The address for the entrance to the Mecca Theatre was 445 East 14th Street, which was on the north side of 14th Street just west of Avenue A. The address currently given in the Overview is for the block long side of the Mecca premises on Avenue A between E. 14th and E. 15th Streets, which can be seen in the NYC Tax Photo displayed here
“The Brasher Doubloon,” supporting feature to “Miracle On 34th Street,” had also debuted at the Roxy Theatre, but mainly to fill the gaps between an ultra-rare New York stage booking for comedy superstar Jack Benny. The limited engagement was for two weeks only, with Benny performing with most of the cast of his top-rated radio program, including Phil Harris and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.
With the nearby and much larger Astoria Theatre being booked day-and-date with the RKO circuit, Skouras used the Steinway Theatre for double bills of new “B” programmers or “A” hits from the past.
First neighborhood showings of “Miracle On 34th Street” started on July 16th, 1947, following its premiere engagement in June at the Roxy Theatre (with stage revue).
One wonders how such a mass evacuation was handled. How were refunds and/or rainchecks distributed for last Saturday night’s blackout? I guess that anyone without a receipt of some sort was out of luck.
I think that the Music Hall was already “dark” that night, so no massive problem like the one at Madison Square Garden where a sold-out concert by the iconic Jennifer Lopez had to be cancelled.
This was the Roxy’s second stage show combining traditional variety acts with ice-skating numbers, preceded by the 4th of July holiday offering shown here
The Music Hall could also be viewed on its own screen during that engagement, in the latest edition of “The March of Time,” which provided construction history and a guided tour of Rockefeller Center.
With a different radio DJ introducing him each day, Jerry Lewis visited theatres in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Westchester, Nassau County, and New Jersey.
Narrated by Rock Hudson, the feature-length documentary commemorated the first anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, which is still an unsolved mystery more than half a century later. On opening day, three of local radio’s top disc jockeys handed out free copies of 20th-Fox’s soundtrack album.
Loew’s theatres in Eastern Queens were usually advertised separately in local newspapers. Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica was the borough’s exclusive leader, running a week ahead of the Triboro. The Hillside in Jamaica and Willard in Woodhaven were day-and-date with the Prospect, Plaza, and Woodside.
Terry, a news item in the June 6th, 1953 issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new screen used for “Shane” at Grauman’s Chinese was 50 feet wide by 30 feet high, and typical of those being installed in 221 cinemas operated by the National Theatres chain in 19 states.
The biopic’s producers didn’t even bother to include “Brooklyn” as part of the name. The real Brooklyn Paramount always used the borough in its name to prevent confusion with the Paramount Theatre in NYC’s Times Square.
This is a scene from the Alan Freed biopic in which the Wiltern Theatre’s exterior “doubled” for the Brooklyn Paramount. And not with too much accuracy compared to the actual displayed here
That could be true of the Alpine, but does anyone have an up-to-the minute listing of all cinemas currently operating in the five boroughs?
I assume that with “NYC,” you mean Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. The area’s daily newspapers have drastically reduced their movie coverage, probably in retaliation to the industry’s increasing abandonment of printed advertising.
Opening day performances started at 7:00 PM to permit rehearsals for the complex stage presentation, the Roxy’s first attempt to combine a traditional variety show with ice-skating. The newly installed $75,000 rink occupied half of the stage space…Though this was the Roxy’s booking for the 4th of July holiday season, the Andrews Sisters withdrew on July 2nd due to their mother’s sudden death in California.
For the balance of the run, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were raised to top billing, with The Three Swifts, a legendary juggling act, in support.
Patriotic stage revue for that 4th of July season included another revival of the Corps de Ballet’s treatment of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Was that or Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” #1 in popularity among Music Hall ballet fans?
