Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 576 - 600 of 1,213 comments
Yes, I heard about the opening with Ms. Merman. Would have loved to have been there and to have seen the film with that great finale as you say. Must have been quite something to see. I saw it at the Fox in San Francisco, at I remember being quite impressed. I was in my teens. I remember my parents saying something like WOW and there was applause at the conculsion. PEYTON PLACE is another film I’d like to know how long and how many weeks it played. I went to school with the girl who played Allison…Diane Varsi. When she got the role she was non too excited. However, at the premier in Hollywood, she past out from being overwhelmed with seeing herself and hearing her voice at Graumans. Wonder how she would have felt seeing herself at the Roxy!!!!
I know Warren is the expert with the exact grosses retrieved from Variety. But I’d like to take a stab at it just from memory. I believe that “…Show Business” was a huge disappointment to Fox despite the big campaign. I remember that Ethel Merman was on hand opening day at the Roxy to sell tickets…that’s right…they put at the box office with a regular cashier as a gimmick at the opening show. The opening week was around $90,000 (pre-Christmas) with the following holiday week jumbing to about $142,000 (not a record by any means). “Forever Amber” did $!80,000 as did “Stars and Stripes Forever.” It fell considerably below $90,000 in subsequent weeks , but Warren can tell you whether it played four or five weeks or more. What I can tell you is that seeing “…Show Business” on that great screen, especially that grand finale, was something else.
Yes ron I seem to recall a “Show Buiness” reel as well. In those days we often had special promotional/test reels. I had a collection of them stored away at the Paramount in Staten Island, but when I visited the theatre in 1982 the only one I found was “South Pacific” Darn, I wish I had some of those prints today.
Some of the older projectionist and exibitors will remember the test reels we would get for many engagements.
Warren, if you get the time, I too would love to learn the “Show Business” grosses at the Roxy.
Interesting about the test reel for CinemaScope and Stereo. In San Francisco there was a special reel of THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS for scope and sound purposes as well. This might have been for the smaller theatres..not sure..even though scope had been out a while, they still had a test reel of SHOW BUSINESS. By the way, wonder what SHOW BUSINESS did gross wise at the Roxy and how many weeks it played.
Here’s one consideration that many people who watch the grosses between the Roxy and Music Hall srarely consider. The Music Hall always attracted a heavy morning and matinee crowd, mainly comprised of tourists. The Roxy business did not have the pull of tourists and business was heaviest at night and ran their shows much later, often until 1 Am, except for the rare family film. As a former usher at both theaters, I can tell you that the Roxy also had a policy of special children’s prices at all times which kept the grosses down. The Music Hall never had that policy.
Gosh warren, makes me wonder what “Blondes” would have grossed had it played at RCMH. Of course as we know, the fox product was generally presented at the Roxy and Paramount with an occassional roadshow going to the Rivoli. I had always wished “Blondes” had been made a bit later allowing it to be filmed in CinemaScope with four track sound. I may be wrong, but I believe the test reel Fox made up to introduce CinemaScope and Stereophonic sound to exibitors had some bits of “Blondes” included in it. We played that test reel at the Paramount in Staten Island on Christmas eve, the night before “The Robe” opened there.
I’m trying to reach Ed Solero. Thanks very much. TJ McDowell.
That last postcard image of the Grand Lounge off the rotunda is very interesting. It’s dated 1946 and the description states the room is “newly refurbished” – I imagine the floor-to-ceiling mirror treatment on the walls was entirely new. Were any other parts of the theater refurbished in this manner in the ‘40’s? I know that drapery was installed in the auditorium at some point (I’m guessing with the Cinemascope installation in the '50’s), which obscured some of the proscenium detail work.
BLONDES doubled BAND WAGON’S total take in national distributor rentals according to Variety estimates at the time. Of course, the Roxy seating capacity may have changed the NY numbers.
I don’t have the Roxy grosses for “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” but I’m reasonably sure, if memory serves, they hovered around the $120,000, 110,000, 100,000 or so for the run. The “Band Wagon” grosses were, as follows: 171,000, 157,000, 159,000, 156,000, 147,000, 133,000, and 117,000 for its 7 week run.
Warren, Thanks you for that wonderful post. It sure brought back great memories of those “Selected Short Subjects” which was a short snipe we ran at the end of the coming attractions.
