Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
116 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,001 - 2,025 of 3,325 comments
Ed: Thank you for your personal commentary as I was just curious as we have dear Jewish friends, but I don’t believe they have ever been in NYC during the holiday season to see RCMH and the show.
Patsy… I’ve been to the Christmas show on several occasions Jewish friends (including my ex-wife and our children who are all Jewish) over the years and – while the Nativity doesn’t have the same resonance with them as it would with a Christian of faith – they were able to appreciate the show purely for its entertainment value. Going in to the show with their eyes wide open (it is, after all, called the “Radio City Christmas Show”) they were not offended by the proceedings and happily stayed till the end, judging the spectacle purely on its artistic merits. The Nativity finale does not push the same hot buttons that, say, Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion” did (whether or not you agree with the criticism heaped upon that movie).
I should say that the same goes for me, since I am not what you would call a religious fellow. And, no, Bill… neither Elmhurst nor Laurelton are close enough to Hicksville that I would have seen “2001” at the Twin South Theater. Thanks for that suggestion, however.
Rocker: Am abit confused by your “Hows the Egg Nogg?” comment?
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Ca.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
I really enjoyed seeing the Christmas Spectacular for the first time in Charlotte, but would have preferred seeing it for the first time in NYC at ‘the hall’! Though I do feel the live Nativity was a bit over the top it was a wonderful presentation of the true meaning of Christmas for all Christians. Yet I do wonder if many Jewish people stay for the final act?
East Coast Rocker:
Yes, Eddie is still at the Hall, hes a very important part of the stage operation there. Melvin( Mel Robinson)was at several installations at theatres as you have noted. I never had the pleasure of meeting him, a friend of mine however worked with him at the Academy of music while he was in college. He told me Mel was a very good tech and he learned many things from him regarding organ construction.
DavidM:
You should write your concerns about the Christmas show, I believe your input would be welcome. Anyone here at Cinema Treasures in my view would have valid concerns and genuine understanding of how things could be improved. So, write,write,write!!!
DenPiano maybe you can tell me if there is a local 1 Stagehand named eddie Kramer still working there and since you say you maintain the great Lady do you or did you know a guy named Melvin who I knew in the 70’s was doing the same thing. When I knew him he was doing the still existing at the time the one at the former Brooklyn Paramount, The NY Academy of Music before it was sold (the organ that is)RCMH and the Beacon. With the exception of the brooklyn Paramount I have had the pleasure of putting my hands on the keys of all the others. I only wish I knew how to play.
Denpiano:
Thank you for your response. Don’t take my question personally. It does not matter what job you do. I just started posting to this forum on a regular basis. I simply wanted to know job you perform at the Hall.
I mentioned in previous posts that I am very happy the Hall is still open. It could very well be a parking lot by now; I was there on April 12, 1978. I could not begin to tell you in a post about my happy memories of Radio City and what the place means to me. I’ll be more than happy to tell you privately.
Am I whining? Maybe. However, I think it’s time to begin looking at the Christmas Show with a more critical eye. I will address my comments to the appropriate people at the Hall.
I will keep this one short. Back in 1972 I was doing some work for Bill Hanley Sound. I worked for him whenever her he had a sound gig in the NYC area. I got a call asking me to be at RCMH for what was the first show ever booked by an outside promotor. On of the headliners was Billy Breston McKendry Spring and some smaller acts. The Stage shows were still happening and the feature film at the time was Woody Allens Play it again Sam with Dianne Keaton. We came in to set up 3 days before the actual show. We were not allowed to do anything till after the last show ended. I spent 3 days crawling through the false ceiling running a few thousand feet of intercom wires from the stage to D Cove and all the way back to the P boths. RCMH had a load of followspots up there but they did not have the cutting power of a Super Trooper when it came to long throws to the staage. The concert was great the place was sold out and soon afterwards more concerts took place. Also after that first show RCMH made arrangments to get their own Clear Com headset intercom system to eliminate the time it took to run the cables.
I am the grandson of Rene Chambellan and I just wanted to thank Geoffrey for mentioning his work. His contributions to the entire Rockefeller Center project were significant and I am blessed with many photographs of the original models and sketches as well as our family having several plaster casts of the onamentation located above the entrance doors to Radio City. His contributions to Rockefeller Center, as with most architectural sculptors is usually not recognized, hence my delight in Geoffrey’s comments. One suggestion for all of you, the next time you are in the theater look up! That marvelous ceiling is also Rene Chambellan’s work! Be well all, and thanks again!
DavidM:
In response to your (BTW)question, I’ve been tending to the needs of the Mighty Wurlitzer for the Bishop firm for 15 years or so, however,does it matter if I were an elevator operator,or a popcorn seller? The point I’m making is, it doesn’t matter what you or I think about the staging etc. Its all just a happy memory. I know people at the Hall from the top execs to us regular folk. I hear from my usher friends that a good many people have commented favorably about the screen. Some have said they will tell friends its great. We can whine over the passing of certain ideas, however, doesn’t every generation think they are the cats meow? I’m 53 and think nothing was better than the 60’s and 70’s, my older friends tell me I missed the great shows in the 40’s and 50’s!! So, whos right? Lets enjoy the fact that the Music Hall is open and sparkling brighter then ever and I have confidence that we will see some of the “Old Time” beautiful scenes come back in one form or another.
I was watching TCM sometime last week and much to my astonishment 2001 came on and I quickly turned it off.
They might as well show American Pie-Band Camp in 3 strip Cinerama which makes just about as much sense.
Ed: “2001” played in Cinerama on Long Island in 1968. I think it was the Twin South Theater in Hicksville (?). Was that near by to where you lived at the time?
