Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 4,326 - 4,350 of 4,511 comments
How many more years could this theater have in the world of high realestate values?
Yes Astyanax, around this time of year many movies scheduled for wide release in early 2005 have an exclusive limited run in order to qualify for Academy Awards. Why not do something like that for perhaps 10 days – two weeks exclusively ay RCMH or Ziegfeld?
Bill, I was glad to see Phantom is being presented in 35mm film
(although 70mm would have been great),and not Digital as is is in some other locations. Wonder if they took they Digital equipment out again. I hope they did.
What would it take to convince exhibitors that there is a market for presenting movies in exclusive runs either at the Ziegfeld, RCMH or even the smaller Cinema I. Phanthom of the Opera, the Aviator, even Return of the Phoenix & Alexander among the current crop of releases deserved an exclusive run. Having seen Mike Nichol’s Closer on opening day at the Loews' 19th St., felt like I was sitting in a bomb shelter during an air raid. Very different from having seen Carnal Knowledge at it’s initial release at the Beekman. Poor Marcus Loew, a sad tribute to Loews on the company’s 100th year anniversary.
I don’t think anyone has actually operated the console in many years. I’ve seen lots of movies there and the only time I saw the console not closed up was that time in 1972. It might not even be there anymore – they may have taken it out when they replaced all the seats several years ago. I’ll be sure to check for it the next time I’m there. The Phantom of the Opera is playing there now – sounds like a good movie to see at the Ziegfeld.
Bill,I used to like to hang out around the console at RCMH to watch that guy in action. He would never really speak to anyone but he was busy taking care of business. His, in contrast to the Ziegfeld guy’s, job was important to the presentation. By the way.,when you go back to the Ziegfeld and there is someone at the console, ask him what he does for a living and what his purpose is in being there. Then ask him to take a break and let the pros in the booth handle the show.(sarcasum)
Vito, that showing of West Side Story in 1972 was the first time I’d been to the Ziegfeld, and when I saw the console I was sure impressed. It seemed like the theater of the future – until we saw and heard the thing in action, doing more harm than good. I have to look for it the next time I see a movie there.
Oh Bill, I wish I had been there to witness that. In no stretch of the imagination was he “running the show”, but more like ruining it. I imagine all he had was a remote sound control at the console, along with lights and curtain controls. The remote sound control is not uncommon, many producers and directors like to have one at their seat during a studio preview. As a matter of fact I sat with Arthur Hiller during his screening of the W.C. Fields life story. (forget the title)He played with it from time to time, raising and lowering the sound at will.
It would have been wonderful if The Phantom Of The Opera was filmed in 70mm. It would have been great on the huge 70mm screen at the Ziegfeld.
Vito, I don’t think I made myself clear when I mentioned the audience applauding. They clapped in the middle of the movie when he finally gave up, turned the console off and walked away. He was actually ruining the show, because all the sound glitches disappeared when he stopped whatever he was doing.
Saps, I should have said the worst blow up, I knew of course it was not shot in 70, although 70 had been used in the early 30s, remember “The Big Trail” with John Wayne shot in “70mm Granduer”?
Even the 35mm magnetic four track prints of “GWTW” were horrible.
Of course many many 35mm films were blown up for the roadshow engaements, “Funny Girl”, “Oliver” to name a few but they looked and sounded half way decent.
Bill, I guess the audience was made to believe that console guy actually ran the whole show. I would have had him arrested for being an impostor trying to dupe people into believing he was a showman.
>>“Gone with the wind” which remains the worst example of 70mm
ever made…
Of course, Gone With the Wind wasn’t made in 70mm, it was just monstrously blown up to that size 30-something years after it was made. I saw GWTW for the first time in that 70mm print at the UA Syosset 150, and I was shocked at the poor quality (everything was fuzzy and grainy) and the obvious cropping of the image at the top and bottom. I couldn’t belive this was the biggest grossing picture of all time! The curved screen was pretty neat, as long as nothing was being projected onto it.
I later saw GWTW at RCMH in its proper aspect ratio, and of course it was magnificent.
Vito, I wonder if he was the same guy that I saw 3 years later. I’m surprised he was still working there after all that time. I think I remember some people in the audience applauding when he walked away from the console!
Yes Bill and Don, I was a projectionist in 1969 when Marooned opened at the Ziegfeld, at a time when automation was beginning to creep into our lives. There was a guy at that console telling people how he controlled everything including the projection. The idiot even went so far as to suggest they did not even need anyone in the booth, to which, with much sarcasum, I said “really, can you thread the projectors, control focus, and maintaine the booth from here as well”? I also reminded him and the other patrons that without the projectionist up there there would be no show. No comment came
from Mr. “I control everything”.
Don: I remember that console too. During a revival of WEST SIDE STORY in 1972 a guy was controlling the sound from there, and he kept making it worse. These really loud popping noises started happening – until he turned the console off and walked away, then everything was fine. I think the console is still there, only it’s boarded up.
I hope someone in New York puts in one of those ultra screens but wont hold my breath :(
Some comments about the above comments.
-I saw MAROONED opening week in December 1969 at the Zeigfeld. There was a console in the theatre’s center controlling everything. I assume it not there anymore.
