Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 376 - 400 of 1,225 comments
I have in my possession close to 1500 original negatives of the Roxy Theatre dating from 1934 – 1937. They are all during performance.
My family owned photo labs in NYC for many years (we bought the labs from the original owners ) and when we shut them down 12yrs ago I found these negs hidden under the metal shelving.
Some images include the Ballet Russe, The 3 Stooges, Olsen and Johnson, Lacoste playing tennis, and every floor show to perform there.
There are a few circuses and A LOT of full stage images of the most amazing set design.
Please tell me what I can do with this archive.
Thanks,
Dave M. Shapass
This plaque used to be in the Grand Rotunda of the Roxy:
http://tinyurl.com/m8fh5f
Here is an interior photo, circa 1920s:
http://tinyurl.com/p6y7pg
AldoCP. I too worked the Roxy as an usher 1953-1955. See my posting 12/25/08. Glad to know someone other than myself is still alive and online.
I believe the person who signed off as “Roxy Rothafel” 3/10/08 is a fraud. Once I fell asleep in the owner’s box. Don Poland came within the blink of an eye to firing me for that. If the alleged “Roxy” he can identify the location of the owner’s box and the means of getting there in a few words.
Housechecker
“By the way, Mr. Rothafel’s first name was "Samuel” not “Roxy”."
That is indeed true. But as he would say on his radio program, he was known as Roxy to his friends “…and when you write, you can call me that, too.” :)
Renewing link.
I was an usher at the Roxy during the summers of 1953-1955. I was at the world premier of “The Robe”, and I remember that the program began with a film of a symphony orchestra playing the last movement of the Tchaikovsky fourth, ostensibly to show off CinemaScope for the first time. The curtain then closed and when it was reopened to begin “The Robe” the right hand side of the curtain did not move. It was a disaster. After the film began, the curtain did eventually open. For a young high school kid, it was a great place to work for the summer.
By the way, Mr. Rothafel’s first name was “Samuel” not “Roxy”.
Actually, I think if Mr. Rothafel were still alive today he would probably shoot himself.
Hello Everybody,
Thanks for remembering when showplace meant showplace and cathedral meant my place. Every place else was, well, modestly put, no place. The Fox fanfare in my place meant “get set for magic!”(well at least. most of the time). Gone is the love that was once divine, as F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote in “The Great Gatsby” but it is still nice to be remembered by Cole Porter and in “Guys and Dolls”. Ben Hall did a nice job of telling my story in his “The Best Remaining Seats”. Today when I want to see a show, I float over to Jersey City to Loew’s Jersey where the big show is still a big show. It’s still hard to believe that this “nabe” survived and I tip my top hat to those involved who value the importance of “setting” in proper presentation. The rich, warm sound of that 4/23 Wonder Morton wafting up from the orchestra pit out into the rotunda as I approach my seat makes me misty eyed. When the carbon arc projection lights up that big screen, everything old is new again. I certainly have made some adjustments but it’s nice to see that good taste in motion picture viewing can be had for the price of a ticket to this cathedral of the motion picture. Great popcorn too…
Actually, my mistake — the circular windows are not original.
You can click on the Google Maps link at the top of the page to get both aerial and street-level views of the site. The red pointer will point to the entrance at the Taft hotel. The auditorium was just to the right, between the Taft Hotel and the Time-Life building. It is a very plain modern building about 7 floors high, the facade all large glass rectangles. You can still see the arched and circular windows on the TGIF restaurant facade, although the marble paneling appears newer.
As I don’t live in the U.S. I wonder if someone in New York would be kind enough to post a photo of the building that now occupies the site of the the Roxy. From memory. (quite some years back) I think it is totally nondescript but that one may since have been torn down as well for something else.
Thank you for that photo. I had not realized the Roxy’s marquee stretched around the corner, like RCMH’s, but onto Seventh Avenue.
Is that the Taft Hotel (still there under a different name, I believe) holding up the marquee?
MarkDHite, you are sure right about Pen.Station I can almost not bear to even look at old photos of the gratest transport terminal ever built and never to be equalled for sure.
Also the Capitol, not perhaps as glamorous as the Roxy but more pure in its architectural treatment and certainly, in my opinion,Thomas Lamb’s masterpiece (and that includes the S.F. Fox)
Oh well, there may be a chance of the Brooklyn Paramount coming back to life again and the Beacon, although much smaller is still a gem and will be fantastic once fully restored.
