So do any of these films of the stage shows still exist or any of the old sets or are they all gone forever?
I assume the Nativity is gone and I know that somebody used the Rhapsody in Blue revolving disc to build an extension on his house.
I certainly would love to see films of all the big set pieces like the Bolero, Undersea Ballet, the Burning of Nome, Court of Jewels, Voyage of the Vikings etc.
But didn’t Lord Jim open as an Easter roadshow at Loew’s State and after a dismal few months(if that long) was then dumped onto drive-in double bills?
Also weren’t Magnificent Men and Hallelujah Trail the only roadshows to ever open as summer films and consequently neither made it to the fall?
The Scorcese mispelling was a typo but you got me on the Coppola.
I’ve always felt Scorcese had great taste in movies as an audience. We love a lot of the same films and I appreciate his attempt to evoke Minnelli, Cukor, Wyler, Visconti, and Ophuls in Innocence. But due to their cultural upbringing they had a style and taste which from what I’ve seen can no longer be recreated. That’s why everything to me in period films seems like Masterpiece Theater-weightless and dull.
Cukor could make Pat and Mike or MFL, Minnelli Gigi or Some Came Running, Ophuls Liebelei or Madame De, Visconti Rocco or Leopardo,
Wyler Carrie or Ben Hur. By the way they were also lucky with the craftsmen amd women they had working for them.
Yep, they were film giants. Is there a person alive today you could compare to them?(I’ll give you Bergman.)
Well I guess we agree to disagree on the Scorcese and Coppolla front as I find their films as exciting as somebody else’s unpleasant home movies.(Recently flipped on a channel and saw what I thought was a particularly dull and unimaginative Masterpiece Theater episode and it was Scrocese’s Age of Innocence one of the most beautiful of american books!)
But we agree on Manchurian Candidate. A terrific film and I was as surprised as you to see that ad.
By the way only a year separated Oliver and Midnight Cowboy.
I love the block ad Robert posted of SOM and Magnificent Men. I assume its from the summer of ‘65. And to think at the same time I saw MFL next store at the Criterion.
Boo to the nouvelle vague americane of the late 60’s and early 70’s.
It ruined movies forever.
Now tell me honestly all the movies of Coppolla, Scorcese and Altman put together are they worth How the West was Won in 3 strip Cinerama?
It did. I believe that Warners was about to lose the rights which were to revert to CBS and this was their last hurrah with MFL(how did Jack Warner get this film so right and 1776 so wrong?)
I saw it as well in the burbs and while not packed it was much better attended.
It played at the smallest of our local theaters which has since been turned into a quad.
I saw a late Saturday matinee and it was pretty empty(though in 70mm it had continuous perfs without an intermission. The mezz was priced higher-$3.50 than the orch or balc-$3.00.) I believe it ran for 3 weeks with Variety saying its weekly gross was 30K which seems improbable to me. It seems at that point the family movie going audience had completely turned its back on Times Square. My Fair Lady and the Criterion were the perfect movie-theater fit. The mass audience tastes had completely changed and it was painful to see.
By the way at the same time the unwatchable Love Story had long lines a block north at Loews State.
The reason why you probably cannot recall anything about this version is that it was very boring. This came right after the mediocre Promise at Dawn to be followed by a not very funny A New Leaf.
The stage show A Southern Medley had a sensational Rockette number called Bayou Rhythym and I’d sit through the whole thing all over again just to see it. This was also done with the film Picnic and unfortunately is lost to the ages. Why the current management of the Rockettes doesn’t insure the preservation of these routines is beyond me.
How typically idiotic of Radio City not to have had recently a gala showing of King Kong with Fay Wray in attendance. The place would have been packed. She died only very recently and I saw her twice not that long ago at Film Forum. That was a real thrill sitting near her watching her watch herself in a film made by Stroheim in the 20’s. Mind blowing.
I should have asked her if she enjoyed Jungle Rhythms.
Sorry this is off topic but is he well? He seems to have disappeared. The Martin and Lewis program at the Loews Jersey a couple of years back was movie heaven.
