One of Freed’s best musicals including two of MGM’s best production numbers staged by the amazing Robert Alton. Too bad they didn’t use the Magnascope screen for the spectacular Varsity Drag finale. Comden and Green called it their Battleship Potemkin(it was a joke.) The wonderful Patricia Marshall(‘I wish somebody loved me the way you love you.’ Said by Allyson) the last cast member died last December shortly before her 95th birthday.
On Christmas day the city got hit by the blizzard of ‘47(the worst since ‘88, more than 2 feet) bringing the city to a standstill for several days killing business everywhere. But I bet the Music Hall staff had to show up.
As per CC’s The Brain ad this was the last Thanksgiving film at the Hall. The following year’s Billy Wilder disaster Sherlock Holmes which was considered the Thanksgiving film had to be pulled so Scrooge and the Nativity entered a couple of weeks early and precipitated the entire early/mid November Christmas cultural change.
First movie I saw here was Mary Poppins about Christmas of ‘64.Then SOM summer of '67 on the film’s first Jersey non reserved seat engagement roll out. Maybe it had just ended its 2 year run at the Bellevue in Montclair. Also war movies like Patton and Midway. I also saw Rollercoaster in Sensurround. Others as well.
Airport played at the Oritani which I saw there after seeing it at Radio City. As opposed to the art deco Fox it was rather detailed ornate in the 20s fashion but at that point very shabby unlike the Fox whose interior which was maintained and quite beautiful and designed with gorgeous concealed lighting to show of its detailed art deco craftmanship. Look at the black and white interior photo and imagine it colorfully lit. One thing one does not get when looking at the interior photos of these theater at their completion is how beautifully they were lit. Certainly a lost art when they are restored. It’s usually lights on/lights off.
Funny how still in ‘67 the newly posted picture could be from the 50s except for the film and the women’s clothes. In a matter of only a few years this was sadly going to drastically change. And films on the boardwalk would be movies like Klute and Shaft.
The winter photo with Oliver on the marquee actually looks like'69.
Is that the Krakatoa East of Java 45th to 46st billboard going up?
They knew Star was being pulled early at the Rivoli so that had to come down but I believe it made it through the holiday season. I saw it then. Looks like Ice Station Zebra is still at the Cinerama or at least the billboard is still up.
Reds had a souvenir program? Didn’t even know Star Wars had one when it opened. In fact last one I remember seeing on sale at a counter was Cabaret at the Ziegfeld.
Interesting that a few times in the 30s up until the very early 40s a Christmas film didn’t make it to the New Years holiday. I wonder if it was because the Christmas film was a disappointment in terms of attendance or they just wanted a new film. The very first Christmas film made both holidays. I believe Babes on Broadway(for some reason the only Garland/ Rooney to play the Hall) and Philadelphia Story were the last New Years' films and huge hits. Or did H.M.Pulhman Esq. also not make New Years?
I saw Carnovsky 40 years later in King Lear in CT. And amazingly Colbert a few times on Broadway.
Well Oliver was a blowup like Funny Girl a block south so I don’t think that counts. They look good but they would have looked better in 70mm. Too bad at this point fewer films were using this process along with the following years PYW. After Airport they were all blowups I believe until Tron(actually a mutt, but I kind of enjoyed it for its visual effects) a disappointment which seems to be getting a lot of love close to 40 years on. The Disney ride currently in Shanghai will open in Orlando in ‘21. The pov is on youtube which if you get it through your tv looks kind of cool.
Well Kennedy does not actually do the hatchet job I was expecting. In fact he seems to have found it not half bad. I was fortunate enough to have seen it at the Warner Cinerama with its quite spectacular sound system and 80ft screen.
May I add that you have given us a wonderful shot of the world premiere of this film in front of the Criterion. May you post many more but without the tart observations which definitely put a crimp in your contributions. I may not like a crude trashy racist graphic exploitation film like Mandingo which turned the Criterion into a sleazy 42nd street grind house a couple of blocks north but as a gentleman I simply stay clear of discussing it.
DEFG
Let me put you straight.
You clearly have missed quite a bit.
