The last time I saw the Shore it was I believe playing The Love Machine.
I voted to pass gambling in Atlantic City thinking this would restore the City to its former glory. Which for me meant restoring the great hotels and the great theaters. Of course this just hastened the demise of what made the city great in the first place. I now avoid it totally. Losing money fast in large impersonal casinos holds no allure for me whatsoever.
Jersey lost so much in letting its great shore towns run down. I wonder if I’m the only one who noticed. Well in allowing it I’m sure the politicos made a ton of money.
I always assumed the Music Hall always had such long lines because it was just more popular. If the lines were too long at the Hall you went to the Roxy because you knew you’d get in. Also why did such major Fox film as some of the Temple films at her height of popularity, On the Avenue, Anna and the King, and The Ghost and Mrs Muir play at the Hall and not at the Roxy?
I love this movie and think it is one of the American greats. So where did the geniuses at AFI put it on their list of great American films? Before or after Star Wars? Or Rocky?
Though that’s not Herbert Marshall. When he goes off camera for a moment some other guy takes his place. Marshall had a fake leg so he couldn’t do it.
I wish I didn’t know this stuff it ruins the illusion.
Part of the effect of that scene is its brilliant direction and cinematography. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Maybe someone who’s a Hellman expert has some more information on the screenplay and what she’s was forced to add.
To give Goldwyn his due he was also a businessman. So reuniting the lovers in heaven was his way of giving the customers a happy ending. Todays producers are guilty of far worse sops to insure higher grosses for their films.
And by the way Hellman herself might have been responsible for Richard Carlson in order to give the film a stronger social conscience.
Speaking of which I was watching last night Little Foxes on TCM and imagining I was seeing it at the Music Hall in ‘41. So why did the Wyler/Goldwyn Wuthering Heights play at the Rivoli rather than the Music Hall? And why 66 years after the fact am I asking this question?
The point I was trying to make was that Sweet Charity is one of the last of the great Hollywood musicals and is fully deserving of a major film revival as it was originally presented on roadshow. There have been in the last few years a number of opportunities to see Cabiria in a theater and none to see Charity. I happen to disagree with the consensus on Cabiria and think that both Fellini and Masina have done finer work(I find her waif thing cloying though her final moments are wonderful.) And Simon improves on both the character of Oscar and the sequence with Vittorio. The Pompei Club is Fellini if he were making a Hollywood musical. Sensational!
But still I resent the thinking that started during the American new wave of the late 60’s and early 70’s that musicals were somehow lesser forms of film ‘art.’ When a great film musical is properly presented it is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have in a cinema.
And by the way I definitely do not want to see Charity letterboxed at Film Forum.
With the upcoming revival on Broadway it should get the deluxe restored treatment at the Ziegfeld. It won’t though because it’s a musical(ugh!) So Film Forum will show Cabiria because its got the art house cache(definately not one of Fellini’s best.)
Although Charity must have looked and sounded great at the Rivoli it probably should have opened at the Music Hall. It would have had a big success there.
William I thought Charity was a bigger roadshow flop than Star only making it until the early summer. I’m pretty sure it was showcase by then. Correct me if I’m wrong.
By the way its better than Cabiria and one of Fosse’s best. Ah, to have seen it at the Rivoli.
It might have played until Feb of ‘69 as they already had Sweet Charity planned for Easter. Does anybody have pictures of the Star billboards on Times Square and the back of the Riv? Saw these as a boy and they were great.
For Todd AO seating was lost not only from the front but from the sides as well with the new screen in front of the proscenium. From what I could tell the proscenium was covered not destroyed. One saw it rising above the new curtains for the curved screen.
I think what they had there was musical prologues as it was primarily a picture house. I had assumed there had to be some minimal stage space and dressing rooms for orchestra and performers and that this was the space used for the store.
Now that I know the Todd AO screen had been removed and the front of the theater moved up almost 20 ft in effect destroying the space I’m glad I never went back.
The Warner Cinerama kept the Cinerama orchestra just as it was after they separated the balcony without putting in a low ceiling. So the 70mm on Broadway festival at the end of the 70’s was wonderful.
The Criterion during its road show era was one of the greats. Too bad they didn’t maintain this instead of the Ziegfeld. The Criterion was champagne, the Ziegfeld coca cola.
