Have been to RCMH many times from 1955 through about 2003, but regret never having gotten to the Roxy. When I looked at those photos of the Roxy’s auditorium, I was struck by the same impression as Warren. It looks practically intimate compared to RCMH, where I never understood the notion of the priciest (reserved) seats being in the very distant first mezzanine.
No idea why, Ken, but I, for one, can never read the copies posted here from Pittsburgh newspapers. The guys who post stuff from New York newspapers get imaculate copies with large type, which one can navigate from top to bottom and from left to right, but the Pittsburgh ones are always inky black and with tiny reproductions. Wish I understood what the problem here is. Thanks for trying.
Postscript: The Pittsburgh theater known for decades as the (John P.) Harris Theater, originally called the Alvin and finally called the Gateway), also was Downtown.
When the non-profit Pittsburgh Filmmakers took over the Art Cinema and renovated it, they renamed it the Harris because the original Harris no longer was a moviehouse. THAT Harris is lised under Gateway.
And a footnote on earlier postings: It’s interesting that when Loew’s State was twinned and reopened with two roadshow family musicals, “Oliver” went into State 1 and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” into 2.
“Oliver” was a conspicuously better movie in every respect and yet it went into the auditorium that was slightly smaller in capacity and significantly less impressive in ambiance and decor.
Maybe Loew’s anticipated the quicker fade of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and decided that the smaller auditorium would be a better fit for a long run of “Oliver.” Newer releases then would have the benefit of the extra seating upstairs.
Thanks for your informative responses, Faude. I was at Fort Gordon from summer 1965 through spring 1966 and saw just about everything that opened in and around Augusta. I’ll check out (on Cinema Treasures) the drive-ins and the theater you mentioned. The Forest Hills sounds most familiar.
Dude, I’d love to be able to examine the pages you post, but they’re reduced way too much, and they’re generally much too dark. Anything you can do to paste them in a larger form that we can scan up and down and across?
We need to sort out something here. The photo you’re discussing is of the wrong Harris theater. The one relating to this particular CT entry, at 809 Liberty Avenue, is functioning today as a moviehouse run by Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
The one in the photo(s) began as the Alvin, changed to the (John P.) Harris and finally became the Gateway. It has been a health club for about a quarter of a century. See separate entry under Gateway Theatre.
The theater on the left is the Byham, which functions today as a performance arts theater. (It’s listed in CT as the Byham.) In the era when the photo was taken, it was the Fulton, which was its identity for several decades. In the vaudeville/silent era, it was the Gayety.
Thanks, Leo. Are you the same Leo Carlin who is associated with the Philadelphia Eagles? I seem to remember you having an uncle in either Philadelphia or Baltimore at the Forrest Theatre.
I don’t believe management of the two Fultons waited a full week to switch films back and forth. Not only could they do so from day to day as they examined box-office figures, but they could make an adjustment even the first day as it suited them. Newspaper ads were locked in days in advance, so they’re not a significant issue here.
Also, though it was in a losing cause, the film distributors tried to keep track of which auditoriums their pictures were playing in because technically each move could generate new booking “terms” for the engagement. But the fast-growing world of multiplexes, with movies jumping freely to larger or smaller auditoriums from day to day or even mid-day, made the tracking of such things virtually impossible in cities where the film companies no longer maintained offices. And they were willing to hire “checkers” only in selected circumstances. Chuck, I sincerely think it will be impossible for you to know which films were in which Fulton auditoriums most weeks. The information never officially existed even on paper. Changes could occur on the basis of verbal instructions, and no one who wasn’t working on the premises from day to day would be the wiser.
“Mogambo” was October 1953. “At War With the Army,” the third of the 16 Martin and Lewis movies and the first in which they were top-billed, opened in December 1950 to big business. It was the picture in which they really hit their stride, although it does not hold up very well today. It was re-released a few years later but didn’t do much at that time.
