Hello Hank. I no longer live in NYC area so visiting Elmhurst is not possible. I do know Marquee magazine. If you are a subscriber or have those copies of it perhaps you could scan the Roxy destruction pictures and send to me as email attachments. That would be so terific and I sure would appreciate.
PS. I’m from Massachusetts also.
That really must have been a sad occasion for you, expecially for those of us who actually worked there. If only there were pictures even of the destruction because it would be clearly seen how the structure was actually buil; the stage and backstage area, the rotunda, etc. You do know it was built at an angle from 50th to 51st but always curious exactly HOW they did that.
In response to your question – no – I am sorry to say – both Dad and Mom have passed away. Dad was killed in a car accident in 1983 at the age of 58. It was hard – we still miss him.
I have some photos of him/Roxy and I also have a web site on homestead.com and am thinking I might post them should anyone be interested. The photos are of course, of people, not the building because – who takes photos of buildings?? But some folks might get a kick out of seeing them. I’ll get to it soon.
Again – thank you for responding!
Barb
posted by Babster on Apr 7, 2010 at 12:55pm
I am very anxious to see these photos. I hope you decide soon to post them. Thanx, Richka
I totally agree. Some means could have been found to save it. The New York City Opera uses State Theater at Lincoln Center. State Theater was built for DANCE and DANCE only. So why is NYCO even there and always complaining because of acustics, space, etc. when it was built for Dance anyway! The Roxy would have been an IDEAL place for them. Of course there is the matter of parking, but with these big business brains around, surely they could figure out a solution for that. However, sadly, it is now too late and the Roxy has disappeared for good.
I was in Europe when it was being demolished and it is always to my regret that I wasn’t around to take photos, even of its destruction.
Richka
Hi Ziggy, Long time since hearing from you. I take it you are no longer in Gallup. Couple years ago I won 3rd prize($300)from Cinema Treasures for a piece I wrote about the Roxy. They were going to publish it in their quarterly magazine but never did. At least I don’t think so. Oh well!
Cheers, Richka
Dear Barb,
I am indeed sorry to hear that your parents are no longer with us.
Very tragic about your Dad, and at the young age of 58!
Yes, I certainly would love to see any photos you might care to share. I may see some people I would recognize from those early years. I so often wish I had taken pictures then. Of course, at that time being just a poor, struggling student, a camera would have been beyond my means. Anyway, I just didn’t think of it. Also the theater itself. Today I regret that I didn’t realize what a magnificent palace I was working in, and at 17, my mind was mainly on survival.
Thanks for your website. I’ll take a look. Mine is www.richka.com
“Russian Music and Dance”. Cheers, Richka
Thanx for sharing your childhood memories of the Roxy. I knew your Dad, well, not really because at the time he was an Assistant manager and I was just a kid on the candy stand every evening. So I could only call him Mr. Banovich. From my post on the concessions bar in that giant Rotunda I often would look up and see him walking across the circular carpet that you mention. I think once or twice I was sent to get take-out for him, at the Stage Deli, as well as for Mr. Katz, the manager. I didn’t know he had once been an usher and nice to know he worked his way up.
I was a dance student at that time, longing to get into show biz. My dreams eventually came true but I always remember the Roxy as my first humble steps into the glamour of the theater.
Tell me, is your Dad still around?
Bill, I know, navigating web sites can be troublesome if you’re not used to them. I’ve been there. You can find my email address by clicking PROFILE above and a doing a search. Or, if you cannot manage that, here are two of my email addresses. That’s probably an easier way to communicate. I don’t like to put a mail address on this but I live in Tucson, Arizona.
Bill Savoy,
You offered to share some pictures and models that you made. I am very interested in seeing and answered you with an email but no reply. Disapointing? of course.
Richka
Housechecker: The person you named, “Bernie” I think may be a guy I worked with on the concession bar, Bernie Cohn. He was not very nice. He wanted to be an actor and many years later I think I saw him in a play on TV, very small part. There was a young lady who often worked with me who wanted to go into politics. Forgot her name. Of course, we were just kids then. I was studying dance and aimed to be a dancer on Broadway. My dreams came true. But another guy named Pinkerton wanted to be an opera singer. When they built the soda bar in 1951 (you can see it in the movie “Naked City”) he worked on that. Many years later, maybe like 1986, I was walking down 5th Ave and saw him with a vending cart, selling ice cream sandwiches. I stopped and looked for a few seconds but he didn’t recognize me but offered to sell me a sandwich. It was a bit sad that nearly 40 years later he had never gone anywhere.
