Fox Theatre
527 N. Grand Boulevard,
St. Louis,
MO
63103
527 N. Grand Boulevard,
St. Louis,
MO
63103
37 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 157 comments
Like Mary does not have any money?
Those animals mounted on the marquee were a cool idea, but I don’t think they quite make it.
It would also be nice if they either put up a new roof sign or took down the frame, although I realize both take money.
Here’s a nice shot of the Fox playing FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN in 1943:
View link
The effect was one of Director William Castle’s infamous movie promotion gimmicks called “Percepto”.
You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tingler
Joe, thanks for your detailed comment! I don’t think I commented on any page, although I may have put my initial comment in as if it were in reponse to a page. I like Cinema Treasures' website. It’s a great way to focus attention on that wonderful theater. I’ll continue to have delivery. I can always put it on the no delivery list.
Meanwhile, here are two little memories I have of the Fox. When I was a kid, I liked to play tricks on people. I can’t believe I did these things, but I did. And it’s all a part of the history of the theater, too.
(1) My cousin Gail, my aunt, and I went to see “Spartacus” at the Fox. I was a freshman in high school. In one scene, Spartacus and about 6000 other Roman slaves were put to death on crosses that lined the Appian Way. Spartacus’s wife/mate was walking with their baby looking for him. It was very tense. You could hear a pin drop in the theater. And this, please forgive my teenage wildness, is what happened: I whispered loudly to my cousin, “Crucify the brat, too.” She burst into tears, and then into laughter, and then she punched me on the arm.
(2) My brother and I went to see The Tingler, a sci-fi movie. The Fox theater was rigged with a device that caused the seats to rumble at scary parts. I forget the name of this special effect, but it was effective. We were sitting behind two younger kids. In the middle of an especially scary scene, I reached under the seat in front of me and grabbed the one kid by his ankles. He screamed in terror.
ylyly: If you have commented on any particular page at Cinema Treasures and have ever checked the “Notify me when someone replies to my comment?” box at the bottom of a comment form, you will receive a notification e-mail every time any new comment is added to that page, regardless of the content of that comment (i.e. whether or not it is a response specifically replying to your own earlier comment.) Cinema Treasures does not post replies to specific comments on any page other than the one on which that specific comment was posted, so if you don’t see a comment specifically replying to your earlier comment here, there are none.
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Has this been posted yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe3E66gwTUo
I keep getting emails from cinema treasures saying that someone has responded to my comment, but where do I go to read their response? My email address is If anyone can tell me how to do this, I’d appreciate it. You can email me to let me know, or just type a comment in this website, and eventually I’ll see it. Thanks!
Warren G Harris: Quite an astute eye for detail! Interesting but the T in the Fox has always been spelt “t-h-e-a-t-r-e”. The owner/builders choose to spell it the International British spelling. Morever, the National Association of Theatre Owners recognizes that “theater” are for movie houses and “theatre” are for stage.
Please note that both the Kodak T and Nokia T venues in Los Angeles are spelt with “-re”.
Whenver I get to travel around the Country, I make it a point to visit some of our finest (and not so fine) theaters and movie palaces of yesteryear. The Fox St Louis is one of my favorites. Here is a link to an interesting article regarding the theater which includes a few photos.
View link
FOX THEATER PAINTINGS FOR SALE
I am going to put up for auction on EBAY two paintings that my mother purchased a bunch of years ago from the Fox Theater. I will be selling them as a single lot. They are beautiful period pieces. Please check them out by doing a search on EBAY for FOX THEATER PAINTINGS. Several photographs of the paintings appear on the auction listing. The auction starts at 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 24, 2008, and it ends at 7:00 PM on Sunday, August 3, 2008. It’s a 10-day auction with no reserve. One painting is signed and dated “A. LAMBETH, 1903.”
Here is my previous comment, posted on Cinema Treasures:
I have two paintings by “A. Lambeth” that my mother bought in the 1960s or 1970s from the St. Louis Fox Theater. One shows 2 swans in the foreground, 1 in the midground, and 3 in the background, all floating in a lake, but it isn’t signed. The other shows two storks standing in a pond near some lilypads, and this one is signed “A. Lambeth 1903.” Both of them are in wooden frames measuring about 3' tall by 1' wide. I would be interested in selling them.