What is especially tantalizing about this great theater is the fact that it seems nobody who reads this site was ever in it. It was torn down so long ago that any of its regular patrons would be fairly old now and hardly surfing sites like these to share their experiences and impressions of this beautiful and epic building.
Its like discussing one of the wonders of the ancient world.
If I had the money to rebuild any theater this would be it.
The Astor and the Victoria were two separate theaters until Marriott slaughtered them.
The street long sign above them often advertised films that played at neither theater. However it seems that Loews State across the Street would advertise there frequently(The Bible, Dr Dolittle, the Godfather, Great Gatsby etc.)
The New York Times rarely discussed the stage show when reviewing a Music Hall film but I believe Bosley Crowthers singled out the Iwo Jima finale as being sensational. Though today its hard to imagine what the staging for such a thing might be.
The Music Hall paid much less than that to the film company(after all it is a prestige booking. You get to use in your advertising that it played the Hall.)
Also I don’t believe they paid very much to the staff and performers(what I did for love as they say in ACL.)
I believe at the end of Snow White’s run Variety reported that on a 5 week $550,000 gross Disney got $150,000.
Mike Igers should be happy with that today.
If the Music Hall were to reinstate its film stageshow policy at todays movie prices and to sell out all performances 4 times a day it would gross $1,746,360.00 a week which would be an improvement over the $200,000 it would gross a week in the 70’s. Though I believe 2001 grossed less than $100,000 for its one week run.
To Mlobel
See the first(Warren’s) posting on this page.
One of the most iconic of all NY photos is the shot of James Dean in Times Square with 20,000 Leagues on the Astor marquee.
The Astor and the Victoria were two separate theaters which had their own billboards until unification.
So do any of these films of the stage shows still exist or any of the old sets or are they all gone forever?
I assume the Nativity is gone and I know that somebody used the Rhapsody in Blue revolving disc to build an extension on his house.
I certainly would love to see films of all the big set pieces like the Bolero, Undersea Ballet, the Burning of Nome, Court of Jewels, Voyage of the Vikings etc.
But I believe between Jim and Ecstasy there were a few other films. did Jim even make it to May?
But didn’t Lord Jim open as an Easter roadshow at Loew’s State and after a dismal few months(if that long) was then dumped onto drive-in double bills?
Also weren’t Magnificent Men and Hallelujah Trail the only roadshows to ever open as summer films and consequently neither made it to the fall?
Interesting that Mary Poppins is still playing at a number of theaters a year after it opened. And at the Cinema Village and 68th Street no less!
How long was she on stage considering it was two a day 7 days a week and there was a bill of other acts?
Oh my goodness I must have a mental block. However I never mispell Minnelli.
The Scorcese mispelling was a typo but you got me on the Coppola.
I’ve always felt Scorcese had great taste in movies as an audience. We love a lot of the same films and I appreciate his attempt to evoke Minnelli, Cukor, Wyler, Visconti, and Ophuls in Innocence. But due to their cultural upbringing they had a style and taste which from what I’ve seen can no longer be recreated. That’s why everything to me in period films seems like Masterpiece Theater-weightless and dull.
Cukor could make Pat and Mike or MFL, Minnelli Gigi or Some Came Running, Ophuls Liebelei or Madame De, Visconti Rocco or Leopardo,
Wyler Carrie or Ben Hur. By the way they were also lucky with the craftsmen amd women they had working for them.
Yep, they were film giants. Is there a person alive today you could compare to them?(I’ll give you Bergman.)
Well I guess we agree to disagree on the Scorcese and Coppolla front as I find their films as exciting as somebody else’s unpleasant home movies.(Recently flipped on a channel and saw what I thought was a particularly dull and unimaginative Masterpiece Theater episode and it was Scrocese’s Age of Innocence one of the most beautiful of american books!)
But we agree on Manchurian Candidate. A terrific film and I was as surprised as you to see that ad.
By the way only a year separated Oliver and Midnight Cowboy.
I love the block ad Robert posted of SOM and Magnificent Men. I assume its from the summer of ‘65. And to think at the same time I saw MFL next store at the Criterion.
Boo to the nouvelle vague americane of the late 60’s and early 70’s.
