Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
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A correction to the Virtual Radiogram main page address above: www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm
I have been using the latest free version of the Realplayer at www.real.com to play sound files from websites I have visited. The basic updated version should be able to play a number of types of files. On the main page of the Virtual Radiogram, which is www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm, one of the website users says that what you basically need is the Windows Media Player to play the files, especially if you have a Mac computer(the basic free updated version of Realplayer will play Windows Media Files, I believe). Go to the above web address and scroll a little more than halfway down to see this information. It mentions Winamp, but apparently what you need in the long run is a player that can handle Windows Media Files. Hope this is helpful.
Mike, that site listed to hear the various organ doesn’t produce sound for some reason. I have no problem with sound on other sites. Am I not doing something I should? I clicked where indicated and all I got was a blank screen saying “done.” And I was so looking forward to hearing them.
If anyone wants to hear sound files of vintage recordings of the Roxy’s three Kimball organs, go to www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/USAfiles.htm Scroll more than halfway down to hear Gordon Seaman play the 5 manual Kimball and down further to hear Lew White play both the Lobby Kimball and the studio Kimball. Even with these older recordings you can tell how lush a typical Kimball organ sounds.
Sorry, that should have been Gae Foster Girls
Warren, one has to wonder if the bike act completed by the Gew Girls was more difficult than the Rockettes “March of the Wooden Soldiers"
How many times did either of them fall down :)
Gable at the Roxy
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Bill Heulbig—
Me, I’m the anamorphic image of the guy who thought CinemaScope 55 an exciting process.
Warren—
So Lois Moran’s stint in “The Dancers” came after “Renegades” — that’s a bummer. The latter, with Myrna Loy and Bela Lugosi (though second- and third-billed after Warner Baxter) evidently drew the sixty-four legs back from B'klyn to the Main Stem. Ahh. For a brief, shining moment—two weeks in all—, Fabian’s Fox knew glory.
This New York Daily News ad features 1956 Roxy patrons praising “Carousel” and CinemaScope 55. It’s hard to read the names, but you think there are any Cinema Treasures regulars in there? :)
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BoxOfficeBill: Thanks to you, I was able to hand out photocopies of an actual 1956 Roxy program to each viewer when I showed “Giant” on a movie night several months ago. Also did the same thing with your Radio City program for “The Nun’s Story”. Cinema Treasures hasn’t been the same without you. It’s good to have you back!
Here’s a Program from exactly Fifty Years Ago Today:
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“Bus Stop†opened at the Roxy on 31 Aug. ’56. The next day, the ever phlegmatic Bosley Crowther surged in his NYT review: “MM Arrives: Glitters as Floozie,†and went on to gush: “Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. MM has finally proved herself an actress in ‘Bus Stop.’ She and the picture are swell!†I immediately phoned my friend, and we hightailed to E. 50 Street on the BMT.
Seeing this picture at the Roxy remains one of the most exhilarating movie-going experiences of my life. Maybe it’s because as a fourteen-year-old I unexpectedly but hormonically enjoyed MM for the very first time, and instantly intuited a lifetime of sexual bliss ahead of me. Maybe it’s because the whole presentation at the Roxy was just terrific, topped off by a stage extravaganza that displayed the incomparable work of the set designers and technical crew. For a detailed description, scroll above to my previous post of 5 January 2006.
Oustanding, B.O. Bill! Thanks for all that great info and those wonderful vintage news clippings. Are those from a ProQuest subscription or did you fetch those from a physical Library archive?
Thanks for all the info about Grandeur at the Roxy. I had all along imagined that “The Big Trail†opened on the wonderful MagnaScope screen at the Rivoli. It drove me to the archives for some context. Here’s the opening day ad (NY Times, Friday 24 Oct. ’30) promoting “15 Big Reasons†to crash the Roxy’s gates:
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Apparently the Roxy suspended its stage presentation during this film’s run. There’s no mention of a live show in the copy. Meanwhile, the following Sunday (26 Oct. ’30) the Times included a ad (lower right) for the B’kln Fox announcing a De Luxe stage show with “32 Roxyettes, Courtesy Roxy Theater N.Y,†implying that the sixty-four legs took to the IRT when Grandeur preempted the boards on W. 50th (we hope Russell Markert provided carfare: a nickel could also buy a Depression apple):
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The same page (upper right) touts the Gala Opening of our treasured RKO Mayfair later that week, with Amos ‘n’ Andy in “Check and Double Check.†Patrons of RKO Vaudeville could have enjoyed Ruth Etting, Pat Rooney, William Gaxton, and Morton Downey at the Palace, or, over the river in B’kln again, Lillian Roth at the Albee. The RKO nabes were holding forth with “All Quiet on the Western Front†(mid-right column):
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The stage at the Roxy deserved its brief respite. Just three weeks later, “The Big Trail†reached a disappointing dead end and was replaced by Lois Moran in “The Dancers†The theater’s footlights blazed to life again with 250 artists in a Dance Spectacle titled “Rhythm.†The NY Times’s ad for Friday 14 Nov. ’30 links the Roxy to the B’kln Fox with the same film day-dating there, accompanied by the latter’s own stage show. (Fanchon and Marco, then at the Fox, had been regulars at the Roxy.) This coupling mirrors the pairing of the Times Square and B’kln Paramounts with their day-dating of “Laughter,†accompanied by different stage shows (me, I would’ve subwayed to Rudy Vallee instead of to Block and Sully). The same day, “Morocco†opened at the Rivoli, displacing Eddie Cantor’s early-Technicolor “Whoopee†after its seven-week run there:
All the while, no fewer than five reserved-seat road-shows occupied B’way: “War Nurse†at the Astor; “Kismet†(with Warner Bros.’ own unadvertised VitaScope wide-screen process) at the Hollywood; “Outward Bound†(displacing George Arliss in “Old English†at the Warner Bros).; D.W. Griffiths’s “Lincoln†at the Central (aka on this site Movieland; but also named seriatim Gotham, Holiday, and Forum); and Howard Hughes’s “Hell’s Angels†day-dating at the (old) Criterion and the Gaiety (aka Victoria). Wide-screens, reserved seats, and suspended stage showsâ€"all premonitions of the later 1950s-1960s when H’wood despaired and resorted to gimmicks.
