The Music Hall descends desperately into showing slasher/horror exploitation 42nd St fare.
Don’t let the pedigree fool you.
And this for a fall show. Though no time was right for it. Saw it in the burbs with Night of the Living Dead. A more suitable companion than It’s In Your Stars on the Great Stage.
The new ad of Odd Couple made me think of when I was a doorman there in ‘76 an usher supervisor who was working at the Roxy before he moved to the Music Hall when it opened told me there were as many patrons on the last day as there had been on the first 14 weeks before.
A ticket seller told me that it was the last film where the work was unrelenting. When I was there it seemed there were only a few hundred people there a performance and this was the Easter show. And a drearier Easter film the Music Hall never had had. And what was really sad was That’s Entertainment Part II was playing a few blocks north at the Ziegfeld when it would have been beautiful in widescreen and Technicolor on the large Music Hall screen and a real colorful holiday film.
Somebody brilliant at the Hall thought a dreary brown, green and gray revisionist telling of the Robin Hood story of Robin and Marian in sad tired middle age would appeal to the Music Hall audience looking for holiday entertainment. At long Last Love was a masterpiece in comparison. At least the photography was splendid. The best looking first run film I saw there in the 70s.
And the spring stage show after the Glory of Easter was in black and white! They were clearly intentionally driving the Hall into the ground.
I’ve always wondered if this were to be revived today keeping its historical setting but using an Asian actor instead if it would fly.
It only worked and was a success on Broadway because the Asian was played by a white. Though it was forward thinking in its day because the relationship is not renounced at the end.
When I saw Nicholas at the Criterion I could swear there was no souvenir book. As soon as I went to a theater back then it was the first I looked for.
However the film does have a souvenir book so I don’t know why it wasn’t being sold. The Criterion had men in tuxes hawking the souvenir books.
Earlier in the year when they had the reissue of MFL they had a soft cover abridged version of the original hard cover which I bought.
When I got to finally meet Jeremy Brett after Aren’t We All(this was right before his sensational portrayal of SH so there was only one other person there. After I’m sure nobody would have been able to get near him)I presented him with the program to sign. Fortunately he did not look for his bio because it had been deleted in the abridgement.
Radio City did not have the souvenir book for Happiest Millionaire though they had a comic book based on the story! Go figure.
Concerning EdBlanks comment it was why I said I found it on Wikipedia because I know of their unreliability. But just because it is on there it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong either.
I also know that somebody like AlAlvarez knows how to find fairly arcane information concerning film distribution and can put the record straight.
I just hope the guy who booked a condemned rated film for a Christmas show wasn’t sacked. But then he was probably the same guy who booked the equally licentious and morally corrupting The Odd Couple 35 years later.
According to Wikipedia the Music Hall’s first Christmas movie which was just posted by Comfortably Cool received a Condemned rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency.
I hope this was posted outside the Music Hall to warn parents who thought they were bringing their children to a holiday show for the entire family.
The Music Hall’s longest running film The Odd Couple also was condemned.
I have no idea what the people who chose films for the Hall were thinking.
Comfortably Cool placing the Bells of St Mary program in the photo section made me think of Pacino and Keaton outside the Hall in The Godfather.
The displays in the vitrines outside the Music Hall which show the Rockette and ballet company figures behind the actors are the same ones that were used for the stage show with Scrooge. And I only saw this decades after The Godfather came out not having seen it originally.
I know, I know, who cares. Well it did bring back memories.
No SITR was not surround but it had a clarity that was remarkable. Watch the scene when Kelly brings Reynolds into the empty studio. As he turns on each effect there is an instrumental cue. This came through beautifully at the Hall. Have never heard that again. Every time I’ve heard it since the sound is flat mono. Sad because those arrangers were brilliant and those charts(I think that’s what musicians call them) are now I believe buried under some highway in CA.