Nill, did you get any impression that “Porgy and Bess” might ever be made available to the general public in some form? It’s the highest movie on my wish list at acquire on DVD. There’s no chance I’d see it in NYC.
I understand the Gershwin estate has kept the movie buried, yet stage productions go on and on freely.
Excellent question, Mike. I, too, am eager to see that answered.
As one who grew up from the 1940s to the 1960s, I always enjoyed total recall of what I saw where, and what the second feature was, if any, because each theater was unique and in some way the theater informed the experience of watching the show. (The multiplex experience, with generic bare-bones auditoria, cannot approximate even 10 percent of that sense.)
But as surely as one’s sense of “Custer of the West” was downgraded in a sense by being introduced to it in the squalor of a smelly 42nd Street grind house in the late 1960s, every movie I ever saw at RCMH informed the film with a sense of Music Hall majesty.
I cannot see even a minute of the many movies I first saw at RCMH (Mister Roberts, Indiscreet, Bullitt, The Promise, etc.) without having a sense of what a big deal they seemed when projected in that massive space.
Memorably, that sense of the Music Hall’s splendor felt at odds when the picture didn’t seem to belong there. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why “Play It Again, Sam,” which I’d seen the original cast perform on Broadway a few years earlier, felt a little lost in RCMH even though I liked and still like the picture.
But when I caught “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” at RCMH, there was no question that the theater dwarfed the cheesy animation and that the picture – however suitable for family audiences – had no business being projected in such a grand environment.
LM, Your link worked perfectly for me. I have no idea why some links work for me and some do not, but I appreciate your effort and generosity in doing the transfer into a format I could access.
Have been to RCMH many times from 1955 through about 2003, but regret never having gotten to the Roxy. When I looked at those photos of the Roxy’s auditorium, I was struck by the same impression as Warren. It looks practically intimate compared to RCMH, where I never understood the notion of the priciest (reserved) seats being in the very distant first mezzanine.
Thank you, Bill. Great page.
No idea why, Ken, but I, for one, can never read the copies posted here from Pittsburgh newspapers. The guys who post stuff from New York newspapers get imaculate copies with large type, which one can navigate from top to bottom and from left to right, but the Pittsburgh ones are always inky black and with tiny reproductions. Wish I understood what the problem here is. Thanks for trying.
Postscript: The Pittsburgh theater known for decades as the (John P.) Harris Theater, originally called the Alvin and finally called the Gateway), also was Downtown.
When the non-profit Pittsburgh Filmmakers took over the Art Cinema and renovated it, they renamed it the Harris because the original Harris no longer was a moviehouse. THAT Harris is lised under Gateway.
Yes, Ken. The Art Cinema in Pittsburgh now is called the Harris. It’s at 809 Liberty Avenue, and there is a Cinema Treasurees entry for it.
Thanks, LM. Love it!
Fascinating illustration, Warren.
And a footnote on earlier postings: It’s interesting that when Loew’s State was twinned and reopened with two roadshow family musicals, “Oliver” went into State 1 and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” into 2.
“Oliver” was a conspicuously better movie in every respect and yet it went into the auditorium that was slightly smaller in capacity and significantly less impressive in ambiance and decor.
Maybe Loew’s anticipated the quicker fade of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and decided that the smaller auditorium would be a better fit for a long run of “Oliver.” Newer releases then would have the benefit of the extra seating upstairs.
Great stuff, Warren.
Is the former theater still Schwartz’s grocery store?
Thanks for your informative responses, Faude. I was at Fort Gordon from summer 1965 through spring 1966 and saw just about everything that opened in and around Augusta. I’ll check out (on Cinema Treasures) the drive-ins and the theater you mentioned. The Forest Hills sounds most familiar.
Dude, I’d love to be able to examine the pages you post, but they’re reduced way too much, and they’re generally much too dark. Anything you can do to paste them in a larger form that we can scan up and down and across?
Great patch of detailed data, Warren. Thanks very much.
