Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
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Now that’s the best news I’ve heard all summer. “Cabaret” is an especially good choice, since it was one of the biggest hits the Ziegfeld had in its early years. In fact all the choices are great, just like the last time. Thanks, Craig!
The way it used to be and OUGHT to be:
We are not alone – Daily News 1/25/78
Super Panavision 70. Sigh… Even though the non SFX footage was blown-up to 70mm from 35mm. You might have noticed that the Stanley Warner in Paramus also advertised 70mm in this run.
Meanwhile, good news for September. I’m actually looking forward to “Casablanca”. Craig, will those aperture plates be properly cut for Academy ratio on those pre 1953 films?
Incredible-
Hey, today is July 31, do you think maybe, we can just skip over August?
Can’t wait,
Gary
Awsome!!! I will totally be there. Great job Craig and Clearview!
Yes, as far as I know Warner does not have any prints of the original 1978 version – either 35mm or 70mm. The only 35mm prints they have of Superman are the revised “Director’s Cut” of the 1978 version (from the limited reissue in 2000), the same version I played at the Lafayette a couple of years ago.
Only if Warner strikes a new print. Which is not likely and the original 70MM prints are long gone and really faded.
Superman (original). The 1978 version?
70mm maybe?
This is great news! I hope more of us will come out and support this series. I know I’ll be there. Well done, Craig and Clearview.
Hi Everyone,
Hope all of you are having a wonderful summer!
Well, I wanted you to be the first to know that Hollywood Classics returns to The Ziegfeld on September 8th!
Here are some of the titles that we have confirmed for this 5 week series:
We are also working on several other films, as well as a Steven Spielberg Week!
As soon as they are confirmed, you will be the first to know.
Many Thanks for your support of The Ziegfeld!
Craig O'Connor
70mm :(
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When Cannon tried to change it’s image and release art films too
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When Cannon tried to change it’s image and release art films too
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The first film that I saw at the Ziegfeld was a very forgettable western called SOLDIER BLUE in 1970. To add to my disappointment was my impression of how dismally tacky the interior décor of the Ziegfeld was compared to some of the first run theaters that I grew up attending in Atlanta. Although some of the Broadway movie houses were still in operation in those years, apart from the Radio City Music Hall, I found most of them disappointing as well. Granted, I had missed the glory days of New York’s Roxy, Paramount, and Capitol.
The fact that the current Ziegfeld looked better to me over time was simply evidence of diminishing returns. When I learned about how distinguished the original Ziegfeld Theatre had been, I felt cheated. The original theatre that Florenz Ziegfeld built on Sixth Avenue was designed by the distinguished Viennese designer, Joseph Urban. He designed the stage productions of the Ziegfeld Follies and was the principle scenic designer for the Metropolitan Opera from 1917 until Urban’s death in 1933. The present day Ziegfeld Theatre is a vulgar comment on Urban’s remarkable design sense.
However, I did manage to see many films at the Ziegfeld, among them CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, APOCALYSE NOW, and the restored version of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Yet of all the films that I saw at the Ziegfeld, my personal favorite was Bob Rafelson’s little sung MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON in 1990.
Here’s the link to the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100196/
Check out the comments in which one commenter called it, “One of the best movies that no one has ever seen.†Regrettably, that seems to be true. In it’s original run at the Ziegfeld, the film was very impressive in a 70mm blowup and six track stereo sound. After having seen LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in the restored version at the Ziegfeld three times (as well as seeing it in its original road show version in 1963), MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON is one of the very few films that I would compare to LAWRENCE.
Relatively speaking, films like that made the current Ziegfeld seem better than it really was, especially when compared to most of the surviving movie houses in the New York area. To sum up my opinion of the current Ziegfeld, “Everybody knows its crooked, but it’s the only game in town.”
Craig does a good job.
only two? The bass must be awfully thin then.
Segask, my quess would be at least two.
The original 70mm six track mag speaker configeration used to be Five (5) stage speakers, #1 Left, #2 left center, #3 center
4 right center, #5 right, and channel#6 was for surrounds. Later on, when Dolby came along, the left center and right center channels became a mono sub woofer track (two speakers)and the fifth and sixth track became stereo surrounds. The same config continues today with Dolby Digital. Of course that was a few years ago before I retired, perhaps someone knows of any changes since then.
how many subwoofers does the Ziegfeld have?
