Does anybody have pictures of the flat Todd AO screen at the Rivoli before the D 150 screen was installed before Sand Pebbles.I would also like to know its size. I only know the interior with D 150 screen from films I saw there in the 70’s. Also being that Sand Pebbles was in Panavision on the huge screen it might have been fairly grainy(like the washed out looking Fiddler on the Roof.) Anybody have memories of seeing this film there?
I always thought Sound of Music had played there on the deep curved screen which would have been great. I figured they would have have kept that configuration from back to Oklahoma and the other Todd AO films that played there. Guess I was wrong. When did the flat screen
go in.
Anybody out there have a doctorate in the Rivoli theater?
By the way I saw GWTW there in 70mm in ‘73 or '74 though not on hardticket.
Is that possible? Did it really run that long? I thought the record breaker there was the Sound of Music which I believe was 88 weeks which the theater wanted to keep longer and Fox pulled it to put in Sand Pebbles(Made strangely enough in Panavision and not in Todd AO.I’d love to know why.)
But William Song of Norway played roadshow at the Warner Cinerama in ‘70 in 70 mm. Was that the only place it played roadshow or are you saying that it was not in Cinerama. And could you tell what the difference of the print would be for Krakatoa and Norway? I think Norway was Ultra or Super Panavision. Do any of these prints exist?
Mike I’m surprised that the Virginia showed Dolly in 35mm. Maybe at that point Fox felt that deluxe roadshow entertainment was dead and thought that a Todd AO print was a waste of money. I guess then when I saw it at the St James in Asbury park that summer it was also 35mm.
What is the borough of the Bronx doing during all of this?! The whole building should be landmarked. Amazing that The Bronx has one of the great American buildings in their midst and are letting it rot. Are the idiots who populate our goverments as stupid as I think or are they just waiting for a developer to line their pockets and build condos.
William how about the Claridge after Cinerama, the Lyric in Asbury Park and the Virginia in Atlantic City all major roadshow houses or did they play their films on hardticket in 35mm?
Bill…thats great that the Paramount is still intact. When I was a kid I remember it playing Carnal Knowlege. I saw both Patton and Hello Dolly at the Fox in Hackensack. Didn’t know that they played Bergen County in 70mm. Saw Fisherman with my family at a NY State theater across the border. One of those single screen strip mall theaters which were actually very nice and when compared with multiplexes now seem luxurious. Liked the movie very much and always wondered if my 11 year old critical faculties were correct. I don’t think it was very successful. Might in fact have been one of those films that killed the roadshow and with it the theaters that exhibited them.
I can’t imagine Asbury Park now. As a little boy I remember it being quite beautiful.
Rhett, Of course I remember the Claridge and their was also the Bellevue which was another elegant north Jersey road show house which I now believe is a triplex. There was the Lee in Fort Lee which was a beautiful single screen house torn down during the ‘70s.
Also there were great theaters in Asbury Park and Atlantic city. The only one I know that is standing is the Lyric in Asbury which was a road show house that is now a porno movie theater(As a child I remember My Fair Lady was playing there and next door at the St James was the Sound of Music. And behind the St James was the Mayfair with Disney’s Cinderella. I think '65 was another civilization.)
Unfortunately I didn’t go to most of these theaters as single screen houses as I was too young. In the '70s when I could go at that point they were being torn down, cut up or only showing exploitation films so if a theater was intact I didn’t go often. Now I wish I had.
William as I’ve said before concerning the Rivoli the only way a great building like that comes down is because the Landmarks commission is in bed with the developers. I can’t even walk in Times Square any more. If I have to go there for any reason I am in and out. I feel I’m in an overbuilt monstrous shopping mall. Same for Rockefeller Center. And these used to be my favorite places in NY. Even in the dark days of the 70’s they were as aweinspiring to me as the Acropolis or the Taj Mahal. Our American wonders.
The Totowa is gone?!! How great the Lafeyette is still with us. Remember Breaking Away and other films from that beautiful gem. The Warner was great even after they cut off the balcony because the main auditorium was intact. Since then it was made smaller. My sister worked there during the time of Tron. She knew an old usher there from the 60’s and he told her the place back then was the height of class and elegance. It was huge and my parents told me that when they went to see the Graduate there they had to sit apart the place was so packed. As a single theater I as well saw a number of films there in the early 70’s and it was something.
Have you been to the Loew’s Jersey?
Well it premeired in NY on a curved screen at the Capitol and that’s how I saw it at the Rivoli which was not a Cinerama house. I noticed no distortion. In fact seeing it on a curved screen gives 70mm a visual depth that a flat screen doesn’t have. 35mm anamorphic will I believe be pretty much the same on flat or curved. I saw Fiddler on the Rivoli’s curved screen in ‘71 and it looked flat as a pancake.
