Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
116 people
favorited this theater
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1938
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There will be a musicians rally Oct.26th , 5PM between 50th & 51st
Streets as reported on the unions web site.
Bravo Vincent! certain people wanted to amplify the organ to the surround system installed in the theatre. Was a time the organ
was the loudest sound there! So much for the “Mighty Wurlitzer"
You’re correct, everything is overdone today. No quality,
all quantity!
That makes the musicians of ‘67 look even worse. The Rockettes can dance to a recording but who wants to hear these musicians without the Rockettes at Christmas? By the way orchestras today are so miked with the sound pumped up it might as well be a recording. The magic is gone.
The Rockettes of 1967 worked 52 weeks a year where the current Rockettes only work 8-9 weeks per year. Im concerned that by recent events Cablevision would be very reluctant to bring back any in house stage shows during other times of the year. I hope both sides are flexible and compromise and are fair. I often wonder why London is so much cheaper to open a show compared to New York City.brucec
Vito, I don’t know about the maternity leave issue. None of the
people I spoke to know about it. I’ve worked on the Wurlitzer for the
past 12 years and have not heard a thing from the Organists or
management about its use. Im CONCERNED ! usually the guys are in for practice by now.
Also I am not forgiving of management for basically throwing them out of the building on Sunday, I guess no one remembers it was the rockettes who spearheaded the drive to save the theatre when the wrecking ball was about to strike.
Denpiano, unfortunatly you may be right, I am sure the lawyers have checked into other contracts to be sure nanagemant could pull this off without losing the other unions. As for the Rockettes, did they also get the maternity leave they asked for?
During ‘67 when the Rockettes went on strike the musicians played. Maybe somebody out there with a knowledge of entertainers union history in New York can shed light on solidarity amoung the unions.
vito-
Rockettes have settled their dispute. They wanted 20
spots on the roster. as far as solidarity is concerned,
I feel sad that this may not be the case.
Cablevision wants to cut the musicians' pay for Christmas Spectacular. For 75 years, the musicians of Radio City Music Hall have been an irreplaceable part of the Christmas Spectacular tradition. Now, if Cablevision doesn’t get their way, they’ve threatened to shut down the entire show or rip off the public by putting on the show with taped music or amateur players, the Rockettes were escourted by security out of the theatre on Sunday,
I guess they plan on using some high kicking high school girls to take their place. They are even trying to put together a scab (non union)orchestra of musicians affected by the recent hurricane disasters.
Now I am sure many of you will disagree with me here but I must speak my mind. If cablevision continues with this plan of action I would hope the muscians union will picket the theatre and all other unions will respect the musicians and not enter the theatre. Let’s see them try and put on the show without stage hands, projectionists and electricaians. As far as I am concerned, Cablevision can shut the place down, board it up or turn it in to a parking lot for all I care but they cannot be allowed to treat the dedicated people who have made the theatre what it is today in such a disgraceful manner.
Please forgive any typo’s or grammer errors, I am mad as hell.
Local 802 has called for a rally on 6th Ave. Oct.26th
at 5PM. Apparently the powers that be have not settled
there differences with orchestra.
I always thought that the run at the Royale wasn’t all that long and Gigi had to leave due to the booking of a legit show. It however would have been beautiful at the Hall and considering that the Royale is fairly small and the booking exclusive(I don’t believe it played on Long Island or in North Jersey) the crowds would have been tremendous. Millie though was playing in Monclair(any Long island booking?) concurrently with the Criterion run so that would have been a problem.
Sweet Charity, Goodby Mr. Chips and Song of Norway only played a few months on Broadway(probably to not many patrons) so they too would have been good at the Hall.
I thought that Gigi had that title-a film that should have gone to the Music Hall rather than the Sutton(Millie is another one.)
I imagine that film historians today have never seen Les Girls or Gigi and have no interest whatsoever.
Yet they will write books on Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. Cool!
Yes, Vincent: I wonder whether it would have been feasible for RCMH to pick up the ‘60s musicals and other spectacles after their roadshow runs? Here’s a Program from October ’57:
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Some film historians claim that “Les Girls†was the last great Hollywood (read: MGM) musical to be made. After it, Gene Kelly retired from starring in song-and-dance films, just as Fred Astaire did a few months earlier upon finishing “Silk Stockings.†Future musicals might be bigger and splashier, but from one to another there would be no continuity in talent and craft such as the old studio system had nourished. And most of them would open as hard-ticket roadshows, which removed immediacy and spontaneity from seeing them and prevented RCMH from booking them. Little did we know this would happen when we saw “Les Girls†in October ’57. I don’t believe that at the time I was aware of either Kelly’s or Astaire’s retirement. Their swan songs, both deploying music and lyrics by Cole Porter, were just two in a stream of hit musicals that poured forth from several studios that year. So what if “Les Girls†seemed a little flat in its score and a bit depressive in its plot (a musical about a cad and attempted suicide?). We were sure that there would be new musicals to see in the coming months and new chances for Kelly and others to prove their stuff. Only later did we realize that it wouldn’t happen.
