Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,601 - 2,625 of 4,511 comments
I found in the past, sometimes there’s a substitute projectionist who doesn’t use curtain. I would anticipate that the management might respect the curtain, because they would use it for movie premieres & they know regular audience attends because they like the Ziegfeld as a flagship house. For sure, they got plenty of feedback regarding the classics.
Craig O'Connor, what say you?
Vito has a point, if the curtains are broken, they should be fixed. There’s no excuse. You either fix them, or decide you ain’t gonna use ‘em. This sounds like a money issue with management. To them, the curtains are probably a “waste of money” issue.
Vito, if the curtains are wrapped around a motor drum, (or whatever the curtain actuator system is) they probably cannot be worked manually, in the traditional sense.
What a ridiculous excuse, it’s the Ziegfeld for Gods sake, go over to the Music Hall, grab a couple of the boys and fix the damn curtain! As to not being able to work the curtain manualy, what the heck kind of rigging is that? For years and years and years we
“pulled the curtain” by hand. In fact I started as a curtain puller/usher at the Staten Island Paramount back in the early 50s.
when Ziegfeld doesn’t have an exclusive, they don’t seem to have crowds, at least not during weekend afternoons, and they sure don’t sell out! they need all the audience they can get.
As I stated in a previous post and having once worked at the Ziegfeld, the curtain system was broken 80% of the time and we used to tie it up so we could run the film as it was too heavy to run manually. I suspect it is either broken or they do not want to risk losing a sold-out show of HAIRSPRAY to a curtain.
My God, with all the comments regarding the use of the curtains,
so often posted in this thread, you would think someone in management would have gotten the messgae by how.
They just don’t sem to give a damn, it’s just too much trouble for them to be bothered going that extra step which would mean so much to so many theatre lovers. Makes my blood boil.
I demand someone in management at the Zeigfeld explain why they are so ignorant as to not do what it takes to do a proper presentaion.
In my day, the people responsible for this lack of showmanship would not be qualified to be ushers, much less managers.
Yes I know, there goes grumpy ole Vito again, well to bad, it’s just disgraceful.
There are patrons like myself who will travel to the Ziegfeld partly because it gives a more traditional presentation such as the curtain closing! If ticket buyers like the curtain, please ask the staff to reinstate it! (assuming it wasn’t one projectionist, or temp broken). Remind them there’s plenty of modern stadium seated auditoriums around if they don’t want to go that extra step.
As in a star wars like circus, during the time when most of the three Star Wars movies in the prequel saga debuted at the theater. The theater was one of the first to show it in the then new Dolby Digital Surround EX format despite showing it in 35mm (unlike the nearby Tenplex (sic) and Meadow Six, both owned by rival Loews Cineplex (now AMC) which showed it digitally). By the time Episode II debuted at the theater, the film was shown straight from the high def source (as well as more theaters in the area) and was the first digital movie shown at the Z. When Episode III came out, it would be the last time that Star Wars would be shown at this theater. Hopefully this year the Z could show all six star wars films if Clearview works out a deal.
lol That picture of Michael Moore at the premier makes the thaetre look so uglly. like a circus!
There are no theatres near east 42nd street, so no, however, the Chrysler building is closed and being checked for structural damage.
That would be a tragedy!
For Cinema Treasures in peril check out the flooding in England…
you mean the Ziegfeld. Were there any contests in which people got free tickets to the ziegfeld theater? My dad went there once many years ago to see Apocalpyse Now during its exclusive NYC engagement, and I would love to check out the theater sometime soon. BTW, I’m glad that the theater wasn’t near the area where that steam pipe explosion occured…were any cinema treasures that were closed near that area due to the incident, and have they been reopened? I would like to know. Thankfully, it wasn’t near Times Square, but it was on the same street just blocks away from the Ziegfeld in the 42nd st. area.
actually, Al, the Ziefeld does the preshow, and then closes and opens the curtain, in that order!
You can do the preshow and then open and close the curtain before the feature. Although I hate them as well, the preshow is here to stay. The revenue of preshow alone can pay for digital delivery.
I think it is very telling of conditions today that Justin thinks masking is a new invention. We have a generation used to crap presentation and we then wonder why so many stay home between blockbusters.
Jeff, enjoy a movie at the Paris in NYC, with a curtain rather than any stupid preshow! /theaters/307/
and many other movie theaters throughout the US and the world.
“(since the audience should never ever see a blank white screen)”
Pete, I think you’re in the minority here! I can’t think of a theater other than the Lafayette (and the Ziegfeld) that even has curtains.
[sarcasm] Curtains would block the screen from still slide advertising. You can’t do that you know.
Peter, I didn’t address hollywood90038 other comment, but he was talking, I think, about flat previews, then scope movies.
to answer Justin’s questions, the Ziegfeld screen uses its full size for scope movies, but becomes smaller for flat movies (less screen shown on far left & far right). He’s right in that some megaplexes lower masking for scope so scope screen is less large than flat screen. That’s kind of a punitive scope!
Justin – movable masking for multiple aspect ratios has been a staple of virtually all theatres for years and years. They’re talking about curtains in front of the screen (since the audience should never ever see a blank white screen).
Hollywood90038, the local theater over in Rockaway (an AMC) as well as the theater in Parsippany (owned by the Ziegfeld’s parent, Clearview) use a modern type of curtain system known as a masking screen, which changes the aspect ratio from matte to scope for certain movies. This makes the screen smaller but sharper and wider. Does this theater use the same masking system that most modern theaters use?
No wide lens. Tiny print at the photo tells you the camera model, which is digital. It is a point and shoot camera, but not a basic model. It is a very nice camera. I did have to take a number of photos to get some decent ones.
You are welcome. Those are photos that I found at flickr. Here are my own photos from earlier this month. The color isn’t right, as the real color is a deeper red. I’m not using tripods or long exposure, and a flash won’t capture this huge auditorium, but the high resolution preshow really lights up the auditorium. I’m not likely going to keep these photos forever on my flickr gallery but for now:
View link
preshow over, curtain closed before movie is shown:
View link
Hairspray photos don’t seem to be flickr posted yet (wait, people post even years later) but looking at the last half year (difficult because somebody posted hundreds of vintage beautiful Ziegfeld girls), here’s a few of the most interesting:
This photo & a few adjoining photos of A Mighty Heart premiere:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamymo/645271842/
Sicko premiere with director Moore in the auditorium!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edyson/571271630/
not a premiere but a couple nice photos of the Lobby:
View link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chowmeyow/516103873/
You can get pictures from the HAIRSPRAY premiere on thousands of websites (IMDB for starters). CT is about preservation.
Given the ever increasing and almost daily cinema treasure additions, I believe the site owners stopped posting venue pics out of conserving server space. Maybe one day we’ll see that changed.
I know the premiere for hairspray is here July 16 but does anyone know what time these things usually start or what time i should get there?? A couple of us just wanna go hang out in the little fan area and hope to see a couple people or maybe get some autographs but none of us have ever done anything like this before any advice?? Thanks!!!