Yes, we are still alive, and kicking, at least I am.
Welcome Housechecker. Yes, you did miss me as I had just left and Lucypuck was yet to begin. I always wondered what happened after I left in 1952 so would be nice to hear your comments and experiences.
If you can remember some names; fellow ushers, captains, candy salesmen, managers, etc. it would be interesting to compare.
I was an usher only for a short while before they put me on the concessions bar in the Rotunda.
Richka
Thanx for the memories. I never got to work backstage. My job was candy salesman and that was it. Once or twice they put me in a cape and outside to 50th and 7th Ave. to stand near the box office. I don’t know why. Maybe the regular guy who did that needed a break and and the candy stand happened to be slow. You did that also as doorman. Was it winter? It got real cold on that corner!
Also, the manager Mr. Katz (do you remember him?) once had me go down Broadway to the Stage Deli to get his supper. Again, must have been slow night for the candy. So there I was, tramping down Broadway and thru Times Square in a flowing cape and a basket over my arm. I must have turned heads.
The candy stand was usually very busy, like 3 deep. Customers were too often very rude, like demanding and gimmy this and gimmy that. Candy was mostly 6 cents then. A big Mr. Goodbar was maybe 25 cents.
Those were for the big spenders! At 10PM I closed and counted the money and locked it in a drawer for Mr. Levy to count in the morning.
You were lucky to have a variety of jobs around the theater. Working backstage must have been much more interesting and fun. I did go backstage once to deliver something to Ima Sumac who was a headliner. She sang in a bizarre voice with a huge range. She was from Peru and very exotic. I looked her up and believe it or not, she is STILL alive and living in Brooklyn.
I had lied about my age to get the job. Left in 1952. You started in 1955 so we missed each other by 3 years. You didn’t get the chance to witness the premiere of ALL ABOUT EVE in 1951. That was really something.
Will tell you about it next time.
Richka
Luckypuck: I wonder if it was the same Mr. Levy who fired you that I knew, because he was always very nice to me. As I was trying to break into show business then he would sympathize with me after I had done some Broadway audition but didn’t get the job so it was back to the candy stand! You’ll make it someday he would always say. He also would let me take a week off now and then when I got in some amateur show that went on a brief tour. Every night at 10 I would close the candy stand, count the money and lock it in a drawer. At end of week he would always find the take was short by 2 or 3 dollars. I think I was under suspicion but I was always accurate and
I surely never would have embezzeled even a nickle.
But there were several other attendants on the candy stand who could have helped themselves. Maybe Levy had another side of him I didn’t know. Yes, he was big and slow moving, so I doubt if he could have or wanted to get entangled with a tough street kid like you were then. I remember Mr. Banovitch as assistant manager then. Maybe he was still there when you were. Mr.O'Connor probably also who was a captain . He lives retired in New Jersey now and we’ve been in touch through this site.
Do you have “Last Remaining Seats”? It’s a great book with lots of pictures of the Roxy and its history. I bought it last year for $10 on eBay. But no picture of the concessions bar. I call it that because it sounds a bit nicer than candy stand.
I look forward to hearing more of your memories of that fantastic place.
Richka
Richka
Ben Hall’s book “Last Remaining Seats” has a picture of some ushers taken back sometime during the 30s or 40s and among them is Mr. Levy. So evidently he had been with the Roxy for some time.