“2001” is also my all-time favorite film, Bill. “Dr. Strangelove” is not too far behind. Kubrick may be my very favorite director. A friend of the family named Henry took me to see the movie when I was very, very young – perhaps 4 or 5 – towards the end of its initial theatrical release. I can vaguely remember childhood images from the opening “dawn of man” sequence up on a huge screen. I also saw “Planet of the Apes” around this time – maybe a year or so earlier – and I remember when I was 8 or 9 mistaking my memories of “2001” for “Apes.” Later, when I went to see the Fox “Go Ape” revival of all 5 “Apes†films on the same bill, I realized nothing in the movie matched the images I had in my mind of naked apes coming up over a hill in a threatening manner. When my Dad took me to see “2001” when it was re-released in the late ‘70’s, I finally realized that the images I had thought belonged to “Apes” were from the “Dawn of Man” sequence where the two clans face off over the drinking hole.
I have no recollection of which theater I saw “2001” either of those times, but I don’t think it was in Manhattan. I would have to do some research of newspaper ads to figure it all out. I lived in Elmhurst the first time I saw it and in Laurelton the second – so I presume the theaters were reasonably close to either neighborhood, and further reason that the prints were 35mm projected on flat screens. If so, that means I’ve never experienced the movie in a 70mm format, let along projected on a Cinerama screen. That is something I hope and pray one day to be able to put right. I might have also seen “2001†again as an adult in the ‘80’s, but I think it was at a Manhattan revival house â€" surely a 35mm print. I’d have to ask my ex-wife about that to confirm details.
I did see it at the Rivoli, in ‘76 I think. I also saw it at the Music Hall in '75. Nothing compares to the long-lost Capitol, though. That was the biggest screen I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Of course, being 13 years old when I saw it might have something to do with that opinion, not to mention the colossal scale of the movie itself. I still remember how the curtains kept on opening and opening, and how the screen touched the ceiling and the floor. My dad took me to see it – he wound up not liking the movie but he sure was impressed by the size of the screen.
Imagine your mom and sister not wanting to see the marquee at the Capitol with 2001 on it! I didn’t think such people existed!
By the way did you see it at the Rivoli in 76 or 77? It was as they say awesome.
Vincent: I was 13 years old at the time. I don’t recall the exact reaction to the FU joke but I do remember that many of the lines of dialogue couldn’t be heard at all because the audience was still laughing so hard from the previous jokes. FU probably got a huge laugh that drowned out the next few lines in the script.
My other big memory of seeing “The Odd Couple” at Radio City involved my family walking back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal after the movie. My mom and sister wanted to go shopping on 7th Ave., but I did my best to get us to take a detour to Broadway and 50th St. so I could get one more look at the Capitol’s marquee featuring “2001” (which I’d seen a few weeks earlier. It’s still my all-time favorite movie). Since it wasn’t really on our way, I wasn’t successful. But now I have a picture of that marquee on my computer desktop, and I can see it every day.
I only wish the prices for good event seating at the Hall would come down. Top price is $200 for the upcoming Chinese New Year show. I understand there is a scale and one can get in for as little as $49, if you don’t mind the third tier, you can’t touch the orchestra for less than $85 – and that’s all the way at the rear. That starts piling up pretty high if you want to bring the family along. Those ridiculous “Premium Seat” schemes aside, $100 will get you a top notch seat in the more intimate legitimate theaters of Broadway.
I suppose its what the market will bear, however. As long as they keep selling tickets at that level, the prices will never be lowered. I noticed that top price tickets for the current Rolling Stones stint at the Madison Square Garden are going for $454!!! Imagine that! I can recall seeing the Stones at the Garden in 1981 for something like $17.50. Never mind that back in the late ‘70’s you got the stage show AND a movie at RCMH for very popular prices.
The recent hit revival of the Odd Couple got me to thinking about one of its funnier jokes.
For those of you who were lucky enough to have seen the film during its run at the Hall what kind of response did FU get?
Did people get it? Did it get a big laugh? Or did it go over the heads of most of the Music Hall audience?
Is this video wall that you all talk about just at RCMH or is perhaps a smaller version of it taken on the road tours? Also, in Charlotte there were 18 Rockettes and so I wonder how many are on the RCMH stage….twice that number?
Denpiano:
How can you say that “staging will not change?” It already has. The backdrop for “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” was the video wall, instead of the whimsical Lisanby set. A blue video wall certainly did not coujure up thoughts of a toy shop. I always thought “Here Comes Santa Claus” worked so well with that mirrored backdrop, which also gave a thrill to those of us in the audience who could see ourselves. Not anymore with a video wall full of projected Santas. And during the reindeer number, the moon had video lines all the way through it. As I said, the wall looked great in the opening number, but after that it didn’t. The wall has it’s merits, but nothing takes the place of wonderful scenery. BTW, Denpiano, what do you do at the hall?
The video wall is a high tech L.E.D. unit placed very close to the back wall,this is where it will remain. My understanding is that when Jim Dolan was in Las Vegas, he was very impressed with its capabilities and ordered one for the Music Hall. Everyone should relax!! staging will not change because of “THE WALL”, this unit is
used in addition to the regular sets. I’ve seen some tests to be used for the upcoming Chinese New Year show and their effects and
graphics are stunning. This is in addition to regular sets. I suspect
this unit will bring more business to the Hall in that those that wouldn’t come here before, will come now. I believe we will see some
very nice shows this year, keep your fingers crossed!
Ed: Oh yes, the RCMH Christmas show tours and has been touring for several years. I saw the show on Dec. 30th at Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte. It was my first time to see the show and when the Rockettes first appeared on stage a tear fell among my cheek as I had waited all my life to see them, in person! Though if I had had a choice I would have chosen to see them for the first time on stage at RCMH with a live orchestra! Sorry about your Rockettes meeting up with your dog!