Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
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Thank you for pointing me in the direction of the original comment about the BACKDRAFT incident. No way was I gonna wade thru 1,000’s of postings to find that!! Anyway, heads musta rolled bigtime. Did it make the newspapers?
The Backdraft disaster happened on the world premiere night. The operator ran the wrong reel during the show.
The post in question above was from Jan 21, 2006 posted by AlAlvarez at 1:54pm. (To save you some time)
Yeah, just scroll through 2000 posts, I’m sure you’ll find it.
Read above, Knucklehead. There’s a story about the showing of that movie in a previous post here.
What is the BACKDRAFT DISASTER?
After its brief Ziegfeld run, “My Fair Lady” moved to the BEEKMAN. At that time, a second booking was added at THE SYOSSET. These were probably the final 70mm engagements for either theatre.
Also see: View link
Historical reality check.
That 1994 re-release of MY FAIR LADY was a box office disaster. Meryl Streep’s THE RIVER WILD was rushed in to cover (it was supposed to open at the National). It sold the place out.
Grindhouse is a financial disaster, they’re lucky they’re not running it.
Too bad “Grindhouse” isn’t playing at this theater; The Ziegfeld never was a grindhouse, just a first class cinema that withstood the test of time and weather to be the sole survivor in the Big Apple.
That samething happened at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood up until the early 80’s. The theatre would be booked with a exclusive run for Los Angeles. That works if the picture was a good one. But boy if it was a bad one you were stuck running it for a weeks to afew people per show on a 5 or 6 per day schedule. I’ve run many theatres that seated 800 to 2000, to just 10 per show. Then when the Dome started running day and date with Westwood. The real business came back.
Those premieres only pay for some of the operations. They have to play ball with the studios. We will be stuck things like “Grindhouse” now in it’s 18th Week at the Ziegfeld, type of things. I only used “Grindhouse” as a title, I liked it. Having worked afew in Los Angeles.
It’s mid-town Manhattan, traffic means nothing. Of the 35 or so shows a week they run, I’d bet that fewer than 10 of them have any sort of crowd; I’ve been in there for weekend matinees 2 weeks into a run and there were 30 people inside. That’s why exclusive runs such as Dreamgirls make sense (except you need better films than Dreamgirls), but that’s not up to the theatre.
On which days the theater isn’t packed? I’d guess the weekdays (save for fridays, wednesdays, and when a big movie premiere is held). Also, how is traffic near the theater? Considering it’s in NYC, it’s gridlocked!!!
Clearview needs to keep those seats filled otherwise that lease means nothing. Empty seats don’t pay the bills. That’s the same problem the National has.
that’s good. Even if Clearview gets spun off by Cablevision, the theater will still be alive well into the same timeframe as the theater’s current attraction, Meet the Robinsons.
As far as I know, they are in the middle of a fairly long term lease.
Yea, the Senator just a few months ago had a nationwide plea for money to keep they from being foreclosed and off the auction block. They made the amount they needed at the very last minute.
I agree with you. When does Clearview’s contract with the theater expire?
The Senator has considerable financial troubles. As has the Ziegfeld.
How about the Senator? It’s still one of the last great movie houses in the Northeast with a single screen…I know the Chatham theater is the only single screen theater left in Morris County (compared to the 16-plex in Rockaway)..how does that compare with the Ziegfeld?
So what about the rest of the year. Los Angeles is about to loss the Mann’s National Theatre (1100 seats) sometime later this week. The National is a much better theatre in size than the Ziegfeld Theatre.
At least the Ziegfeld kept the idea of the exclusive run alive with “Dreamgirls” last December. I know it was only 10 days as opposed to 10 months, but it still managed to create undeniable excitement both inside and outside the Ziegfeld during that short time – anyone who attended one of those shows will agree.
Exactly, William. And with studios wanting to shorten even further the window between theatrical and DVD release, the days of the exclusive run are over. By making everything a saturation release, they’ve diluted the value of the product.
That’s how the Loews Astor Plaza Theatre finished it’s life as a movie theatre. Movie theatre automation can do worlds of things in the booth & auditorium, but POOR film handling it can’t fix. And that’s how the theatre chains have chosen to send their money. But also the large single screen theatre is fast becoming a thing of the past again. It happened in the 1950’s and the 1960’s, the only way to save these theatres is to pump more product into them. Not lock them up with 8 plus week contracts with one film and have the films playing everywhere near by.
That’s how the Loews Astor Plaza Theatre finished it’s life as a movie theatre. Movie theatre automation can do worlds of things in the booth & auditorium, but POOR film handling it can’t fix. And that’s how the theatre chains have chosen to send their money. But also the large single screen theatre is fast becoming a thing of the past again. It happened in the 1950’s and the 1960’s, the only way to save these theatres is to pump more product into them. Not lock them up with 8 plus week contracts with one film and have the films playing everywhere near by.
Geez how depressing!