I sure hope the AFI is going to record all the celebrity introductions and make them available for viewing on their website. This is the kind of event we could never pull off in New York City, sad to say.
Chris Utley: I really hope you score a ticket to “Spartacus” in the Dome. Wow – seeing it on that screen, with Spartacus himself in the house … it doesn’t get any better than that.
Rory: when you saw “2001” it was still playing only in 70mm Cinerama. Besides Hicksville, it played that way in Montclair, NJ until March 1969, when it opened wide in neighborhood theaters in 35mm. New York City’s Cinerama run ended in December 1968, because at that time there was only one Cinerama screen in the city (the Cinerama, formerly the Warner, formerly the Strand) and MGM wanted to open their new Cinerama film “Ice Station Zebra” before year’s end.
So you were very lucky to see it the best possible way. I was too – I saw it at the Capitol in June 1968. The way movies are today, I can safely say I’ll never have a better experience seeing a movie in a theater for as long as I live.
I’m definitely looking forward to the special edition DVD, with the commentaries, etc. Counting both VHS and DVD, this will be the 8th version of “2001” I’ve purchased!
What about all those people who contribute information to this site? Without them, there probably would be no Cinema Treasures.
With me it was the other way around. I had tons of movie ads and clippings collected over many years, but nowhere to show them and share them with people until I found Cinema Treasures.
Saps: it’s very tempting. At least I did make the trip to this great theater twice in my life on a kind of impulse, to see “How the West Was Won” and “Mad Mad World”. Not this year, though.
Chris: I also think “The Sound of Music” has a good shot at playing the Dome, along with the other two you mentioned. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when the tickets go on sale. If only I didn’t live 3,000 miles away …
There’s also a gift shop like the one Terry mentioned at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, in the forecourt, and it gets a LOT of tourist traffic as you’d expect. The book would most likely sell really well there too.
Warren: The ads were explained a couple of days ago on the homepage:
In a few weeks, Cinema Treasures will have been online for seven years.
As many of you know, a few months ago we moved this website to a much more powerful (and expensive) server. The new server has been fantastic, and has really helped us keep up with the growth of this website and our traffic.
However, the monthly cost of maintaining this project has become more than either of us can support without additional funding. After seven years, we’ve definitely reached a point where we need your support.
Starting next week, we will begin accepting donations. As well, we’ll be including some tasteful, text-based advertisements on our pages to help offset costs. (Don’t worry… they won’t be annoying.)
And they aren’t annoying. I didn’t even notice them until you pointed them out.
Thanks, Rory, for referring to me as an expert on “2001”. Even though William answered your question, I can’t think of a better thing for someone on this site to call me. You made my day!
Robert Osborne mentioned that in the Hollywood Reporter:
“The movie ran 30 weeks at the Warner, then played dates around the U.S., but thereafter, except for a few TV airings in the 1970s, it virtually disappeared. Goldwyn’s rights expired after 15 years; despite attempts to renew them, the Gershwin estate turned a deaf ear, and "Porgy” has been sitting in a vault ever since. (It also was said that Poitier and others preferred that it disappear.)"
I last saw it the same time you did, Ed. I mostly remember Sammy Davis Jr.’s scenes. But it was on a black and white TV, which is why I was so looking forward to seeing it right, at the Ziegfeld.
“The Great Escape” was the first movie I saw in a theater all by myself (October 1963, age 8), and I got to relive that experience on Saturday at the Lafayette. I found myself recoiling in my seat when Ives tried to jump the wire and when Henley and Blythe went down in their small plane, even though I knew exactly what was going to happen to everyone in the movie at all times. That’s what a big screen and a beautifully restored movie palace will do for you.
Thanks, Pete. I wonder if the potential cancellation has anything to do with the Gershwin estate. Didn’t they make sure the movie could not be shown for many, many years?
Saps: I saw “Pete’s Dragon” at the Music Hall and was so bored by it that I spent most of its running time daydreaming about what “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was going to be like. That was opening at the Ziegfeld later in the week.
Irv: “Porgy and Bess” is on the schedule at the Ziegfeld on movietickets.com. One show at 8 PM on 9/26 and three shows on 9/27. I expect these shows might sell out if the word gets out.
Rory: I had a similar reaction after seeing “Beneath”. My cousin and I went to see “The Out-of-Towners” at Radio City Music Hall later that day. When we got within sight of the theater my cousin said, “There’s Radio City – before the apes got to it!”
Rory: I too saw “Beneath” at the Loew’s State 2. What a comedown from the 1968 original, but it was good for a few laughs. More than a few, now that I look back on it. Even the closing credits were funny: Victor Buono was listed as “Fat Man” and black actor Don Pedro Colley was billed as “Negro”.
