Wasn’t ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT about the poor German soldiers getting a beating in WWI?
Was THE DEER HUNTER a good message to send Vietnam veterans?
Weren’t GIGI, MY FAIR LADY, THE APARTMENT and TOM JONES promoting the exploitation of women?
Wasn’t GONE WITH THE WIND too kind to slavery?
Don’t get me wrong, I love all these movies, but I think the Oscars should be about quality achievement not politics. The Oscars would have nothing to be ashamed of if they had rewarded TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. As you inadvertently point out, everyone already knows it was the BEST PICTURE of that year anyway.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a product of Hollywood and now that it is going into wide release will ironically most likely outgross FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
What should have us concerned is the nomination and box office success of the Al Gore documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Why are we buying tickets for party platform power point presentations anyway?
The Oscars were designed as a way for studios to publicise their movies and stars. That was always their purpose.
That fact that so many years later they are still the big prize is credit to the fact they are not afraid to recognise some amazing non-Hollywood “product” (DAYS OF GLORY, VOLVER) and include some movies that count on Oscar to justify their wide runs (BABEL, PAN’S LABYRINTH) that may otherise never get noticed outside the arthouses of Manhattan and Seattle.
Duke, I grew up watching many of those with my family in Miami including the later Spanish films with Joselito, Marisol and Sara Montiel. If you get a chance do pick up a book called MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES by Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr.
It is full of ad copy, poster art and anecdotes from that era and was written in English.
Thanks LM, I now recognise this as THE SCREENING ROOM where I saw GOSFORD PARK. It had old beat-up uncomfortable seats with several missing and I felt like I was sitting in a 42nd Street dive. Although it was booked for specialised films the filthy concession stand sold pizza, of all things.
“When (Ethel) Waters lived in Harlem she recalled that 125th street was still a ‘white boulevard’ and that the theatres on the street were segregated. ‘Colored people could only buy seats only in the peanut gallery in B.F. Keith’s Alhambra, and none at all in the other white show houses’. “
“Despite civil rights statues in northern cities that prevented racial segregation in theatres, the laws were rarely enforced and managers evaded the law. In 1905, two African Americans sued unsuccessfully when they were not permitted to buy tickets to New York’s Circle Theatre. On another occasion black patrons who obtained orchestra tickets were prevented from sitting in the white-reserved section when the manager broke the seats and ordered them to sit in the gallery. Racial segregation in the big-time venues as well as prejudice against black performers contrasted with the circuits’ publicity which celebrated vaudeville as a ‘democratic’ entertainment open to everyone.
“When (Ethel) Waters lived in Harlem she recalled that 125th street was still a ‘white boulevard’ and that the theatres on the street were segregated. ‘Colored people could only buy seats only in the peanut gallery in B.F. Keith’s Alhambra, and none at all in the other white show houses’. “
“Despite civil rights statues in northern cities that prevented racial segregation in theatres, the laws were rarely enforced and managers evaded the law. In 1905, two African Americans sued unsuccessfully when they were not permitted to buy tickets to New York’s Circle Theatre. On another occasion black patrons who obtained orchestra tickets were prevented from sitting in the white-reserved section when the manager broke the seats and ordered them to sit in the gallery. Racial segregation in the big-time venues as well as prejudice against black performers contrasted with the circuits’ publicity which celebrated vaudeville as a ‘democratic’ entertainment open to everyone."
Lanza was under contract to MGM and notoriously difficult to work with. He was always involved in battles at MGM with Louis B. Mayer, directors and stars. It was agreed that only his voice would be used in THE STUDENT PRINCE in order to keep him off the set and further projects at the studio. THE VAGABOND KING was a Paramount film and SEVEN HILLS OF ROME was filmed in Italy and away from the MGM lot while he was possibly already ill.
That compromise on THE STUDENT PRINCE was part of an agreement to lift an injuction against Mario Lanza by MGM for walking off the set and costing the studio a fortune.
You can find out more about the Mario Lanza battles in the Charles Higham book MERCHANT OF DREAMS: LOUIS B. MAYER, MGM AND THE SECRET HOLLYWOOD including Mayer’s purchase of the Rivoli, and eventually other United Artists theatres, in defiance of the Paramount Consent Decrees.
I can’t imagine the owners expecting black audiences to fill the balcony of SYMPHONIE PASTORAL but perhaps the French owner thought all American theatres were segregated and prepared himself for this.
Let us not forget that most American troops were segregated during the war (unlike in the movies) and NYC was hardly a bastion of freedom for black people. In 1951 The Stork Club refused to serve Josephine Baker and unofficial “no-go” areas can still be found today.