Warren the Grandeur version of “Song O' My Heart” was not shown, it was presented only in a 35mm version. The Grandeur version would be a 70MM presentation.
Thanks a lot William.
This, regarding “Song of My Heart” from the first link: <<A strange film as the songs were sung but the dialogue was silent with title cards.>>
Sounds pretty bizarre, but then, that aptly describes “The Jazz Singer” as well – Jolson’s unintentionally recorded ad-lib “You aint seen nothin' yet…” notwithstanding. Of course, you would think that after going through the expense of filming in the new process and it being 1930 already that it would have been an all-talking film!
Ed
There was not that many films that used the Grandeur format.
There was three shorts and three features.
SHORTS:
Fox Grandeur News (70MM)
Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (70MM)
Niagara Falls (70MM)
FEATURES:
Happy Days (70MM Roxy-NYC) 35mm Carthay Circle-LA)
Song o' My Heart (35mm only)
The Big Trail
NOTE: The premiere program for the opening of “Happy Days” featured a 35mm and a 70MM strip of film, showing the different sizes.
There really is not much on the format, other than in70MM.com
http://www.in70mm.com/library/formats/grandeur.htm
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Mister Ralph… I don’t think anyone is ignoring you. I would presume that no one who has a recollection of your performances at the Roxy has read your comment yet. As for myself, I wasn’t even a twinkle in my father’s eye when this magnificent showplace was pounded to dust.
William… do you know any good resources for information on the Grandeur process and the films exhibited under that banner? Unfortunately, the excellent Widescreen Museum website only passes a glancing notice.
“The Big Trail” (Oct. 1930) was the last Grandeur product from Fox. At that time it became a Presentation Gimmick. Since the studios were not making any presentations in the Grandeur or Magnascope formats. The theatre chains used it as a gimmick, since the screens and masking were still hanging in the theatres.
Why are you ignoring me….?
Ralph Heid (Mister Ralph)
An open letter to LOST MEMORY and WARREN.
Can you please tell us what the problem is? You are both incredible contributors to this site and I think I speak for several CT members here who look forward to your every post.
Although on some level I do enjoy a bitchfest, what’s it all about?
LOST MEMORY first, I will play Oprah for you. Do you think we care about contributor’s personal lives?bTell me about it, honey? (hand folded, eyes glistening)
Al
The Gaiety Theatre (Victoria Theatre) presented some 70MM Grandeur shorts “Fox Granduer News”,“Movietone Folles of 1929” & “Niagara Falls” in Sept. 1929. And the 44th. Street Theatre presented “Song o' My Heart” in 35mm version, I have two dates Mar. 11, 1930 or Sept. 7, 1930 for that film.
One more try….
As a child prodigy, I appeared at the Roxy 1957.
It would be great to find someone who can remember me, so we could talk about “the good old days”. My name is Ralph Heid and they called me “Mister Ralph”. I played the xylophone. (I still do and work a lot on cruise ships at the moment).
Anybody around who remembers? The films were “The Girl Can’t Help It”, “Heaven Know Mr. Allison” and “Anastasia”. I was in the recue shows on the ice-stage.
Please answer…. :–)
regards
Ralph Heid (Mister Ralph)
http://www.heid.net
Warren, my friend, Cinema Treasures would be nothing without your always interesting and often educational posts. Please continue to enlighten and entertain us with your posts. I am sure I speak for many when I say I appreciate them very much.
Was the Grandeur Screen actually installed for that early 70mm widescreen process of the same name that had been experimented with in films such as Raoul Walsh’s “The Big Trail” starring John Wayne? Was the Roxy NYC’s exclusive Grandeur theater?
Wow! That is an astonishing collection of autographs, Frank P! Were all of these signatures obtained during that narrow period of 1947-1950? That would certainly make the challenge of compiling dates and other anectdotal information a lot easier… and I’m sure there are at least a couple of amatuer historians here who would be glad to research Roxy that data and share it here. And perhaps even a few who could recount first hand experience.