Roxy Theatre

A February 21, 1960 NY Times article on the Roxy closing makes this interesting observation:

“The poor old Roxy was never too successful, sandwiched as it is between the Scylla of the older capitol and the Charybdis of the newer Music Hall. Its various programs of pictures with stage shows (and without stage shows) have had to compete with programs that have usually been a little better at one or the other of those near-by theatres.”

BillSavoy! What a pleasure to learn that you are the artist responsible for that remarkable scale model of the Roxy at the Museum of the Moving Image! And even more pleasurable to be able to directly express my thanks and admiration to you for providing such a lovingly detailed representation of this spectacular old movie palace! I must have spent a good twenty minutes pouring over every inch of your model when I last visited the museum about 7 or 8 years ago. In fact, I sang its praises in a post on this page (I dare you to find it among the more than 1300 comments already posted here) from back in March of 2005. My one criticism – and I hope this has since been corrected – is that the lighting around the display case produced annoying and obscuring glares on the glass. One has to lean in close to block these out and truly enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Thank you so much for that work. I am now inspired to take another trip into Astoria to check it out again!

Tinseltoes:

My name is Bill Savoy and I am fascinated with (and a little bit jealous of) your knowledge of the Roxy (until now, I thought I was the only one so obsessed). I was a friend of the late Ben Hall’s: he befriended me at age 16 and shared his vast collection of Roxy memorabilia with me. During the last 46 years I have added to this archives (a vast collection of programs from opening to closing, photos from excavation to demolition, over 100 photos of staff and performers, etc., etc., and last, but not least, the original blueprints from 1925 (later to be slightly revised … which, once-and-for-all clear-up the seating capacity mystery!). I have built four scale models of the place (including one commisioned by The Museum Of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York, where it is currently on display) and am now starting my fifth … (sooner or later, I’ll get it right!). I worked at Radio City Music Hall from 1969 until 1983, where I met many surviving Roxy alumni (Leonidoff, Markert, Kilduff, Parmentier, etc., etc., ) and had full access to the building and archives!

I live and work (as a scenic artist) in New York City and would love to communicate with you further on our shared obsession. If you are also interested please contact me at .

I have to sign off now because I see, by the program, that the prologue “DESTINY” is starting … to be followed by THE LOVE OF SUNYA!

Happy Roxy day! Hope to hear from you! Bill Savoy

Love to reminisce about the Roxy, my all-time favorite theatre. My sister always points-out that one of the ice skaters actually fell during the show after the screening of “The King & I” but she got-up and continued. The audience saw blood. I saved the Roxy programs somewhere in my collection (they were printed in green). If I locate these and those for the RCMH, what could I do with them? I’d hate to dispose of these.

Hey Simon: I was just a little boy when “A Tree Grows” played at the Roxy. I started working there in 1953 on the last day of Peter Pan. Then the Roxyettes were on ice skates. This is not to say when “A Tree Grows” played the Roxy the girls were not on roller skates.

If Ethel Merman sold tickets in the morning on the opening day of “No Biz Like Show Biz,” I never heard about it. That was the kind of stuff locker room gossip was made of. But I was working “Permanent Closing.” However, Johnny Ray did show up drunk in the evening.

Just for a chuckle. A publicity stunt: Ethel Merman sold tickets in the box office on opening morning.

Myron, One of the many informed contributors to this site (wish I could remember who)regularly sent a year by year list of Roxy films and the accompanying stage show. But you have to go back through the archives for this. Also fun is going to the Lincoln Center Library and read all the Variety magazine issues on microfilm from 1927 to the Roxy’s demise. Another source on line is Billboard Magazine and search year by year. The info is out there…just search and ask.

Simon I would like to point out that although CinemaScope 55 was projected in 35mm we had the advantage of the higher resolution quality from the 35mm reduction prints. Much like VistaVision which Paramount abandoned in 1963 the standard 35mm vertical reduction prints from the horizontal VV negative was rather good. I can only imagine what those images would look today projected thru the much improved Schnieder Isco lenses we have today which are a cut above the Bausch and Lomb.

“The city and the movie palaces have never been the same” quotation from the above description of the Roxy says it all! N.Y.C. had a unique position in the pantheon of world cities and they could not wait to destroy it’s character for just another bland version of glass and steel boxes seen in and 2nd rate place on earth. Just look what is on the site of the legendary movie palace now, a building that could just as well be in a third world country and could disappear overnight without a single word of complaint,such is the banality of what we have today. As long as I live I shall NEVER forgive the perpetrators of such vandalism no matter what the circumstances.

Sorry ERD, but Oklahoma premiered at the Rivoli in Todd AO on reserved seats. Also interesting is that Carousel was never actually shown (although it was advertised) in the CinemaScope 55 process (more info on the Wide Screen Museum)

Mark and Paul, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about the Roxy, as well as our other criminally destroyed landmarks. AGRoura, any IMDB member can update and correct, simply by going choosing the update option. I do it frequently.

Yes it’s a criminal loss. The early 1960s was s time when the past seemed immaterial and nothing mattered but the future. The loss of Pennsylvania Station and the Metropolitan Opera House followed closely on the disappearance if the Roxy. The only bright side is that these horrendous losses opened some minds and spurred some to action. Today we do have a restored Grand Central Terminal, Radio City Music Hall and a landmarked Broadway theatre district because of it. But what a heavy price to pay.

Thanks! No worries, the internet can be a very dicey place. Best wishes.