Moviebuff82, it has never made much of a profit but the screenings and premieres have always kept it going. I doubt cash cow would be a fitting term with low box office most of the year and high rent all year round.
Vito, I know Cineplex replaced the whole motorized curtain mechanism during one of the remodels only to have it fail a couple of weeks later.
Vito, the Ziegfeld was a Union stagehand house for over twenty five years and they were not successful. Back then all New York movie theatres had stagehands, even those without a stage.
LuisV, I am in favor of Landmarking the Ziegfeld interior and would love to see a multiplex built around the original screen to make it more financially viable.
The only human strong enough to be a curtain operator at the Ziegfeld might be Jean Valjean from the original novel or perhaps Clearview could get one those soon to be unemployed super heroes from the Hollywood crap machine.
Call it a clunker or bad karma but I worked for Cineplex Odeon for almost ten years, much of that time out of the Ziegfeld. In spite of weekly maintenance and a full time Union stagehand, that curtain was always broken and cost more money on lost shows and repairs than it was worth. We loved classic presentations but we all hated the damn thing.
If you look at previous posts here, the curtain has never worked for more than a few weeks at a time regardless of who owned or managed the theatre. It is an albatross that has lead to many canceled performances and a fortune in repair costs over the years. It is too heavy to pull manually and takes weeks sometimes to get repair parts.
Even presentation conscience Walter Reade Theatres used to tie it up before a major screening for fear of it shutting the house down. I suppose a more profitable theatre would have replaced it years ago with the flimsy cheaper horizontal version that many legit theatres now have.
There is no such thing as an “open ended engagement”. If the film is overselling, the distributor can open additional runs since they own the rights and the Ziegfeld can either pull it or play with other runs. The days of exclusive roadshow runs operated that way because the distributors wanted to create that exclusivity, not because the theatre had a contract. Oscars, financing issues, reviews and audience apathy trump any contract, and always have.
bigjoe, according to Variety “ANNE FRANK” only did well in New York and Miami Beach, which means it did not work without a significant Jewish audience. In Miami Beach it was advertised as a feel-good light comedy.
Nope. Because it was accomplished by inflated 3D/LIEMAX gimmick pricing at big city cinemas.
Audiences are fed up and it is a recipe for disaster.
Great website on the history of Miami Cuban Exile theatre.
http://scholar.library.miami.edu/miamitheater/introduction.html
Moviebuff82, it has never made much of a profit but the screenings and premieres have always kept it going. I doubt cash cow would be a fitting term with low box office most of the year and high rent all year round.
Vito, I know Cineplex replaced the whole motorized curtain mechanism during one of the remodels only to have it fail a couple of weeks later.
I doubt that very much.
Vito, the Ziegfeld was a Union stagehand house for over twenty five years and they were not successful. Back then all New York movie theatres had stagehands, even those without a stage.
This seems to be closed again. The intro mention as the Seminole must be a typo.
LuisV, I am in favor of Landmarking the Ziegfeld interior and would love to see a multiplex built around the original screen to make it more financially viable.
The only human strong enough to be a curtain operator at the Ziegfeld might be Jean Valjean from the original novel or perhaps Clearview could get one those soon to be unemployed super heroes from the Hollywood crap machine.
Call it a clunker or bad karma but I worked for Cineplex Odeon for almost ten years, much of that time out of the Ziegfeld. In spite of weekly maintenance and a full time Union stagehand, that curtain was always broken and cost more money on lost shows and repairs than it was worth. We loved classic presentations but we all hated the damn thing.
If you look at previous posts here, the curtain has never worked for more than a few weeks at a time regardless of who owned or managed the theatre. It is an albatross that has lead to many canceled performances and a fortune in repair costs over the years. It is too heavy to pull manually and takes weeks sometimes to get repair parts.
Even presentation conscience Walter Reade Theatres used to tie it up before a major screening for fear of it shutting the house down. I suppose a more profitable theatre would have replaced it years ago with the flimsy cheaper horizontal version that many legit theatres now have.
I guess Victor Hugo’s brilliant allegory on man’s inability to escape his past sins is lost on you.
“The plot is preposterous and the story nonsensical”
I can see not liking a movie or a play, but ridiculing the premise of one of the greatest classic works of all time is a bit much.
By the way, the 1934 French version which recently ran on TCM is four and a half hours long and I was not bored for a minute.
“LIFE OF PI” was showing here on December 24. What exclusive reserved seat engagement are you referring to?
In Ross Melnick’s book “AMERICAN SHOWMAN” he mentions that Roxy had been using scent at the Rialto in December 1916.
Really rcdt55b? Film at RCMH in 2013, when digital looks so much better in this barn of a venue.
Talk about too much time on your hands….
Yes, Garyw, I don’t know about the speeches but all the ‘art houses’ had those foam core displays back then. It seemed to matter. To some of us.
I think he is asking the wrong question anyway.
There is no such thing as an “open ended engagement”. If the film is overselling, the distributor can open additional runs since they own the rights and the Ziegfeld can either pull it or play with other runs. The days of exclusive roadshow runs operated that way because the distributors wanted to create that exclusivity, not because the theatre had a contract. Oscars, financing issues, reviews and audience apathy trump any contract, and always have.
The mother supposedly made the donation in the eighties so apparently she was still alive. The son died in 1973.
It was named after Walter Reade Jr. after a grant from The Walter Reade Foundation in the form of a check signed by his mother.
Great find, biff33.
The Village theatres below is also a rare photo.
Shame the site won’t allow a print feature.
It’s working for me and it is the Victoria.
Yes, Bill. Not only did Miami have “negro theatres”, we also had a negro phone book back then. (sigh)
On the bright side, Miami-Dade voted overwhelmingly for Obama on both elections.
I think that is an error on IBDB. APPLAUSE closed in May.
“FRENZY” ran in 1972 after “CHIPS”.
bigjoe, according to Variety “ANNE FRANK” only did well in New York and Miami Beach, which means it did not work without a significant Jewish audience. In Miami Beach it was advertised as a feel-good light comedy.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lF1VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nz8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3256%2C4366891
bigjoe, “ANNE FRANK” played here for six months.