The stage show was exceptional for its emphasis on dance, and particularly colorful for a Russell Markert production, which tended to be more reserved and high-brow than Leonidorf’s spectaculars. The Ballet danced twice, and the highlight of the program came with the dazzlingly athletic star turn of Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade in a Caribbean setting. They might have stolen the show from the Rockettes who followed, though that’s hard to imagine. The steam curtain and feathers topped it all off. Eye-popping.
Thanks Warren.
As I’ve said before I only wish the Music Hall had followed this policy in the late 60’s as there were a number of films they could have shown after their Times Square reserved seat runs(which were pretty short in any case.)The kinds of films which would have brought crowds to the Hall even after their first run engagements.
Considering the muck the Hall was showing from 67 to 70 it made no sense to hold onto a policy which it had never enforced in the first place.
Did Lost Horizon play at the Hall? I always thought it opened in Times Square as a hardticket(perhaps the Globe?)Was it a move over to the Hall? In a 1938 Music Hall souvenir book it is shown as one of the films to have played there.
If so I didn’t realize it was playing second run films that late.
The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA is always quoted as America’s largest theatre. Opened on 23rd January 1926 its original seating capacity was for 6,717, current seating capacity 6,308, it was designed in a Moorish style by architects John C. Austin and A.M. Edelman with the interior designed by noted theatre archichect G. Albert Lansburgh. It is still equipped with its Moeller 4Manual/67Ranks theatre organ and is Designated an Historic-Cultural Monument.
I know that some believe that it is/was never a theatre and merely an ‘auditorium’ for special events. But it has served as a full time movie theatre for a short period from 25th August 1928 with a silent double-bill;Marion Davies in “The Fair Co-Ed” and Edmund Lowe in “Dressed to Kill”. It also has a place in movie history as a location for sequences of the original 1933 version of “King Kong” and the 1954 version of “A Star is Born” among many others. It was also the ‘home’ for the Academy Award’s Oscar’s ceremony for many years. It is also used for concerts, dance shows, just like the current use of Radio City Music Hall today.
It has been submitted several times by different people for inclusion on Cinema Treasures, but has always been rejected as ‘not being suitable’ for inclusion on the site.
What do other poster’s on this site think about including the Shrine Auditorium as a Cinema Treasure?
Warrenâ€"
Here are two links to the Purdue.edu website with information about the Elliott Hall of Music. The first opens with a sharp color picture of the Hall (yes, its floor plan resembles that of RCMH) and includes a virtual tour of the facility (if you download to software to make it happenâ€"I didn’t):
http://1061web22.itap.purdue.edu/HTML/HallOfMusic/
The second includes an excerpt from the Hall’s original mission statement (“this new Hall of Music, then, will serve Purdue University’s first purpose-the building of its students into adequate and cultured citizens of the worldâ€) and from its current function (directed by the superb film historian Ben Lawton, it serves as a program venue for the university’s departments of Theatre, Dance, University Bands, Liberal Arts, and Computer Graphics Technology as well as for students in the entertainment technology and production support industry).
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Oddly, however, I was unable to connect with a schedule of “current productions†when I clicked the button for that topic. Until now, I had never heard of this auditorium and its connection with RCMH. Thanks for the post.
Robert it would be wonderful if you could post the opening ads which are so much more entertaining and colorful with a PR description of the stage show.
Concerning musicians. They are always very unhappy people who always feel unappreciated and always cause tons of problems for the Met the City Ballet and Broadway. Not only do they make a more than decent salary compared to us plebes but they in addition always get pick up gigs and give lessons for pocket money. I always think they have a major chip on their shoulder considering they are not on the stage as performers(and they all probably feel they should be playing for Vienna or Berlin.)
What a tiresome troublemaking bunch.
March of 1955 MGM’s Cinemascope “Hit the Deck"
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ok, we did that. Does anyone know: what do we click to send
a message privately to another member’s email? Thanx!
I saw King Kong on the giant screen during an Art Deco show
at Radio City during the ‘70’s. Cool!
1954 “Rhapsody” starring Elizabeth Taylor and the next feature “Rose Marie”.
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Thanks Denpiano, That is disturbing news, musicians are artists who deserve proper compensation for their contribution to the music halls success, I wish them well. I am also very disturbed by the lack of respect Cablevision showed towards the Rockettes by having security people escort them out of the theatre on Friday. A bit much wouldn’t you say? Of course there is always two sides to every story, but I would like to know what prompted Cablevision to take such dramatic and drastic measures.
Thanks Denpiano, That is disturbing news, musicians are artists who deserve proper compensation for their contribution to the music halls success, I wish them well. I am also very disturbed by the lack of respect Cablevision showed towards the Rockettes by having security people escort them out of the theatre on Friday. A bit much wouldn’t you say? Of course there is always two sides to every story, but I would like to know what prompted Cablevision to take such dramatic and drastic measures.