Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
132 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,676 - 2,700 of 4,514 comments
I would just like to clear the air a bit regarding projectionist.
Many of us (myself included) have written about the decline in the art of projection, and how many theatre owners are now using amateurs in the booth to save money.
As far as I know, in the five boroughs of New York, professional union projectionist are still running the show. We still have a strong union, local 306, supplying component, well-trained individuals to operate the booth. On Long Island, for the most part and contrary to what some have written Local 640 has pros in the booth. Once you get out of the city, into Westchester for example, you will find most theatres operating with managers and front-of-the-house staff running the booth. It is also very common in most locations in New Jersey.
In some cases that does not necessary spell disaster. National Amusements for example, has a comprehensive and mandatory training program for all managers, as well as a booth maintenance agreement with outside professional service companies. The booth is expertly maintained and booth personnel are in the booth at all times. In some locations the booth is shared between managers and union projectionists.
By the way, installing platters after the “Backdraft†debacle was ridiculous, it is just as easy, if not easier, to mount the print on a platter out of sequence as it is to project it that way reel-to-reel.
No, that linked story is about a fire in a Washington theatre showing the film.
Yes. Here’s the link…
View link
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.