Based on Cole Porter’s Broadway stage hit starring Ethel Merman, the Technicolor musical used very little beyond the title song and a wacky plot device about a character’s tooth filling that could pick up radio broadcasts.
This was the Capitol’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year. That the movie became a box office and critical “Golden Turkey” was strictly coincidental.
The public and news media were invited to the “sneak preview” and street party on a Tuesday night, with “The Rocketeer” due to open at the El Capitan and numerous other theatres throughout the region on Friday.
Hyped as one of the greatest movies ever made, the B&W drama had a gala invitational world premiere at the Roxy on the night of November 19th, 1946, with public performances starting the next day. The booking was also the Roxy’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year.
This was the Music Hall’s presentation for the Memorial Day holiday period of 1952. The Technicolor musical was a remake of the B&W “Roberta,” which played at RCMH in 1935 with support from a stage show.
According to research in The New York Times, the Modern Playhouse first opened nearly eighty years ago, on September 13th, 1936, with the American premiere of the Hungarian-made “The New Landlord.” An incomplete address of “Third Avenue near 81st Street” was given…A subsequent review of the new cinema in Variety gave a seating capacity of 300, but no address except for the “upper reaches of Third Avenue.” The trade weekly
attributed ownership to Danuba Pictures, whose chief executive, Eugene J. Lang, also managed the theatre.
The Modern Playhouse would show Hungarian films exclusively, under a contract between Danuba and eight Magyar production companies. For at least its inaugural period, the Playhouse employed an emcee billed as “Mr. Szemere,” who told jokes and anecdotes about the homeland during a ten-minute interval between the short subjects and feature. Admission was 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents at night. NYC’s Hungarian population was estimated to be about 100,000 at the time, and had its own newspaper which Modern Playhouse would use for advertising and publicity.
In the Photos Section, I uploaded a poster and details for the Mel Brooks event back on August 10th, so Cinema Treasures did provide members with advance notice of the event.
This proved to be the final Labor Day holiday presentation in the Roxy’s history. The movie was also the last made by Mario Lanza, who died just under two months later at age 38.
This ad is somewhat of a puzzler. “3rd month in Boston starts today” at the top suggests the Metropolitan in that city, and not the one in Providence. Also, both theatres had more than 3,000 seats. I can’t imagine an Italian import running for three months unless the original seating capacity had been drastically reduced.
On September 2nd, 1944, this had a re-launching as the 48th St. Cinema, advertised as “New York’s Newest Luxury Theatre.” On opening day, and again on the Labor Day holiday, special matinees for children were held, offering a “live” puppet show.
Based on Cole Porter’s Broadway stage hit starring Ethel Merman, the Technicolor musical used very little beyond the title song and a wacky plot device about a character’s tooth filling that could pick up radio broadcasts.
This was the Capitol’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year. That the movie became a box office and critical “Golden Turkey” was strictly coincidental.
The public and news media were invited to the “sneak preview” and street party on a Tuesday night, with “The Rocketeer” due to open at the El Capitan and numerous other theatres throughout the region on Friday.
“The North Star” was the first major Hollywood release to open at the Victoria since its name had been changed from Laffmovie.
Hyped as one of the greatest movies ever made, the B&W drama had a gala invitational world premiere at the Roxy on the night of November 19th, 1946, with public performances starting the next day. The booking was also the Roxy’s Thanksgiving holiday offering for that year.
This was the Music Hall’s presentation for the Memorial Day holiday period of 1952. The Technicolor musical was a remake of the B&W “Roberta,” which played at RCMH in 1935 with support from a stage show.
Both theatres were under Walter Reade management at the time.
Olivia de Havilland portrayed twin sisters in the B&W melodrama, with double advertising to further confuse.
This was the Chicago’s Labor Day holiday presentation for that year.
According to research in The New York Times, the Modern Playhouse first opened nearly eighty years ago, on September 13th, 1936, with the American premiere of the Hungarian-made “The New Landlord.” An incomplete address of “Third Avenue near 81st Street” was given…A subsequent review of the new cinema in Variety gave a seating capacity of 300, but no address except for the “upper reaches of Third Avenue.” The trade weekly attributed ownership to Danuba Pictures, whose chief executive, Eugene J. Lang, also managed the theatre. The Modern Playhouse would show Hungarian films exclusively, under a contract between Danuba and eight Magyar production companies. For at least its inaugural period, the Playhouse employed an emcee billed as “Mr. Szemere,” who told jokes and anecdotes about the homeland during a ten-minute interval between the short subjects and feature. Admission was 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents at night. NYC’s Hungarian population was estimated to be about 100,000 at the time, and had its own newspaper which Modern Playhouse would use for advertising and publicity.
The day before, patrons could see “Lydia Bailey” in addition to the exiting “Kangaroo!” and its stage show.
Wood and Wagner were married at the time, later divorced, and re-married in 1972.
The B&W comedy was filmed in 1941, but couldn’t be distributed until the long-running Broadway play closed, which didn’t happen until June 17th, 1944.
Opened on August 11th, 1960, and ran for a total of six weeks.
This newspaper cartoon by the great Don Freeman needs to be examined closely for maximum enjoyment.
Programs changed daily.
In the Photos Section, I uploaded a poster and details for the Mel Brooks event back on August 10th, so Cinema Treasures did provide members with advance notice of the event.
This display for the south wall of the Broadway entrance includes the supporting short subjects as well as the feature.
This proved to be the final Labor Day holiday presentation in the Roxy’s history. The movie was also the last made by Mario Lanza, who died just under two months later at age 38.
This ad is somewhat of a puzzler. “3rd month in Boston starts today” at the top suggests the Metropolitan in that city, and not the one in Providence. Also, both theatres had more than 3,000 seats. I can’t imagine an Italian import running for three months unless the original seating capacity had been drastically reduced.
Listed as New Classique, with a daily change of program.
This was the Roxy’s stage and screen presentation for the Labor Day holiday period of that year.
On September 2nd, 1944, this had a re-launching as the 48th St. Cinema, advertised as “New York’s Newest Luxury Theatre.” On opening day, and again on the Labor Day holiday, special matinees for children were held, offering a “live” puppet show.
A Labor Day holiday release that opened at three New York City cinemas on August 31st, 1966.
The film’s Gordon MacRae and Patrice Wymore also performed in the stage show.