Don’t forget Grand Central Station was on the chopping block as well, in the 1970s.
and later on the Rivoli and the State. And the list goes on and on. For as big a city as New York is, they had no desire whatsoever to save anything old and historic, like say Chicago or St. Louis, or Oakland CA. In New York it was always out with the old, in with the new. Heck if it wasn’t for some last minute miracle, Radio City would have bit the dust in the late 70’s.
The eternal shame of New York City has a lot to regret, starting with Pennsylvania Station, one human history’s great buildings, not to mention the old Metropolitan Opera House, the Roxy, the Capitol, the 72nd Street, and the Paramount Theatres.
Thanks brucec for the info. on the “Naked City”. I remember seeing the clip of the rotunda years back and have never been able to find out since which film it was from.
I don’t live in the U.S. so didn’t visit the Roxy in my early years but have always considered it (from photos) to be the greatest movie palace of them all and its loss so quickly in the early 60’s has to be forever to the eternal shame of New York City.
RE:
“Its still strange there was no goodbye show for the Roxy which would have done well as a fond goodbye to one of the most important movie palaces in the world.It seems that parties involved didn’t want to draw any attention to the closing of the Roxy.”
Not so strange when you realize the parties involved were Rockefeller Center and Willam Zeckendorf, who both wanted the ROXY out of the way as quickly and quitely as possible. The closing, though reported in trade publications, barely made the daily newspapers and most average New Yorkers were not aware it was to be demolished until after the closing.
FreedomLand, the failed Bronx Disneyland want-to-be amusement park, was advertised on the ROXY marquee during the summer of 1960 after the theatre closed for good and was being demolished. Zeckendorf was very involved with the creation of FreedomLand
Interesting, in late 1959 Variety, reported that Robert Rothafel and a group of other investors, were considering presenting lavish sophisticated “Las Vegas type” entertainment at the ROXY along with live TV broadcasts and other event shows. Also the NY Philharmonic was looking for a home after being ousted from Carnegie Hall and was considering the ROXY. None of these plans ever saw the light of day. The Philharmonic eventually went to Lincoln Center which was already in the final planning stages. And what became of Robert Rothafel after the ROXY closed? Anyone know.
I found this site 6 hours ago. First, I wrote a long piece starting with “Today is Christmas 2008. I know where I was Christmas 1953. I was a 16 year old usher working in the Roxy. I got kicked out twice before getting logged on. I started with "Peter Pan” (its last day). Next came “Pick Up On South Street.” I stayed until “The Left Hand of God.” I thank Roxydon for reminding me of all those people I worked with. However Don’s name was “Poland” not “Pollack.” Don Poland was the captain of the permanent closing shift which I joined in the winter of 1953 because I could have Sundays and Mondays off. By 1955 I had grown into a pretty cushy job. I seem to have gotten all the special assignments such as running the mimograph machine for schedules, going to the Stage Deli or the Taft for the guys in the keno booth and the managers, running the staff elevator and, best of all, housechecking. Hence my name “Housechecker.”
Housechecker
OK. Now let’s see if I can get in.
Housechecker
I saw “The Naked City” last night on TCM and it was great to see the interior shot of the Auditorium and the Rotunda of the great Roxy Theatre.brucec
It would be interesting if someone posted the grosses of the films that played the Roxy from 1957-1960. I would like to see the erosion that contributed to the demise of the Roxy after “Windjammer”.The Roxy and Radio City were the only two theatres combining movies and stage shows. It seemed the Roxy still did well with its Christmas Shows, its the rest of the year that is the problem. Its still strange there was no goodbye show for the Roxy which would have done well as a fond goodbye to one of the most important movie palaces in the world.It seems that parties involved didn’t want to draw any attention to the closing of the Roxy. I remember when Radio City was about to close for the last time with the movie “Crossed Swords” and the grosses were huge. The Fox in San Francisco was given a major Goodbye show and both theatres were controlled by Fox for most of there lives.brucec
You are, indeed right about attendance and grosses Warren, but the point I was trying to make was that the Roxy made a good choice for the holidays. And 7th Voyage did a lot better than either the plodding Inn of Sixth Happiness or dull Rally Round the Flag would have done.