Roxy Theatre
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
153 W. 50th Street,
New York,
NY
10020
83 people
favorited this theater
Showing 801 - 825 of 1,209 comments
Bill, I never understood the thinking behind the silent logo or additional music other than the fanfare playing. There were several even during the 50s. It was a magnificent way to start a movie with the full Fox fanfare and scope extension playing in full four track mag stereo sound. Somehow when ever I played a Fox picture the fader was always up about 2 or 3 DBs during the fanfare.
Vincent, many Fox films played the Paramount during the 50s
Who could forget the giant Elvis strummin his guitar below the Paramount sign. We also had a huge premiere for “The Best of Everything” at the Paramount in the fall of 1959. The last one to play the Paramount before I left Fox was “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
Vito: Remember when 20th Century-Fox stopped using their logo at the beginning of their movies in 1970? Having a silent logo without the fanfare (“The Sound of Music”, “The Bible”) was bad enough, but to do any with it completely – what were those Fox executives thinking? I guess they were trying to be trendy and with-it, and the logo and fanfare were perceived as old-fashioned. I remember seeing “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” at Loew’s State 2 start off with the words “Twentieth Century-Fox Presents” over the opening shot, and thinking the projectionist had made a mistake. I think only a few movies fell into this category before somebody reversed this bad decision, but “Patton” was one of them.
It is interesting that some important Fox films in the 30’s and 40’s played at the Music Hall rather than the Roxy but in the 50’s it seems the Roxy had them all.
Thanks Warren, I shall look forward to that. I spent a couple of years working in New York for Fox during the mid to late 50s. I saw all the Fox films during that time at the Fox “Little Theatre” screening room and often again in a theatre, usually the Roxy or Paramount. It will be a kick to see those titles and dates. I still get goose bumps whenever I hear the fanfare, I am speaking about the original fanfare extension as it was written, not the awful version used today.
Oh Bill, you are gonna give Warren such a swell head. However I must add my two cents by whole heartingly agreeing with your comment, and how much I have learned from folks like yourself, Warren, Vincent, Michael and so many others.
That “Someone” was Warren, whose comprehensive knowledge, research skills, and pitch-perfect accuracy are legendary on these pages, and his list appeared on 25 Feb ‘05 above.
Warren: you’re up to ‘45 now; bring us to '53, and then from '56 to closing. Finally: pre-'41? Would that be saving the best till last?
Would love a list of movies that played the Roxy after RAINS OF RANCHIPUR when the stage shows were re-instated. Someone earlier listed the titles and opening dates of the movies that played the Roxy from the inaugural CinemaScope THE ROBE.
In her autobiography The Gift Horse, German-born actress Hildegard Knef recalls her arrival in and time spent in the United States shortly after World War II and being offered a Hollywood studio contract. Here she describes a visit to what may have been the Roxy. I originally posted this on the Radio City Music Hall page, thinking it was RCMH, but I’ve been told that some aspects of her description suggest the Roxy instead. Anyway, it’s an interesting description:
“The packed movie house is a cross between the public baths and a set for an operetta, between a temple and a railway station; in the balcony they’re making love, smoking, and chewing brown-white balloons of absorbent cotton from cardboard cartons; they run in and out during the film, during the stage show, whistle like crazy when the chorus girls kick their legs, jitterbug in the aisles; girls with mottled frozen legs sticking out of tennis shoes and white ankle socks squeak and faint, crawl about among the flower boxes on the front of the stage, cry with the crooner who’s singing something in Spanish. Now there’s a preview: a bulldog face bursting out of a German officer’s uniform barks orders in English; behind him there’s a swastika hanging the wrong way round; on comes a soldier in an SS jacket and an SA cap, clicks his heels and yells ‘Donner and Blitzen,’ ‘Jawoll!’ and ‘Heil die Führer!’ The reclining couples break apart and join the stalls in a chorus of boos.”
Wasn’t State Fair a moveover from the Music Hall? Bet that didn’t happen often.
Shirley Temple in one of her lesser efforts.
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Warren— Thanks again for your continued efforts to chronicle the Roxy’s presentations. It’s a list I’ve long wanted to compile myself but never found time to do properly.
CConnolly— I wonder whether such 20C-Fox films as “Gentlemen’s Agreement” played at the Mayfair or Rivoli (or sometimes Astor [“Three Came Home,” “Fourteen Hours], Globe ["Don’t BOther to Knock], or Loew’s State ["Seven Year Itch]) because of the possibility for longer runs (three weeks and upwards) that might enable word-of-mouth to build and spread.
The Roxy generally moved its product every two or three weeks because, as Warren implied, the stage-show format with headline performers required definite time commitments from them. (RCMH had the freedom to let the Rockettes kick up a given routine for as many weeks as it pleased; the entr'acte acrobats and magicians could be exchanged and substituted if necessary.) Films that played at the Rivoli, Mayfair, or elsewhere could run as long or as briefly as the crowds mandated. Adult content probably had little to do with the selection.
I remember seeing “Gentlemen’s Agreement” during its nabe run at the RKO Dyker; I was five years old. I also remember the opprobrium that attached to “Forever Amber,” which opened at the Roxy that year. One of my aunts defied the Church and saw it; she also read the book. I was always fascinated by the books she read, and tried to read them, too. The nuns cluck-clucked at me.
Wasn’t “Gentlemen’s Agreement” a Zanuck production like “Wilson”? And if so, I wonder why “Gentlemen’s Agreement” premiered at The Mayfair and not The Roxy? Was the material considered inappropriate for it? Just curious….