Rhett..I saw Earthquake, Slapshot and Thats Entertainment 2 at the Cinema 46. A wonderful suburban theater. And did you ever go to the Stanley Warner on Route 4 before the slice and dice? Cinema Heaven!
By the way somebody told me that 2001 did not have an intermission at the Astor. So you did not the the effect of the great curtains slowly closing on the image of Hal listening in. Chilling beyond belief.
And William lately I’ve been getting leery of seeing any movie in a theater. The projectionists always seem top be getting something wrong whether its the film slightly out of focus(which is the worst because it seems I’m the only one who can tell)or not properly framing the image within the borders.
You know William that when I saw the old road show print of My Fair Lady back at the Cinerama in the late 70’s the sound was magnificent and then when I saw the restoration of the film at the Ziegfeld in ‘93 the separation and the depth weren’t even close. I guess those great soundtracks in 6 track magnetic as they were originally presented are lost to us forever.
Mike, Millie opened in ‘67 in NY at the great Criterion(see comments about it on this site and weep.)I saw a road show print of the film at the Astor Plaza at a one night only benefit in the 90’s while across the street the Criterion still stood as the UA 15plex or something of the kind.
William I was talking about the old hard ticket movies from the 50’s and 60’s which I was able to see a few of in the 70’s in revival at these theaters.
By the way I did avoid the revival of 2001 at the Astor Plaza because I knew that after seeing it at the Rivoli(a religious experience)the Plaza just wasn’t going to cut it.
The sound at the Warner Cinerama and Rivoli was the old 6 track magnetic and it had a superb warmth and depth that was never quite the same after Dolby came in or is my memory playing tricks on me?
Well not at all. I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie there and Gladiator. Two movies which I like enormously and two different types which would show off a large single screen house to best advantage. I wouldn’t avoid it but then I wouldn’t make a point to see a movie there either like I would have at some of the old houses and which I do now at the Loew’s Jersey. Come on over everyone!
It was a curved screen in front of the current one and it was odd. In place of a curtain there were simply lights reflected on the screen. Read Vincent Canby in the NYT Arts and Leisure from this time(‘73.)He wrote a Sunday piece about how disappointing the presentation was.
I’m surprised Lowell even agreed to it.
Concerning what Jim wrote the proper presentation of classic films can only done now as a not for profit enterprise. It is now a lost art like ballet or opera and needs the support of those who feel passionate about it and have money or time. We should have great presentations of Lawrence or How the West Was Won just as one goes to the Met to hear Tosca or see Sleeping Beauty.
Why do people find this such an odd idea and not worthy of consideration? What’s wrong with a film museum with a truly magnificent screen that can properly show 70mm, Todd AO and Cinerama? The visceral impact is one of the greatest joys of moviegoing.
Remember that when the Ziegfeld showed Cinerama it was the one strip version which I assume was some form of 70mm. They didn’t even have a curtain to give you the impression of an everexpanding screen. Also the fact that there is no back to the orchestra only an aisle separating it from the elevated loge would probably preclude it from the proper presentation of Cinerama unless it was feasible to project it from the very back.
The Mayfair/DeMille, at least the last time I looked, is at the corner of 47th St and 7th Av. It was triplexed and is now boarded up. It has the wraparound billboard still in use which when it was a reserved seat house had the amoung the best displays for movies I’ve ever seen. I was a child so maybe that had some thing to do with it.
People keep telling me how big the screen is at the Astor Plaza and for wome reason I was never impressed by it. Anybody know the dimensions for this and the one at the Ziegfeld?
Remember everybody that the Mayfair/Demille still stands. The only real cinema left in the Square. Anybody have the money to restore it back to when it was a 70mm house? Come on Scorcese this is where we can have our own Cinemateque and a better one than they have in LA.
How about everything from silents to cinemascope to Todd AO to 3 strip cinerama(for this a 100 ft screen anyone?) There have got to be enough rich cinemaphiles in NY to make this happen.
It is stupefying when you see how arrogant these architects are and how much money they make and they come up with buildings without an ounce of imagination or style(see what they’re doing to Paris.)
I agree with you about the splitting up of the theaters but I always hoped they would restore the Criterion and the Rivoli. And the original theaters of the Strand and the Loew’s State were probalby there intact underneath all the modernizations waiting to be discovered. I’d like to know about all the payoffs that go from the real estate developers to the Landmarks Comission to keep them from landmarking these priceless architectural jewels. The history of this in NY must be staggering.
Saw that at the Fox in Hackensack NJ in Sensurround!