It ruined movies forever.
Now tell me honestly all the movies of Coppolla, Scorcese and Altman put together are they worth How the West was Won in 3 strip Cinerama?
What a great color photo of Times Square in all its 50’s glory! I’d like to see more like this.
This was also a premier road show house in the late 20’s and early 30’s roadshowing such films as King of Kings and Cavalcade.
It did. I believe that Warners was about to lose the rights which were to revert to CBS and this was their last hurrah with MFL(how did Jack Warner get this film so right and 1776 so wrong?)
I saw it as well in the burbs and while not packed it was much better attended.
It played at the smallest of our local theaters which has since been turned into a quad.
I saw a late Saturday matinee and it was pretty empty(though in 70mm it had continuous perfs without an intermission. The mezz was priced higher-$3.50 than the orch or balc-$3.00.) I believe it ran for 3 weeks with Variety saying its weekly gross was 30K which seems improbable to me. It seems at that point the family movie going audience had completely turned its back on Times Square. My Fair Lady and the Criterion were the perfect movie-theater fit. The mass audience tastes had completely changed and it was painful to see.
By the way at the same time the unwatchable Love Story had long lines a block north at Loews State.
The reason why you probably cannot recall anything about this version is that it was very boring. This came right after the mediocre Promise at Dawn to be followed by a not very funny A New Leaf.
The stage show A Southern Medley had a sensational Rockette number called Bayou Rhythym and I’d sit through the whole thing all over again just to see it. This was also done with the film Picnic and unfortunately is lost to the ages. Why the current management of the Rockettes doesn’t insure the preservation of these routines is beyond me.
How typically idiotic of Radio City not to have had recently a gala showing of King Kong with Fay Wray in attendance. The place would have been packed. She died only very recently and I saw her twice not that long ago at Film Forum. That was a real thrill sitting near her watching her watch herself in a film made by Stroheim in the 20’s. Mind blowing.
I should have asked her if she enjoyed Jungle Rhythms.
Thank you Scott. How wonderful-all these neighborhoods filled with grand theaters showing movies. How unimaginable it seems today.
Sorry this is off topic but is he well? He seems to have disappeared. The Martin and Lewis program at the Loews Jersey a couple of years back was movie heaven.
What is especially tantalizing about this great theater is the fact that it seems nobody who reads this site was ever in it. It was torn down so long ago that any of its regular patrons would be fairly old now and hardly surfing sites like these to share their experiences and impressions of this beautiful and epic building.
Its like discussing one of the wonders of the ancient world.
If I had the money to rebuild any theater this would be it.
The Astor and the Victoria were two separate theaters until Marriott slaughtered them.
The street long sign above them often advertised films that played at neither theater. However it seems that Loews State across the Street would advertise there frequently(The Bible, Dr Dolittle, the Godfather, Great Gatsby etc.)
The New York Times rarely discussed the stage show when reviewing a Music Hall film but I believe Bosley Crowthers singled out the Iwo Jima finale as being sensational. Though today its hard to imagine what the staging for such a thing might be.
The Music Hall paid much less than that to the film company(after all it is a prestige booking. You get to use in your advertising that it played the Hall.)
Also I don’t believe they paid very much to the staff and performers(what I did for love as they say in ACL.)
I believe at the end of Snow White’s run Variety reported that on a 5 week $550,000 gross Disney got $150,000.
Mike Igers should be happy with that today.
If the Music Hall were to reinstate its film stageshow policy at todays movie prices and to sell out all performances 4 times a day it would gross $1,746,360.00 a week which would be an improvement over the $200,000 it would gross a week in the 70’s. Though I believe 2001 grossed less than $100,000 for its one week run.
Biography(Leslie Ann Warren) last night showed a bit of the Pantages at the time of the world premiere of Disney’s Happiest MIllionaire.
What a gorgeous view of Times Square. To have known it then. Sigh.
To Mlobel
See the first(Warren’s) posting on this page.
One of the most iconic of all NY photos is the shot of James Dean in Times Square with 20,000 Leagues on the Astor marquee.
The Astor and the Victoria were two separate theaters which had their own billboards until unification.