Now that the debate is over, all I can say is, I wish there was still a theater in New York that had three operational Cinerama booths, whether they were visible or not. Roadshow, you’re lucky to be living in a city that does still have such a theater. Even though they haven’t shown Cinerama for two years, they’re bound to do it again someday.
Back to the Ziegfeld, which is still a source of pride for New York even without the three booths: Movieguy, at one point I thought people in the audience were talking behind me during “Saturday Night Fever”. I soon realized that it was part of the surround soundtrack. Very impressive!
I think the Ziegfeld will be closed after “Saturday Night Fever” ends its run on 9/6, until “Porgy and Bess” comes in on 9/26 for two days only. The marquee currently has the Hollywood Classics display up, which gave me hope for a Classics series like we had last year at this time, but I guess not.
Last night’s “Saturday Night Fever” show featured some of the best uses of the surround channels I’ve ever heard at the Ziegfeld. All the songs sounded amazing. I was surprised by the small turnout, though – less than half the people that were there for “Grease” last October. Maybe everyone’s away for the Labor Day weekend?
The original 1959 ads for “Porgy and Bess” outside the Ziegfeld say “Produced in Todd-AO”. Whatever format they show it in, 35mm or 70mm, that’s got to be one of the rarest classic movie engagements we’ve had in New York for many years. We should all patronize it!
Forrest136: I’d say the Ziegfeld’s screen is quite big enough for an impressive 70mm presentation, especially if you sit in the front half of the theater. I know some people here don’t agree with that, but I’ve had some fantastic 70mm experiences there over the years (“2001”, “Close Encounters”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Vertigo”, “That’s Entertainment”, “Gandhi”, “My Fair Lady”, “Apocalypse Now”).
And I agree with you about “Hawaii” – an excellent movie that’s sadly underrated. Coming in at the end of the religious epic cycle, it was really Hollywood’s first (and only?) ANTI-religious epic.
I sure hope the AFI is going to record all the celebrity introductions and make them available for viewing on their website. This is the kind of event we could never pull off in New York City, sad to say.
Chris Utley: I really hope you score a ticket to “Spartacus” in the Dome. Wow – seeing it on that screen, with Spartacus himself in the house … it doesn’t get any better than that.
Be sure to tell us all about the show.
Rory: when you saw “2001” it was still playing only in 70mm Cinerama. Besides Hicksville, it played that way in Montclair, NJ until March 1969, when it opened wide in neighborhood theaters in 35mm. New York City’s Cinerama run ended in December 1968, because at that time there was only one Cinerama screen in the city (the Cinerama, formerly the Warner, formerly the Strand) and MGM wanted to open their new Cinerama film “Ice Station Zebra” before year’s end.
So you were very lucky to see it the best possible way. I was too – I saw it at the Capitol in June 1968. The way movies are today, I can safely say I’ll never have a better experience seeing a movie in a theater for as long as I live.
I’m definitely looking forward to the special edition DVD, with the commentaries, etc. Counting both VHS and DVD, this will be the 8th version of “2001” I’ve purchased!
Warren said:
What about all those people who contribute information to this site? Without them, there probably would be no Cinema Treasures.
With me it was the other way around. I had tons of movie ads and clippings collected over many years, but nowhere to show them and share them with people until I found Cinema Treasures.
Saps: it’s very tempting. At least I did make the trip to this great theater twice in my life on a kind of impulse, to see “How the West Was Won” and “Mad Mad World”. Not this year, though.
Chris: I also think “The Sound of Music” has a good shot at playing the Dome, along with the other two you mentioned. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when the tickets go on sale. If only I didn’t live 3,000 miles away …
There’s also a gift shop like the one Terry mentioned at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, in the forecourt, and it gets a LOT of tourist traffic as you’d expect. The book would most likely sell really well there too.
Warren: The ads were explained a couple of days ago on the homepage:
In a few weeks, Cinema Treasures will have been online for seven years.
As many of you know, a few months ago we moved this website to a much more powerful (and expensive) server. The new server has been fantastic, and has really helped us keep up with the growth of this website and our traffic.
However, the monthly cost of maintaining this project has become more than either of us can support without additional funding. After seven years, we’ve definitely reached a point where we need your support.
Starting next week, we will begin accepting donations. As well, we’ll be including some tasteful, text-based advertisements on our pages to help offset costs. (Don’t worry… they won’t be annoying.)
And they aren’t annoying. I didn’t even notice them until you pointed them out.