Does anybody have pictures of the flat Todd AO screen at the Rivoli before the D 150 screen was installed before Sand Pebbles.I would also like to know its size. I only know the interior with D 150 screen from films I saw there in the 70’s. Also being that Sand Pebbles was in Panavision on the huge screen it might have been fairly grainy(like the washed out looking Fiddler on the Roof.) Anybody have memories of seeing this film there?
I always thought Sound of Music had played there on the deep curved screen which would have been great. I figured they would have have kept that configuration from back to Oklahoma and the other Todd AO films that played there. Guess I was wrong. When did the flat screen
go in.
Anybody out there have a doctorate in the Rivoli theater?
By the way I saw GWTW there in 70mm in ‘73 or '74 though not on hardticket.
Is that possible? Did it really run that long? I thought the record breaker there was the Sound of Music which I believe was 88 weeks which the theater wanted to keep longer and Fox pulled it to put in Sand Pebbles(Made strangely enough in Panavision and not in Todd AO.I’d love to know why.)
But William Song of Norway played roadshow at the Warner Cinerama in ‘70 in 70 mm. Was that the only place it played roadshow or are you saying that it was not in Cinerama. And could you tell what the difference of the print would be for Krakatoa and Norway? I think Norway was Ultra or Super Panavision. Do any of these prints exist?
Mike I’m surprised that the Virginia showed Dolly in 35mm. Maybe at that point Fox felt that deluxe roadshow entertainment was dead and thought that a Todd AO print was a waste of money. I guess then when I saw it at the St James in Asbury park that summer it was also 35mm.
What is the borough of the Bronx doing during all of this?! The whole building should be landmarked. Amazing that The Bronx has one of the great American buildings in their midst and are letting it rot. Are the idiots who populate our goverments as stupid as I think or are they just waiting for a developer to line their pockets and build condos.
William how about the Claridge after Cinerama, the Lyric in Asbury Park and the Virginia in Atlantic City all major roadshow houses or did they play their films on hardticket in 35mm?
Bill…thats great that the Paramount is still intact. When I was a kid I remember it playing Carnal Knowlege. I saw both Patton and Hello Dolly at the Fox in Hackensack. Didn’t know that they played Bergen County in 70mm. Saw Fisherman with my family at a NY State theater across the border. One of those single screen strip mall theaters which were actually very nice and when compared with multiplexes now seem luxurious. Liked the movie very much and always wondered if my 11 year old critical faculties were correct. I don’t think it was very successful. Might in fact have been one of those films that killed the roadshow and with it the theaters that exhibited them.
I can’t imagine Asbury Park now. As a little boy I remember it being quite beautiful.
Rhett, Of course I remember the Claridge and their was also the Bellevue which was another elegant north Jersey road show house which I now believe is a triplex. There was the Lee in Fort Lee which was a beautiful single screen house torn down during the ‘70s.
Also there were great theaters in Asbury Park and Atlantic city. The only one I know that is standing is the Lyric in Asbury which was a road show house that is now a porno movie theater(As a child I remember My Fair Lady was playing there and next door at the St James was the Sound of Music. And behind the St James was the Mayfair with Disney’s Cinderella. I think '65 was another civilization.)
Unfortunately I didn’t go to most of these theaters as single screen houses as I was too young. In the '70s when I could go at that point they were being torn down, cut up or only showing exploitation films so if a theater was intact I didn’t go often. Now I wish I had.
William as I’ve said before concerning the Rivoli the only way a great building like that comes down is because the Landmarks commission is in bed with the developers. I can’t even walk in Times Square any more. If I have to go there for any reason I am in and out. I feel I’m in an overbuilt monstrous shopping mall. Same for Rockefeller Center. And these used to be my favorite places in NY. Even in the dark days of the 70’s they were as aweinspiring to me as the Acropolis or the Taj Mahal. Our American wonders.
The Totowa is gone?!! How great the Lafeyette is still with us. Remember Breaking Away and other films from that beautiful gem. The Warner was great even after they cut off the balcony because the main auditorium was intact. Since then it was made smaller. My sister worked there during the time of Tron. She knew an old usher there from the 60’s and he told her the place back then was the height of class and elegance. It was huge and my parents told me that when they went to see the Graduate there they had to sit apart the place was so packed. As a single theater I as well saw a number of films there in the early 70’s and it was something.
Have you been to the Loew’s Jersey?
Well it premeired in NY on a curved screen at the Capitol and that’s how I saw it at the Rivoli which was not a Cinerama house. I noticed no distortion. In fact seeing it on a curved screen gives 70mm a visual depth that a flat screen doesn’t have. 35mm anamorphic will I believe be pretty much the same on flat or curved. I saw Fiddler on the Rivoli’s curved screen in ‘71 and it looked flat as a pancake.
