Mea culpa! I had a momentary memory lapse of geography there, Warren. I was thinking of the Taft Hotel, which now has a different name, probably being up against the Roxy’s west side wall and possibly its north wall. Does that compute?
The Crest definitely was twinned, 71Dude. Someone who worked for Associated, Cinemette and Cinema World is searching for a date of the twinning. But it did happen some years before the closing.
I once found my way to the Echo from the commercial vehicle road atop the hill but never could locate that road, nor the drive in beside it, again. Is the screen still in place? Is the lot still unoccupied?
The Colonial was on the opposite side of Route 51, about half a mile south of the South Hills Drive-In but not as far south as the Echo.
The Colonial’s screen finally was removed, after facing the empty lot for many years. The lot itself has grown over but is still unoccupied and still obviously a former outdoor theater.
Part of the box office remains at the entrance on Elliot Road. I was there less than a month ago glancing over the ruins.
No, the South Hills Drive-In became the Bowser Pontiac lot. The Echo was a mile or two south, on the same side of Route 51. The Echo sat atop a hill that was accessed by a narrow path that cut through a thickly treed hill. When the drive-in closed, the road became impenetrable because it was blocked by tree stumps, etc., at the bottom. I can no longer even spot the former entrance to that private road.
Is there a way to magnify the Pittsburgh newspaper pages posted? They appear so small they’re unreadable. The guys who post NY Times pages and stories for New York theaters somehow manage to fill the computer screen, and even the smallest type is readable. Pittsburgh Cinema Treasures contributors post small, inky black images. Have no idea what the difference is in the way they’re posted. I’ve had no luck trying to enlarge the Pittsburgh ones. Would love to be able to read them line by line. Thank you for any help on this.
I was on a media junket for “Man of La Mancha” when it opened at the Rivoli, which is where we were bused for the invitational screening. Although I had seen the stage version on Broadway and the national touring company and has visited the set for interviews, I had no preconceptions as to whether it would work on film.
To my surprise and dismay, the audience of media people had its knives sharpened before the screening began. I don’t know how they could possibly have picked up a negative scent before that day, but it was pervasive in that audience, I can tell you.
I remember one outspoken, pompous critic from Ohio saying repeatedly that if he had to listen to “Impossible Dream” (correct name: “The Quest”) one more time, he’d lose it.
I remember thinking: This is “Man of La Mancha,” for Pete’s sake, and that’s precisely the song that has been bringing them in for the past five or six years. What would you begrudge the film version that?
We learned, as we so often have, that theatrically stylized stage pieces tend not to work nearly as well on the screen. The film somehow couldn’t escape seeming stodgy. But I never thought it was nearly as bad as many of the reviews indicated.
“Maurice” made its Manhattan debut at the Paris, where I saw it, not the Plaza. “Bill & Ted” didn’t play at the Paris, though. Not sure where “House of Cards” opened.
Am I correct that the auditorium space has no seats not a screen but that it has never been used since its theater days for any other purpose? Has the floor been made level?
Had no idea that “A Night to Remember” had started in the States as a roadshow attraction — at the large Criterion no less. It did not do much business in this country. The Rank Organization, which distributed it, cannot have been gratified to find that the U.S. returns did not measure up to the raves. I concur that it’s incomparably superior (in all but the epic elements and special effects) to the 1997 version.
I think it’s just a mistake. The theater was huge – 3000-plus was an extraordinary for a third-or fourth-run double-feature neighborhood house, which is what it had become by the 1940s. But it had a relatively narrow frontage on Penn Avenue, so I don’t think the frontage was nearly wide enough to accommodate both of those addresses.
After walking straight ahead through a large lobby and narrower corridow, you made a right turn into the palatial auditorium.
First thing I remember seeing there was “Strangers on a Train,” sitting in the balcony on a Friday night.
Those were the days, Ken. I read the listings for every theater every day in the Pittsburgh newspapers, Ken. Loved the mix ‘n’ match aspect of double features in those days. They did not even have to be from the same studio.
Can’t swear to this without checking, Ken, but I believe that phone number was for the Stanley, Downtown. The Schenley was part of the Stanley-Waerner Theatre circuit. ATlantic definitely was a Downtown exchange. The Oakland neighborhood used the SChenley and MUseum exchanges.
Renewing link.
Renewing link.
Renewing link.
Renewing link.
Renewing link.
Mea culpa! I had a momentary memory lapse of geography there, Warren. I was thinking of the Taft Hotel, which now has a different name, probably being up against the Roxy’s west side wall and possibly its north wall. Does that compute?
The Mayfair’s (later the DeMille’s) walls must have abutted those of the Roxy, right, for as long as the Roxy survived?
