I was at the AMMI screening of “2001” that Peter T. wrote about. The print did have some flaws and there was some noticeable flickering, especially in the lower corners of the screen. But it was still a 70mm screening of my all-time favorite movie, and you can really see the difference between 70mm and 35mm. Some of the menu items posted on the wall of the space shuttle kitchen were actually readable from the front row (Apricot Nectar, Apple Cider, etc.) And the sound was fantastic: HAL’s voice seemed to emanate from all corners of the ship … I mean, the theater.
It was one of the prints that Pete A. described: it had a Warner Bros. logo at the very end of the credits.
The Chinese Theater was an awesome and amazing sight for someone from the New York area like me. Almost all our movie palaces have been destroyed. A famous Chinese-American actor, Keye Luke, designed and painted the murals, wall and ceiling decorations in the theater, and they are truly beautiful.
Rhett: Clearview exec Craig O'Connor said the Classics will be back in the fall. A manager also announced this to the audience right before the showing of “Ben-Hur”, which was fairly early in the Classics series. I guess it was a success right away. So when the dud summer “blockbusters” have run their course in a couple of weeks, we’ll have REALLY good movies up on the Ziegfeld screen again. I saw “The Da Vinci Code” last night and, believe me, word of mouth on that one is not going to be good.
Thanks JSA – I really appreciate your report on “80 Days”, and I’m glad you and your son had a good time in spite of the fading. Just yesterday I was searching around for any comments or reviews in the usual places, and didn’t find any.
I believe the first time it was shown on CBS (1972?), the Ed Murrow sequence was cut completely. The movie started with David Niven as Fogg entering the Reform Club.
I’d better not go see MI:3. I’d be rooting for the bad guy, Philip Seymour Hoffman. If Superman Returns gets booked into the Ziegfeld, I’ll be there for that.
About 20 years ago I went to the Daily News building on 42nd St. somewhere on the east side, and asked them about access to their microfilm collection. They told me no, but maybe that has changed. The New York Public Library may have it as well – I should investigate. I’d love to read those original Daily News reviews – I think they were the first publication to use the 4-star rating system.
This ad is dated 4/22/70, and features slighly more technical information than you could ever hope to see in a movie ad nowadays. I think we must be heading backwards as a civilization:
In this ad from April 1964, check out the classy features playing at the Route 46. I think people really were smarter back then :) In fact all 5 drive-ins had quite a selection of good movies to choose from:
Shortly after this year’s Oscars, an article in the LA Times Calendar section declared it (and Ben-Hur) as some of the worst winners ever for Best Picture.
I’ll bet the person who wrote that article would’ve changed their mind if they’d seen Ben-Hur at the Ziegfeld in February.
To Jerry Kovar: Thanks so much for posting the 42nd St. pictures on your Photobucket site. They’re all great, but I especially enjoyed the William Castles and the Liz-Eddie-Debbie one. All those amazing double features – it reminded me of when I first got “Midnight Cowboy” on video and spent so much time freeze-framing and slow-motioning, trying to see what all the double features were.
Unfortunately “Scary Movie 4” is playing at the Ziegfeld right now as well. But the theater’s director has assured us that the Classics will be returning in the fall. I hope the same thing will happen at the Dome, the ultimate place to see 70mm in the entire USA.
It sure would, Gary. I’m glad they printed my letter but they cut out what I thought was my best argument on behalf of “80 Days”: that it played 103 consecutive weeks at the Rivoli on Broadway. Quite an achievement for a so-called bad movie!
If I had to pick only one out of the 101, one that hadn’t played the Ziegfeld yet and would benefit the most from their big sound and screen, it would be “Patton”.
Warren: It’s been so long since I saw “Sweet Rosie O'Grady”, but didn’t that start off with a chorus singing the main titles while they were on the screen? (“20th Century-Fox PRESENNNNNTS! Betty Grable!” etc.) I’m pretty sure it was a Betty Grable movie where I heard this, and I think this was the one.
