Palace Theatre

“Roadshow” was the terminology used when the studios opened a particular film in one theatre in larger cities. The film was presented at separate performances with reserved seating. Tickets could be purchased in advance. In many instances the films played for months to even a year or longer at this one theatre. In other threads were mentioned the “roadshow houses” of New York City. They were the Loew’s Capitol and State. The Warner, Rivoli, Criterion and DeMille Theatres all located in the Times Square area. On a usual week, there was normally one evening performance and a matinee performance on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Additional shows were added for holiday periods and Summer months. In most instances the roadshow films were presented in 70mm with 6 track magnetic stereo sound. Paper programs were handed out and in many cases “souveneir books” were available for purchase. Ticket prices were higher and there were different prices for the various locations in these theatre palaces – Orchestra, Loge, Balcony, etc.
That was the way to see movies! It was an event and not just a night out at the movies. Living in Lancaster, PA, my parents used to take us to center city Philadelphia to see the “roadshow films.”

Prior to “Chips”, the reissue of “Ben Hur” by MGM played at the Palace on roadshow 6/18/69 to 8/20/69. “Chips” Opened on 11/5/69 and played to 3/15/70.

1962 Bobby Darin & Sandra Dee
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Thanx Robert R.

Warner Brothers called their showcase “Hollywood Showcase” when “Dead Ringer” played the Palace in 1964.
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Did Sinatra ever play the stage on the palace?

JUDY GARLAND dodn’t just play the PALACE, the same show also played Washington DC’s best-ever theater, LOEW’S CAPITOL. Also in Baltimore at their lavish STANLEY, where I saw it. An hour? No, it was 2 hours.

How long was she on stage considering it was two a day 7 days a week and there was a bill of other acts?

Year?

What a downer! For fifty-one years I’ve believed that I saw “Creature” in 3-D as God meant it to be. Possibly I derived something of a 3-D effect from it by looking at it cross-eyed. As a movie-mad kid, I discovered that crossing my eyes at a flat image could do that. Years later an ophthalmologist told me (1) that there is some truth to my assumption and (2) that viewing so many movies strabismically provided good exercise for my young optic nerves. Who knows? I began wearing eyeglasses in my mid-twenties and am now a prisoner of bi-focals.

“Blackout” opened at the Palace on 21 May 1954. The theater’s Vaudeville-cum-movie shows in those days changed every week.

I had forgotten that “Phantom of the Rue Morgue” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (each of which had opened separately at the Paramount earlier that Spring) toured the RKO circuit in a 3-D double-bill. And that, on the Loew’s circuit, “Red Garters” and “Top Banana” (which I believe had opened in 3-D at the Astor and the Victoria theaters respectively) made their neighborhood tours in 2-D projection. Polaroid viewing had lost its appeal.

Here is a picture of Orson Welles at the premier of Citizen Kane in 1941:

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Source: MPTV
Caption: Orson Welles at the premiere of “Citizen Kane” 1941 RKO **I.V.

Caption doesn’t state location, but marquee looks like the Palace.