On this site we discuss many things. Not only the theaters, but the movies that played there, the memorabilia that was sold in the theater and how the movies are presented to us in the present day. Sometimes we go off on tangents but that is because we all find ourselves on the same page and the thought of one film that played here might bring us to a film that played at a theater close by. But if you switched to that theater no one would know you had written a response.
In case you are unaware these theaters sold such important memorabilia as souvenir books. I had remarked that when I saw Nick and Alex at this theater the book was not available and found it strange as it exists. This brought us to a discussion of the film itself and I was informed by bigjoe that it was available on bluray. Sadly I missed it as it sold out but he is now informing me of what he found to be an excellent bluray of Anne. If he had informed me of this on the Plaza page I very probably would have missed it.
The Criterion stopped being a treasure in 1980 when it was sliced and diced which is now 40 years ago. There are precious few of us left who can offer our experiences of what it was like to enter into these magical places to see films.
Earlier in the month I talked about Marni Nixon dubbing in the film of My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady had its world premiere at this theater in Oct of ‘64. This started a discussion of dubbing in films. Now we couldn’t go jumping about to all the theaters that featured movies in which actors were dubbed could we?
I hope you can join us in these somewhat wandering nostalgic threads as longtime contributors are inevitably joining the Roxy and Carthay Circle in the sky. But lay off Funny Girl. It is a Criterion Theater classic and its last hit roadshow film. If you feel a deep need to trash it go to Amazon where your type are welcomed though admittedly by very few.
bigjoe do you have the original 2001 souvenir book? The long horizontal rectangular one with the original space exploration cover art? How many do you have and what condition are they in? It goes for quite a bit of money on ebay. I have mine in a closet somewhere. Haven’t looked at it since forever. Though I brought it with me to the play Doubles to get Dullea to sign it but chickened out at the last minute. Got it new by going to the National Publishers office itself where I got a slew of in new condition souvenir books. You see the address for it in many of the 60s roadshow films books. But I’m sure you know this.
For anyone who wants to see the back wall of the Rivoli with its 7th Av billboard when it was showing 80 Days there is a photo of it on ebay. I had never seen it before though there are a number of photos of the front marquee. From France $165.There must be some fan of the Rivoli with deep pockets.
Happened at the Paramount in Asbury Park as well. I assume this is the only time in Jersey shore history a film played through the autumn and winter through to the following summer. Even the other biggest roadshow hits like South Pacific(surprisingly,) WSS and MFL were gone by the autumn while they continued their big city engagements.
Virginia had the 70MM roadshow version of GWTW so this would have been the time period of Camelot. I remember all the display photos outside the theater walking by it in the summer of ‘68. Above the theater was a faded billboard of Thoroughly Modern Millie which might have played there summer of '67.
Was reading about Jack Davis and when his father took his first trip to NY he walked out of the subway in Times Square and saw the IAMMMMW billboard. He was like Wow! Davis was very proud.
I do think it’s fun that he’s mimicking when films played at legitimate theaters early in the 20th century. The odd thing is that there will be 8 performances a week rather than 10 or 14(I’d love to see a sign out front (Two Performances Daily.)Will there be reserved seats,a film program? One thing I object to very strongly is the pricing. There are no tiered prices and $15 is a very paltry sum for a roadshow run. A mezz as well as orchestra ticket should be at least $40. Because it’s a drama. A musical would be more.
How is Russell? Could they have kept her tracks in? I heard Kirk sing some of Gypsy in a tribute to Styne at Avery Fisher. Unfortunately I forget what exactly.
I believe she knew. It caused quite the kerfluffle before the film opened. Nixon claimed Previn blamed her for spilling the beans. Though how could anyone not know Hepburn did not have a trained voice after Funny Face and Breakfast? I think there is also a clip of the red carpet interviewer asking Hepburn about it as she stops to talk at the entrance of the Criterion going into the world premiere. Why such a shrewd experienced actress like her did not have it in her contract that she would do her own singing I do not understand. The way she was led on caused her great embarrassment. Watch her give the Oscar to Rex on youtube. This lady was beyond classy.