The Crest definitely was twinned, 71Dude. Someone who worked for Associated, Cinemette and Cinema World is searching for a date of the twinning. But it did happen some years before the closing.
Hilarious, Al. Thanks to Warren and to you for the information and a good laugh.
Hilarious, Al. Thanks to Warren and to you for the information and a good laugh.
If you were driving down Elliot Road toward Route 51, you could see what was on the screen of the Colonial as you passed the entrance.
I once found my way to the Echo from the commercial vehicle road atop the hill but never could locate that road, nor the drive in beside it, again. Is the screen still in place? Is the lot still unoccupied?
The Colonial was on the opposite side of Route 51, about half a mile south of the South Hills Drive-In but not as far south as the Echo.
The Colonial’s screen finally was removed, after facing the empty lot for many years. The lot itself has grown over but is still unoccupied and still obviously a former outdoor theater.
Part of the box office remains at the entrance on Elliot Road. I was there less than a month ago glancing over the ruins.
No, the South Hills Drive-In became the Bowser Pontiac lot. The Echo was a mile or two south, on the same side of Route 51. The Echo sat atop a hill that was accessed by a narrow path that cut through a thickly treed hill. When the drive-in closed, the road became impenetrable because it was blocked by tree stumps, etc., at the bottom. I can no longer even spot the former entrance to that private road.
Is there a way to magnify the Pittsburgh newspaper pages posted? They appear so small they’re unreadable. The guys who post NY Times pages and stories for New York theaters somehow manage to fill the computer screen, and even the smallest type is readable. Pittsburgh Cinema Treasures contributors post small, inky black images. Have no idea what the difference is in the way they’re posted. I’ve had no luck trying to enlarge the Pittsburgh ones. Would love to be able to read them line by line. Thank you for any help on this.
Thank you for that photo. I had not realized the Roxy’s marquee stretched around the corner, like RCMH’s, but onto Seventh Avenue.
Is that the Taft Hotel (still there under a different name, I believe) holding up the marquee?
I was on a media junket for “Man of La Mancha” when it opened at the Rivoli, which is where we were bused for the invitational screening. Although I had seen the stage version on Broadway and the national touring company and has visited the set for interviews, I had no preconceptions as to whether it would work on film.
To my surprise and dismay, the audience of media people had its knives sharpened before the screening began. I don’t know how they could possibly have picked up a negative scent before that day, but it was pervasive in that audience, I can tell you.
I remember one outspoken, pompous critic from Ohio saying repeatedly that if he had to listen to “Impossible Dream” (correct name: “The Quest”) one more time, he’d lose it.
I remember thinking: This is “Man of La Mancha,” for Pete’s sake, and that’s precisely the song that has been bringing them in for the past five or six years. What would you begrudge the film version that?
We learned, as we so often have, that theatrically stylized stage pieces tend not to work nearly as well on the screen. The film somehow couldn’t escape seeming stodgy. But I never thought it was nearly as bad as many of the reviews indicated.
I don’t believe that in the modern era (1970s onward)any movies passed from the Paris to the Plaza, but Warren or one of the others would know better.
“Maurice” made its Manhattan debut at the Paris, where I saw it, not the Plaza. “Bill & Ted” didn’t play at the Paris, though. Not sure where “House of Cards” opened.
Am I correct that the auditorium space has no seats not a screen but that it has never been used since its theater days for any other purpose? Has the floor been made level?
Very interesting, Warren. Thanks.
Had no idea that “A Night to Remember” had started in the States as a roadshow attraction — at the large Criterion no less. It did not do much business in this country. The Rank Organization, which distributed it, cannot have been gratified to find that the U.S. returns did not measure up to the raves. I concur that it’s incomparably superior (in all but the epic elements and special effects) to the 1997 version.
I think it’s just a mistake. The theater was huge – 3000-plus was an extraordinary for a third-or fourth-run double-feature neighborhood house, which is what it had become by the 1940s. But it had a relatively narrow frontage on Penn Avenue, so I don’t think the frontage was nearly wide enough to accommodate both of those addresses.
After walking straight ahead through a large lobby and narrower corridow, you made a right turn into the palatial auditorium.
First thing I remember seeing there was “Strangers on a Train,” sitting in the balcony on a Friday night.
Those were the days, Ken. I read the listings for every theater every day in the Pittsburgh newspapers, Ken. Loved the mix ‘n’ match aspect of double features in those days. They did not even have to be from the same studio.
Can’t swear to this without checking, Ken, but I believe that phone number was for the Stanley, Downtown. The Schenley was part of the Stanley-Waerner Theatre circuit. ATlantic definitely was a Downtown exchange. The Oakland neighborhood used the SChenley and MUseum exchanges.