Does anyone have any information on when the new vertical sign mentioned by JAlex will be installed? I haven’t been able to get in touch with the “higher ups” at Fox Associates, and of course, none of the receptionists have a clue what I’m talking about when I ask. It’s been almost a year since the project was announced.
The theatre’s Grand Avenue facade is one of a number of St. Louis location shots in the 1981 film “Escape from New York.”
Attn: Dustiniapray.
Program of 3/16/78 was concert performance by Bob Weir and Doucette.
This in a brief period when, after theatre had closed as a movie house (3/1/78),they were booking live attractions.
The only “player ” piano in the Fox is the one that is part of the 4/36 Wurli in the chambers. The original lobby organ had an Moller Artiste PlAYER CONNECTED TO IT but it is long gone. It had no piano connected to it. There are no other player piano in the theatre.
James
To whom it may concern:
I am a student at Boise State University, studying for my M.F.A. in Poetry, and the editor of the student newspaper there.
I bought a used copy of “Player Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. at a local thrift store for 50 cents. Inside the book, on page 83 (the start of chapter IX) I found a ticket stub from the Fox Theatre, St. Louis Mo., dated March 16, 1978, 8 p.m. Sec. 4, Row Z, Seat 116.
I have looked around the Internet trying to find out what was playing that night in the theatre for a poem I am writing on this odd happenstance and I have come up empty. I understand the Fox closed that month, that year. Was this perhaps the last night? There is also the word “Doucette” across the top. Does that mean anything?
I would also like to know anything you would be willing to disclose about the player piano, the wurlitzer, still in use at the theatre. I am trying to figure this out and would be greatly helped with a nudge in the right direction.
I have two paintings by “A. Lambeth” that my mother bought in the 1960s or 1970s from the St. Louis Fox Theater. One shows 2 swans in the foreground, 1 in the midground, and 3 in the background, all floating in a lake, but it isn’t signed. The other shows two storks standing in a pond near some lilypads, and this one is signed “A. Lambeth 1903.” Both of them are in wooden frames measuring about 3' tall by 1' wide. I would be interested in selling them.
Any news on the new vertical sign?
I saw a Supertramp concert at the St. Louis Fox Theater in 1974 or 1975. It was an imposing palace even in its decline. Good to hear that the place has since been restored.
Good news! I, and a couple of hundred other people, heard Mary Strauss say they intend to replace the current vertical with a replica of the original. This was stated at a luncheon meeting at the Missouri Historical Society on October 9th. When asked about the roof sign, she did not offer much chance of replicating.
In looking at a postcard of the original roof sign, it looks as if it is neon with no incandescent bulbs. It does read FOX on the top line, THEATRE on the bottom line.
The Fox had its original vertical until 1960. It was that year it was removed and replaced with the monstrosity that can be seen today.
The rooftop sign had three lives: the first was the original reading “Fox Theatre” with incandescent bulbs; the second was three hugh neon letters, F-O-X; the third, the present, no sign but the framework remains.
It would be nice to see this restored, but I think the vertical matter is more pressing. Besides, the current management can’t even keep this one relamped.
Hi JAlex. In response to your desire for a replica of the original vertical sign, if memory serves me correctly there was no vertical sign on the Fox. However, the framework above the facade, visible in Lost Memory’s recent photo, used to hold a large incandescent sign which was visible all the way to downtown St. Louis. That’s something I would like to see restored!
Recently completed, is a Stan Kann interview of some 56 pages and illustrated and annotated and a Complete History of the St. Louis Fox Theatre Lobby Pipe Organs by James Grebe of some 78 pages profusely illustrated with color photographs.
James Grebe
I must agree that the griffins on the new marquee are a bit much.
Alas, in installing the new marquee they forgot(?) to include floodlights to illuminate the facade after dark. The old marquee had these lights…and it is really a loss. The floodlit terra cotta facade was a beautiful sight.
Next, we hope, will be the replacment of the 1960s vertical with a replica of the original. (Dept. of Pipe Dreams?)