Whenever “Wilson” was shown on TV, my dad always talked about how great it was seeing it at the Roxy. He said there were American flags draped all over the theater.
Ugh, Bosley Crowther. It just goes to show that there were hack critics back then as there are now. And that dope worked at the NY Times. Actually, even today, the Times is not known for it’s film criticism.
There were lots of adult films that glittering holiday season, the first after WWII. The Astor had “Spellbound†and the Rivoli opened “Lost Weekend.†Even “They Were Expendable†at the Capitol (with Tommy Dorsey on stage) proved adult fare. The Globe and the Palace offered films noirs (“Johnny Angel†and “Corneredâ€), pictures perhaps more suited than Father Bing’s to “The Godfather†couple who attended RCMH.
The ever-petulant Bosley Crowther began his review for “Leave Her to Heaven†with the complaint that it was “an inauspicious moment†for such “a piece of cheap fiction†(the review gets worse: poor BC!). The ad in the NYT for “The Enchanted Forest†at the Victoria quotes BC’s praise for it as “the only real film for the kiddies this year.†Here’s the page from the NYT:
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In 1957, the Christmas film at the Roxy was “Peyton Place,” a huge hit despite its adult material.
Even though I have never been able to sit through all St. Mary’s Bergman is pretty wonderful in it. Still as much as I like Leave(and love Gene) the idea of the Roxy filled with holiday families watching Tierney passively watch a crippled boy drown gives one pause.
(Makes me think of those holiday families watching the brutal Charade at Christmas of ‘63 at the Hall right after the murder of the president.)
Gee, which would YOU choose?
A saintly Ingrid Bergman or a homicidal Gene Tierney?
I’d go with Tierney. She was painfully beautiful in “Leave Her to Heaven”.
I wanted to strangle that annoying kid brother because he dared to interupt Tierney’s advances in one scene with Wilde. No wonder she killed him….
Leave Her to Heaven as a Christmas show?!!!
No wonder Gilda was considered family fare. Just surprised it wasn’t shown as the Easter film at the Hall.
I remember those speakers, the Haven had them until we put in Dolby in the 80’s.
Bob Furmanek and veyoung—
Yes, as CConnolly writes above, Warren’s expert posting about CineMiracle on 13 Feb. ‘04 offers much more than I could about details.
Last 27 November, I weighed in with some impressions:
The huge CineMiracle screen sat in front of the proscenium, over the orchestra pit, on an extended thrust stage. It had a temporary look to it, not at all like the subsequently remodelled Capitol or Loew’s State, which appeared as though management had planned for the long haul. Upon exiting from “Windjammer,” I remember signs in the lobby announcing the next CineMiracle film then in production, the disasterous “The Miracle” with Carroll Baker. The latter, of course, was finally released in a shrunken Technirama in November ‘59, when it had a brief three-week run as the Thanksgiving show at RCMH.
Last 16 April, I offered a photo of the Roxy’s 1952 drapery treatment, which CineMiracle thrust did not seem to affect.
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My present memory of seeing “Windjammer” is that its projection and sound were both terrific—better than Cinerama ever had been at the Broadway or Warner or Capitol. I recall a storm sequence that was knuckle-whitening. I also recall that, even with reduced seating, the theater was sparsely populated. I was surprised to find it so, since I believe I had attended a matinee during busy Easter Week, close to the opening of its run.
RobertR: Last July 24 I recounted my memory of the Roxy’s stage show with “Peter Pan”:
I remember that the Ice Colorama stage show featured a clone of the Wizard-of-Oz narrative, concerning a Wicked Witch (performed by a male ice-skater) who hurtled across the stage at enormous speed, pursued by the good-guy Ice Blades and Roxyettes, with flashing flourescent lights in tempestuous neon hues, accompanied by off-stage thunder and a crashing orchestral score (it might have been “A Night on Bald Mountain,†no?). We stayed to see the stage show a second time, moving up to the vast balcony for a better view of the Colorama effects.
CConnely, Vito, BoxOfficeBill, please tell us just exactly what “damage” was done to the Roxy by the installation of CineMiracle. I can only assume you actually were there, else you wouldn’t have been able to make these comments. Other than the positioning of a large screen and curtain track forward of the proscenium, much as was done at the Broadway and Warner for Cinerama, just what “damage” was done? Eager 3-panel enthusiasts await your reply(s).
The Route 17 Triplex in Paramus NJ only posts one word from each movie title on their marquee. It’s usually a pretty funny sight. Last week it said TENSION PANTS LAW YARD. I had to look up LAW in the paper – I couldn’t figure out that it was “Monster-in-Law”.
I’ve changed the huge marquee at the Loew’s Jersey on a number of occasions, utilizing the same ancient lift that was used in the old days. I can tell you – it’s most certainly NOT an easy task. You can only do a few letters at a time, then have to climb down this rickety lift, move it a few feet, and repeat the process. The front marquee on that theater is a good 20+ feet long.
And I’m afraid of heights!
I credit the marquee changers of days gone by with some very creative work in providing the gist of the attractions, especially on the limited space of some of the end panels. I always thought it would be great to be able to do it until one night in the midst of a howling snow storm when it was almost impossible to stand upright at ground level, seeing some poor soul trying to replace letters some 12 or more feet in the air. At that point I decided there might be better occupations.
Warren, as a marquee changer in my teens I can tell you it was an art to fit movie titles on some marquees. A lot of thought and creativity went into the great marquees of yor. In addition, they had to be changed on time. Just like the mail, come rain, snow,
wind, earthquakes or floods. That marquee had to be changed.