, close to the stage.

As the son of the architect, Edward Durell Stone, as well as the author of his upcoming biography, “Edward Durell Stone: A Son’s Untold Story of a Legendary Architect” being released by Rizzoli in October, I am eager to dispel a few myths contained in the postings below.

At the relatively young age (for an architect) of 29, Stone was made the architect-in-charge of both the Center Theater and the Radio City Music Hall. This fact is acknowledged not only in my father’s 1962 autobiography, but in the biography of one of Rockefeller Center’s lead architects, Wallace K. Harrison, written by Victoria Newhouse. This information is well-established and can also be found in other sources. In fact, Harrison later characterized Stone as one of “the three great designers at Rockefeller Center.”

Eugene Schoen and Donald Deskey were the interior decorators on the projects respectively. As most architects will tell you, the differences in the areas of expertise of interior decorators and architects are clear-cut and substantial. The form and architectural detail of the theaters, both inside and out are the responsibility of the architect, in this case Stone, and as such he deserves credit for them.

When the Center was converted into a TV studio, I believe that the main floor was stripped of seats. For shows that were presented before a “live” audience, the guests sat upstairs in the mezzanine. I doubt if more than 500-750 tickets were issued for any show.

Erwin – I could swear the lyrics specifically mentioned the Center Theatre coming down, or at least that’s what I heard. But that was 60 or so years ago.

Referring to rvb’s comment, I too remember the show he wrote about. If I recall correctly, it was the “Texaco Star Theater” aka “The Milton Berle Show”. At the end of the last show broadcast from the Center Theatre, the entire cast faced the audience and sang a song, which I belive was called “The Curtain’s Coming Down For the Last Time”. Certainly a nostalgic moment, which has stuck with me all these years.

I just saw the cartoon “Opening Night”, and decided to visit this site to read more. All very interesting, but the description at the top of the page states the lobby had “opaque windows”. Opaque means that no light gets through, which would simply mean the windows were a wall, and useless as far as being a window is concerned. I think the word should have been “translucent”, which means that light gets through, but not so that the window can be seen through. Of course the best description would probably be just to say the windows were frosted.

By the time the Rockefeller Center subway station opened this site was already doing ice shows.

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The Center auditorium can be seen here:

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