With Danny Kaye as the undoubted draw, the booking’s first week broke all attendance records in the Chicago’s 25-year history. Due to prior commitments, Kaye could remain for only a second week.
For its grand re-opening engagement, the El Capitan was one of three theatres offering 70mm projection of “The Rocketeer.” See lower left corner of ad for details.
Personally produced by 20th-Fox’s studio chief, the Technicolor biography of America’s 28th President was modestly described as the most important motion picture event in 50 years. Due to the film’s running time of 154 minutes, the Roxy’s stage show was trimmed to a patriotic tribute by Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians.
Rita Hayworth, then at the zenith of worldwide notoriety, attended the invitational event, which was televised by WPIX-11, a local channel owned by the Daily News.
The Culver Theatre was a major influence on the life of writer Steven Gaines, who vividly recalls his experiences and the movies he saw there in a new memoir, “One of These Things First.” More about the book here: http://www.delphiniumbooks.com/book/one-of-these-things-first/
Based on Cole Porter’s Broadway stage hit starring Ethel Merman, the Technicolor musical used very little beyond the title song and a wacky plot device about a character’s tooth filling that could pick up radio broadcasts.
This was the Capitol’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year. That the movie became a box office and critical “Golden Turkey” was strictly coincidental.
The public and news media were invited to the “sneak preview” and street party on a Tuesday night, with “The Rocketeer” due to open at the El Capitan and numerous other theatres throughout the region on Friday.
Hyped as one of the greatest movies ever made, the B&W drama had a gala invitational world premiere at the Roxy on the night of November 19th, 1946, with public performances starting the next day. The booking was also the Roxy’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year.
This was the Music Hall’s presentation for the Memorial Day holiday period of 1952. The Technicolor musical was a remake of the B&W “Roberta,” which played at RCMH in 1935 with support from a stage show.
According to research in The New York Times, the Modern Playhouse first opened nearly eighty years ago, on September 13th, 1936, with the American premiere of the Hungarian-made “The New Landlord.” An incomplete address of “Third Avenue near 81st Street” was given…A subsequent review of the new cinema in Variety gave a seating capacity of 300, but no address except for the “upper reaches of Third Avenue.” The trade weekly
attributed ownership to Danuba Pictures, whose chief executive, Eugene J. Lang, also managed the theatre.
The Modern Playhouse would show Hungarian films exclusively, under a contract between Danuba and eight Magyar production companies. For at least its inaugural period, the Playhouse employed an emcee billed as “Mr. Szemere,” who told jokes and anecdotes about the homeland during a ten-minute interval between the short subjects and feature. Admission was 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents at night. NYC’s Hungarian population was estimated to be about 100,000 at the time, and had its own newspaper which Modern Playhouse would use for advertising and publicity.
With Danny Kaye as the undoubted draw, the booking’s first week broke all attendance records in the Chicago’s 25-year history. Due to prior commitments, Kaye could remain for only a second week.
For its grand re-opening engagement, the El Capitan was one of three theatres offering 70mm projection of “The Rocketeer.” See lower left corner of ad for details.
Personally produced by 20th-Fox’s studio chief, the Technicolor biography of America’s 28th President was modestly described as the most important motion picture event in 50 years. Due to the film’s running time of 154 minutes, the Roxy’s stage show was trimmed to a patriotic tribute by Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians.
On this day only, boxes of popcorn could be purchased for just 10 cents each.
This was the Music Hall’s Thanksgiving holiday presentation for 1945, and its first since the end of WWII.
Rita Hayworth, then at the zenith of worldwide notoriety, attended the invitational event, which was televised by WPIX-11, a local channel owned by the Daily News.
Milton Berle was still a year away from entering the rival entertainment medium that brought him enduring fame as the first “King of Television.”
At the time, the NYC subway fare was five cents.
The B&W musical was later re-made in Technicolor by MGM as “Lovely to Look At,” which played at the Music Hall in 1952.
The Culver Theatre was a major influence on the life of writer Steven Gaines, who vividly recalls his experiences and the movies he saw there in a new memoir, “One of These Things First.” More about the book here: http://www.delphiniumbooks.com/book/one-of-these-things-first/
The stage revue included “Kol Nidrei,” the Hall’s annual pageant for the Jewish High Holy Days.
Based on Cole Porter’s Broadway stage hit starring Ethel Merman, the Technicolor musical used very little beyond the title song and a wacky plot device about a character’s tooth filling that could pick up radio broadcasts.
This was the Capitol’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year. That the movie became a box office and critical “Golden Turkey” was strictly coincidental.
The public and news media were invited to the “sneak preview” and street party on a Tuesday night, with “The Rocketeer” due to open at the El Capitan and numerous other theatres throughout the region on Friday.
“The North Star” was the first major Hollywood release to open at the Victoria since its name had been changed from Laffmovie.
Hyped as one of the greatest movies ever made, the B&W drama had a gala invitational world premiere at the Roxy on the night of November 19th, 1946, with public performances starting the next day. The booking was also the Roxy’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year.
This was the Music Hall’s presentation for the Memorial Day holiday period of 1952. The Technicolor musical was a remake of the B&W “Roberta,” which played at RCMH in 1935 with support from a stage show.
Both theatres were under Walter Reade management at the time.
Olivia de Havilland portrayed twin sisters in the B&W melodrama, with double advertising to further confuse.
This was the Chicago’s Labor Day holiday presentation for that year.
According to research in The New York Times, the Modern Playhouse first opened nearly eighty years ago, on September 13th, 1936, with the American premiere of the Hungarian-made “The New Landlord.” An incomplete address of “Third Avenue near 81st Street” was given…A subsequent review of the new cinema in Variety gave a seating capacity of 300, but no address except for the “upper reaches of Third Avenue.” The trade weekly attributed ownership to Danuba Pictures, whose chief executive, Eugene J. Lang, also managed the theatre. The Modern Playhouse would show Hungarian films exclusively, under a contract between Danuba and eight Magyar production companies. For at least its inaugural period, the Playhouse employed an emcee billed as “Mr. Szemere,” who told jokes and anecdotes about the homeland during a ten-minute interval between the short subjects and feature. Admission was 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents at night. NYC’s Hungarian population was estimated to be about 100,000 at the time, and had its own newspaper which Modern Playhouse would use for advertising and publicity.
The day before, patrons could see “Lydia Bailey” in addition to the exiting “Kangaroo!” and its stage show.
Wood and Wagner were married at the time, later divorced, and re-married in 1972.
The B&W comedy was filmed in 1941, but couldn’t be distributed until the long-running Broadway play closed, which didn’t happen until June 17th, 1944.
Opened on August 11th, 1960, and ran for a total of six weeks.