-The Criterion used to closed down from time to time in the 70s waiting for good product. Question…what do you do with the employees during the down time? Fire ‘em and rehire them?
-Here in Wisconsin, Marcus Theatres is installing “Ultra Screens” is some of their multiplexes. They make two auditoriums into one and install a 75 foot, floor to ceiling screen.
-There is guy in Ohio who has a 3 strip Cinerama print of HOW THE WEST WAS WON and shows it in a make shift sort of theatre (I think in his home!).
I was a little too young for “This Is Cinerama”, but I was able to see all the other 3 strip films that came out in the 60’s at both the Warner and Capitol theatres. When the train derailed in “How The West Was Won” the audiance reaction was almost the same as it would be for today’s Imax 3-D films.
mikeeoklandpark, I am sorry to read your first experience with 70mm was “Gone with thw wind” which remains the worst example of 70mm
ever made.I am also sorry you missed out on Cinerama and hope some day you have a chance to experience one of the great inovations in film presentation.
Yankeemike,I would agree with you about 70mm Cinerama, it was just an improved 70mm format at best.I believe the first one I ever played was “Mad Mad World”. Many people thought, gee if only they had waited a while and made all Cinerama films in 70mm it would have avoided a lot of cost with all that Charlie, Baker, Able stuff.
I never thought that way, 3 strip Cinerama was in a class of it’s own and it just would not have been the same, when Mr. Thomas said “This Is Cinerama” and I pushed that button to open the curtain to show that roller coaster on that huge 3 strip screen, well…
it was breathtaking.
To YankeeMike: The Arclight Cinemas Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood can also show 3-strip Cinerama. Too bad both 3-strip theaters are on the West Coast, far away from us in the East. The closest remaining giant curved Cinerama screen is, I believe, the Uptown in Washington, DC. They played “2001” three years ago and it was overwhelming.
I never saw any film in Cinerama. The first 70mm film I saw was Gone With The Wind in 1967 at the Randolph theater in Phila. It was a cinerama house so I was so awed by the curved screen.
I believe the Broadway, Warner and Capitol theatres were the only ones in Manhattan that had the 3 projector system. I know it sounds crazy but I perferred seeing the lines between the films in the three projector system as opposed to the later version of Cinerama. Even know the screen was just as wide it just seemed different. While it’s possible to see a 3-D movie in NY. (At the Film Forum) it’s a shame there is no place in the area where a 3 projector Cinerama film can be screened. I believe the only theatre that can show those films is in Seattle.
Myron, the 3 projector Cinerama process had it’s problems. You mentioned the colors not matching, this was a problem with the carbon arcs not keeping up as they burned in one or more projectors. This diference in the burning point betwen the arc and the projector gate, even if ever so slight, would cause one of the images to be slighty darker or off color. A good projectionist did not allow this to happen. Another projectionist error occured when the images did not match exactly, many problems contributed to that. First of all, the sync marks on the leader had to match on all three projectors and sound reproducer before the show started. Then from time to time there would be a film break, and when the film was repared mistakes were made. For example, a break in the film would require a splice be made, if you lost a couple of frames in the Baker print, for example, you would have to splice in a “slug” of black film to replace the missing footage, so that the three prints remained in sync.The alternative would be to remove the missing footage from the other two prints as well as the sound print, this to my knowledge was never done. In other words a film break in Cinerama was a NIGHTMARE. We had the same problem with two projector 3-D projection and it was handled the same way. I strangly miss those days. sigh
CC were you ever in the Warner Cinerama or the Rivoli or Criterion before they were twinned?
Then you’ll know why we give the Ziegfeld a bad rap. Though today its the best game in town. I was hoping they would have a Todd AO retro next year for the anniversary but I doubt it. They should have had MFL for its 40th in Super Panavision 70 which they had in ‘93 and it was an enormous success. And how about the restored Mary Poppins for an engagement before its release on DVD(a re-premiere with Andrews and Van Dyke in attendance?) That of course would have been perfect for Nov at the Music Hall along with the Christmas show (which could have been cut in half with no loss.)But that would make too much sense. These high paid execs make too much money to actually know what they’re doing.
“Can anybody remember which Manhattan theater showed the 3-projector Cinerama?
1 the Broadway beginning 9/30/52. Then the Warner in June 53. Then the Capitol which was temporarily renamed Loews Cinerama in Aug of 1962. The 2 MGM films, Bros Grimm and HTWWW played there. Single projector “Cinerama” 70mm opened at the Warner 11/63. 3-projector CineMiracle ran at the Roxy from April through the Summer of 1958. The Russian Kinopanorama played – however briefly – at the Mayfair (before it became the DeMille). 3-projector Cinerama also ran at the Syosset (Long Island) and the Claridge (Upper Montclair NJ).
YankeeMike mentions that he saw “How The West Was Won” in Cinerama. I also saw it in Manhattan in Cinerama but I can’t remember the name of the theater. I thought it was named the “Loews Cinerama” but there is no listing for such a theater. It’s true that 3 projectors were used and often the images did not exactly match and the colors of each were slightly different; making it annoying to watch. I also saw “2001, A Space Odyssey” at the same theater in Cinerama. Can anybody remember which Manhattan theater showed the 3-projector Cinerama?