One of Freed’s best musicals including two of MGM’s best production numbers staged by the amazing Robert Alton. Too bad they didn’t use the Magnascope screen for the spectacular Varsity Drag finale. Comden and Green called it their Battleship Potemkin(it was a joke.) The wonderful Patricia Marshall(‘I wish somebody loved me the way you love you.’ Said by Allyson) the last cast member died last December shortly before her 95th birthday.
On Christmas day the city got hit by the blizzard of ‘47(the worst since ‘88, more than 2 feet) bringing the city to a standstill for several days killing business everywhere. But I bet the Music Hall staff had to show up.
I thought Charade broke the 300k mark.
Another rather odd Music Hall coupling of film and stage show. I guess you had to be there.
As per CC’s The Brain ad this was the last Thanksgiving film at the Hall. The following year’s Billy Wilder disaster Sherlock Holmes which was considered the Thanksgiving film had to be pulled so Scrooge and the Nativity entered a couple of weeks early and precipitated the entire early/mid November Christmas cultural change.
First movie I saw here was Mary Poppins about Christmas of ‘64.Then SOM summer of '67 on the film’s first Jersey non reserved seat engagement roll out. Maybe it had just ended its 2 year run at the Bellevue in Montclair. Also war movies like Patton and Midway. I also saw Rollercoaster in Sensurround. Others as well.
Airport played at the Oritani which I saw there after seeing it at Radio City. As opposed to the art deco Fox it was rather detailed ornate in the 20s fashion but at that point very shabby unlike the Fox whose interior which was maintained and quite beautiful and designed with gorgeous concealed lighting to show of its detailed art deco craftmanship. Look at the black and white interior photo and imagine it colorfully lit. One thing one does not get when looking at the interior photos of these theater at their completion is how beautifully they were lit. Certainly a lost art when they are restored. It’s usually lights on/lights off.
Last summer of Palisades Park. The up coming Winston Towers condos will cost you 22k a pop.
Funny how still in ‘67 the newly posted picture could be from the 50s except for the film and the women’s clothes. In a matter of only a few years this was sadly going to drastically change. And films on the boardwalk would be movies like Klute and Shaft.
The winter photo with Oliver on the marquee actually looks like'69. Is that the Krakatoa East of Java 45th to 46st billboard going up? They knew Star was being pulled early at the Rivoli so that had to come down but I believe it made it through the holiday season. I saw it then. Looks like Ice Station Zebra is still at the Cinerama or at least the billboard is still up.
And I wonder in what cities they played in D150 theaters. NY wasn’t one of them.
Reds had a souvenir program? Didn’t even know Star Wars had one when it opened. In fact last one I remember seeing on sale at a counter was Cabaret at the Ziegfeld.
Interesting that a few times in the 30s up until the very early 40s a Christmas film didn’t make it to the New Years holiday. I wonder if it was because the Christmas film was a disappointment in terms of attendance or they just wanted a new film. The very first Christmas film made both holidays. I believe Babes on Broadway(for some reason the only Garland/ Rooney to play the Hall) and Philadelphia Story were the last New Years' films and huge hits. Or did H.M.Pulhman Esq. also not make New Years?
I saw Carnovsky 40 years later in King Lear in CT. And amazingly Colbert a few times on Broadway.
Well Oliver was a blowup like Funny Girl a block south so I don’t think that counts. They look good but they would have looked better in 70mm. Too bad at this point fewer films were using this process along with the following years PYW. After Airport they were all blowups I believe until Tron(actually a mutt, but I kind of enjoyed it for its visual effects) a disappointment which seems to be getting a lot of love close to 40 years on. The Disney ride currently in Shanghai will open in Orlando in ‘21. The pov is on youtube which if you get it through your tv looks kind of cool.
Well Kennedy does not actually do the hatchet job I was expecting. In fact he seems to have found it not half bad. I was fortunate enough to have seen it at the Warner Cinerama with its quite spectacular sound system and 80ft screen.
May I add that you have given us a wonderful shot of the world premiere of this film in front of the Criterion. May you post many more but without the tart observations which definitely put a crimp in your contributions. I may not like a crude trashy racist graphic exploitation film like Mandingo which turned the Criterion into a sleazy 42nd street grind house a couple of blocks north but as a gentleman I simply stay clear of discussing it.
