Radio City Music Hall

I feel I must add a comment, since I was Head Projectionist at the Hall during the last days of the movie/stage show policy, and through the mentioned W.B. and Universal Film Festivals. Perhaps from the start, Radio City was too big for movies even in the 40’s. Roxy intended the Hall to do big stage presentations, and the New Roxy/Center theatre with little more than half the seats to do what the Hall eventually did. I once had a Vice President at the Hall from the “good old days” tell me that perhaps they should have converted the Hall into office space and saved the Center, as it was even then better sized for film presentations. I can remember days in the time before we changed policy in 1979 when no one would give us a film. I was told the only reason we got “Caravans” for our last Christmas Show in the old policy was through the kindess of Universal Pictures which picked up distribution so we would have a picture.
Now the situation is even more difficult with audiences used to every picture opening at the same time at a multiplex near them, and hundereds of channels of TV and DVDs in competiton for their attention.
Film at the Hall only works when it becomes an “event”. When that happens the results are amazing! “Lion King” with a Disney produced stage show opened in just two theatres, the Hall and the El Capitan, and made it into the week’s top ten earners at the box office tied with “Beverly Hills Cop III” on over a thousand screens. “Napoleon” with an orchestra and the triptych run on three screens, made it into the top ten the week it opened with just four screenings at the Hall. “The Magic of Lassie” had lines around the block, but it also had a stage show which featured the “real” Lassie. On the other hand, Universal gave us “Smokey and the Bandit” and (predictably) it did poorly — its just not a Manhattan kind of film. What hurt us was that distributors could say, “You had the #2 grossing film in the country that year and it died!"
I’m not absolutely sure, but to my recollection neither the W.B. nor Universal Festivals sold the house out. I don’t remember seeing many if any people in the third mezzanine under the booth, and I’m not sure the 2nd Mezzanine was open either. (By the way, the W.B. prints were what were generally available, thus explaining the slightly beat up "Casablanca”. “The Exorcist” and “My Fair Lady” both in 70mm came from an outside W.B. source and were really beat up. The Universal prints were new, and after we ran them became archival prints and aren’t available for other screenings.) Jim Rankin’s comments above are right on. Audiences have changed both with the times and the technology.

It is nice that vintage films and even variety acts are working at some places as the commenters above relate, but it is naïve to believe that such policies will work everywhere, especially in New York City, probably the most money-oriented place in the nation, if not the world. The song is true that ‘if it will play there, it will play anywhere’ in so far as one may mean survive there. New York City has many theatres only because it has a huge and dense population to support them, but at the same time, theatre managements that can rightly expect much greater profits in that locale. In reality, sub-run or film festival theatres are failing all across the nation and the studios don’t care because they now make more money on foreign distribution and DVDs than on traditional film distribution. We can keep our heads in the sand and pine for the olden days, but they will not return; technology as much as the changes in urban life is quickly making the cinema building obsolete, and with so many choices in entertainment, only a few of our beloved theatres/cinemas will survive into the next generation, largely as dinner theatres or the like. Yes, every theatre/cinema can have a vintage film festival at times, but very few of them can count on them to survive, least of all the behemoth of RCMH. By all means, let’s continue to celebrate the memory of this great venue, but don’t lets be silly in proposing desperate methods to possibly help the theatre; the owners couldn’t care less about our sentiments. And the city is not likely to take on the enormous expense of owning the structure or even contributing tax dollars to it. Theatres are among the most expensive of buildings to maintain, and therefore I am sure that if a referendum were to be held asking taxpayers if they want the city to buy the building by paying the owners probably upward of 200 million dollars for the structure and land, as well as probably a half million yearly for upkeep, and you will see one of the quickest defeats of a referendum in history. People love to be nostalgic, but NOT with their pocketbooks!

Ron: I was wondering about that myself. When the WB series began, it was advertised as the First Annual Classic Film Festival. One year later the Universal series was the Second Annual, then it just died. I figured they’d get to RKO eventually, and then I’d fulfill a longtime dream of seeing “King Kong” at Radio City.

I’d like to second what R.H. and RobertR said about the classics series shown at Radio City in the ‘90s: some of those shows I attended (Psycho, Jaws, The Exorcist, My Fair Lady) looked like complete sellouts to me. There was a struggle to find seats, even down near the front. I’m sure if the Hall did what Valencia suggested (old time movie/stage show combination with the Rockettes) and charged 2004 Christmas Show prices for it, they’d sell out the house for sure. I know I’d go, along with every New Yorker who posts on Cinema Treasures.

