I can’t believe these comments about this oversized bunker. This only opened in the 70’s and replaced one of the truly great buildings of New York, The Astor Hotel. This theater has absolutely no historical or architectural value. I guess these people were never in the Strand, Criterion or Rivoli. May the entire monstrosity of a building be razed along with the Mariott(5 theaters lost) next door(whose only contribution to New York is an atrium sadly convenient for suicides.)
And keep it in the hands of the volunteers who are the reason for its survival and out of the hands of the Mayor’s monied cronies who now want to swoop down like vultures and feed on the work of so many dedicated people who have given with their time and civic pride.
What about for rental on film classics? Do they work the same way?
Would they charge the same for Singin' in the Rain as they would for the new Kidman movie?
Well, you got a movie and a stage show for that five bucks. Which is what you paid for a first run movie at the time. Now a top movie is 10.25. So we’ve got a little over a 100% increase. So lets do the math. How much did the cost of the Music Hall Christmas show ticket go up? And they use the same production every year!
This is so amazing that the Music Hall has already started selling the Christmas show in mid April. It now take them almost a year to sell seats for this thing and then they end up giving away thousands of tickets through the Daily News or the Post. Maybe this is because people are sick of the same lame production numbers and the same children’s TV show sets and costumes every year. Except for the Rockettes this is amateur night on a grand scale.
Bruce I love your list but can we throw in a few RKO classics?
Regarding the above erroneous legend of the photo. I saw 2001 in 70mm twice on the Rivoli’s curved screen in ‘76 and then a few years later. One of the three best cinema experiences(combining film and theater) of my life. The two others:My Fair Lady at the Criterion and Singing in the Rain at the Music Hall.
This was the lowest rating I believe ever given by the Daily News to a roadshow film which very often gave them four stars(Wanda Hale knew which side her bread was buttered on.)
Just the fact that Planet played also on the East Side first run was bad news for Times Square.
The Times Square theater owners were correct. The showcasing of films which started at this time helped lead to the decline of Times Square and the neglect and ultimate destruction of these magnificent New York buildings. The prestige however limped along to the end of the 60’s but by 1970 Times Square, then seedy and depressing, no longer had the glamour it had even two years before when all the houses had roadshow product. I remember the marquees from that Christmas of ‘68 and there was still an air of exitement among the the Square’s movie and theater going crowds.
2001 was the Easter attraction in ‘68 at the Capitol and moved later to the Warner Cinerama when the Capitol was to be torn down.
Unfortunately this was the only time 2001 was presented in New York in Cinerama. All of us who didn’t get to see it then have never seen it in its original presentation. So when exactly did Planet play at the Capitol?
Valenti says the ratings system is imperfect but if he had a speck of integrity he would admit it’s a joke. The only reason for PG-13 is to allow blockbuster grosses for extremely violent comic book movies that should in reality receive R ratings.
Also how do these people think? Full frontal nudity gets you a NC-17 rating and loathsome slasher pics get R’s. Valenti has been an industry toadie since the flood.
Before this was twinned it had a very nice wide screen for such a small house. Saw Star Is Born there. When this building was torn down it revealed a large ad for Omega Oil from what seemed the teens or 20’s. What was so remarkable was that it had been so well preserved in the darkness for those many decades that the deep green was still vibrant. From all those black and white photos of life at the beginning of the last century it sometimes comes as a shock when you see how colorful life really was back then.
The most appalling example of this being the Mark Hellinger becoming the Times Square Church. Being that all the great theaters in Times Square have been slaughtered, this last remaining TS movie palace(albeit on the miniature side) needs to be reclaimed from the righteous and given back to the pagans it was meant for(meaning those of us who believe in the humanities.)
I’m afraid Robert you and I would be the only ones in the audience so it wouldn’t really be quite the same thing.
Warren both Robert and myself used the lower case article so don’t be too harsh.