Luckypuck. I enjoyed reading your post. I was at the Roxy a bit before you; 1950-1952. I was put on the concessions stand in the Rotunda by Mr. Levy, who at that time managed the concessions. On another posting by someone else it was claimed there was no concessions stand in the Rotunda but was in the lounge area. Well, what can I say? I worked there for 3 years and looked at the Rotunda every evening and the stand was just to the right of the staircase leading to the loge and the assistant manager’s office. There was another smaller stand in the balcony, beside that little window looking down on the Rotunda. They may have changed all that after I left but I just wonder if you remember. Your memories of of great interest to me. You know, when we were kids, working in the midst of all that glamour it went by unappreaciated. Now, all these years later we like to think back to those youth filled years of hope and optimism. Don’t you agree? I hope to hear from you and more of our memories of that time long ago. I didn’t have back pains then, as you did, but I do now! Thanx. Richka
Hello Bill,
Sorry. I must have confused you with the posting that came just before yours. Anyway, I will send you an email so we will be in touch.
Richka
How interesting your comments on the time you worked at the Roxy. I also worked there, on the concession bar in the Rotunda. The years were 1950-1952. If you look back on this site you can find some personal memories I’ve written about that time. I also won a prize a couple years ago from the Theater Historical Society for a piece I wrote about the Roxy and my experiences there as a teenager.
How interesting that you knew Ben Hall. I have his book of course and my regret is that there are not even more pictures of the Roxy. I would be very interested in how it was that you came to be a friend of his. I know he had a very tragic death.
You said that you have built models of the Roxy. How I would love to see them. I live in Tucson, Arizona so there is no way I could visit the museum where they are. Is there a way you could send me a picture or pictures of them? By my email perhaps. I would be most grateful. Thanx.
Thanx Joseph. You must have quite an achive of reference material on the Roxy. I do seem to remember Carol Lynn when I was there, but as I worked on the concessions bar in the rotunda I was not always paying as close attention to what was going on inside auditorium as I perhaps should have. I do remember very well the premiere of All About Eve because it was a grand occasion but what was on stage at same time I have no idea. The name Arnold Shoda comes to mind as an ice skatking star somewhere during 1951. Maybe he was with Carol Lynn. If you could find out from your programs…..
Joseph, Thanx for quoting your Roxy program of 1952. I question one thing in the program though; As a teenager I was working at the Roxy from 1949 – 1952 and remember them installing the ice rink on stage at end of 1951. Before that there were no ice shows as far as I know. But thanx anyway for sharing the program.
These are terrific photos. I remember this well as I was working there at the time in 1950. It is the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Dimitri Metropolis conducting. It was not really very successful. Notice the sides of the orchestra, loge and balcony are unfilled. I believe Spyros Skouris, head of 20th Century Fox wanted to try something classy and artistic instead of the regular vaudeville type acts. People coming out sometimes would comment to me that what they expected was the line of Roxyettes and headline acts, not a symphony orchestra. My comment was that I happened to like classical music. Ballet dancers Andre Eglevky and Melissa Hayden danced the pas de deux from Don Quixote to give some action.
This was all four times a day so must have been exhausting. I forgot what movie went along with it. Warren may have a schedule of 1950 shows. Look up and notice the stage valance hanging above.
The LIFE photographer must have been behind the orchestra for these magnificent shots. I don’t understand how the entire auditorium is lit. Did they turn up auditorium lights for this LIFE photographer?
Any photographer here who might take a guess?
posted by Richka on Nov 28, 2008 at 12:54pm
Hey Joseph,
WOW, if you have photos of the rotunda from 1956 it’s not only amazing but I would love to see them. Is it possible you could scan them and send? That really would be great! I’m sure others would like to see them as well.
Thanx, Richka
Yes, this photo does date from 1940s. The oval rug was replaced during late 1940s by a wall-to-wall version. The original oval rug wore out. The scaffolding must be related to a maintence/cleaning effort at the time.
Thanks Joseph. Yes, I agree with you about the period of 1940s and the reason for scaffolding. But I do remember the oval rug still there in 1950 when I worked there because I had to walk around the edge of it on the marble flooring every day to my job on the concession stand. (we were not allowed to walk ON it)!
This photo puzzles me as well because there is scaffolding there which doesn’t seem to belong if the theater was open. Yet the style of clothes people are wearing plus the military men signify it must have been during the mid 1940s. Any other suggestions?
Great remembrances. Before my time but were you actually there to experience these shows?