We inquired about renting the Hall for a silent film event with live orchestra – just to walk in the door, it was approximately $60,000 a night rental. That did NOT include a stage show (other than 5 minutes of the Rockettes), film costs, or orchestra costs. We would also not get a share of any concessions sold. The Hall was not interested in partnering with us to lower the cost, nor were they willing to negotiate with the various unions to give us a break on their labor. Obviously, an outside party trying to do films at RCMH is impossible. It could never work with a new film – where you’re giving up over 75% of your ticket price back to the studio for the two weeks where the film might actually do business – but even with classics you have to give back over 35%.

Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Did anyone else attend the Warner Bros festival a few years back? They ran everything from “Casablanca” to “The Exorcist”. It was general admission, and I sat in the first mezz each night. I don’t know how many people were above me, but the orchestra section appeared full every day. No stage show, but it was still great. Why can’t they do that again, perhaps one week a year? I’ve emailed them more than once, but never got a response.

Jim: Boston’s largest and most opulent theatre, the Wang Center (formerly Metropolitan/Music Hall), very occasionally shows old films. People love this series. If it can work here, why not at Radio City?

To “C.Connolloy” and others: Re FILMS AT RCMH: The reason that films are not shown is that rarely can they FILL that many seats with their attendant overhead , by bringing in enough people to fill them to cover the rent of the films. It is a complex subject once one realizes that it is the film studios and their distributors that really control the market and therefore the theatres, indirectly. Since the studios and their henchmen are in the driver’s seat, they can dictate almost any terms they want to the theatres, and the décor, size or prestige of any one theatre are of no moment to them! They exist strictly for profit, and will happily bend any theatre management ‘over the coals’ if they think that they can extract one more penny out of those willing to deal with them. The copyright laws firmly protect them against anyone trying to show their films without signing their detailed agreements whereby the studio controls the type of exhibition, the length of show, the type of show, the sound system employed, the nature and presence of any ads on screen, the sharing of ancillary incomes (mostly refreshments), the nature, scope and type of advertising by the theatre, and whether or not they will allow any one theatre to show a film at all.

The famous Supreme Court ‘Paramount decree’ of 1948 may have busted up the legal vertical integration at the time, but essentially we are now right back were we started, with the studios in full control of the theatres, but with no responsibility to maintain them! For them, it is now the best of all worlds: no responsibility (or expense!) for the exhibition venue, ability to deny titles to anyone, ability to sell and control via exorbitant terms, and no real possibility of losing that control since big business owns the politicians and hence the courts. Some reading in the Archived comments on the FORUMS of the site: www.BigScreenBiz.com will quickly acquaint you with the ever-tightening straight jacket that the movie house owners must now wear. So, don’t blame your local theatres for high ticket prices or silly films or unavailability of a title; it is all the studio’s and distributor’s fault, and Radio City Music Hall is no exception to this sad state of affairs.

The investors as part of the ultimate owner of RCMH expect to get a return on their investment, and they don’t particularly care how they make money, just so they do! If the Hall were to be able to book films requested and it failed to make money for some time, it would be quickly demolished as unprofitable, and the landlord would not bat an eyelash at its demise as they looked for more profitable uses, and the public could not really complain since ‘they failed to FILL the seats continually.’

I would like to see RCM just for a short period of time say two weeks a year to roll back time and give the public the old time bill of fare. A movie, first run or an oldie with the stage show. Of course they would charge expected 2005 prices, but…why not? The show doesn’t need to be elaborate but a simple deal with Rocketts, Ballet and a specialty act or two. Wouldn’t it be fun to do that?Have the grand old organ play between shows a few numbers.

I would like to see RCM just for a short period of time say two weeks a year to roll back time and give the public the old time bill of fare. A movie, first run or an oldie with the stage show. Of course they would charge expected 2005 prices, but…why not? The show doesn’t need to be elaborate but a simple deal with Rocketts, Ballet and a specialty act or two. Wouldn’t it be fun to do that?Have the grand old organ play between shows a few numbers.

Does anyone know what year the movie Ben Hur played at Radio City? Ben Hur came out around 1958, but I remember seeing it years later at Radio City. Thanks

It’s weird that if Radio City is like some kind of petri dish for the film industry, why the hell don’t they play movies there? At least the big releases…I know, I know…we’ve asked this question before…