If you remember the final production number of Scrooge there are various groups that converge and I remember distinctly that it was surround sound. It was simply unexpected and thrilling. It was not slap which is a very different thing. I remember being gobsmacked. Like when I saw MFL at the Warner Cinerama and there were carriage wheels and horses hoofs sounds at the back of the theater.
We forget how sophisticated and detailed film theatrical presentations once were. Like when the lights were dimming for Airport at the Hall and flight announcements were being made(shades of the police calls of Mad World.)
And that SOM presentation at the Music Hall was one of the best film presentations I’ve seen. If that was you R Endres that was astonishing. Gorgeous perfect 70mm print and great sound. If that was Dolby processed sound giving a greater dynamic range to the original tracks looks like I might have to rethink my feelings about Dolby. Singing In the Rain also had spectacular sound(and Technicolor to burn the eyes). Those Salinger arrangements have never sounded so good. Maybe that was handled the same way?
There was definitely sound coming from the back rear of the orchestra for Scrooge. The sound of the choruses came from all around. Due to the darkness maybe there were boxes there that weren’t too noticeable.
Also the spectral clanging of the chains of Marley’s ghost caused a child nearby to cry and people laughed. Not out of malice but because it was so effective.
Also the organ during the SOM wedding was rich and thundering. I could have sworn the Music Hall organ was being played.
The first time I saw large black boxes on the choral stairs was during The Black Cauldron.(I think that was the name of the movie.)Was that ever a big intense loud noisy ordeal. Purely headache inducing. An usher told me it was frightening the children. And far worse than any other Disney cartoon which sequences served a purpose and had some sort of catharsis.
And no Dolby was not an improvement over the gorgeous warm 6 track analogue I heard not only at the Music Hall but also at the Warner and the Rivoli. It did not shout at you but was warm rich and transparent.
You’ve got to remember people’s ears have been severely diminished in their capacity to hear nuance due to decades of damaging loud music in bars, discos, clubs and rock concerts. I understand MP3s are no help though I’ve never heard one.
I’m sure those old 6 track soundtracks simply through age have been lost forever. The most recent restoration of the My Fair Lady soundtrack was worse than the first one in the 90s despite their boasting of going back to the masters. But I concede that also could have been the fault of the multiplex where I saw it.
I only wish there was a theater left in the east that could do justice to these films in terms even of screen size. If I were a billionaire I’d buy the Bellevue which still stands as a multiplex in Montclair and restore it to its Todd AO glory. What a great theater that was.
The Music Hall had a tremendous stereo sound system until the terrible loud digital glare disaster of Dolby.
I’ll never forget how exciting both Scrooge and SOM were just from the sound. Gorgeous multi-track analogue stereo.
Remember nothing was visible or at least I didn’t see anything. There were no stereo boxes either on the choral stairs or hanging from the arches. I mean such idiocy(like the fake arch) in those days was unthinkable.
The final converging choral groups in Scrooge as they came together on screen aurally came together from different parts of the Music Hall auditorium. It was tremendously exciting.
And then the quiet moment of Finney talking to the door knocker.
Oh god to have a theater in NY with a screen 70 ft wide to have occasional 70MM and Cinemascope classic films.
Why isn’t there one lousy billionaire film nut in the city to make this happen?
Though the smell of onion rings and nachos, while I love them, would not be welcome.
NYer posts See No Evil from Sept 1 ‘71.
The Music Hall descends desperately into showing slasher/horror exploitation 42nd St fare.
Don’t let the pedigree fool you.
And this for a fall show. Though no time was right for it. Saw it in the burbs with Night of the Living Dead. A more suitable companion than It’s In Your Stars on the Great Stage.
Two wonderful theaters turned into an airplane hangar in which musicals disappear like doing The Fantasticks at the Music Hall.
The new ad of Odd Couple made me think of when I was a doorman there in ‘76 an usher supervisor who was working at the Roxy before he moved to the Music Hall when it opened told me there were as many patrons on the last day as there had been on the first 14 weeks before.