Hello Hank. I no longer live in NYC area so visiting Elmhurst is not possible. I do know Marquee magazine. If you are a subscriber or have those copies of it perhaps you could scan the Roxy destruction pictures and send to me as email attachments. That would be so terific and I sure would appreciate.
PS. I’m from Massachusetts also.
That really must have been a sad occasion for you, expecially for those of us who actually worked there. If only there were pictures even of the destruction because it would be clearly seen how the structure was actually buil; the stage and backstage area, the rotunda, etc. You do know it was built at an angle from 50th to 51st but always curious exactly HOW they did that.
oh my goodness! And you didn’t take pictures?? They would be SO fascinating and valuable today.
It is the entrance from the rotunda into the auditorium. Richka
Dear Richka,
How nice to hear from you.
In response to your question – no – I am sorry to say – both Dad and Mom have passed away. Dad was killed in a car accident in 1983 at the age of 58. It was hard – we still miss him.
I have some photos of him/Roxy and I also have a web site on homestead.com and am thinking I might post them should anyone be interested. The photos are of course, of people, not the building because – who takes photos of buildings?? But some folks might get a kick out of seeing them. I’ll get to it soon.
Again – thank you for responding!
Barb
posted by Babster on Apr 7, 2010 at 12:55pm
I am very anxious to see these photos. I hope you decide soon to post them. Thanx, Richka
I totally agree. Some means could have been found to save it. The New York City Opera uses State Theater at Lincoln Center. State Theater was built for DANCE and DANCE only. So why is NYCO even there and always complaining because of acustics, space, etc. when it was built for Dance anyway! The Roxy would have been an IDEAL place for them. Of course there is the matter of parking, but with these big business brains around, surely they could figure out a solution for that. However, sadly, it is now too late and the Roxy has disappeared for good.
I was in Europe when it was being demolished and it is always to my regret that I wasn’t around to take photos, even of its destruction.
Richka
Hi Ziggy, Long time since hearing from you. I take it you are no longer in Gallup. Couple years ago I won 3rd prize($300)from Cinema Treasures for a piece I wrote about the Roxy. They were going to publish it in their quarterly magazine but never did. At least I don’t think so. Oh well!
Cheers, Richka
Dear Barb,
I am indeed sorry to hear that your parents are no longer with us.
Very tragic about your Dad, and at the young age of 58!
Yes, I certainly would love to see any photos you might care to share. I may see some people I would recognize from those early years. I so often wish I had taken pictures then. Of course, at that time being just a poor, struggling student, a camera would have been beyond my means. Anyway, I just didn’t think of it. Also the theater itself. Today I regret that I didn’t realize what a magnificent palace I was working in, and at 17, my mind was mainly on survival.
Thanks for your website. I’ll take a look. Mine is www.richka.com
“Russian Music and Dance”. Cheers, Richka
Thanx for sharing your childhood memories of the Roxy. I knew your Dad, well, not really because at the time he was an Assistant manager and I was just a kid on the candy stand every evening. So I could only call him Mr. Banovich. From my post on the concessions bar in that giant Rotunda I often would look up and see him walking across the circular carpet that you mention. I think once or twice I was sent to get take-out for him, at the Stage Deli, as well as for Mr. Katz, the manager. I didn’t know he had once been an usher and nice to know he worked his way up.
I was a dance student at that time, longing to get into show biz. My dreams eventually came true but I always remember the Roxy as my first humble steps into the glamour of the theater.
Tell me, is your Dad still around?
Bill, I know, navigating web sites can be troublesome if you’re not used to them. I’ve been there. You can find my email address by clicking PROFILE above and a doing a search. Or, if you cannot manage that, here are two of my email addresses. That’s probably an easier way to communicate. I don’t like to put a mail address on this but I live in Tucson, Arizona.
Thanx, Richka
Bill Savoy,
You offered to share some pictures and models that you made. I am very interested in seeing and answered you with an email but no reply. Disapointing? of course.