Thank you, Ken. Great perspective on the Strand and the late, great Steel Pier.
Robert, When exactly was that? Was it a moveover engagement of “Maltese Falcon”?
At least one screen of the three-screen Film Forum is always devoted to revivals.
We need to sort out something here. The photo you’re discussing is of the wrong Harris theater. The one relating to this particular CT entry, at 809 Liberty Avenue, is functioning today as a moviehouse run by Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
The one in the photo(s) began as the Alvin, changed to the (John P.) Harris and finally became the Gateway. It has been a health club for about a quarter of a century. See separate entry under Gateway Theatre.
The theater on the left is the Byham, which functions today as a performance arts theater. (It’s listed in CT as the Byham.) In the era when the photo was taken, it was the Fulton, which was its identity for several decades. In the vaudeville/silent era, it was the Gayety.
Can’t access that, Ken.
Thanks, Leo. Are you the same Leo Carlin who is associated with the Philadelphia Eagles? I seem to remember you having an uncle in either Philadelphia or Baltimore at the Forrest Theatre.
Not sure how to establish non-published contact as no information seems to be available on how to reach you.
I don’t believe management of the two Fultons waited a full week to switch films back and forth. Not only could they do so from day to day as they examined box-office figures, but they could make an adjustment even the first day as it suited them. Newspaper ads were locked in days in advance, so they’re not a significant issue here.
Also, though it was in a losing cause, the film distributors tried to keep track of which auditoriums their pictures were playing in because technically each move could generate new booking “terms” for the engagement. But the fast-growing world of multiplexes, with movies jumping freely to larger or smaller auditoriums from day to day or even mid-day, made the tracking of such things virtually impossible in cities where the film companies no longer maintained offices. And they were willing to hire “checkers” only in selected circumstances. Chuck, I sincerely think it will be impossible for you to know which films were in which Fulton auditoriums most weeks. The information never officially existed even on paper. Changes could occur on the basis of verbal instructions, and no one who wasn’t working on the premises from day to day would be the wiser.
“Mogambo” was October 1953. “At War With the Army,” the third of the 16 Martin and Lewis movies and the first in which they were top-billed, opened in December 1950 to big business. It was the picture in which they really hit their stride, although it does not hold up very well today. It was re-released a few years later but didn’t do much at that time.
Sorry, that’s BILL.
Nill, did you get any impression that “Porgy and Bess” might ever be made available to the general public in some form? It’s the highest movie on my wish list at acquire on DVD. There’s no chance I’d see it in NYC.
I understand the Gershwin estate has kept the movie buried, yet stage productions go on and on freely.
Excellent question, Mike. I, too, am eager to see that answered.
As one who grew up from the 1940s to the 1960s, I always enjoyed total recall of what I saw where, and what the second feature was, if any, because each theater was unique and in some way the theater informed the experience of watching the show. (The multiplex experience, with generic bare-bones auditoria, cannot approximate even 10 percent of that sense.)
But as surely as one’s sense of “Custer of the West” was downgraded in a sense by being introduced to it in the squalor of a smelly 42nd Street grind house in the late 1960s, every movie I ever saw at RCMH informed the film with a sense of Music Hall majesty.
I cannot see even a minute of the many movies I first saw at RCMH (Mister Roberts, Indiscreet, Bullitt, The Promise, etc.) without having a sense of what a big deal they seemed when projected in that massive space.
Memorably, that sense of the Music Hall’s splendor felt at odds when the picture didn’t seem to belong there. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why “Play It Again, Sam,” which I’d seen the original cast perform on Broadway a few years earlier, felt a little lost in RCMH even though I liked and still like the picture.
But when I caught “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” at RCMH, there was no question that the theater dwarfed the cheesy animation and that the picture – however suitable for family audiences – had no business being projected in such a grand environment.
LM, Your link worked perfectly for me. I have no idea why some links work for me and some do not, but I appreciate your effort and generosity in doing the transfer into a format I could access.