Back in the 80’s the Beacon occasionally showed movies. This is a great house for films with a wonderful screen. I saw Some Like it Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Blondes was spectacular with that amazing Technicolor. A full house loved it and with that many people enjoying a movie I could only envy those people of years ago in the great downtowns who every week saw these films with almost stadium sized audiences. No wonder people were movie mad and there were so many theaters. It also helped that movies were fun. Not grossly fun, not stupidly fun, and there was only Hitchcock to torment you and that was ok because he was a genius.
Does anyone know from Warren’s description how much of this still exists and is there a vintage photo of the original interior or even from its day as a roadshow house? All I have is a seating chart from an old Stubs.
By the way, the presention of Rain was so wonderful in fact that Vincent Canby wrote a piece about it in the Sunday Art’s and Leisure section at the time which you can read if you have access in a library to the microfilm archives of the New York Times.
Warren,
I thought I explained the purpose in my comment. New York needs a film museum that is a real theater like the Met opera house or the BAM in Brooklyn. Millions of dollars are poured into these institutions every year for the proper exhibition of extinct art forms(I mean French baroque opera? Come on. Rameau’s “Les Boreades” at BAM was wonderful by the way.)
So why not an American Cinemateque here? And New York could get right what California got wrong(so I’ve read) at the Egyption.
As a boy I remember seeing some of the great signs outside this theater like Magnificent Men, Hawaii and Shoes of the Fisheman. Is the theater intact inside? I mean, if they took down the dividers would it be pretty much the same as it was in the 60’s? If so it would be the only roadshow house left in the tri-state area. How about an American Cinemateque here? It would be the only repertory house actually designed for showing movies as movies(here in New York we could see real 70mm and TODD AO again!!) and not just as screening room curiosities.
Martin Scorcese could you find the money for this?
When the Music Hall started showing classics in the mornings at 11AM for a brief time in the late seventies(as discussed above) they showed some of the films in the ratio 1:33(I believe it is) in Magnascope. I saw Showboat and Good News like this. Though the screen was large the grain was pretty bad. When I saw Singing in the Rain however in ‘75 the screen was surprisingly small(like a postage stamp as an usher there remarked) but the technicolor was astounding. I’ve never seen it more magnificently presented, like a brilliant jewel against plush black velvet.
Who in the world today would know that it was once the RKO Radio City except for those few of us who are into this kind of thing(I personally fantasize about seeing RKO classics at the Music Hall but is this normal?)I hope that this wonderful site is used as well by the more general movie lover who remembers the single screen theater. The only reason the old Ziegfield is here is because it was once a Loew’s. Otherwise it belongs on a site called Broadway Treasures.
Patrick, While I may seem harsh the damage that many successful real estate developers and speculators have caused to both our society and culture is incalculable. These are often individuals who as Lillian Helman so brilliantly put it “eat the earth.” I of course do not totally blame him as I realize there’s a lot going on here but neither do I have much sympathy for those who use their brilliance and energy to exploit rather than to nourish. Didn’t what Robert Moses did to New York City hasten the decay of the 70’s? Now if you told me that Taylor used his profits from these architectural horrors for movie palace preservation I would certainly change my tune(he could have saved the New York Rivoli or Criterion for us.)
Also, except for movie palaces that have had additional screens added such as Grauman’s Chinese are there really any multi-screen treasures?
Cineplexes have made me personally very grateful for DVDs for current films though I’d much rather see a classic at the Loew’s Jersey.
Thank you Mr. Taylor for helping to destroy the movie-going experience for so many of us and bringing about the destruction of so many magnificent buildings. I hope your millions made you a very happy man in compensation for the sadness you caused a lot of movie lovers and admirers of the great downtowns.
The original facade is also visible in the Jack Lemmon movie How to Murder Your Wife. If memory serves he is walking along a girder on one of the skycrapers going up on 6th Av and you can see it in the background.
Just think when Random Harvest(one of my all time favorites and yes I know the film doesn’t make much sense)opened as the Christmas show in ‘42 it played until March of '43. If MGM hadn’t pulled it they probably could have kept it running until the summer.