I could never go into the Rivoli after the twinning. The Criterion was horrible enough. I thought the cheapo store on 7th av utilized the former stage and dressing room area but I guess I was wrong. This means they had to completely destroy the proscenium and simply make the orchestra a smaller box turning a theater into a screening room. So for the twinning they had done enough damage precluding any possibility of landmark status.
Concerning the plaque to Robert Wise listing his films and the length of their engagements at the Rivoli. I asked once if he received it on the demolition of the theater. Not only did he not receive it but he said he had completely forgotten about it.
So I wonder who took it.
Funny when i was a boy in the 60’s big budget Hollywood movies were for the most part for adults to which they could bring their children. Now its a guy in a gorilla suit running around with a laser in front of a computer screen. With of course some twinkie spiritual transcendental junk layered on top with a trowel.
Wouldn’t Robert Wise have an original road show cut in his vaults?
Also Funny Girl and Oliver don’t mention 70mm only Panavision. The thinking being that if it was not genuine 70mm it was false advertising to mention it. I have to agree. If it was not filmed in the process even ‘presented in 70mm’ while literally true is misleading.
I do believe though Wagon and Charity advertised 70mm but were filmed in 35mm.
To CC,
I understand that Dress circle for the new Star Wars in the Odeon Leicester Square in London will be $35 a ticket reserved seats. So that if it were a roadshow presentation with the distribution that implies you probably could get $45-50 a ticket.
Yes that would be a great idea. To install a larger curved screen maybe 65 to 80 ft with a curtain. Suitable for all formats much like the NY Capitol after Cinerama was installed there until it’s demise. So that between first runs they could show all types of widescreen restored classics so they could make money instead of being dark.
But of course that would make too much sense. I’ve found in life that for the most part that when it seems as though people don’t know what they’re doing they really don’t know what they’re doing.
CC There is also an interesting article from the summer of 69 in the NY Times about the waning of the roadshow as a preferable means of launching a big budget movie(not to mention the fact that big budget Hollywood movies were very quickly becoming a thing of the past in 69.)
After Todd AO Dolly left the Rivoli in the summer of ‘70 Fox put in the grainy slapdash Altman MASH.
Can anything be more symbolic?
The last time I saw the Shore it was I believe playing The Love Machine.
I voted to pass gambling in Atlantic City thinking this would restore the City to its former glory. Which for me meant restoring the great hotels and the great theaters. Of course this just hastened the demise of what made the city great in the first place. I now avoid it totally. Losing money fast in large impersonal casinos holds no allure for me whatsoever.
Jersey lost so much in letting its great shore towns run down. I wonder if I’m the only one who noticed. Well in allowing it I’m sure the politicos made a ton of money.
I always assumed the Music Hall always had such long lines because it was just more popular. If the lines were too long at the Hall you went to the Roxy because you knew you’d get in. Also why did such major Fox film as some of the Temple films at her height of popularity, On the Avenue, Anna and the King, and The Ghost and Mrs Muir play at the Hall and not at the Roxy?
I love this movie and think it is one of the American greats. So where did the geniuses at AFI put it on their list of great American films? Before or after Star Wars? Or Rocky?
Though that’s not Herbert Marshall. When he goes off camera for a moment some other guy takes his place. Marshall had a fake leg so he couldn’t do it.
I wish I didn’t know this stuff it ruins the illusion.
Part of the effect of that scene is its brilliant direction and cinematography. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Maybe someone who’s a Hellman expert has some more information on the screenplay and what she’s was forced to add.
To give Goldwyn his due he was also a businessman. So reuniting the lovers in heaven was his way of giving the customers a happy ending. Todays producers are guilty of far worse sops to insure higher grosses for their films.
And by the way Hellman herself might have been responsible for Richard Carlson in order to give the film a stronger social conscience.
Speaking of which I was watching last night Little Foxes on TCM and imagining I was seeing it at the Music Hall in ‘41. So why did the Wyler/Goldwyn Wuthering Heights play at the Rivoli rather than the Music Hall? And why 66 years after the fact am I asking this question?
Warren you’re getting cranky again. A few loose threads always add interest.
The point I was trying to make was that Sweet Charity is one of the last of the great Hollywood musicals and is fully deserving of a major film revival as it was originally presented on roadshow. There have been in the last few years a number of opportunities to see Cabiria in a theater and none to see Charity. I happen to disagree with the consensus on Cabiria and think that both Fellini and Masina have done finer work(I find her waif thing cloying though her final moments are wonderful.) And Simon improves on both the character of Oscar and the sequence with Vittorio. The Pompei Club is Fellini if he were making a Hollywood musical. Sensational!