Prior to the 1960s, Downtown Brooklyn was a city in itself, packed with large department stores that attracted shoppers from all over the borough, as well as Queens and lower Manhattan. Starting with the Strand and Loew’s Metropolitan and followed by the Keith-Albee, Fox Theatre, and Brooklyn Paramount, it also became an entertainment mecca with exclusive first-run status, for a time even day-and-date with Broadway. After William Fox’s bankruptcy, the RKO circuit got the contract for Fox (and subsequent 20th-Fox) product, which is the reason why the Albee and not the Fox Theatre became the Downtown Brooklyn showcase for that studio. Taken over by Fabian, the Fox depended primarily on Warner Brothers and Columbia product. The Brooklyn Paramount still focused on Paramount releases, but with Fabian management instead of bankrupted Paramount-Publix. The Metropolitan remained solidly MGM and United Artists. In addition to Fox, the Albee also was the showcase for RKO Radio product. Universal product was usually split between the Albee and Metropolitan.
“Shane” was shown in standard 1:33 ratio at most Loew’s, including the borough-leading Valencia and Paradise. At this date, Loew’s had wide screen projection only at the State, 175th Street, and Orpheum in Manhattan; the Spooner in the Bronx, and the Boro Park in Brooklyn.
Also, at the midtown Capitol, which was not marketed to the public with a Loew’s connection.
At both the Music Hall and Brooklyn Paramount, “Shane” was shown in 1:66 ratio, which Paramount Pictures, for the time being at least, considered the ideal for wide-screen projection. But the vast majority of Greater New York cinemas had yet to be equipped for it, so “Shane” was shown in standard 1:33 at most neighborhood houses, including many of the Loew’s circuit.
After launching the wide-screen era at Radio City Music Hall, “Shane” did the same for the Brooklyn Paramount, where it played exclusively as a single feature to permit more performances.
The dance hall industry was competing for much of the same public as movies, so some of the allegations were probably exaggerated or even non-existent. A dime spent at a dance hall could be a dime lost for a cinema.
The address for the entrance to the Mecca Theatre was 445 East 14th Street, which was on the north side of 14th Street just west of Avenue A. The address currently given in the Overview is for the block long side of the Mecca premises on Avenue A between E. 14th and E. 15th Streets, which can be seen in the NYC Tax Photo displayed here
“The Brasher Doubloon,” supporting feature to “Miracle On 34th Street,” had also debuted at the Roxy Theatre, but mainly to fill the gaps between an ultra-rare New York stage booking for comedy superstar Jack Benny. The limited engagement was for two weeks only, with Benny performing with most of the cast of his top-rated radio program, including Phil Harris and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.
With the nearby and much larger Astoria Theatre being booked day-and-date with the RKO circuit, Skouras used the Steinway Theatre for double bills of new “B” programmers or “A” hits from the past.
First neighborhood showings of “Miracle On 34th Street” started on July 16th, 1947, following its premiere engagement in June at the Roxy Theatre (with stage revue).
Columbia listed in bottom left corner. An ad for the rival Loew’s circuit on that same day of 7/15/43 can be viewed here
Elsmere listed in bottom right corner. An ad for the rival RKO circuit on that same day of 7/15/43 can be viewed here
One wonders how such a mass evacuation was handled. How were refunds and/or rainchecks distributed for last Saturday night’s blackout? I guess that anyone without a receipt of some sort was out of luck.
I think that the Music Hall was already “dark” that night, so no massive problem like the one at Madison Square Garden where a sold-out concert by the iconic Jennifer Lopez had to be cancelled.
This was the Roxy’s second stage show combining traditional variety acts with ice-skating numbers, preceded by the 4th of July holiday offering shown here
The Music Hall could also be viewed on its own screen during that engagement, in the latest edition of “The March of Time,” which provided construction history and a guided tour of Rockefeller Center.
With a different radio DJ introducing him each day, Jerry Lewis visited theatres in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Westchester, Nassau County, and New Jersey.
Narrated by Rock Hudson, the feature-length documentary commemorated the first anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, which is still an unsolved mystery more than half a century later. On opening day, three of local radio’s top disc jockeys handed out free copies of 20th-Fox’s soundtrack album.