Richka
Housechecker: The person you named, “Bernie” I think may be a guy I worked with on the concession bar, Bernie Cohn. He was not very nice. He wanted to be an actor and many years later I think I saw him in a play on TV, very small part. There was a young lady who often worked with me who wanted to go into politics. Forgot her name. Of course, we were just kids then. I was studying dance and aimed to be a dancer on Broadway. My dreams came true. But another guy named Pinkerton wanted to be an opera singer. When they built the soda bar in 1951 (you can see it in the movie “Naked City”) he worked on that. Many years later, maybe like 1986, I was walking down 5th Ave and saw him with a vending cart, selling ice cream sandwiches. I stopped and looked for a few seconds but he didn’t recognize me but offered to sell me a sandwich. It was a bit sad that nearly 40 years later he had never gone anywhere.
Yes, we are still alive, and kicking, at least I am.
Welcome Housechecker. Yes, you did miss me as I had just left and Lucypuck was yet to begin. I always wondered what happened after I left in 1952 so would be nice to hear your comments and experiences.
If you can remember some names; fellow ushers, captains, candy salesmen, managers, etc. it would be interesting to compare.
I was an usher only for a short while before they put me on the concessions bar in the Rotunda.
Richka
Thanx for the memories. I never got to work backstage. My job was candy salesman and that was it. Once or twice they put me in a cape and outside to 50th and 7th Ave. to stand near the box office. I don’t know why. Maybe the regular guy who did that needed a break and and the candy stand happened to be slow. You did that also as doorman. Was it winter? It got real cold on that corner!
Also, the manager Mr. Katz (do you remember him?) once had me go down Broadway to the Stage Deli to get his supper. Again, must have been slow night for the candy. So there I was, tramping down Broadway and thru Times Square in a flowing cape and a basket over my arm. I must have turned heads.
The candy stand was usually very busy, like 3 deep. Customers were too often very rude, like demanding and gimmy this and gimmy that. Candy was mostly 6 cents then. A big Mr. Goodbar was maybe 25 cents.
Those were for the big spenders! At 10PM I closed and counted the money and locked it in a drawer for Mr. Levy to count in the morning.
You were lucky to have a variety of jobs around the theater. Working backstage must have been much more interesting and fun. I did go backstage once to deliver something to Ima Sumac who was a headliner. She sang in a bizarre voice with a huge range. She was from Peru and very exotic. I looked her up and believe it or not, she is STILL alive and living in Brooklyn.
I had lied about my age to get the job. Left in 1952. You started in 1955 so we missed each other by 3 years. You didn’t get the chance to witness the premiere of ALL ABOUT EVE in 1951. That was really something.
Will tell you about it next time.
Richka
.
Luckypuck: I wonder if it was the same Mr. Levy who fired you that I knew, because he was always very nice to me. As I was trying to break into show business then he would sympathize with me after I had done some Broadway audition but didn’t get the job so it was back to the candy stand! You’ll make it someday he would always say. He also would let me take a week off now and then when I got in some amateur show that went on a brief tour. Every night at 10 I would close the candy stand, count the money and lock it in a drawer. At end of week he would always find the take was short by 2 or 3 dollars. I think I was under suspicion but I was always accurate and
I surely never would have embezzeled even a nickle.
But there were several other attendants on the candy stand who could have helped themselves. Maybe Levy had another side of him I didn’t know. Yes, he was big and slow moving, so I doubt if he could have or wanted to get entangled with a tough street kid like you were then. I remember Mr. Banovitch as assistant manager then. Maybe he was still there when you were. Mr.O'Connor probably also who was a captain . He lives retired in New Jersey now and we’ve been in touch through this site.
Do you have “Last Remaining Seats”? It’s a great book with lots of pictures of the Roxy and its history. I bought it last year for $10 on eBay. But no picture of the concessions bar. I call it that because it sounds a bit nicer than candy stand.
I look forward to hearing more of your memories of that fantastic place.
Richka
Richka
Ben Hall’s book “Last Remaining Seats” has a picture of some ushers taken back sometime during the 30s or 40s and among them is Mr. Levy. So evidently he had been with the Roxy for some time.