Even if your local theatre did not have a stage show, a day at the movies included “Two Big Hits”, a serial, cartoon, Travelogue and newsreel. All that, and popcorn and sodas for under a buck.
Ah Warren, we must get together and build a time machine.
Glad to have helped. I agree, there are some fine sounding instruments on this webpage. It’s a pity the Roxy’s two smaller organs were destroyed. At least the console and a few of the ranks of the 5 manual Kimball were saved.
Thank you Mike…I’m in heaven. Now I can play and hear the grand organ medleys before after the movies on my big screen TV. All I need is an usher to say “immediate seating in all parts of the theater,” or “exits and lounges are on the left.”
A correction to the Virtual Radiogram main page address above: www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm
I have been using the latest free version of the Realplayer at www.real.com to play sound files from websites I have visited. The basic updated version should be able to play a number of types of files. On the main page of the Virtual Radiogram, which is www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm, one of the website users says that what you basically need is the Windows Media Player to play the files, especially if you have a Mac computer(the basic free updated version of Realplayer will play Windows Media Files, I believe). Go to the above web address and scroll a little more than halfway down to see this information. It mentions Winamp, but apparently what you need in the long run is a player that can handle Windows Media Files. Hope this is helpful.
Mike, that site listed to hear the various organ doesn’t produce sound for some reason. I have no problem with sound on other sites. Am I not doing something I should? I clicked where indicated and all I got was a blank screen saying “done.” And I was so looking forward to hearing them.
If anyone wants to hear sound files of vintage recordings of the Roxy’s three Kimball organs, go to www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/USAfiles.htm Scroll more than halfway down to hear Gordon Seaman play the 5 manual Kimball and down further to hear Lew White play both the Lobby Kimball and the studio Kimball. Even with these older recordings you can tell how lush a typical Kimball organ sounds.
Sorry, that should have been Gae Foster Girls
Warren, one has to wonder if the bike act completed by the Gew Girls was more difficult than the Rockettes “March of the Wooden Soldiers"
How many times did either of them fall down :)
Gable at the Roxy
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Bill Heulbig—
Me, I’m the anamorphic image of the guy who thought CinemaScope 55 an exciting process.
Warren—
So Lois Moran’s stint in “The Dancers” came after “Renegades” — that’s a bummer. The latter, with Myrna Loy and Bela Lugosi (though second- and third-billed after Warner Baxter) evidently drew the sixty-four legs back from B'klyn to the Main Stem. Ahh. For a brief, shining moment—two weeks in all—, Fabian’s Fox knew glory.
This New York Daily News ad features 1956 Roxy patrons praising “Carousel” and CinemaScope 55. It’s hard to read the names, but you think there are any Cinema Treasures regulars in there? :)
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BoxOfficeBill: Thanks to you, I was able to hand out photocopies of an actual 1956 Roxy program to each viewer when I showed “Giant” on a movie night several months ago. Also did the same thing with your Radio City program for “The Nun’s Story”. Cinema Treasures hasn’t been the same without you. It’s good to have you back!
Here’s a Program from exactly Fifty Years Ago Today:
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“Bus Stop†opened at the Roxy on 31 Aug. ’56. The next day, the ever phlegmatic Bosley Crowther surged in his NYT review: “MM Arrives: Glitters as Floozie,†and went on to gush: “Hold on to your chairs, everybody, and get set for a rattling surprise. MM has finally proved herself an actress in ‘Bus Stop.’ She and the picture are swell!†I immediately phoned my friend, and we hightailed to E. 50 Street on the BMT.
Seeing this picture at the Roxy remains one of the most exhilarating movie-going experiences of my life. Maybe it’s because as a fourteen-year-old I unexpectedly but hormonically enjoyed MM for the very first time, and instantly intuited a lifetime of sexual bliss ahead of me. Maybe it’s because the whole presentation at the Roxy was just terrific, topped off by a stage extravaganza that displayed the incomparable work of the set designers and technical crew. For a detailed description, scroll above to my previous post of 5 January 2006.
Oustanding, B.O. Bill! Thanks for all that great info and those wonderful vintage news clippings. Are those from a ProQuest subscription or did you fetch those from a physical Library archive?