Roxy Theatre

Oops Warren – have I done something wrong? I didn’t mean to divert any attention away from the great Roxy Theater but thought this site could be about about movie palaces in general because there ARE postings here about other theaters, apart from the Roxy. Especially because it may be interesting that a former movie palace has had a re-birth – a bit unusual these days.
I stand corrected.
Richka

Here’s egg on my face! I should have read Simon L’s posting more carefully. Seached it on IMDB and “D Day the 6th of June” is a movie released in 1956, so that’s what he is referring to.
Ziggy – Of course, any time. Cinema Treasures database gives a list of members. I believe – with email addresses. Or look further on my website and you should find mine. I drive through Gallop occasionally en-route to Santa Fe.
Richard

SimonL. Surely you didn’t mean D Day, 6th of June! That was 1944. Films you mention, i.e., King and I, Bus Stop, etc. played the Roxy in 1956. That must be the year you worked there. Am I right?
Richard

It would be great if someone would list the films by decade that played the Roxy and the number of weeks which was done for the San Francisco Fox, which played many of the same Fox films through the decade.IM still amazed that the Roxy which was a key flagship house in the movie industry went out with very little fanfare and the San Francisco Fox went out with a bang. The Roxy was far more successfull in its lifetime than the SF Fox but both theatres were among the best ever built. brucec

Hi Ziggy – that’s a very good question. As a 16/17 year old I guess I thought of it mainly as a job. At least better than running a hotel elevator or in a drug store or other things that teenage boys do. I think I was paid $28 a week – ushers got far less. But yes, in a way it was kinda glamourous. Like many of the other boys there at that time, I was taking classes and trying to break into show biz – auditions and such. Now, in my declining years I regret that I didn’t take the opportunity then to investigate the actual theater more as it certainly was a magnificent structure. I did occasionally wander backstage and talked with some of the dancing Roxyettes or their Escorts. Once even ran an errand for Danny Kaye who was a
headliner and also Ima Sumac, an exotic Peruvian singer of the period.
My reaction when it was torn down? I was in Europe at the time so
didn’t notice but I think would have been saddened.
Since that time of long ago I’ve performed in theaters all over the world but the Roxy is still very much fixed in my memory as first humble steps into show biz. Quite honestly, it means much more to me now than it did then.
Thanx for asking.
Richard

Another memory. Besides the rotunda concesson stand there was a smaller one in the balcony foyer. Sometimes I worked there as well. The long grand staircase led up to it. Sometimes at peak periods there would be long lines of patrons waiting on this staircase. From my vantage point I could look out a small window to the rotunda below and also see the full curve of the grand staircase. There was one usher I remember who would entertain the waiting crowds with his acrobatic tricks: cartwheeling up and down the grand staircase and finishing with a full split. The waiting patrons always laughed and applauded.
The outer lobby with cashiers was corner of 50th and 7th Ave. Today that lobby is a TGIF restaurant. Somewhere I saw a photo of it including the building behind, built on the spot where the Roxy once stood.
Richard

I was looking at the films distributed by the major studios in the early 1960’s and production was almost half of what it once was and there didn’t seem like there was enough quality first run films to sustain both the Roxy and the Music Hall. The Studios big pictures in the 1960’s were the roadshow format which required a long run which the Roxy and Music Hall weren’t able sustain. The Studios wanted the Roadshow to provide income over a period of time for there balance sheets. The Roxy did have some major hits in the late 1950’s like Peyton Place and Imitation of Life but it seems the theatre never recovered from the major flop “Windjammer”. Simon I would like you to talk a little more about the films that played the Roxy when you worked there. It seems 1956 and 1957 were good years for the Roxy and in a few short years the theatre was torn down.The Roxy was the second biggest grossing theatre in the world when it was open and was second only to the Music Hall.brucec

It’s wonderful hearing first-hand accounts from people who were actually there.

Thank you very much!

Communication from the ushers to the various house managers was constant from all sections of the theater. This was relayed to the lobby from the doormen to the managers to the cashiers by phone. Every usher kept track of the flow and knew exactly how many (or few) seats there were in his charge. Ushers reported to managers by telephone every five minutes during busy times and we also used hand signals to give both numbers and locations. As far as the loge was concerned, patrons would often change their minds once they had purchased a regular admissions ticket, if the wait for orchestra seats appeared to be too long. Because the loge only seated 1,000 patrons, it would fill up quickly during pressure business.

I also reall expecting more of a third dimension effect as implied by the advertising. I think all of course in all I was more impressed with Cinerama and 3-D.

While I didn’t get a chance to see CinemaScope at the Roxy, I have seen pictures of the screen, which was indeed within the proscenium, so no seats would have been cut off as with the Capitol’s Cinerama. That may not have been the case with Cinemiracle at the Roxy. In that case, since the screen was deeply curved for three projector projection, my bet would be that it was extended beyond the proscenium for effect.

According to Warren’s comment above the screen was 68' x 24' which would have made it almost exactly the width of the Music Hall screen (70' x 35'). The Roxy’s screen was slightly curved however, which may have made for a more impressive picture, and which would have met the Fox CinemaScope standards. Because a curved screen at the Hall would have involved taking up too many fly lines, the Hall stayed with a flat screen, and thus couldn’t show any of the first Fox CinemaScope product. It was a year later when MGM ran “Knights of the Roundtable” at the Hall that the first CinemaScope picture was shown there. MGM said they didn’t care if the screen was curved or not.

Fo those who saw Cinemascope in the mid 50s at both the Roxy and Music Hall which was the more impressive presentation?
Also when the Roxy was showing this format was it entirely in the proscenium and were any seat sections cut off like they did at the Capitol when it became a road show house?