Radio City Music Hall

Let me echo Bob Endres' sentiment about the 1964-65 Hall adverts. My Grandpa Joe took me to the Hall for the first time in the summer of 1964. I was four years old. The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Follies ‘64 was the first show I saw there. It was the first of 11 visits with him, days that transcended special. It changed and defined my life. We were always among the first 50 people to enter the Hall for the day’s first show. We sat house left of the lighting console, Joe in the seat now designated as BB 413. Mine was the lone seat in Row AA, long since removed. I still consider it as “my seat”. I remember being so small and the Hall so big that when the bandcar rose, I did not know if they were rising or the building was sinking. For almost 50 years, I have cherished every moment I spend at RCMH. I know that OSHA regulations have changed the illusion somewhat. I hope someday they figure out how to leave the bandcar out of sight until showtime without anyone falling into the pit.

Bob, I know the Hall did not present films in “roadshow” format though I recall seeing at least one with an intermission. Could it have been The Great Race in 1965?

Stephen, thanks for posting the ads for the 1964-5 season at the Hall. The “Mary Poppins” ad has particular signifcance for me as I was in New York for the first time on my own after getting out of college and had come to attend a convention of the Society of Motion-picture and Television Engineers. I wrote to the Ben Olevsky, Head Projectioist at the Hall to ask if I could see the booth during my visit and got an invitation from Ben to call him. On my first night before I had a chance to call I stumbled on the Hall and bought a ticket to see “Mary Poppins”. A few days later Ben gave me an extensive tour of not only the booth but the whole facility. I was awed to actually be able to walk into the booth that I had been curious about for so long.

It was almost exactly ten years later I was again awed to walk into that booth — this time as the newly hired Head Projectionist. The “Poppins” ad brings back a lot of memories as it marked the start of something that continued for 35 years.

In anyone is interested, I have posted ads for all nine of the program changes at RCMH in1964. This was first year of the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65 (hard to believe it was 50 years ago) from April into October. You can find the ads in the RCMH photos section.

January 26th marked the 75 anniversary of the premiere of Gunga Din. See photo section.

I forgot to add that one of the main things that helped that was the change to 7000 watt lamps. Add in all many, many minor changes and adjustments the last few years and the 3-D effect works very well.

On the subject of 3D, I recall that in 1954 (or was it 1953?) the Music Hall decided not to show Kiss Me, Kate in 3D, opting for the flat version for various technical reasons. One was that so many seats in the huge hall were located off-axis and there was significant loss of light when wearing glasses (typical of 3D projection even today). Wonder if that has been resolved in some way …

Local news station WABC7 in New York is reporting that there is an electrical fire burning in the basement of the hall and the building is full of smoke.

I’ve really enjoyed these comments, and I’ve got another dimension for everyone to consider: the surmise of film is likely part of a larger loss… that of the tradition of spectacular theater, as opposed to just “entertainment.”

I, too, saw the Spectacular this year and observed the continuation of a trend that brings a bit of sadness. While there are clearly so many talented and dedicated people working on this show, it is becoming sub-standard when measured against what the Hall is actually capable of doing. The magic and surprise of transitioning sets are gone, the numbers no longer crescendo and build, one of the world’s most technically proficient and unique stages is more or less static, the organ at best is used as a sweetener for the soundtrack. When new technology is introduced, it comes off as weak gimmick. (Those who saw the “snowflake” number understand what I’m talking about all too well… did anyone at all watch the stage or did we all just look up, wonder and worry about the weirdo orbs?)

No doubt there is a very real need for contemporizing the show for younger audiences – we don’t want to end up where we were in the mid-seventies with an irrelevant format putting the theater in danger of extinction. As a theater-goer, I’m first likely to hang the director, who admittedly has done wonderful things to restore the proficiency of the Rockettes (though while putting them through the paces of the most sophomoric choreography –- what’s with all the incessant pointing?!).

I think this is a three-pronged problem… art vs. commerce vs. talent. The first two are a necessary evil and will forever co-exist. The third, well, that’s just a shame — a lack of imagination and understanding of spectacle in the middle of an embarrassment of riches that is The Showplace of the Nation.

I’m not giving up. My fingers are crossed for Hearts & Lights. Pensively.

We are fairly certain that the 3-D film will still be used for next year. It just works too well and is still an important feature in the show. They still had some problems with the LED 3-D wall this year so it would be risky putting it on that. In the 7 years or so that I’ve been here, we lost the film for a show only 2 times.

The surround speakers that were put in actually are used for the entire show, not just film. They are also used in a lot of the events during the year.

Thanks for your comments Mark but the legend here is Bob Endres. Also, few people know that the man that worked with Bob here, is retired but still works about 10 days doing the Christmas Show with us. Andy plans on being here next year too. Remind early in the show next year and I will give you a tour of the booth.

Thank you rcdt55b. I’m sure she will be asked to return. It will give her a break from her other job a few blocks awy, Motown the Musical. On another note, I’m hoping to someday be able to meet the legend that is rcdt55b, as one projectionist to another.

And as a side note, after tonight my wife will have completed her 6th season as a dresser for the Rockettes at the hall on the Christmas Show.

It will be removed next week during load out and installed again next October during load in for next year’s show.

Mike, the 3-D video game sequence is on a separate LED wall made up of many horrible looking panels that do indeed have distracting seams (film wouldn’t do that…but that’s for another discussion). The second 3-D scene that I’m assuming you’re talking about is the Santa fly-in to Radio City. That is still 70MM film shown on the large silver screen and not the picture sheet. As I said earlier, the picture sheet has been removed.