Gary – I was there too on the first day of “Roger Rabbit”. The air conditioning wasn’t working at all, and the ticket taker told everybody that. If it were any other theater, I would’ve turned around and left … but not at the Ziegfeld.
What Movieguy is describing is exactly the way it used to be at the Ziegfeld in the ‘70s and early '80s. Most times when a movie opened there exclusively, (“Close Encounters”, “Hair”, “Gandhi”, etc.), there were always lines around the block and a struggle to find seats.
Gary: After “Lawrence”, I asked one of the friendly Ziegfeld employees which classics did the best business, and she said it was the Indiana Jones movies.
My faulty memory got a jolt when I saw “Yours, Mine and Ours” on TCM last weekend. I had forgotten that I’d seen it here in 1968 when it was still a single-screen.
A good plan for the Ziegfeld (maybe for their upcoming 40th anniversary in 2009) would be to show some of the great films that had their first-ever New York engagements there. Just a few that come to mind: “Ryan’s Daughter”, “Cabaret”, “That’s Entertainment”, “Tommy”, “Barry Lyndon”, “Close Encounters” (even though they just showed it last month), “Gandhi”, “Hair”, “Apocalypse Now”, etc.
Jeff gave me his two free passes from the “Lawrence” sync sound incident, and I didn’t want to see “Ice Age 2”, so I gave them to my friend Jennifer. She took her 8-year-old son to see “Ice Age”, and he was very impressed with the way the Ziegfeld’s curtains opened and closed. That was most likely the first time he’d ever seen that in a movie theater.
Wally: “Woodstock” played on Broadway at the Trans-Lux West. Was that the name of the theater that became the Pussycat?
I was at the AMMI screening of “2001” that Peter T. wrote about. The print did have some flaws and there was some noticeable flickering, especially in the lower corners of the screen. But it was still a 70mm screening of my all-time favorite movie, and you can really see the difference between 70mm and 35mm. Some of the menu items posted on the wall of the space shuttle kitchen were actually readable from the front row (Apricot Nectar, Apple Cider, etc.) And the sound was fantastic: HAL’s voice seemed to emanate from all corners of the ship … I mean, the theater.
It was one of the prints that Pete A. described: it had a Warner Bros. logo at the very end of the credits.
The Chinese Theater was an awesome and amazing sight for someone from the New York area like me. Almost all our movie palaces have been destroyed. A famous Chinese-American actor, Keye Luke, designed and painted the murals, wall and ceiling decorations in the theater, and they are truly beautiful.
Rhett: Clearview exec Craig O'Connor said the Classics will be back in the fall. A manager also announced this to the audience right before the showing of “Ben-Hur”, which was fairly early in the Classics series. I guess it was a success right away. So when the dud summer “blockbusters” have run their course in a couple of weeks, we’ll have REALLY good movies up on the Ziegfeld screen again. I saw “The Da Vinci Code” last night and, believe me, word of mouth on that one is not going to be good.
Thanks JSA – I really appreciate your report on “80 Days”, and I’m glad you and your son had a good time in spite of the fading. Just yesterday I was searching around for any comments or reviews in the usual places, and didn’t find any.
I believe the first time it was shown on CBS (1972?), the Ed Murrow sequence was cut completely. The movie started with David Niven as Fogg entering the Reform Club.
I’d better not go see MI:3. I’d be rooting for the bad guy, Philip Seymour Hoffman. If Superman Returns gets booked into the Ziegfeld, I’ll be there for that.
About 20 years ago I went to the Daily News building on 42nd St. somewhere on the east side, and asked them about access to their microfilm collection. They told me no, but maybe that has changed. The New York Public Library may have it as well – I should investigate. I’d love to read those original Daily News reviews – I think they were the first publication to use the 4-star rating system.