Luckypuck. I enjoyed reading your post. I was at the Roxy a bit before you; 1950-1952. I was put on the concessions stand in the Rotunda by Mr. Levy, who at that time managed the concessions. On another posting by someone else it was claimed there was no concessions stand in the Rotunda but was in the lounge area. Well, what can I say? I worked there for 3 years and looked at the Rotunda every evening and the stand was just to the right of the staircase leading to the loge and the assistant manager’s office. There was another smaller stand in the balcony, beside that little window looking down on the Rotunda. They may have changed all that after I left but I just wonder if you remember. Your memories of of great interest to me. You know, when we were kids, working in the midst of all that glamour it went by unappreaciated. Now, all these years later we like to think back to those youth filled years of hope and optimism. Don’t you agree? I hope to hear from you and more of our memories of that time long ago. I didn’t have back pains then, as you did, but I do now! Thanx. Richka
Hello Bill,
Sorry. I must have confused you with the posting that came just before yours. Anyway, I will send you an email so we will be in touch.
Richka
How interesting your comments on the time you worked at the Roxy. I also worked there, on the concession bar in the Rotunda. The years were 1950-1952. If you look back on this site you can find some personal memories I’ve written about that time. I also won a prize a couple years ago from the Theater Historical Society for a piece I wrote about the Roxy and my experiences there as a teenager.
How interesting that you knew Ben Hall. I have his book of course and my regret is that there are not even more pictures of the Roxy. I would be very interested in how it was that you came to be a friend of his. I know he had a very tragic death.
You said that you have built models of the Roxy. How I would love to see them. I live in Tucson, Arizona so there is no way I could visit the museum where they are. Is there a way you could send me a picture or pictures of them? By my email perhaps. I would be most grateful. Thanx.
Thanx Joseph. You must have quite an achive of reference material on the Roxy. I do seem to remember Carol Lynn when I was there, but as I worked on the concessions bar in the rotunda I was not always paying as close attention to what was going on inside auditorium as I perhaps should have. I do remember very well the premiere of All About Eve because it was a grand occasion but what was on stage at same time I have no idea. The name Arnold Shoda comes to mind as an ice skatking star somewhere during 1951. Maybe he was with Carol Lynn. If you could find out from your programs…..
Joseph, Thanx for quoting your Roxy program of 1952. I question one thing in the program though; As a teenager I was working at the Roxy from 1949 – 1952 and remember them installing the ice rink on stage at end of 1951. Before that there were no ice shows as far as I know. But thanx anyway for sharing the program.
These are terrific photos. I remember this well as I was working there at the time in 1950. It is the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Dimitri Metropolis conducting. It was not really very successful. Notice the sides of the orchestra, loge and balcony are unfilled. I believe Spyros Skouris, head of 20th Century Fox wanted to try something classy and artistic instead of the regular vaudeville type acts. People coming out sometimes would comment to me that what they expected was the line of Roxyettes and headline acts, not a symphony orchestra. My comment was that I happened to like classical music. Ballet dancers Andre Eglevky and Melissa Hayden danced the pas de deux from Don Quixote to give some action.
This was all four times a day so must have been exhausting. I forgot what movie went along with it. Warren may have a schedule of 1950 shows. Look up and notice the stage valance hanging above.
The LIFE photographer must have been behind the orchestra for these magnificent shots. I don’t understand how the entire auditorium is lit. Did they turn up auditorium lights for this LIFE photographer?
Any photographer here who might take a guess?
posted by Richka on Nov 28, 2008 at 12:54pm
Hey Joseph,
WOW, if you have photos of the rotunda from 1956 it’s not only amazing but I would love to see them. Is it possible you could scan them and send? That really would be great! I’m sure others would like to see them as well.
Thanx, Richka
Yes, this photo does date from 1940s. The oval rug was replaced during late 1940s by a wall-to-wall version. The original oval rug wore out. The scaffolding must be related to a maintence/cleaning effort at the time.
Thanks Joseph. Yes, I agree with you about the period of 1940s and the reason for scaffolding. But I do remember the oval rug still there in 1950 when I worked there because I had to walk around the edge of it on the marble flooring every day to my job on the concession stand. (we were not allowed to walk ON it)!
This photo puzzles me as well because there is scaffolding there which doesn’t seem to belong if the theater was open. Yet the style of clothes people are wearing plus the military men signify it must have been during the mid 1940s. Any other suggestions?