Roxy Theatre

Why so full of rage? “The Wind Cannot Read” was the last film to play the Roxy which makes it completely on-topic. And I’ll bet a lot of fans of the Roxy have wondered over the years why they have never been able to see this film, however routine or dull it may be.

The NY ROXY Theatre, one of the unfortunate early victims of a long list of demolished movie palaces which would increase as the 1960s wore on, was done in more by NYC real-estate dealings than for faltering financial reasons. It is easily assumed that business was poor enough during final months to cause closure. Actually the hand writing was on the wall when Rockefeller Center, with an eye towards future expansion, purchased the ROXY property and leased it back to its then current management in 1955. Even in 1955 news reports were claiming the ROXY site along with the rest of the block bound by 6th and 7th Ave would become a “television city” extension of Rockefeller Center. Of course, this never happened. What did happen was one of Rock Centers star tenants, Time-Life Inc. threaten to move from a smaller Rock plaza building. Rock Center used the Roxy “air rights” to build a new Time-Life skyscraper facing 6th Ave, completed in 1959. Following the disastrous WINDJAMMER roadshow, ROXY management attempted a return to stage shows with mediocre results. Also considered at this time were live TV broadcasts from the ROXY stage and sophisticated Las Vegas style revues. None of this came to pass, rather owner Rock Center took management control and sold the ROXY to NY real-estate wheeler dealer William Zeckendorf in December 1959. Zeckendorf claimed to be building an expansion of the neighboring Taft hotel onto the ROXY site, which never happened. Rather, Zeckendorf contracted for demolishment and re-sold the partially cleared Roxy site. All this occurred within a few short months. Nowhere in the brief closing notices was any mention of the ROXY’s financial situation at the time of closing. The only financial information published was the various property buying and selling pricings between principles at the time. Its obvious Rock Center was not interested in keeping the ROXY afloat. Rather, it was just a means towards an end.

The Roxy for most of its life was the flagship theatre for 20th-Century=Fox.It was the second highest grossing theatre in the world only after Radio City Music Hall.In 1953 it held the highest grossing single week with “The Robe” $264,000 without a supporting stage show. By 1960 there wasn’t room for both Radio City and the Roxy with there stage and film policy due to lack of quality film product. Air Rights and development and the Rockefellers helped eliminate the Roxy. The Roxy was very successful for most of its life with its association with Fox as the Capitol was successful due to M-G-M. We will never see there likes ever again.

You didn’t experience the curved screen at the Rivoli?

Yes, I wonder if they ever replaced it.

And yes the screen was somewhat curved, looking at the photo. Nothing like Cinerama, CM, or a Todd-AO Cinestage screen, of course.

But they were able to fly it so it couldn’t have been that curved and it had to be inside the proscenium so there couldn’t be any sense of enveloping the audience despite what the ads made it look like. Of course I’m not speaking from first hand experience. Is there anybody who can?