But still I resent the thinking that started during the American new wave of the late 60’s and early 70’s that musicals were somehow lesser forms of film ‘art.’ When a great film musical is properly presented it is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have in a cinema.
And by the way I definitely do not want to see Charity letterboxed at Film Forum.
Kander and Ebbs cheap cynicism was another death knell for the musical.
With the upcoming revival on Broadway it should get the deluxe restored treatment at the Ziegfeld. It won’t though because it’s a musical(ugh!) So Film Forum will show Cabiria because its got the art house cache(definately not one of Fellini’s best.)
Although Charity must have looked and sounded great at the Rivoli it probably should have opened at the Music Hall. It would have had a big success there.
William I thought Charity was a bigger roadshow flop than Star only making it until the early summer. I’m pretty sure it was showcase by then. Correct me if I’m wrong.
By the way its better than Cabiria and one of Fosse’s best. Ah, to have seen it at the Rivoli.
It might have played until Feb of ‘69 as they already had Sweet Charity planned for Easter. Does anybody have pictures of the Star billboards on Times Square and the back of the Riv? Saw these as a boy and they were great.
For Todd AO seating was lost not only from the front but from the sides as well with the new screen in front of the proscenium. From what I could tell the proscenium was covered not destroyed. One saw it rising above the new curtains for the curved screen.
I think what they had there was musical prologues as it was primarily a picture house. I had assumed there had to be some minimal stage space and dressing rooms for orchestra and performers and that this was the space used for the store.
Now that I know the Todd AO screen had been removed and the front of the theater moved up almost 20 ft in effect destroying the space I’m glad I never went back.
The Warner Cinerama kept the Cinerama orchestra just as it was after they separated the balcony without putting in a low ceiling. So the 70mm on Broadway festival at the end of the 70’s was wonderful.
The Criterion during its road show era was one of the greats. Too bad they didn’t maintain this instead of the Ziegfeld. The Criterion was champagne, the Ziegfeld coca cola.
I could never go into the Rivoli after the twinning. The Criterion was horrible enough. I thought the cheapo store on 7th av utilized the former stage and dressing room area but I guess I was wrong. This means they had to completely destroy the proscenium and simply make the orchestra a smaller box turning a theater into a screening room. So for the twinning they had done enough damage precluding any possibility of landmark status.
Concerning the plaque to Robert Wise listing his films and the length of their engagements at the Rivoli. I asked once if he received it on the demolition of the theater. Not only did he not receive it but he said he had completely forgotten about it.
So I wonder who took it.
Funny when i was a boy in the 60’s big budget Hollywood movies were for the most part for adults to which they could bring their children. Now its a guy in a gorilla suit running around with a laser in front of a computer screen. With of course some twinkie spiritual transcendental junk layered on top with a trowel.
Wouldn’t Robert Wise have an original road show cut in his vaults?
Also Funny Girl and Oliver don’t mention 70mm only Panavision. The thinking being that if it was not genuine 70mm it was false advertising to mention it. I have to agree. If it was not filmed in the process even ‘presented in 70mm’ while literally true is misleading.
I do believe though Wagon and Charity advertised 70mm but were filmed in 35mm.
To CC,
I understand that Dress circle for the new Star Wars in the Odeon Leicester Square in London will be $35 a ticket reserved seats. So that if it were a roadshow presentation with the distribution that implies you probably could get $45-50 a ticket.
Yes that would be a great idea. To install a larger curved screen maybe 65 to 80 ft with a curtain. Suitable for all formats much like the NY Capitol after Cinerama was installed there until it’s demise. So that between first runs they could show all types of widescreen restored classics so they could make money instead of being dark.
But of course that would make too much sense. I’ve found in life that for the most part that when it seems as though people don’t know what they’re doing they really don’t know what they’re doing.
They did Robert in ‘73 and it was pathetic.
CC There is also an interesting article from the summer of 69 in the NY Times about the waning of the roadshow as a preferable means of launching a big budget movie(not to mention the fact that big budget Hollywood movies were very quickly becoming a thing of the past in 69.)
After Todd AO Dolly left the Rivoli in the summer of ‘70 Fox put in the grainy slapdash Altman MASH.
Can anything be more symbolic?