For some reason this link is better – the image grows bigger when you click on the bottom right corner:
View link
This ad is dated 4/22/70, and features slighly more technical information than you could ever hope to see in a movie ad nowadays. I think we must be heading backwards as a civilization:
View link
A few weeks later: live rock and roll at the Stanley Warner:
View link
This ad from 2/12/69 announces the exclusive NJ engagement of “The Shoes of the Fisherman”, with the premiere benefiting the people of Biafra:
View link
In this ad from April 1964, check out the classy features playing at the Route 46. I think people really were smarter back then :) In fact all 5 drive-ins had quite a selection of good movies to choose from:
View link
12/18/68: The ad for “2001”’s exclusive Rockland/Bergen engagement at the Route 59. “A perfect gift for family or friend”:
View link
JSA said:
Shortly after this year’s Oscars, an article in the LA Times Calendar section declared it (and Ben-Hur) as some of the worst winners ever for Best Picture.
I’ll bet the person who wrote that article would’ve changed their mind if they’d seen Ben-Hur at the Ziegfeld in February.
To Jerry Kovar: Thanks so much for posting the 42nd St. pictures on your Photobucket site. They’re all great, but I especially enjoyed the William Castles and the Liz-Eddie-Debbie one. All those amazing double features – it reminded me of when I first got “Midnight Cowboy” on video and spent so much time freeze-framing and slow-motioning, trying to see what all the double features were.
Unfortunately “Scary Movie 4” is playing at the Ziegfeld right now as well. But the theater’s director has assured us that the Classics will be returning in the fall. I hope the same thing will happen at the Dome, the ultimate place to see 70mm in the entire USA.
It sure would, Gary. I’m glad they printed my letter but they cut out what I thought was my best argument on behalf of “80 Days”: that it played 103 consecutive weeks at the Rivoli on Broadway. Quite an achievement for a so-called bad movie!
If I had to pick only one out of the 101, one that hadn’t played the Ziegfeld yet and would benefit the most from their big sound and screen, it would be “Patton”.
Warren: It’s been so long since I saw “Sweet Rosie O'Grady”, but didn’t that start off with a chorus singing the main titles while they were on the screen? (“20th Century-Fox PRESENNNNNTS! Betty Grable!” etc.) I’m pretty sure it was a Betty Grable movie where I heard this, and I think this was the one.
Gary – I was there too on the first day of “Roger Rabbit”. The air conditioning wasn’t working at all, and the ticket taker told everybody that. If it were any other theater, I would’ve turned around and left … but not at the Ziegfeld.
What Movieguy is describing is exactly the way it used to be at the Ziegfeld in the ‘70s and early '80s. Most times when a movie opened there exclusively, (“Close Encounters”, “Hair”, “Gandhi”, etc.), there were always lines around the block and a struggle to find seats.
Gary: After “Lawrence”, I asked one of the friendly Ziegfeld employees which classics did the best business, and she said it was the Indiana Jones movies.
You can see what this theater looked like as a single with a 52 ft. wide screen at this site:
View link
My faulty memory got a jolt when I saw “Yours, Mine and Ours” on TCM last weekend. I had forgotten that I’d seen it here in 1968 when it was still a single-screen.
A good plan for the Ziegfeld (maybe for their upcoming 40th anniversary in 2009) would be to show some of the great films that had their first-ever New York engagements there. Just a few that come to mind: “Ryan’s Daughter”, “Cabaret”, “That’s Entertainment”, “Tommy”, “Barry Lyndon”, “Close Encounters” (even though they just showed it last month), “Gandhi”, “Hair”, “Apocalypse Now”, etc.
Jeff gave me his two free passes from the “Lawrence” sync sound incident, and I didn’t want to see “Ice Age 2”, so I gave them to my friend Jennifer. She took her 8-year-old son to see “Ice Age”, and he was very impressed with the way the Ziegfeld’s curtains opened and closed. That was most likely the first time he’d ever seen that in a movie theater.
Cinema Treasures: The Next Generation.
How big is the screen in the main auditorium? As big as the one at the Ziegfeld, or maybe even bigger?