Rivoli Theatre

francan;The theatre you mention above is listed here:– /theaters/2975 Normally theatres on Cinema Treasures are listed by their last name, in this case it is listed under its original and most well known name. The aka’s are not searchable at the moment.

Does anyone remember the RKO Cinerama, which sometime in the ‘80’s was renamed the RKO Warner? It was on Broadway in the upper 40’s, either 47 or 48 Street. I was only there twice, once in 81 to see Superman II, and then in 83 to see The Right Stuff. I actually saw Superman II in a brief re-release around Thanksgiving, it was a twin theater by then, and I saw it in the balcony theater, which I remember was HUGE. The Right Stuff played in the lower, orchestra theater. I recall it being large but a bit smaller than the balcony theater. The sound was a little better than the upstairs theater, and the screen seemed to be curved, like the old Cinerama screens were reported to be. I don’t remember when the theater was closed and demolished, I would assume it was late 80’s or early 90’s.
Anyway I didn’t see this theater listed on this site, so I was wondering if anyone remembers it or has any info on it. Thanks.

In 1957 I was going on 14, and my Mom insisted that I see “Around The World In 80 Days” at the Rivoli, so she sent me into Manhattan from Brooklyn one Saturday morning with about $1.75 (!!!) to catch the first showing. I can still remember standing in front of the theater. 12 years later I remember being amazed that I could see “Hello, Dolly !” there while the show was still on Broadway. The last film I saw there was “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with my brother. A note on Bette Davis in “The Little Foxes”: In several books I’ve read,it seems that Wyler wanted the character played as more charming and womanly, whereas Bette seemed to go for a cold, steely interpretation. Incidentally, “Another Part of the Forest” is a phenomenal film. The original Broadway production starred Patricia Neal, who I kissed on the cheek on vacation this summer in a roadside gourmet grocery store in Oakland, Maine !!! frankie from Brooklyn

Hi Bill, I remember that screening at the MOMA, that was in ‘87 for the 25 Anniversary of the Bond series. I think it was also missing the scene in M’s office during the pre-title sequence. I wrote to the person at the museum in charge of the exhibit telling her how much I enjoyed the program~~they also featured many props, photos, artwork and posters from the movies as well as a tv monitor that showed pre-title sequences from many of the movies. I also mentioned the missing footage. She actually wrote back thanking me for writing and said she was aware of the missing scenes, and they were in the process of restoring them. I don’t know if they were ever shown at the museum again, so I can’t say if they restored the scenes. All the same, it was a wonderful exhibit, and I wish I could have been able to see all the movies (I only got to see OHMSS, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker).

Hi Bill, I remember that screening at the MOMA, that was in ‘87 for the 25 Anniversary of the Bond series. I think it was also missing the scene in M’s office during the pre-title sequence. I wrote to the person at the museum in charge of the exhibit telling her how much I enjoyed the program~~they also featured many props, photos, artwork and posters from the movies as well as a tv monitor that showed pre-title sequences from many of the movies. I also mentioned the missing footage. She actually wrote back thanking me for writing and said she was aware of the missing scenes, and they were in the process of restoring them. I don’t know if they were ever shown at the museum again, so I can’t say if they restored the scenes. All the same, it was a wonderful exhibit, and I wish I could have been able to see all the movies (I only got to see OHMSS, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker).

Thanks all for the posts. My only regret is that I didn’t get to see Moonraker at the Rivoli, where it premiered in NYC back in 79. I just came from part of a Bond program at the Museum of Modern Art with my youngest brother, and we walked to the Rivoli and were tempted to buy tickets, but the line went around the block! Then in 83 Moonraker again played for a week with From Russia With Love, but again I missed it.
I recall seeing only two movies there, DC Cab with Mr. T and Easy Money with Rodney Dangerfield.

By the way, the Bond program was a two day event, on opening day of Moonraker they showed You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me, followed by a panel with Lewis Gilbert, Albert Broccoli and Ken Adam. The next day was a series of TV shows about the making of Spy Who Loved Me (which unfortunately I missed) followed by an appearance by Maurice Binder, who showed the titles for the Bond films he worked on, as well as trailers and titles for non-Bond movies.

1961 re-release of “The King & I” 70mm roadshow
View link

Lucky you Vito.
You’re right about Carousel. It was never, ever shown in Cinemascope 55.(I believe there is a thread on that somewhere.)
Also the 30 frames was far superior to the 24 frames image so its too bad it was only used for two films.
Also interesting is that 80 Days had a much longer theatrical history than OK. Yet OK still exists in the Todd AO format and 80 Days does not.

I believe it was Carousel Sinatra walked off of. Boy did he get bad advice from his agent. Though neither he nor Macrae were right for this musical perhaps the worst adaptation of a R and H show. But then there was nobody. You would have needed a Brando who could sing magnificently. A very young Raitt from a kinescope is tremendous but he did not have star quality on the screen.
By the way the Todd AO Oklahoma is far superior to the Cinemascope version.

Good notes Vincent, might I add that Frank Sinatra was originally signed on to play the lead but backed out when he heard everything had to be filmed twice, once in Todd-Ao and again in CinemaScope.
I understood that the production was not filmed simultaneously but each scene shot twice. The irony was, part way thru filming, reduction printing was improved and developed making filming the two versions unnecessary. Any idea if any of this is true? Thanks for the info on the DVD I will be looking for that.

While people bash the 70mm version of GWTW it was great seeing this at the Rivoli in ‘74. What I would give to see it like this again!
Is it really any better seeing it on DVD?
(Of course the original at the Capitol, Astor or Atlanta Loew’s Grand would be best of all.)

Vincent, I played “West Side Story” all over Long Island, New York in 1962-63 and can only recall one 70mm run, at the Syosset, which I believe was in the spring of 1962. All the other runs I did were 35mm. I don’t even recall any 35mm mag stereo prints only optical mono, mag prints were getting scarce by then.
Perhaps Michael Coate knows of some other 70mm runs im NY.

Bill,
the ads are great stuff! Thanks for sharing them.