This is no “cosmopolitan gentrified” Harlem neighborhood. Domino park has been the gathering spot for politicised anti-Castro retirees for years including many Bay of Pig veterans and more recently, anti-Sadinista activists.
I see no shame in this fact as many Miami exiles share those feelings. Most recently the center of this movement has moved to the younger and more vocal crowds that hang out at the popular Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho and 36th Street. Even president Bush has visited that location where effigies of Castro and Chavez have been burned.
I grew up in this neighborhood and am a Cuban-American and that park helped define the Tower’s audience for years. Movies from Cuba were not welcomed at the Tower although they play other South Florida neighborhoods without incident.
LOL. I think is acceptable to get misty eyed when you revisit the assassination of Bobby Kennedy but it’s downright embarassing when a CGI penguin is tap dancing and you incomprehensibly start weeping.
It happened to a friend of mine and I am sticking to that story.
Good point, Ken. I have found no other mention of the second Roxie(or Roxy?) and I wonder if it was a city center “colored” house.
I recently went by Coconut Grove and was pleasantly surprised to find the ACE is still there. The Ace is on 37th & Grand Avenue and, although briefly re-opened in the 70s as a blaxploitation house, it may have a history going back to the thirties with the Grove’s Afro-Caribbean audience. It ran live acts in the 70s as well so it probably has a stage. Like the Miami Roxie, it is never mentioned in South Florida history books.
“The old lift is still there but has apparently been decommissioned by the Westminster CC Health and Safety team in the late 80’s or early 90’s…
We still have the Soda Fountain restaurant in the basement but this area has been turned into a storeroom when Virgin Group refurbished the Haymarket to accommodate a new Cafe Bar between the Projection Booth 2 and 3."
District Managers and upper management were certainly better paid than the competition but hourly staff was minumum wage and theatres managers were poorly paid and often disrespected. The union options were outrageously corrupt offers and rightfully rejected by everyone as pensions were being blatantly stolen by the union chiefs. (some were eventually arrested, then reinstated)
The projection union was a series of no shows and the stagehand unions were dead overhead as most employees were too old to find the stage, much less change a light bulb.
The concessions workers unions disappeared after collecting dues and never represented anyone.
Even in the leaner years, Cineplex bonuses were paid only to upper level executives (those mainly responsible for the losses) and lower level employees got screwed out of all raises and bonuses. The rotten apples were mostly Americans based in Toronto.
Longislandmovies, you were not there during the butter topping media scandals. There is a book in that alone about how a company can abuse their customers and employees and get away with it in NY.
Cineplex Odeon was a nightmare employer and a price gauging enterprise that made customers pay for bad leases, corrupt unions, and poor employee relations.
Cineplex was indeed odious, but not for Cinema Treasures purposes.
CINEPLEX ODEON WAS A BEACON OF CINEMA PRESERVATION WHO KEPT CINEMAS GOING LONG PAST THEIR DUE DATES AND AGAINST ALL ODDS. LET’S GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS EARNED.
The Alpine, Kingsway and Kings Plaza were among their most profitable theatres. The Fortway and Kenmore barely broke even and the Metropolitan produced huge losses.
Much of the Kenmore income came from the dubious tenants along Church Street, not the box office. I say dubious because the jeweler barely had any jewels and the bridal shop never paid the rent. The fish store in the corner often had as many cats as fish on the premises.
The Kenmore would have closed in 1988 if Drabinky had not insisted on taking it over and prolonging it’s life. Say what you wish about the man and his business sense, he kept theatres going way after they were profitable busineses and the Kenmore rarely broke even.
It often cost more to heat and cool this place than the total box office takings could pay for.
RKO was selling everything. United Artists was not taking over any old houses and Loews and City Cinemas wanted nothing to do with Brooklyn.
Cineplex Odeon was a bad employer, landlord, and an overly agressive operator in many ways, but it was a friend of preservation.
The Kenmore lasted as long as it did thanks to gory violent movies and Drabinky’s obsession with market share. Remember, it was Loews who shut it down.
ROXY
STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER (4 weeks)
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (6 weeks)
THE ROBE(13 weeks)
THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (7 weeks)
PEYTON PLACE (6 weeks)
Getting it right?
Wasn’t ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT about the poor German soldiers getting a beating in WWI?
Was THE DEER HUNTER a good message to send Vietnam veterans?
Weren’t GIGI, MY FAIR LADY, THE APARTMENT and TOM JONES promoting the exploitation of women?
Wasn’t GONE WITH THE WIND too kind to slavery?
