Radio City Music Hall

I recall there was a style book featuring the decor of the Music Hall that was published many years ago. One was recently up for sale on Ebay. Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy or/look at that book? I have a 6'x2' piece of auditorium carpet from the Music Hall. I am attempting to determine its age. It could be original from 1932. I am unsure if they installed new carpet anytime afterwards. From the color and weave I am certain is not from the 1979 renovation or the 1999 restoration.

Can anyone assist me?

I somewhat disagree with Leon about the 1979 renovation. While they got some things right, others were not. I thought that some of the carpet colors were off and that they were a bit too plush. I remember this because I used to take my shoes off and walk on the carpet barefoot when the house was closed.

I completely disagree with Hugh Hardy’s comment about people being used to higher light levels. I think the extra lighting in the Grand Foyer is thoroughly unnecessary. I also wonder if the gold leaf used on the Choral Staircases and the undersides of the balustrades is a right match. In the many black and white pictures I have of the early days of the Hall, those areas don’t look as bright as they do now. I could be wrong; I am looking for color photos of the Hall in the 1930’s and 40’s.

And those “Target” decorations on the proscenium, cheesy as they are, have been there since 1979.

Hugh Hardy hmmm…
I thought the late 70’s renovation was great. The entire lobby was cleared out and all that was there was was the giant trophy the Rockettes won in Paris in the 30's
And they managed to clean up the place while keeping it’s patina intact. They didn’t scrub away it’s history.
Those tracks of lights hanging from the arches…yeah that’s a great touch. And those junky Christmas decorations from Target they put on the proscenium?
Absolutely nothing like that in the old holiday shows.
Just white Christmas trees on each side of the stage and white wreaths hung below each landing of the choral stairs.
Simple, elegant and Christmasy

Thanks for your comments Leon. I do hope that I never feel the same way you do. I’m approaching 50 and I am starting to think back about how I grew up in a simpler time. I’m starting to sound like the old people did when I was in my teens and 20’s! Today’s youth won’t ever truly know what it was like to attend regular movies at a real Movie Palace! They’ll also never know what it was like to have stores closed on Sundays; have only 3 TV networks, not have access to cash after 3:00PM on a weekday. While that sounds negative, it resulted in a slower pace of life even in a city like New York. It is why I am so passionate about keeping as many of the “quality” buildings from the past.

I do, however, believe a city needs to grow to survive and be relevant. As such, I beleive that Atlantic Yards should be built, that Columbia should build its new camppus in West Harlem and that Willets Point should be leveled and built anew. But we must also preserve the Loew’s Kings, renovate as many of the obsolete office towers in FiDi into residences as we can, and create more historic districts so that we don’t forget our past.

That’s why I’m glad that we still have theaters like Radio City, The Hollywood, The New Amsterdam, The Apollo, Loews' 175th St, The Beacon, The Paradise, The Ziegfeld, The Valencia, The St. George, The Brooklyn Paramount, The Metropoiltan, The Elmwood, The Paris and others. Of all these theaters only The Ziegfeld and Paris regularly show films but I’m still thrilled that we still have them.

They will NEVER build theaters like this again and once they are gone, they are gone forever. I never got to see the Roxy or the old Penn Station and anyone who truly loves architecture must feel a profound sense of loss.

Yes, the 2008 Christmas show is here already. From what I have been told, there will not be many changes from last year’s show. We will be in next week to start loading everything in. It sounds like projection will remain the same also. We need to do some repairs in the booth as one of our 70MM projectors had a meltdown on the last day of the show last year. Not to mention the 3D interlock system which literally had a meltdown also. Oh well. It should be a fun week.

Leon, with all due respect, it is not a question of sensitivity. My favorite shows are Family Guy and Real Time with Bill Maher so I am very politically incorrect. Your comment was just way over the top and not at all funny.

I totally disagree with the comments about Radio City and Cablevision. While I think that Cablevision, as a whole, is a vile company, they are the ones who stepped up and spent $70MM to restore Radio City when it was on the verge of closing. Would you really have preferred Radio City to have been gutted for office space as was done at The Paramount? Really?

Times change! The movie exhibition business has changed. With very, very few exceptions, it is not economically feasible for the old movie palaces to pay their own way showing just films. Many were demolished. Some were able to survive by becoming concert halls/performaing arts spaces, clubs, retail spaces and, much more frequently, churches. The point is that finding an alternate use allows these wondrous buildings to survive so that future generations will be able to see how others “used” to go to the movies.

When I was growing up, many banks had sumptuous banking halls with three story lobbies, Corinthian Columns, Chandeliers,brass railings and intricately carved wood panellings. Guess what? Times changed and very few of these halls remain. Thankfully, in New York, The old Citibank at 55 Wall Street, the old Bowery Savings Bank branches on 42nd Street and The Bowery and the Greenwich Savings Bank all survive as glittering event spaces. The architecture has been saved! One of the few old banking halls to survive as an actual bank is the Apple Bank at 74th and Broadway. As in movie palaces, the survival of the building still in its original use is very rare.

I’m a realist. Would I prefer that the Hollywood theater still showed movies instead of being a church? Yes, of course! But I am greatful that the church who bought this theater invested millions to restore it to the grandeur that it had at its peak. I hold out hope that one day it will return to being a live Broadway theater again.

p.s. Cablevision is now spending millions on The Beacon to restore that beautiful palace, but since it won’t show movies, I guess it doesn’t interest you.

Please do not dare equate Radio City without movies with ground zero. It is highly insensitive and a riduculous comparison.

We still have one of the world’s greatest theaters ever erected and whether or not it shows movies the incredible architecture remains and is a joy to behold and experience. A joy that future generations will enjoy, no doubt.

For me, and I am sure for many others, what makes a movie palace a true palace is that the theater itself was a destination due to its architecture. That the theater contributed to the the overall theatergoing experience and that if the movie was a bomb, we would get pleasure just looking at the stars streaming across the ceiling or the gargoyles and tapestries on the side walls. Even without movies, these buildings are treasures and always will be.

Go down to ground zero, it is a virtually empty pit. You’ve done a disservice to Radio City and all theaters that have been saved from destruction but no longer show films.

Funny when I started coming to the city in the early 70’s just a few years after the time you are speaking about the big roadshow houses were already dead and Hollywood avoided them like the plague much to my sadness. The east side was exploding with films that people were getting excited about and causing long lines down the streets and I still think those films of the American new wave are lousy, pretentious and artsy fartsy. And what was wrong with vivid technicolor? Give me Hollywood and Todd AO or Super Panavision any day.
Now those east side theaters have also disappeared from the earth.
I can’t believe I am saying this but now I miss them as well!

Oh and I should say something about the Music Hall. I know people for some arcane reason get excited about the Christmas show but to me if there ain’t no movie playing there with the Rockettes it might as well be ground zero.

Sorry for this OT but something like the Blue Max opening at the Sutton on hard ticket sounds like somebody in booking the film for it’s first run engagement made a goof.
The Sutton screen was great for art films but in no way suitable for moveovers of big Hollywood films. This seems to have happened a few times. I remember a small wide screen.

“The Blue Max” played at the Victoria in early 1967 on a continuous showing run.

Well, it looks like the WaMu theater is going to be changed to JP Morgan Chase! WooHoo! WaMu is gone!

Although there were many private screenings at Radio City, “The Blue Max” opened commercially at the Sutton and “The Seven-per-cent Solution” at the Plaza.

Thanks Al, that’s the way I remember it.
The theatre in MSG most definatly opened while the movie house was still running. In addition it was, as Luis wrote,in Columbus Circle and not on the east side as I originaly suggested.