Thanks, Rory, for referring to me as an expert on “2001”. Even though William answered your question, I can’t think of a better thing for someone on this site to call me. You made my day!
Uh-oh – the streetcar was “named” Desire.
The Loew’s has announced their first shows of the season, with 5 Oscar-winning performances between them:
The Anti-Heroes
Friday October 5th, 8PM: “A Streetcar Naned Desire"
Saturday October 6th, 6 PM: "Bonnie and Clyde"
Saturday October 6th, 8:45 PM: "Cool Hand Luke”
Robert Osborne mentioned that in the Hollywood Reporter:
“The movie ran 30 weeks at the Warner, then played dates around the U.S., but thereafter, except for a few TV airings in the 1970s, it virtually disappeared. Goldwyn’s rights expired after 15 years; despite attempts to renew them, the Gershwin estate turned a deaf ear, and "Porgy” has been sitting in a vault ever since. (It also was said that Poitier and others preferred that it disappear.)"
I last saw it the same time you did, Ed. I mostly remember Sammy Davis Jr.’s scenes. But it was on a black and white TV, which is why I was so looking forward to seeing it right, at the Ziegfeld.
“The Great Escape” was the first movie I saw in a theater all by myself (October 1963, age 8), and I got to relive that experience on Saturday at the Lafayette. I found myself recoiling in my seat when Ives tried to jump the wire and when Henley and Blythe went down in their small plane, even though I knew exactly what was going to happen to everyone in the movie at all times. That’s what a big screen and a beautifully restored movie palace will do for you.
Thanks, Pete. I wonder if the potential cancellation has anything to do with the Gershwin estate. Didn’t they make sure the movie could not be shown for many, many years?
Saps: I saw “Pete’s Dragon” at the Music Hall and was so bored by it that I spent most of its running time daydreaming about what “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was going to be like. That was opening at the Ziegfeld later in the week.
Irv: “Porgy and Bess” is on the schedule at the Ziegfeld on movietickets.com. One show at 8 PM on 9/26 and three shows on 9/27. I expect these shows might sell out if the word gets out.
Someday Radio City will show movies to the public again, even if it’s only for one night. I just hope it’s in my lifetime :)
Rory: I had a similar reaction after seeing “Beneath”. My cousin and I went to see “The Out-of-Towners” at Radio City Music Hall later that day. When we got within sight of the theater my cousin said, “There’s Radio City – before the apes got to it!”
Rory: I too saw “Beneath” at the Loew’s State 2. What a comedown from the 1968 original, but it was good for a few laughs. More than a few, now that I look back on it. Even the closing credits were funny: Victor Buono was listed as “Fat Man” and black actor Don Pedro Colley was billed as “Negro”.
Now that the debate is over, all I can say is, I wish there was still a theater in New York that had three operational Cinerama booths, whether they were visible or not. Roadshow, you’re lucky to be living in a city that does still have such a theater. Even though they haven’t shown Cinerama for two years, they’re bound to do it again someday.
Back to the Ziegfeld, which is still a source of pride for New York even without the three booths: Movieguy, at one point I thought people in the audience were talking behind me during “Saturday Night Fever”. I soon realized that it was part of the surround soundtrack. Very impressive!
I think the Ziegfeld will be closed after “Saturday Night Fever” ends its run on 9/6, until “Porgy and Bess” comes in on 9/26 for two days only. The marquee currently has the Hollywood Classics display up, which gave me hope for a Classics series like we had last year at this time, but I guess not.
Actually, all of us in the New York area should patronize it. Sorry for the dopey statement.
Last night’s “Saturday Night Fever” show featured some of the best uses of the surround channels I’ve ever heard at the Ziegfeld. All the songs sounded amazing. I was surprised by the small turnout, though – less than half the people that were there for “Grease” last October. Maybe everyone’s away for the Labor Day weekend?
The original 1959 ads for “Porgy and Bess” outside the Ziegfeld say “Produced in Todd-AO”. Whatever format they show it in, 35mm or 70mm, that’s got to be one of the rarest classic movie engagements we’ve had in New York for many years. We should all patronize it!
Forrest136: I’d say the Ziegfeld’s screen is quite big enough for an impressive 70mm presentation, especially if you sit in the front half of the theater. I know some people here don’t agree with that, but I’ve had some fantastic 70mm experiences there over the years (“2001”, “Close Encounters”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Vertigo”, “That’s Entertainment”, “Gandhi”, “My Fair Lady”, “Apocalypse Now”).
And I agree with you about “Hawaii” – an excellent movie that’s sadly underrated. Coming in at the end of the religious epic cycle, it was really Hollywood’s first (and only?) ANTI-religious epic.