A ticket seller told me that it was the last film where the work was unrelenting. When I was there it seemed there were only a few hundred people there a performance and this was the Easter show. And a drearier Easter film the Music Hall never had had. And what was really sad was That’s Entertainment Part II was playing a few blocks north at the Ziegfeld when it would have been beautiful in widescreen and Technicolor on the large Music Hall screen and a real colorful holiday film.
Somebody brilliant at the Hall thought a dreary brown, green and gray revisionist telling of the Robin Hood story of Robin and Marian in sad tired middle age would appeal to the Music Hall audience looking for holiday entertainment. At long Last Love was a masterpiece in comparison. At least the photography was splendid. The best looking first run film I saw there in the 70s.
And the spring stage show after the Glory of Easter was in black and white! They were clearly intentionally driving the Hall into the ground.
I’ve always wondered if this were to be revived today keeping its historical setting but using an Asian actor instead if it would fly.
It only worked and was a success on Broadway because the Asian was played by a white. Though it was forward thinking in its day because the relationship is not renounced at the end.
When I saw Nicholas at the Criterion I could swear there was no souvenir book. As soon as I went to a theater back then it was the first I looked for.
However the film does have a souvenir book so I don’t know why it wasn’t being sold. The Criterion had men in tuxes hawking the souvenir books.
Earlier in the year when they had the reissue of MFL they had a soft cover abridged version of the original hard cover which I bought.
When I got to finally meet Jeremy Brett after Aren’t We All(this was right before his sensational portrayal of SH so there was only one other person there. After I’m sure nobody would have been able to get near him)I presented him with the program to sign. Fortunately he did not look for his bio because it had been deleted in the abridgement.
Radio City did not have the souvenir book for Happiest Millionaire though they had a comic book based on the story! Go figure.
Comfortably Cool just posted another amazing Roxy ad with Danny Kaye and Yma Sumac on stage.
Today we have Hamilton. Wicked and Book of Morman as live entertainment costing individuals $300 to $1,000 a ticket.
I cannot believe how pathetic we are as a culture.
And what is this doing at the Music Hall?
This is a Roxy picture if there ever was one.
I’m sure Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney made a big impact on the great stage.
Concerning EdBlanks comment it was why I said I found it on Wikipedia because I know of their unreliability. But just because it is on there it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong either.
I also know that somebody like AlAlvarez knows how to find fairly arcane information concerning film distribution and can put the record straight.
I just hope the guy who booked a condemned rated film for a Christmas show wasn’t sacked. But then he was probably the same guy who booked the equally licentious and morally corrupting The Odd Couple 35 years later.
According to Wikipedia the Music Hall’s first Christmas movie which was just posted by Comfortably Cool received a Condemned rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency.
I hope this was posted outside the Music Hall to warn parents who thought they were bringing their children to a holiday show for the entire family.
The Music Hall’s longest running film The Odd Couple also was condemned.
I have no idea what the people who chose films for the Hall were thinking.
Comfortably Cool placing the Bells of St Mary program in the photo section made me think of Pacino and Keaton outside the Hall in The Godfather.
The displays in the vitrines outside the Music Hall which show the Rockette and ballet company figures behind the actors are the same ones that were used for the stage show with Scrooge. And I only saw this decades after The Godfather came out not having seen it originally.
I know, I know, who cares. Well it did bring back memories.
There don’t seem to be any photos of the theater in the ad. All of them seem to be of the Loew’s destroyed in ‘31.
And Russell Markert’s Rockets are still performing in 2016.
If only Oliver! had been filmed in 70MM like Funny Girl, Sand Pebbles, Dr Z…
If only.
No SITR was not surround but it had a clarity that was remarkable. Watch the scene when Kelly brings Reynolds into the empty studio. As he turns on each effect there is an instrumental cue. This came through beautifully at the Hall. Have never heard that again. Every time I’ve heard it since the sound is flat mono. Sad because those arrangers were brilliant and those charts(I think that’s what musicians call them) are now I believe buried under some highway in CA.