NEW ROXY THEATRE HAS GALA OPENING; Its 6,200 Seats Filled, While Throng in Streets Tries in Vain to Get In. NOTABLES IN THE AUDIENCE Good Wishes From Coolidge, Smith and Walker Are Flashed on Screen (Mordaunt Hall, March 12, 1927) The new Roxy Theatre, at Seventh Avenue and Fiftieth Street, which was opened last night amid a blaze of lights, is another monument to those story-telling shadows that started less than thirty years ago in dingy stores with tin-pan pianos and borrowed chairs. This new addition to New York’s great chain of entertainment houses seats 6,200 persons and was erected at a cost said to have been close to $10,000,000. Less than eighteen months ago on the site where this majestic building now stands were the old car barns. It is a fulfilment of the cherished ambition of S. L. Rothafel, better known as “Roxy,” whose first job in New York was that of a cash boy in a Fourteenth Street department store.Long before the hour set for the formal opening of the Roxy’s doors an imposing throng gathered. They were eager to see Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and other notables who were expected to be present. And judging by the many distinguished persons one noticed in the grand rotunda, everybody who was able to come was there. Miss Swanson, whose production, “The Love of Sunya” had the distinction of being the first presentation in this new theatre, arrived about 8:30, and she would have been earned off her feet had not several men gathered around her and escorted her to her seat in one of the orchestra rows. Other screen celebrities had similar experiences, and it was not the people on the sidewalk who forged around them but those who had gained admission to the building. A Building of Distinction. The Roxy Theatre has already been described in THE NEW YORK TIMES, and it lives up to all the eulogies written about it. It is a building of distinction with a pleasing color combination of old rose and dull gold to greet the eye. There are entrancing windows in the auditorium which are so lighted that it seems as if the sun were streaming through them. Looking back from the eighth or tenth row of the orchestra last night, there was an impressive sea of faces. It was a striking sight just to watch the packed auditorium from the rear rails, for this is a theatre that might be the home of opera, with its lofty proscenium arch, its comfortable seats, its striking loges and its roomy balcony. The aisles are unusually wide, and through them the uniformed attendants hurried back and forth knowing exactly the seats called for by the tickets. Yet with all its tremendous size there is, as Mr. Rothafel has explained, a certain feeling of intimacy about the structure. How Roxy Got Idea for First Scene. It was while Mr. Rothafel was leaning over the rail of a steamship bound for Europe that he obtained his idea for the opening scene in this theatre. It happens to be a burnt-orange sunset with the stars just visible in the sky. This was gradually transformed through streaky clouds into the American flag. It was accomplished with marked artistry, and the audience arose as the 110 men in the orchestra, guided by H. Maurice Jacquet, played “The Star-Spangled Banner. "Just before this impressive sight a man garbed as a monk appeared, and at the last words of his brief talk — "Let there be light” — a flood of light revealed the great band of musicians. Everything was done on a scale suitable to the size of the theatre. At first the ballet numbered about twenty, then more and more girls were added to the array of dancers until more than a hundred were on the stage at one time. There were old Southern melodies, including “The Suwanne River,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” sung by more than a hundred voices in a compelling setting. Coolidge Letter on Screen. Instead of having speeches Mr. Rothafel decided to use the screen, and so one read a letter from President Coolidge to Mr. Rothafel. It ran: “I wish to express my appreciation of what you have done to give real pleasure to the veterans in the Walter Reed and other hospitals through securing radio equipment for their use. And I am glad to learn that you are continuing your interest in this charitable work. "Secretary Wilbur’s communication read:"I wish through the good offices of the International News Reel to extend you very good wishes, for the navy appreciates the interest you have taken in the patients in our hospitals and the pleasure they have derived from the radios installed largely by reason of your efforts. Mayor Walker’s letter was as follows: "In wishing you every possible congratulation upon the occasion of the opening of the Roxy Theatre I feel that I am only one of the tremendous multitude of those who regard you with similar sentiments. The splendid entertainments which under your direction have been sent over the air into the homes of the nation have made millions of friends for you."I feel confident that the Roxy Theatre will win for you a comparatively great host of admirers. The dedication of the proceeds for the opening night for the purchasing of radio stations for institution for war veterans is only consistent with your many benevolences of the past. "I wish you every good fortune for years to come. Telegram from Governor Smith. Governor Alfred E. Smith sent a telegram which read: "You are soon to realize your ambition in furtherance of the pleasures of the public and I send hearty congratulations