DEFG Let me put you straight. You clearly have missed quite a bit. On this site we discuss many things. Not only the theaters, but the movies that played there, the memorabilia that was sold in the theater and how the movies are presented to us in the present day. Sometimes we go off on tangents but that is because we all find ourselves on the same page and the thought of one film that played here might bring us to a film that played at a theater close by. But if you switched to that theater no one would know you had written a response.
In case you are unaware these theaters sold such important memorabilia as souvenir books. I had remarked that when I saw Nick and Alex at this theater the book was not available and found it strange as it exists. This brought us to a discussion of the film itself and I was informed by bigjoe that it was available on bluray. Sadly I missed it as it sold out but he is now informing me of what he found to be an excellent bluray of Anne. If he had informed me of this on the Plaza page I very probably would have missed it.
The Criterion stopped being a treasure in 1980 when it was sliced and diced which is now 40 years ago. There are precious few of us left who can offer our experiences of what it was like to enter into these magical places to see films.
Earlier in the month I talked about Marni Nixon dubbing in the film of My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady had its world premiere at this theater in Oct of ‘64. This started a discussion of dubbing in films. Now we couldn’t go jumping about to all the theaters that featured movies in which actors were dubbed could we?
I hope you can join us in these somewhat wandering nostalgic threads as longtime contributors are inevitably joining the Roxy and Carthay Circle in the sky. But lay off Funny Girl. It is a Criterion Theater classic and its last hit roadshow film. If you feel a deep need to trash it go to Amazon where your type are welcomed though admittedly by very few.
bigjoe do you have the original 2001 souvenir book? The long horizontal rectangular one with the original space exploration cover art? How many do you have and what condition are they in? It goes for quite a bit of money on ebay. I have mine in a closet somewhere. Haven’t looked at it since forever. Though I brought it with me to the play Doubles to get Dullea to sign it but chickened out at the last minute. Got it new by going to the National Publishers office itself where I got a slew of in new condition souvenir books. You see the address for it in many of the 60s roadshow films books. But I’m sure you know this.
For anyone who wants to see the back wall of the Rivoli with its 7th Av billboard when it was showing 80 Days there is a photo of it on ebay. I had never seen it before though there are a number of photos of the front marquee. From France $165.There must be some fan of the Rivoli with deep pockets.
Happened at the Paramount in Asbury Park as well. I assume this is the only time in Jersey shore history a film played through the autumn and winter through to the following summer. Even the other biggest roadshow hits like South Pacific(surprisingly,) WSS and MFL were gone by the autumn while they continued their big city engagements.
Alvarez you are fast.
Mike knew that but he was being difficult.
What’s an anagram for Cinerama?
Virginia had the 70MM roadshow version of GWTW so this would have been the time period of Camelot. I remember all the display photos outside the theater walking by it in the summer of ‘68. Above the theater was a faded billboard of Thoroughly Modern Millie which might have played there summer of '67.
Was reading about Jack Davis and when his father took his first trip to NY he walked out of the subway in Times Square and saw the IAMMMMW billboard. He was like Wow! Davis was very proud.
I do think it’s fun that he’s mimicking when films played at legitimate theaters early in the 20th century. The odd thing is that there will be 8 performances a week rather than 10 or 14(I’d love to see a sign out front (Two Performances Daily.)Will there be reserved seats,a film program? One thing I object to very strongly is the pricing. There are no tiered prices and $15 is a very paltry sum for a roadshow run. A mezz as well as orchestra ticket should be at least $40. Because it’s a drama. A musical would be more.
How is Russell? Could they have kept her tracks in? I heard Kirk sing some of Gypsy in a tribute to Styne at Avery Fisher. Unfortunately I forget what exactly.
I believe she knew. It caused quite the kerfluffle before the film opened. Nixon claimed Previn blamed her for spilling the beans. Though how could anyone not know Hepburn did not have a trained voice after Funny Face and Breakfast? I think there is also a clip of the red carpet interviewer asking Hepburn about it as she stops to talk at the entrance of the Criterion going into the world premiere. Why such a shrewd experienced actress like her did not have it in her contract that she would do her own singing I do not understand. The way she was led on caused her great embarrassment. Watch her give the Oscar to Rex on youtube. This lady was beyond classy.