Maybe Joseph would know if the Roxy had a private screening room, but if so that would have accounted for another two projectionists on a shift, and there were two shifts a day (at least) in the main Roxy booth.
Yes, the ROXY had a smaller projection room on the orchestra level, 51st street side of the building. Complete with a mini stage and foyer. It was near the library, switch board and properties room.
June 14, 2007, 7:30 AM EDT
Citing difficult times in the recording industry, Sony BMG is closing its historic Hell’s Kitchen studios, where artists such as J. Lo have recorded and movies such as “Shaft” were filmed.
The five-story red-brick building on West 54th Street and 10th Avenue will no longer house Sony Music Studios, according to an internal memo obtained by amNewYork. The June 8 memo said that employees will be terminated when the studios close in mid-to late-August.
Some employees possibly will be allowed to transfer to different parts of the company. It is unclear how many employees will be affected and what the future holds for the studio building that once housed Fox Movietone studios, where one of the first technologies to combine sound and film in the 1920s was used.
The music-industry giant is being hush-hush on the deal, only saying that Sony BMG, the studios' parent company, signed a purchase and sale agreement with a New York developer called HSAC Corp. Efforts to contact the developer were unsuccessful. It was unclear what will happen to the building.
Movies such as “Miracle on 34th Street” and television shows like the original “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” were filmed there. The studios also hosted the New York filming of “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” a bi-coastal telethon that raised money for the families of Sept. 11 victims just days after the attacks.
Before Sony bought the warehouse-sized building in 1993, Camera Mart, an equipment rental company, called it home. After renovating the building, Sony Music Studios soon became a popular and high-tech recording spot.
In a 2001 article in the on-line recording industry publication Mix, Andy Kadison, the studios' senior vice president said" “We’re like the millennium’s version of an old-time Hollywood studio. We can do virtually every aspect of an entertainment project under one roof, ranging from audio recording, mixing, mastering, archive restoration and plant production, to television production and satellite broadcasts, to audio and video post-production.”
When reached Wednesday on his cell phone, Kadison declined to comment on the sale or the future of the building.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc
RE:
“Vito: I would have loved to have seen that booth. There was a picture on the wall at Local #306 which showed what was probably the Roxy booth with the three projectors set up for Cinemiracle and it did seem pretty cramped.”
FYI, the CineMiracle booth was a temporary set-up in the closed mezzanine section built especiallay for the Windjammer engagement. The front balcony projection room was not used for this engagement.
“Those 1950 images taken from backstage show how much more "intimate” the Roxy was than RCMH, even though the seating capacity was virtually the same. Patrons sitting upstairs at the Roxy got a closer view of the performers. One feels miles away in RCMH’s mezzanines. If the Roxy still existed today, I believe that it would be more popular than RCMH as a concert venue."
Yes, I agree. The projection booth situated at the front of the balcony was capable of creating shaper, more detailed and perhaps larger, images than the RCMH installation. But then the ROXY was created as a movie theater, whereas movies were an afterthought at RCMH.
The vast ROXY balcony was incredible; so large and yet each seating section had its own “intimate” feel. I am sure audiences did feel “closer” to the ROXY stage than RCMH audiences.
Yes Ricka, you may be right about the rug. Perhaps it was replaced later during 1950s. I have photos of the rotunda taken in 1956 and the oval rug is gone. A wall-to-to wall carpet is in its place.
RE: “This photo puzzles me as well because there is scaffolding there which doesn’t seem to belong if the theater was open. Yet the style of clothes people are wearing plus the military men signify it must have been during the mid 1940s. Any other suggestions?”
Yes, this photo does date from 1940s. The oval rug was replaced during late 1940s by a wall-to-wall version. The original oval rug wore out. The scaffolding must be related to a maintence/cleaning effort at the time.
RE:
Maybe Joseph would know if the Roxy had a private screening room, but if so that would have accounted for another two projectionists on a shift, and there were two shifts a day (at least) in the main Roxy booth.
Yes, the ROXY had a smaller projection room on the orchestra level, 51st street side of the building. Complete with a mini stage and foyer. It was near the library, switch board and properties room.
RE: Fox Movietone studios
Sony to shutter historic studios
By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
June 14, 2007, 7:30 AM EDT
Citing difficult times in the recording industry, Sony BMG is closing its historic Hell’s Kitchen studios, where artists such as J. Lo have recorded and movies such as “Shaft” were filmed.
The five-story red-brick building on West 54th Street and 10th Avenue will no longer house Sony Music Studios, according to an internal memo obtained by amNewYork. The June 8 memo said that employees will be terminated when the studios close in mid-to late-August.
Some employees possibly will be allowed to transfer to different parts of the company. It is unclear how many employees will be affected and what the future holds for the studio building that once housed Fox Movietone studios, where one of the first technologies to combine sound and film in the 1920s was used.
The music-industry giant is being hush-hush on the deal, only saying that Sony BMG, the studios' parent company, signed a purchase and sale agreement with a New York developer called HSAC Corp. Efforts to contact the developer were unsuccessful. It was unclear what will happen to the building.
Movies such as “Miracle on 34th Street” and television shows like the original “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” were filmed there. The studios also hosted the New York filming of “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” a bi-coastal telethon that raised money for the families of Sept. 11 victims just days after the attacks.
Before Sony bought the warehouse-sized building in 1993, Camera Mart, an equipment rental company, called it home. After renovating the building, Sony Music Studios soon became a popular and high-tech recording spot.
In a 2001 article in the on-line recording industry publication Mix, Andy Kadison, the studios' senior vice president said" “We’re like the millennium’s version of an old-time Hollywood studio. We can do virtually every aspect of an entertainment project under one roof, ranging from audio recording, mixing, mastering, archive restoration and plant production, to television production and satellite broadcasts, to audio and video post-production.”
When reached Wednesday on his cell phone, Kadison declined to comment on the sale or the future of the building.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc
RE:
“Vito: I would have loved to have seen that booth. There was a picture on the wall at Local #306 which showed what was probably the Roxy booth with the three projectors set up for Cinemiracle and it did seem pretty cramped.”
FYI, the CineMiracle booth was a temporary set-up in the closed mezzanine section built especiallay for the Windjammer engagement. The front balcony projection room was not used for this engagement.
“Those 1950 images taken from backstage show how much more "intimate” the Roxy was than RCMH, even though the seating capacity was virtually the same. Patrons sitting upstairs at the Roxy got a closer view of the performers. One feels miles away in RCMH’s mezzanines. If the Roxy still existed today, I believe that it would be more popular than RCMH as a concert venue."
Yes, I agree. The projection booth situated at the front of the balcony was capable of creating shaper, more detailed and perhaps larger, images than the RCMH installation. But then the ROXY was created as a movie theater, whereas movies were an afterthought at RCMH.
The vast ROXY balcony was incredible; so large and yet each seating section had its own “intimate” feel. I am sure audiences did feel “closer” to the ROXY stage than RCMH audiences.
Some more great ROXY views from Life:
View link
View link
Yes Ricka, you may be right about the rug. Perhaps it was replaced later during 1950s. I have photos of the rotunda taken in 1956 and the oval rug is gone. A wall-to-to wall carpet is in its place.
RE: “This photo puzzles me as well because there is scaffolding there which doesn’t seem to belong if the theater was open. Yet the style of clothes people are wearing plus the military men signify it must have been during the mid 1940s. Any other suggestions?”
Yes, this photo does date from 1940s. The oval rug was replaced during late 1940s by a wall-to-wall version. The original oval rug wore out. The scaffolding must be related to a maintence/cleaning effort at the time.