Rhett..I saw Earthquake, Slapshot and Thats Entertainment 2 at the Cinema 46. A wonderful suburban theater. And did you ever go to the Stanley Warner on Route 4 before the slice and dice? Cinema Heaven!
By the way somebody told me that 2001 did not have an intermission at the Astor. So you did not the the effect of the great curtains slowly closing on the image of Hal listening in. Chilling beyond belief.
And William lately I’ve been getting leery of seeing any movie in a theater. The projectionists always seem top be getting something wrong whether its the film slightly out of focus(which is the worst because it seems I’m the only one who can tell)or not properly framing the image within the borders.
You know William that when I saw the old road show print of My Fair Lady back at the Cinerama in the late 70’s the sound was magnificent and then when I saw the restoration of the film at the Ziegfeld in ‘93 the separation and the depth weren’t even close. I guess those great soundtracks in 6 track magnetic as they were originally presented are lost to us forever.
Mike, Millie opened in ‘67 in NY at the great Criterion(see comments about it on this site and weep.)I saw a road show print of the film at the Astor Plaza at a one night only benefit in the 90’s while across the street the Criterion still stood as the UA 15plex or something of the kind.
William I was talking about the old hard ticket movies from the 50’s and 60’s which I was able to see a few of in the 70’s in revival at these theaters.
By the way I did avoid the revival of 2001 at the Astor Plaza because I knew that after seeing it at the Rivoli(a religious experience)the Plaza just wasn’t going to cut it.
The sound at the Warner Cinerama and Rivoli was the old 6 track magnetic and it had a superb warmth and depth that was never quite the same after Dolby came in or is my memory playing tricks on me?
Well not at all. I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie there and Gladiator. Two movies which I like enormously and two different types which would show off a large single screen house to best advantage. I wouldn’t avoid it but then I wouldn’t make a point to see a movie there either like I would have at some of the old houses and which I do now at the Loew’s Jersey. Come on over everyone!
It was a curved screen in front of the current one and it was odd. In place of a curtain there were simply lights reflected on the screen. Read Vincent Canby in the NYT Arts and Leisure from this time(‘73.)He wrote a Sunday piece about how disappointing the presentation was.
I’m surprised Lowell even agreed to it.
Concerning what Jim wrote the proper presentation of classic films can only done now as a not for profit enterprise. It is now a lost art like ballet or opera and needs the support of those who feel passionate about it and have money or time. We should have great presentations of Lawrence or How the West Was Won just as one goes to the Met to hear Tosca or see Sleeping Beauty.
Why do people find this such an odd idea and not worthy of consideration? What’s wrong with a film museum with a truly magnificent screen that can properly show 70mm, Todd AO and Cinerama? The visceral impact is one of the greatest joys of moviegoing.
Remember that when the Ziegfeld showed Cinerama it was the one strip version which I assume was some form of 70mm. They didn’t even have a curtain to give you the impression of an everexpanding screen. Also the fact that there is no back to the orchestra only an aisle separating it from the elevated loge would probably preclude it from the proper presentation of Cinerama unless it was feasible to project it from the very back.
The Mayfair/DeMille, at least the last time I looked, is at the corner of 47th St and 7th Av. It was triplexed and is now boarded up. It has the wraparound billboard still in use which when it was a reserved seat house had the amoung the best displays for movies I’ve ever seen. I was a child so maybe that had some thing to do with it.
People keep telling me how big the screen is at the Astor Plaza and for wome reason I was never impressed by it. Anybody know the dimensions for this and the one at the Ziegfeld?
Guy sitting in front of me Friday night talking to his girlfriend after the film Guys and Dolls(presented in stereo-a very pleasant surprise.)
“I’ve seen this so many times on TV but tonight feels like it’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
Remember everybody that the Mayfair/Demille still stands. The only real cinema left in the Square. Anybody have the money to restore it back to when it was a 70mm house? Come on Scorcese this is where we can have our own Cinemateque and a better one than they have in LA.
How about everything from silents to cinemascope to Todd AO to 3 strip cinerama(for this a 100 ft screen anyone?) There have got to be enough rich cinemaphiles in NY to make this happen.
It is stupefying when you see how arrogant these architects are and how much money they make and they come up with buildings without an ounce of imagination or style(see what they’re doing to Paris.)
I agree with you about the splitting up of the theaters but I always hoped they would restore the Criterion and the Rivoli. And the original theaters of the Strand and the Loew’s State were probalby there intact underneath all the modernizations waiting to be discovered. I’d like to know about all the payoffs that go from the real estate developers to the Landmarks Comission to keep them from landmarking these priceless architectural jewels. The history of this in NY must be staggering.
Very nice. If only we had something like that in NY.
What is the size of the screen and what is the length and the cord?