Don’t get me wrong, I love all these movies, but I think the Oscars should be about quality achievement not politics. The Oscars would have nothing to be ashamed of if they had rewarded TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. As you inadvertently point out, everyone already knows it was the BEST PICTURE of that year anyway.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a product of Hollywood and now that it is going into wide release will ironically most likely outgross FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
What should have us concerned is the nomination and box office success of the Al Gore documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Why are we buying tickets for party platform power point presentations anyway?
I don’t understand.
The Oscars were designed as a way for studios to publicise their movies and stars. That was always their purpose.
That fact that so many years later they are still the big prize is credit to the fact they are not afraid to recognise some amazing non-Hollywood “product” (DAYS OF GLORY, VOLVER) and include some movies that count on Oscar to justify their wide runs (BABEL, PAN’S LABYRINTH) that may otherise never get noticed outside the arthouses of Manhattan and Seattle.
Duke, I grew up watching many of those with my family in Miami including the later Spanish films with Joselito, Marisol and Sara Montiel. If you get a chance do pick up a book called MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES by Rogelio Agrasanchez, Jr.
It is full of ad copy, poster art and anecdotes from that era and was written in English.
This theatre was located on Coral Way and Galloway Road.
Yes, the Wometco was at 163rd Street.
Thanks LM, I now recognise this as THE SCREENING ROOM where I saw GOSFORD PARK. It had old beat-up uncomfortable seats with several missing and I felt like I was sitting in a 42nd Street dive. Although it was booked for specialised films the filthy concession stand sold pizza, of all things.
I never went back.
“When (Ethel) Waters lived in Harlem she recalled that 125th street was still a ‘white boulevard’ and that the theatres on the street were segregated. ‘Colored people could only buy seats only in the peanut gallery in B.F. Keith’s Alhambra, and none at all in the other white show houses’. “
“Despite civil rights statues in northern cities that prevented racial segregation in theatres, the laws were rarely enforced and managers evaded the law. In 1905, two African Americans sued unsuccessfully when they were not permitted to buy tickets to New York’s Circle Theatre. On another occasion black patrons who obtained orchestra tickets were prevented from sitting in the white-reserved section when the manager broke the seats and ordered them to sit in the gallery. Racial segregation in the big-time venues as well as prejudice against black performers contrasted with the circuits’ publicity which celebrated vaudeville as a ‘democratic’ entertainment open to everyone.
from VAUDEVILLE WARS by ARTHUR FRANK WERTHEIM
“When (Ethel) Waters lived in Harlem she recalled that 125th street was still a ‘white boulevard’ and that the theatres on the street were segregated. ‘Colored people could only buy seats only in the peanut gallery in B.F. Keith’s Alhambra, and none at all in the other white show houses’. “
“Despite civil rights statues in northern cities that prevented racial segregation in theatres, the laws were rarely enforced and managers evaded the law. In 1905, two African Americans sued unsuccessfully when they were not permitted to buy tickets to New York’s Circle Theatre. On another occasion black patrons who obtained orchestra tickets were prevented from sitting in the white-reserved section when the manager broke the seats and ordered them to sit in the gallery. Racial segregation in the big-time venues as well as prejudice against black performers contrasted with the circuits’ publicity which celebrated vaudeville as a ‘democratic’ entertainment open to everyone."
from VAUDEVILLE WARS by ARTHUR FRANK WERTHEIM
The American Film Institute Desk Reference also backs this up but what the hell do they know.
Lanza was under contract to MGM and notoriously difficult to work with. He was always involved in battles at MGM with Louis B. Mayer, directors and stars. It was agreed that only his voice would be used in THE STUDENT PRINCE in order to keep him off the set and further projects at the studio. THE VAGABOND KING was a Paramount film and SEVEN HILLS OF ROME was filmed in Italy and away from the MGM lot while he was possibly already ill.
That compromise on THE STUDENT PRINCE was part of an agreement to lift an injuction against Mario Lanza by MGM for walking off the set and costing the studio a fortune.
You can find out more about the Mario Lanza battles in the Charles Higham book MERCHANT OF DREAMS: LOUIS B. MAYER, MGM AND THE SECRET HOLLYWOOD including Mayer’s purchase of the Rivoli, and eventually other United Artists theatres, in defiance of the Paramount Consent Decrees.
Really? Take a black friend for a drink at a Bay Ridge Bar at night.
I can’t imagine the owners expecting black audiences to fill the balcony of SYMPHONIE PASTORAL but perhaps the French owner thought all American theatres were segregated and prepared himself for this.
Let us not forget that most American troops were segregated during the war (unlike in the movies) and NYC was hardly a bastion of freedom for black people. In 1951 The Stork Club refused to serve Josephine Baker and unofficial “no-go” areas can still be found today.
I beg to differ.