I can’t believe these comments about this oversized bunker. This only opened in the 70’s and replaced one of the truly great buildings of New York, The Astor Hotel. This theater has absolutely no historical or architectural value. I guess these people were never in the Strand, Criterion or Rivoli. May the entire monstrosity of a building be razed along with the Mariott(5 theaters lost) next door(whose only contribution to New York is an atrium sadly convenient for suicides.)
And keep it in the hands of the volunteers who are the reason for its survival and out of the hands of the Mayor’s monied cronies who now want to swoop down like vultures and feed on the work of so many dedicated people who have given with their time and civic pride.
Let the Mayor’s “friends” feast somewhere else.
What about for rental on film classics? Do they work the same way?
Would they charge the same for Singin' in the Rain as they would for the new Kidman movie?
Well, you got a movie and a stage show for that five bucks. Which is what you paid for a first run movie at the time. Now a top movie is 10.25. So we’ve got a little over a 100% increase. So lets do the math. How much did the cost of the Music Hall Christmas show ticket go up? And they use the same production every year!
This is so amazing that the Music Hall has already started selling the Christmas show in mid April. It now take them almost a year to sell seats for this thing and then they end up giving away thousands of tickets through the Daily News or the Post. Maybe this is because people are sick of the same lame production numbers and the same children’s TV show sets and costumes every year. Except for the Rockettes this is amateur night on a grand scale.
Bruce I love your list but can we throw in a few RKO classics?
Regarding the above erroneous legend of the photo. I saw 2001 in 70mm twice on the Rivoli’s curved screen in ‘76 and then a few years later. One of the three best cinema experiences(combining film and theater) of my life. The two others:My Fair Lady at the Criterion and Singing in the Rain at the Music Hall.
This was the lowest rating I believe ever given by the Daily News to a roadshow film which very often gave them four stars(Wanda Hale knew which side her bread was buttered on.)
Just the fact that Planet played also on the East Side first run was bad news for Times Square.
The Times Square theater owners were correct. The showcasing of films which started at this time helped lead to the decline of Times Square and the neglect and ultimate destruction of these magnificent New York buildings. The prestige however limped along to the end of the 60’s but by 1970 Times Square, then seedy and depressing, no longer had the glamour it had even two years before when all the houses had roadshow product. I remember the marquees from that Christmas of ‘68 and there was still an air of exitement among the the Square’s movie and theater going crowds.
2001 was the Easter attraction in ‘68 at the Capitol and moved later to the Warner Cinerama when the Capitol was to be torn down.
Unfortunately this was the only time 2001 was presented in New York in Cinerama. All of us who didn’t get to see it then have never seen it in its original presentation. So when exactly did Planet play at the Capitol?
Valenti says the ratings system is imperfect but if he had a speck of integrity he would admit it’s a joke. The only reason for PG-13 is to allow blockbuster grosses for extremely violent comic book movies that should in reality receive R ratings.
Also how do these people think? Full frontal nudity gets you a NC-17 rating and loathsome slasher pics get R’s. Valenti has been an industry toadie since the flood.
Before this was twinned it had a very nice wide screen for such a small house. Saw Star Is Born there. When this building was torn down it revealed a large ad for Omega Oil from what seemed the teens or 20’s. What was so remarkable was that it had been so well preserved in the darkness for those many decades that the deep green was still vibrant. From all those black and white photos of life at the beginning of the last century it sometimes comes as a shock when you see how colorful life really was back then.
The most appalling example of this being the Mark Hellinger becoming the Times Square Church. Being that all the great theaters in Times Square have been slaughtered, this last remaining TS movie palace(albeit on the miniature side) needs to be reclaimed from the righteous and given back to the pagans it was meant for(meaning those of us who believe in the humanities.)
I’m afraid Robert you and I would be the only ones in the audience so it wouldn’t really be quite the same thing.
Warren both Robert and myself used the lower case article so don’t be too harsh.
