Radio City Music Hall

In the excerpt quoted by Gerald A. DeLuca in his July 6th post (above), I wonder if Hildegrad Knef is describing a visit to the Paramount Theater (on Broadway and 43rd) instead of either the Roxy or Radio City Music Hall?

The reason the Paramount comes to mind is I was just reading about Benny Goodman’s engagement at the Paramount the other day (I forget the name of the book or the website) and what was striking about the description was how “wild” and uninhibited the audiences seemed to be. If I remember correctly — and if the description is to be believed — people were yelling all throughout the concert, dancing in the aisles and even occasionally dancing on the stage!

I wonder if the various mid-Manhattan theaters each had, to a certain degree, their own personalities — or, at least, if a theater’s architectural design, its facilities, the policies of its management, and the kind of shows that were presented in it, when added all together, attracted certain kinds of audiences and elicited certain kinds of behavior?

It also seems to me that the interior of the Paramount as much as the Roxy could be accurately described as “a cross between the public baths and a set for an operetta, between a temple and a railway station … . ”

(If I can find again what I read about Benny Goodman’s engagement at the Paramount, I will post it to the Paramount Theater page of Cinema Treasures. This description really makes it sound amazing.)

Oh and how Rob, remeinds me of the fab 50s when we had a new projection toy to play with every other month or so.
As for IMAX, it sure is catching on, especially with the new
DMR (digital remastering technology, now any movie can be converted to IMAX.) Warners has really taken that ball and run with it, audiences are eating up the IMAX version of “Batman Begins” and the new “Harry Potter” will open in IMAX in November. I did not know Lucas had decided tp take the IMAX plunge, I remember hearing talk about it but nothing concreate, that’s good news! We also have a new exciting IMAX 3-D projesct opening in September called, Magnificent
Desolation: Walking on the Moon" with never before seen NASA footage.
So if all good things from the past come back to greet us, when can we look forward to the return of movies and a stage show at RCMH?
Yeah I know, times have changed and that would not work anymore.
But I had to say it anyway :))

Rob, confusing does not even begin to describe it. Thanks for that info, I had forgotten about the side by side version. Although the frame lines on the “over/under” prints were fairly easy to distinguish, I heard of projectionists making splicing errors using the thin frame line between left eye / right eye and the actual frame line. I also remember the alignment of the two images was made easy by a loop we would run that would guide us through the superimposing of the left/right image by the turn of two thumbscrews on the 3-D attachment lens. I always thought the poloroid 3-D single print looked pretty good. I also remember the two print version of the 50s which was quite a bit better of course, that was also my first experience with 6k reels. There were however a lot of problems with the interlocking and print damage (safety film ya gotta love it)
Audiences got tired of the glasses and projection problems and so
3-D did not last very long. That red and green 3-D you see now and then today (spy kids) is dreadful, but I like the 70mm IMAX 3-D. Have you seen that baby in action?, two platters feeding the two 3-D prints to the IMAX projector at high speed is very scary to see.

Vito: You’re right — we (at least those of us who have been around for a while) refer to anything non-anamorphic as “Flat” and anamorphic prints as “Scope”. That terminology has even been carried over to film cans and leaders in many cases. I did want to add to one of your comments about single strip 3-D made on one of the other theatre sites. There were two kinds of single strip 3-D films in wide release. You mentioned the “over/under” variation used for wide aspect ratio films such as “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein” and Arch Obler’s “The Bubble”. (Talk about blurring distinctions: even though those films had an aspect ratio similar to “Scope” technically they were flat.) The 3-D attachment superimposed the upper two-perf portion of the image over the bottom portion. With films made in the 1.37 ratio such as “House of Wax” and “The Stewardesses” the image, although “Flat” was actually two anamorphic images side by side with a slightly reduced frame height on the film. The 3-D attachment was in line with the anamorphic lens and put one of the images over the other. The 70mm 3-D release of “House of Wax” wouldn’t have been anamorphic since there was room on the frame to put to “Flat” images side by side. Sure gets confusing doesn’t it?

In her autobiography The Gift Horse, German-born actress Hildegard Knef recalls her arrival in and time spent in the United States shortly after World War II and being offered a Hollywood studio contract. Here she describes a visit to what must have been Radio City Music Hall:

“The packed movie house is a cross between the public baths and a set for an operetta, between a temple and a railway station; in the balcony they’re making love, smoking, and chewing brown-white balloons of absorbent cotton from cardboard cartons; they run in and out during the film, during the stage show, whistle like crazy when the chorus girls kick their legs, jitterbug in the aisles; girls with mottled frozen legs sticking out of tennis shoes and white ankle socks squeak and faint, crawl about among the flower boxes on the front of the stage, cry with the crooner who’s singing something in Spanish. Now there’s a preview: a bulldog face bursting out of a German officer’s uniform barks orders in English; behind him there’s a swastika hanging the wrong way round; on comes a soldier in an SS jacket and an SA cap, clicks his heels and yells ‘Donner and Blitzen,’ ‘Jawoll!’ and ‘Heil die Führer!’ The reclining couples break apart and join the stalls in a chorus of boos.”

Thanks Gerald, all the years I worked in the biz we called it Cinemascope no matter which process it was filmed in. SHESH

Most anamorphic (squeezed-image) wide-screen processes tend to be referred to as CinemaScope or ‘Scope by film-buffs. I do it all the time. I admit it’s not precise, but it suggests to the user a generic characteristic, as do the words Kleenex or Xerox…whether the tissue is really a Kleenex or not or the copier is in fact made by Xerox.

If you grew up in NY you have fond memories of Radio City. The Music Hall wasn’t always surrounded by the office buildings that shadow it today. In the 60’s if you didn’t pay top dollar , Balcony, you might have to wait several hours for admisssion to the Christmas or Easter shows. If it was very cold my dad would run across with one of the kids to Horn & Hardarts or Whelan Drugs to get a hot chocolate. Big films I remeber waiting on line for – don’t laugh – “Airport”. “That Darn Cat”, “Follow Me Boys”, “True Grit”, and “the Cowboys”. The last movie with John Wayne is the last I remember seeing at the Music Hall. For the trivia buffs, “Cowboys” is one of the few films the Duke dies in at the end.

I may be the only one, but I enjoyed this movie and stage show and went back to see it a second time
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Here is a teaser ad from when “Where the Boys Are” was about to open at the Music Hall.

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When I worked there in ‘76 a ticket seller(she had worked the Strand during The Sea Hawk which she said was intense) told me that Odd Couple was the last film where the work was non stop. One of the old gentlemen(he had been a Roxy usher-his photo is in the Best Remaining Seats where all the ushers are on stage) said there were as many people the last day of the run as on the first.

Intersting stuff above. “Barefoot in the Park” is a classic. It’s amazing how often it’s shown on TV (I have one of those cable systems with what appears to be 500 channels and my wife and I joke around that it’s like there’s a “Barefoot in the Park” channel…all Barefoot, 24 hours a day…it’s on that much). Great movie…should never, EVER be remade. The original too’s perfect.

Question: what was the last genuine hit film to play at the Hall? Was it “The Odd Couple”?