And The Sting was another great presentation!
That Joplin music never sounded so good.
If I had a hat I’d eat it.
If you remember the final production number of Scrooge there are various groups that converge and I remember distinctly that it was surround sound. It was simply unexpected and thrilling. It was not slap which is a very different thing. I remember being gobsmacked. Like when I saw MFL at the Warner Cinerama and there were carriage wheels and horses hoofs sounds at the back of the theater.
We forget how sophisticated and detailed film theatrical presentations once were. Like when the lights were dimming for Airport at the Hall and flight announcements were being made(shades of the police calls of Mad World.)
And that SOM presentation at the Music Hall was one of the best film presentations I’ve seen. If that was you R Endres that was astonishing. Gorgeous perfect 70mm print and great sound. If that was Dolby processed sound giving a greater dynamic range to the original tracks looks like I might have to rethink my feelings about Dolby. Singing In the Rain also had spectacular sound(and Technicolor to burn the eyes). Those Salinger arrangements have never sounded so good. Maybe that was handled the same way?
There was definitely sound coming from the back rear of the orchestra for Scrooge. The sound of the choruses came from all around. Due to the darkness maybe there were boxes there that weren’t too noticeable. Also the spectral clanging of the chains of Marley’s ghost caused a child nearby to cry and people laughed. Not out of malice but because it was so effective.
Also the organ during the SOM wedding was rich and thundering. I could have sworn the Music Hall organ was being played.
The first time I saw large black boxes on the choral stairs was during The Black Cauldron.(I think that was the name of the movie.)Was that ever a big intense loud noisy ordeal. Purely headache inducing. An usher told me it was frightening the children. And far worse than any other Disney cartoon which sequences served a purpose and had some sort of catharsis.
And no Dolby was not an improvement over the gorgeous warm 6 track analogue I heard not only at the Music Hall but also at the Warner and the Rivoli. It did not shout at you but was warm rich and transparent.
You’ve got to remember people’s ears have been severely diminished in their capacity to hear nuance due to decades of damaging loud music in bars, discos, clubs and rock concerts. I understand MP3s are no help though I’ve never heard one.
I’m sure those old 6 track soundtracks simply through age have been lost forever. The most recent restoration of the My Fair Lady soundtrack was worse than the first one in the 90s despite their boasting of going back to the masters. But I concede that also could have been the fault of the multiplex where I saw it.
I only wish there was a theater left in the east that could do justice to these films in terms even of screen size. If I were a billionaire I’d buy the Bellevue which still stands as a multiplex in Montclair and restore it to its Todd AO glory. What a great theater that was.
The Music Hall had a tremendous stereo sound system until the terrible loud digital glare disaster of Dolby.
I’ll never forget how exciting both Scrooge and SOM were just from the sound. Gorgeous multi-track analogue stereo.
Remember nothing was visible or at least I didn’t see anything. There were no stereo boxes either on the choral stairs or hanging from the arches. I mean such idiocy(like the fake arch) in those days was unthinkable.
The final converging choral groups in Scrooge as they came together on screen aurally came together from different parts of the Music Hall auditorium. It was tremendously exciting.
And then the quiet moment of Finney talking to the door knocker.
You can’t imagine how magnificent it was.
One of the last of the Music Hall’s huge Christmas film/stage show features. I mean when you had to spend many hours on line to get in.
Just try getting in on a weekend or during Christmas week.
I thought that Lawrence was cut by Lean shortly after its original roadshow run had begun.
I believe there is some anecdote about Selznik saying to Lean They’re saying it’s too long but do not cut it.
In the song At the Roxy Music Hall from I Married An Angel Lorenz Hart wrote about sending up a St Bernard to help out patrons.
Terrific film few people know.
Shearer and Veidt(poor guy, fine actor who escaped the nazis and gets stuck playing them) are wonderful in this.
Today Shearer who was really good and one of my favorites from this era always gets a bum rap.