Supporting the 3-D feature “Fort-Ti” at the Hollywood and Downtown Paramount Theatres. Full ad displayed here
Loew’s theatres in Eastern Queens were usually advertised separately in local newspapers. Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica was the borough’s exclusive leader, running a week ahead of the Triboro. The Hillside in Jamaica and Willard in Woodhaven were day-and-date with the Prospect, Plaza, and Woodside.
Terry, a news item in the June 6th, 1953 issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the new screen used for “Shane” at Grauman’s Chinese was 50 feet wide by 30 feet high, and typical of those being installed in 221 cinemas operated by the National Theatres chain in 19 states.
The biopic’s producers didn’t even bother to include “Brooklyn” as part of the name. The real Brooklyn Paramount always used the borough in its name to prevent confusion with the Paramount Theatre in NYC’s Times Square.
This is a scene from the Alan Freed biopic in which the Wiltern Theatre’s exterior “doubled” for the Brooklyn Paramount. And not with too much accuracy compared to the actual displayed here
That could be true of the Alpine, but does anyone have an up-to-the minute listing of all cinemas currently operating in the five boroughs? I assume that with “NYC,” you mean Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. The area’s daily newspapers have drastically reduced their movie coverage, probably in retaliation to the industry’s increasing abandonment of printed advertising.
Opening day performances started at 7:00 PM to permit rehearsals for the complex stage presentation, the Roxy’s first attempt to combine a traditional variety show with ice-skating. The newly installed $75,000 rink occupied half of the stage space…Though this was the Roxy’s booking for the 4th of July holiday season, the Andrews Sisters withdrew on July 2nd due to their mother’s sudden death in California. For the balance of the run, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were raised to top billing, with The Three Swifts, a legendary juggling act, in support.
Patriotic stage revue for that 4th of July season included another revival of the Corps de Ballet’s treatment of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Was that or Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” #1 in popularity among Music Hall ballet fans?
Prior to the 1960s, Downtown Brooklyn was a city in itself, packed with large department stores that attracted shoppers from all over the borough, as well as Queens and lower Manhattan. Starting with the Strand and Loew’s Metropolitan and followed by the Keith-Albee, Fox Theatre, and Brooklyn Paramount, it also became an entertainment mecca with exclusive first-run status, for a time even day-and-date with Broadway. After William Fox’s bankruptcy, the RKO circuit got the contract for Fox (and subsequent 20th-Fox) product, which is the reason why the Albee and not the Fox Theatre became the Downtown Brooklyn showcase for that studio. Taken over by Fabian, the Fox depended primarily on Warner Brothers and Columbia product. The Brooklyn Paramount still focused on Paramount releases, but with Fabian management instead of bankrupted Paramount-Publix. The Metropolitan remained solidly MGM and United Artists. In addition to Fox, the Albee also was the showcase for RKO Radio product. Universal product was usually split between the Albee and Metropolitan.
“Shane” was shown in standard 1:33 ratio at most Loew’s, including the borough-leading Valencia and Paradise. At this date, Loew’s had wide screen projection only at the State, 175th Street, and Orpheum in Manhattan; the Spooner in the Bronx, and the Boro Park in Brooklyn. Also, at the midtown Capitol, which was not marketed to the public with a Loew’s connection.
At both the Music Hall and Brooklyn Paramount, “Shane” was shown in 1:66 ratio, which Paramount Pictures, for the time being at least, considered the ideal for wide-screen projection. But the vast majority of Greater New York cinemas had yet to be equipped for it, so “Shane” was shown in standard 1:33 at most neighborhood houses, including many of the Loew’s circuit.
After launching the wide-screen era at Radio City Music Hall, “Shane” did the same for the Brooklyn Paramount, where it played exclusively as a single feature to permit more performances.
The dance hall industry was competing for much of the same public as movies, so some of the allegations were probably exaggerated or even non-existent. A dime spent at a dance hall could be a dime lost for a cinema.