This is no “cosmopolitan gentrified” Harlem neighborhood. Domino park has been the gathering spot for politicised anti-Castro retirees for years including many Bay of Pig veterans and more recently, anti-Sadinista activists.
I see no shame in this fact as many Miami exiles share those feelings. Most recently the center of this movement has moved to the younger and more vocal crowds that hang out at the popular Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho and 36th Street. Even president Bush has visited that location where effigies of Castro and Chavez have been burned.
I grew up in this neighborhood and am a Cuban-American and that park helped define the Tower’s audience for years. Movies from Cuba were not welcomed at the Tower although they play other South Florida neighborhoods without incident.
JWX, the theatre near Sergios was the Twin Gables, later the Gables Triple.
There is one listed in 1934 edition with 250 seats.
LOL. I think is acceptable to get misty eyed when you revisit the assassination of Bobby Kennedy but it’s downright embarassing when a CGI penguin is tap dancing and you incomprehensibly start weeping.
It happened to a friend of mine and I am sticking to that story.
Good point, Ken. I have found no other mention of the second Roxie(or Roxy?) and I wonder if it was a city center “colored” house.
I recently went by Coconut Grove and was pleasantly surprised to find the ACE is still there. The Ace is on 37th & Grand Avenue and, although briefly re-opened in the 70s as a blaxploitation house, it may have a history going back to the thirties with the Grove’s Afro-Caribbean audience. It ran live acts in the 70s as well so it probably has a stage. Like the Miami Roxie, it is never mentioned in South Florida history books.
Gents, below is a quote from the current manager:
“The old lift is still there but has apparently been decommissioned by the Westminster CC Health and Safety team in the late 80’s or early 90’s…
We still have the Soda Fountain restaurant in the basement but this area has been turned into a storeroom when Virgin Group refurbished the Haymarket to accommodate a new Cafe Bar between the Projection Booth 2 and 3."
Too beautiful for words. Check out the link while it lasts and look for the Capitol lobby postcard.
View link
District Managers and upper management were certainly better paid than the competition but hourly staff was minumum wage and theatres managers were poorly paid and often disrespected. The union options were outrageously corrupt offers and rightfully rejected by everyone as pensions were being blatantly stolen by the union chiefs. (some were eventually arrested, then reinstated)
The projection union was a series of no shows and the stagehand unions were dead overhead as most employees were too old to find the stage, much less change a light bulb.
The concessions workers unions disappeared after collecting dues and never represented anyone.
Even in the leaner years, Cineplex bonuses were paid only to upper level executives (those mainly responsible for the losses) and lower level employees got screwed out of all raises and bonuses. The rotten apples were mostly Americans based in Toronto.
Longislandmovies, you were not there during the butter topping media scandals. There is a book in that alone about how a company can abuse their customers and employees and get away with it in NY.
Cineplex Odeon was a nightmare employer and a price gauging enterprise that made customers pay for bad leases, corrupt unions, and poor employee relations.
Cineplex was indeed odious, but not for Cinema Treasures purposes.
CINEPLEX ODEON WAS A BEACON OF CINEMA PRESERVATION WHO KEPT CINEMAS GOING LONG PAST THEIR DUE DATES AND AGAINST ALL ODDS. LET’S GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS EARNED.
The Alpine, Kingsway and Kings Plaza were among their most profitable theatres. The Fortway and Kenmore barely broke even and the Metropolitan produced huge losses.
Much of the Kenmore income came from the dubious tenants along Church Street, not the box office. I say dubious because the jeweler barely had any jewels and the bridal shop never paid the rent. The fish store in the corner often had as many cats as fish on the premises.
I think your contempt is misplaced.
The Kenmore would have closed in 1988 if Drabinky had not insisted on taking it over and prolonging it’s life. Say what you wish about the man and his business sense, he kept theatres going way after they were profitable busineses and the Kenmore rarely broke even.
It often cost more to heat and cool this place than the total box office takings could pay for.
RKO was selling everything. United Artists was not taking over any old houses and Loews and City Cinemas wanted nothing to do with Brooklyn.
Cineplex Odeon was a bad employer, landlord, and an overly agressive operator in many ways, but it was a friend of preservation.
The Kenmore lasted as long as it did thanks to gory violent movies and Drabinky’s obsession with market share. Remember, it was Loews who shut it down.
Warren, it was indeed always the KIPS BAY until the January 1978 Walter Reade take-over. The porn years started in 1971.
Here are some playtimes:
ROXY
STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER (4 weeks)
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (6 weeks)
THE ROBE(13 weeks)
THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (7 weeks)
PEYTON PLACE (6 weeks)
RCMH
THE BAND WAGON (7 weeks)
It should also be noted that
Something’s not right here. I did not post that comment????