on the opening of the new Roxy Theatre together with the very best of good wishes for its future success."Vice President Charles G. Dawes sent the following message:"The new theatre, I am informed, is a splendid testimonial to Mr. Rothafel’s energy and business enterprise and I congratulate him."The orchestra had descended to a level below the stage during the screening of these documents, when it came up again (on the elevator platform), Erno Rapee officiated as conductor. Airs from the opera "Carmen” were played as a prelude to the screening of a Vitaphone feature, a scene from the second act of Bizet’s masterpiece. The efforts of the musicians were greeted with hearty applause and then Giovanni Martinelli and Jeanne Gordon were heard and seen (on the screen) in this scene from “Carmen.” Signor Martinelli’s rendition was as fine as his initial presentation, “Vesti la giubba,” from “I Pagliacci.” His voice burst from the screen with splendid synchronization with the movements of his lips. It rang through the great theatre as if he had himself been on the stage. Miss Gordon’s part in this performance was also striking. Miss Swanson’s Skillful Acting. Miss Swanson’s picture, “The Love of Sunya,” based on Max Marcin’s play, “The Eyes of Youth,” is an intriguing picture, with pardonable exaggerations, but none the less skillfully directed by Albert Parker, who was responsible for the direction of Douglas Fairbanks’s prismatic feature, “The Black Pirate.” And Miss Swanson herein gives a far better performance than in any other of her films in the last two years. This picture was started somewhat abruptly, for there was no main title flashed on the screen or a list of players and characters. Despite this omission the audience evidently became interested in the film story, which is one concerned with crystal gazing and seeing the future. The heroine, Sunya (Miss Swanson), has the chance to marry three men, and through a Hindu clairvoyant she is permitted to learn all that may happen to her as the wife, first of the impresario, then of the banker and finally of the diligent, handsome young hero.Mr. Parker has worked out expertly the idea of impressing on the audience the journey into the future. First Sunya is beheld sitting before the crystal; then there appear on the screen peculiar shapes and transparencies until one sees Sunya as the mistress of the impresario, impersonated by Andreas de Segurola. Sunya, toward the end of the episode, becomes tired of the bickering and recrimination between the impresario and herself and one night she seeks relief in wine. There is a stirring scene in which the heroine gives way to her temper, flinging everything, from from flowers to furniture, about the room, and finally, after causing the impresario to flee, she throws his hat and cane after him.Miss Swanson’s impersonation of the intoxicated singer in this chapter is excellent. She expresses sarcasm, anger, and gives a clever portrayal of the luxury-loving prima donna. Mr. Parker introduces effective ideas in telling this story, and the photographing and lighting are most artistic. Whether it is a scene of a revel in a drawing room or a talk between two men in the stage wings, Mr. Parker pictures it with originality, and he carefully keeps to the trend of the story, never permitting cinematics to interrupt the interest in the narrative. Official List of Guests. The official list of invited guests, which did not by any means include all of the well-known New Yorkers who were present, follows: Major Gen. Lejeune, Mayor Walker and Mrs. Walker, Gov. Moore of New Jersey, Gloria Swanson and the Marquis de la Falaise de la Coudraye, Mr. and Mrs. John Boles, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Bedard, Count de Margoenant Rene Guetta, Gen. and Mrs. Stewart, Gen. Summerall, Senator Copeland, Senator Edwards, Senator Wagner, Senator Capper, Charles Chaplin, Irving Berlin, Mrs. Otto Kahn, Mrs. P. Kochanski, Will Hays, J. J. and Lee Shubert, Col. Fred'k Pope, Philip Russell, Harold Roberts, Charles Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. W. Atkinson, Herbert Lubin, Police Commissioner McLaughlin, John J. Dorman, John Kenion, John H. McCooey, K. F. Sutherland, Judge Edward Reigelman, Harold Lloyd, Joseph M. Schenck, Adolph S. Ochs, Mr. and Mrs. R. Rowland, May Allison, James R. Quirk, Keats Speed, Herbert B. Swope, Maj. H. C. Woodward, William T. Dewart, Walter Wanger, Sol Bloom, Theodore E. Burton, Jesse Lasky, Nathan Burkan, Paul Block, Lowell Sherman, Phil Payne, Pauline Garon, Lois Moran, Sam Katz, Lois Wilson, Mary Brian, Thomas Meighan, Hope Hampton, Ralph Pulitzer, Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Wright, Herbert J. Krapp, Dr. A. H. Gianinni, Magistrate Eliperin, Ben Bernie, Judge Mitchell May, Bor. Pres. Byrne, S. W. Straus, Alexander Lambert, A. Hammerstein, Joseph Plunkett, Texas Guinan, Bor. Pres. Miller, Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut, K. Binzausas, The British, Italian and Austrian Consuls General.

The Roxy, like other independent theaters not part of a major chain, often had to scramble for product.

There was a 96 page history of the Roxy dated 1927 (opening year) and this is held by the Kent MOMI Museum, Deal, Kent

“Cinderella” opened at the Mayfair.

I think in the case of Manhattan, it’s just based on actual distance. Three street blocks here are almost as far as one block of avenues. Those other five theatres are simply closer.