Fox Theatre
2211 Woodward Avenue,
Detroit,
MI
48201
2211 Woodward Avenue,
Detroit,
MI
48201
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 96 comments
Great new on the tower
As of last night it was up and running, the LED lighting and animated star, looks quite nice!
SORRY I’VE OFFENDED YOU!
RELIGION OFFENDS ME TOO!
RELATIONSHIP..WITH THE LORD, DOES NOT!
I PRAY YOU TO WILL KNOW HIM… IN A PERSONAL WAY,
THEN YOU TOO WILL DESIRE TO SHARE YOUR JOY OF HIM,
TO EVERY ONE YOU CAN.
NO MATTER WHAT LIFE HAS DELT TO YOU,… GOD STILL
LOVES YOU AND HAS A PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE.
MY PURPOSE WAS NOT TO OWN THE FOX!
HE’S A GOOD GOD!
BUFORD DOWELL
Speaking only for myself, your interest in the theater is appreciated. I could do without the religious propaganda, though. Plenty of other websites for that.
MY WHAT A GREAT PART OF AMERICIAN THEATER AND MUSIC HISTORY!
WITH JUST A “LITTLE BIT” OF SADNESS IN MY HEART… I’LL SHARE
THAT THE FOX PROPERTY WAS ALMOST DONATED TO MY NON-PROFIT,
CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATION … SOME YEARS AGO. (BEFORE ITS PRESENT
OWNER AND REFERBASHING PROJECT)
WITH GREAT JOY, TIME HAS PROVEN;“THAT IT WAS NOT GOD’S PLAN (FOR
MY LIFE,NOR FOR THE THEATERS FUTURE)
WITH PEACE.. I CAN TRUELY “GIVE HIM THINKS”.. FOR GUIDING MY
STEPS AND PREVENTING MY LIFE FROM MAKING A “WRONG TURN”…
THAT LOOKED VERY LUCRATIVE (FOR OUR INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY
AND MISSIONARY OUTEACHES).. BUT BEST FOR THE FATHERS DIVINE
WILL TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN OUR LIFES!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
WHEN WE STAND BEFORE THE FATHER… THE ONLY THING THAT WILL
HAVE ANY VALUE…“IN HOW MANY OTEHRS WE BROUGHT TO HEAVEN
WITH US!
“JUST ONE LIFE…TWILL SOON BE LOST;
ONLY WHATS' DONE FOR CHRIST… WILL LAST! ”
(REV. BUFORD DOWELL /)
*IN CHRIST … IS LIFE!
I just went up to earlier posts and read the Fox tower spec sheet so now know it is located on the roof of the building. Yes, great news!
SNWEB: Upon looking further I found some b/w photos that showed a roof tower that read FOX, vertically and it had a coned shaped top on it. Is this the tower of which you speak?
SNWEB: When I went to the ilitchholdings site I was told that the page cannot be found, but then clicked on the home page and saw a color photo of the vertical Fox marquee and a photo of a lovely looking couple. Is this tower that you speak of the Fox marquee that reads FOX, vertically?
They have a rendering under their photo gallery, as well as what the old one looked like. View link
They have already finished installing them (what a turnaround!), unfortunately I haven’t been down to get some photos of it yet.
Great news for the City of Detroit, but could someone post a photo of what this tower along the top of the Fox looks like? And to bruce c: There were only 18 Rockettes in the RCMH Christmas Spectacular in Charlotte.
Great news! The tower along the top of the Fox will be recreated with a cool LED scheme. Full info on that here: View link
Today Ilitch had a press conference that included the United Artists, Fine Arts Building, Fox Theater, former Madison-Lenox Site and Detroit Building.
Full press release here.
Pics are under Media Room>Photo Gallery
Yes, larger and breathtaking…..a must-see, in person someday!
lostmemory: Thanks for these interior photos. The word…palatial comes to mind!
Here is a picture of the Fox, Detroit showing the huge marquee and part of the huge auditorium and office building:
View link
Dictionary 101: The Shea’s Theatre in Buffalo presented the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular last November. A beautiful painting of the Shea’s can be found at www.thelmawinter.com listed under Unique Places.
lostmemory: Wonderful detail photo of the Fox marquee!
While the Fox Theatre is “technically” a movie house, its one screen is used very rarely and only for limited special engagements. I saw “The Wizard of Oz” there January 1991 or 1992. It was terrific to see that movie on a BIG screen — it was the first time I’d ever noticed the Tin Man’s rust! Most often, the Fox is home to live performances like the Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular, mentioned above, and Broadway-style productions. It’s a gem.
John:
Thanks for clearing things up!
Buster, You probably heard me playing before “Lawrence of Arabia” that was the summer of ‘89 and I was playing 4-5 nights a week. We set a retro house record of 4880 patrons for one show!. The projectors are still very much in place at the Fox, although not much in the way of films is going on. They are used for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show, to project the “One solitary life” text on the scrim, and a hokey “Santa flying over Manhattan” thing. The machines at the Fox are Cinemamechanica 35/70’s, they were installed in '89 right before the “Lawrence” showings. They replaced Simplex XL’s. The Fox booth is so huge it defies description. I played for many “Ben Hur” shows, but my good friend Tony O'Brien played the night of the Charlton Heston premier.
Buster: I don’t think there have been any movies shown at the Fox, Detroit for a few years now. In fact I am not sure the projection equipment is still there. I called the projectionists union local in Detroit last year to see any projectionists could get me up to the booth but I was told they have not sent anyone there for quite a while and he thought the equipment had been taken out. I could be wrong but thats the info I was given. Maybe John could weigh in here.
I was in the Fox last October and tried to see from the balcony what was behind the ports but I could not tell.
I also saw Ben Hur at the Fox years ago. What a magnificent and appropriate place to have seen it.
Although the exquisite Fox Theatre in Detroit is not exclusively a movie house, it is the largest active movie theatre in the USA. I have read where it has 4 more seats than the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Since the restoration of this historic marvel, I have seen there the restored rerelease of Lawrence of Arabia. I also saw Ben Hur (the 1959 version) in which Charlton Heston and his family attended and were in the audience. Charlton gave a short talk before the show. He said in todays dollars (this was around 1989 when he said it) it would cost over 150 million dollars to produce! This a a wide-screen cinema buff’s dream house.
The recently released (at the time of this posting) movie ‘The Upside of Anger’ has a scene showing the marquee of the Fox towards the end of the film for those that are interested. I wouldn’t have recognized it without looking it up here and for the fact the the movie was based in and around Detroit.
TC: Great photo and will help me spot it if I find myself in Detroit in August for the Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise!
Modern photo:
View link
To John Lauter- thanks for your kind response. I just completed a web search on the name Edgar Gress and, unfortunatley came up with an obituary notice: Gress, G. Edgar, American organbuilder, d. 2/1/1991 at 58; b. 1/5/1933. American Organist, v. 25 no. 4, April 1991.
Am enjoying the cinephoto.co.uk site. Thanks and it’s great to find a place on the internet to share with other cinema nuts! HO HO HO!