Rhett, all is not lost-how about TRUE GRIT at the Ziegfeld? Send your thoughts to Craig O' Connor at He’s the man in charge of the classics festival which will be coming back in the Fall. The Paramount guy had an incredible print that he brought to MOMA. This would look great on the Ziegfeld Screen. When I lobbied Craig for the Definitive Director’s Cut of Close Encounters last March ( the one I introduced), Craig was able to get a print from Spielberg.
Make it happen,
Best,
Gary
Rhett, all is not lost-how about TRUE GRIT at the Ziegfeld? Send your thoughts to Craig O' Connor at He’s the man in charge of the classics festival which will be coming back in the Fall. The Paramount guy had an incredible print that he brought to MOMA. This would look great on the Ziegfeld Screen. When I lobbied Craig for the Special Edition of Close Encounters last March ( the one I introduced), Craig was able to get a print from Spielberg.
Make it happen,
Best,
Gary
Ziegfeld Man…
TRUE GRIT is the ONE film I am dying to see on the big screen.I add it to every list I fill out for “wish” films to see on the big scree..I added it to the list at the Hollywood Classic festival…I can’t believe I missed it at MOMA..I am bummed
I woulld agree with Jeff regarding the flicker problem. A shutter mis-alignment as the cause is not likely.
I would look for the problem to be either in the rectifier (power supply), possibly a bad diode, or most probably just a bulb that has exceeded it’s life. As for cost of a new bulb, I would imagine the lamp in question is at least 2000 watt, which costs about $500. There has been many stories of lamps burning well beyond the average life span of 2000-2500 hours, however, generally the rule of thumb for me has always been to replace them at 2000 hours. A 3000 watt bulb costs about $650.00 and should be changed after about 1500 hours. As Jeff pointed out, many theatre owners run the lamps well beyond the manufactures recommendations, sometimes untill they fail completly. National Amusements, the company I most recently worked for, has a policy of reporting the hours used on every lamp once a
month, bulbs reaching the end of the warranty period are expected to be replaced. Of course, without benefit of first hand knowledge of the problem at AMMI, I can only speculate as to the cause of the problem. Certainly based on what I have read in this thread, an inspection of the lamp source would be appropriate at this time.
Shutter? Typically no. The shutter is a fixed item and interrupts the light 48 times a second (2 blade shutter). This flicker can be seen, but is typically washed out by the film’s action. I can see shutter flicker on a white screen (no film) or areas where the frame is mostly white (such as the scene mentioned). A three blade shutter raises the interuption rate to 72 per second, but it also reduces light by 33%. If the shutter were out of time with the intermittent, you get what is called “travel ghost” which is an upward or downward smearing of picture. You’ll see it most promanently with white on black, such as titles. The larger the mis-timed shutter error is, the longer the smear. Flicker can also be caused by some fault in the lighting system. In the case of Xenon lighting (which 99% of theaters use) if there is something wrong with the rectifier, and AC reaches the lamp, it strobes. This will cause a flicker on screen as the one strobe rate isn’t the same as the shutter strobe rate, causing a beat between the two. Also, the lamp could be near the end of it’s service life. Many theaters push the life span of the bulb beyond it’s rated life since the lamps are expensive (relatively speaking, if you consider a $500-$800 expense every 6mo to a year expensive).
Other causes of flicker are the film itself, as in bad lab work.
I have friends coming to town June 16-23 is anyone aware of any premiers during that week?
Thanks, Robert, Peter and Bill for your quick responses!
Bill, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed the flickering. It was driving me crazy, especially during scene on the “Hilton†space station, which is almost all-white, except for those groovy red seats. Could it have been a shutter problem? Perhaps Vito could shed some light on this.
I was also impressed by the soundtrack, especially the use of surrounds. I’ve seen 2001 only on TV (obviously not a legitimate viewing), so I had no idea that Hal’s voice surrounded you. The cacophony made by the apes as they discover the monolith was overwhelming, coming from all over. The female voice on the space station warning about a misplaced blue cashmere sweater â€" for a second I thought it was an actual announcement coming from the museum’s P.A. system.
I was at the AMMI screening of “2001” that Peter T. wrote about. The print did have some flaws and there was some noticeable flickering, especially in the lower corners of the screen. But it was still a 70mm screening of my all-time favorite movie, and you can really see the difference between 70mm and 35mm. Some of the menu items posted on the wall of the space shuttle kitchen were actually readable from the front row (Apricot Nectar, Apple Cider, etc.) And the sound was fantastic: HAL’s voice seemed to emanate from all corners of the ship … I mean, the theater.
It was one of the prints that Pete A. described: it had a Warner Bros. logo at the very end of the credits.