Back in the 80’s the Beacon occasionally showed movies. This is a great house for films with a wonderful screen. I saw Some Like it Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Blondes was spectacular with that amazing Technicolor. A full house loved it and with that many people enjoying a movie I could only envy those people of years ago in the great downtowns who every week saw these films with almost stadium sized audiences. No wonder people were movie mad and there were so many theaters. It also helped that movies were fun. Not grossly fun, not stupidly fun, and there was only Hitchcock to torment you and that was ok because he was a genius.
Does anyone know from Warren’s description how much of this still exists and is there a vintage photo of the original interior or even from its day as a roadshow house? All I have is a seating chart from an old Stubs.
By the way, the presention of Rain was so wonderful in fact that Vincent Canby wrote a piece about it in the Sunday Art’s and Leisure section at the time which you can read if you have access in a library to the microfilm archives of the New York Times.
Warren,
I thought I explained the purpose in my comment. New York needs a film museum that is a real theater like the Met opera house or the BAM in Brooklyn. Millions of dollars are poured into these institutions every year for the proper exhibition of extinct art forms(I mean French baroque opera? Come on. Rameau’s “Les Boreades” at BAM was wonderful by the way.)
So why not an American Cinemateque here? And New York could get right what California got wrong(so I’ve read) at the Egyption.
As a boy I remember seeing some of the great signs outside this theater like Magnificent Men, Hawaii and Shoes of the Fisheman. Is the theater intact inside? I mean, if they took down the dividers would it be pretty much the same as it was in the 60’s? If so it would be the only roadshow house left in the tri-state area. How about an American Cinemateque here? It would be the only repertory house actually designed for showing movies as movies(here in New York we could see real 70mm and TODD AO again!!) and not just as screening room curiosities.
Martin Scorcese could you find the money for this?
When the Music Hall started showing classics in the mornings at 11AM for a brief time in the late seventies(as discussed above) they showed some of the films in the ratio 1:33(I believe it is) in Magnascope. I saw Showboat and Good News like this. Though the screen was large the grain was pretty bad. When I saw Singing in the Rain however in ‘75 the screen was surprisingly small(like a postage stamp as an usher there remarked) but the technicolor was astounding. I’ve never seen it more magnificently presented, like a brilliant jewel against plush black velvet.
Who in the world today would know that it was once the RKO Radio City except for those few of us who are into this kind of thing(I personally fantasize about seeing RKO classics at the Music Hall but is this normal?)I hope that this wonderful site is used as well by the more general movie lover who remembers the single screen theater. The only reason the old Ziegfield is here is because it was once a Loew’s. Otherwise it belongs on a site called Broadway Treasures.
Patrick, While I may seem harsh the damage that many successful real estate developers and speculators have caused to both our society and culture is incalculable. These are often individuals who as Lillian Helman so brilliantly put it “eat the earth.” I of course do not totally blame him as I realize there’s a lot going on here but neither do I have much sympathy for those who use their brilliance and energy to exploit rather than to nourish. Didn’t what Robert Moses did to New York City hasten the decay of the 70’s? Now if you told me that Taylor used his profits from these architectural horrors for movie palace preservation I would certainly change my tune(he could have saved the New York Rivoli or Criterion for us.)
Also, except for movie palaces that have had additional screens added such as Grauman’s Chinese are there really any multi-screen treasures?
Cineplexes have made me personally very grateful for DVDs for current films though I’d much rather see a classic at the Loew’s Jersey.
Thank you Mr. Taylor for helping to destroy the movie-going experience for so many of us and bringing about the destruction of so many magnificent buildings. I hope your millions made you a very happy man in compensation for the sadness you caused a lot of movie lovers and admirers of the great downtowns.
The original facade is also visible in the Jack Lemmon movie How to Murder Your Wife. If memory serves he is walking along a girder on one of the skycrapers going up on 6th Av and you can see it in the background.
By the way I believe, though the name is not mentioned, Random Harvest is the film Holden sees at the Music Hall in Catcher in the Rye.
Just think when Random Harvest(one of my all time favorites and yes I know the film doesn’t make much sense)opened as the Christmas show in ‘42 it played until March of '43. If MGM hadn’t pulled it they probably could have kept it running until the summer.