And what a thrill to hear Mr. Carter play again. Thanks for posting this. This IS the sound of the silents. No one has ever done it better. How lucky we were to have been born in time to hear Mr. Carter play and accompany great films on so many occasions. He was the real deal – the genuine link to the sound of Hollywood’s fabulous movie palace era.
This is also a copyrighted image owned by Life Magazine. I’m not saying that it’s not nice to post these photos here. But copyrighted photos shouldn’t be represented as being in the public domain.
Right. I didn’t make my point clearly. I wasn’t suggesting that CBS’s Ed Sullivan bcast from the Center, just that he had his audience downstairs and close to the stage also.
Re Tinseltoes comment, kinescopes of “The Voice of Firestone” show a large audience on the main floor of the theater. Many seats may have been removed to accommodate the cameras and lights but there were many rows of folks seated downstairs. Likewise, remember skits in “Your Show of Shows” where the performers ran into the audience? Most memorably when they pulled Sid Caesar kicking and screaming out of his seat and pulled him onstage for “This Is Your Story” lol – hysterical!
Cheers.
I don’t have any proof regarding the architect of the Beacon except my eyes. It sure looks a lot more like Ahlschlager than it does Rapp and Rapp. If the Rapps created that design then it was amazingly atypical for them. My guess is that the design is Ahlschlager’s and the Rapp Bros. supervised whatever additional work that was needed to open the theatre. Why would Warners waste money completely gutting and rebuilding the interior of a new theatre, especially in late 1929? But we may never know for sure.
Two theories: The marble may have originally formed a border to a mostly carpeted floor. When the carpet was removed, terrazzo was either already underneath or installed in place of the carpet. Second theory: If the entire lobby floor really was marble (unlikely) it might have been replaced with terrazzo because marble is very slippery for a highly trafficked area. Don’t really know the theatre. Just guessing.
Cheers.
Of course the Roxy’s overhead with its stagehands, ushers, stage performers, orchestra, etc must have been staggeringly higher than the Empire. Still it was a very profitable theatre for most of its life except for a few years in the early 30s and the early 50s.
Just for fun, the Roxy Theatre’s annual attendance in its first year, 1927-28, was approximately 6.5 million people. It’s biggest single week was 176,000 (“What Price Glory?”). With a seating capacity of about 6000 (about 1000 more than the AMC Empire’s total) and about 5 shows per day, that gives a very rough estimate of an average 125,000 people a week, 17,800 per day and a staggering 3500 per show. Similar numbers persisted into the 1930s although profits dropped due to lower ticket prices. During WWII the numbers were probably even higher.
Too bad there are no interior photos of the 1920s Empire designed by Thomas Lamb to be found online. But photos can be found in a long-ago back issue of MARQUEE magazine. Here’s one of the exterior, which has been retained. It is identical to the 1926 Albee Theatre in Cincinnati, also by Lamb! The rest of the theatre bore no resemblance.
I agree with a lot that you’ve said regarding the more rigorous and formal designs of Lamb vs the stunning effects of the Rapps. In general I do find Lamb’s work more satisfying. But on the other hand, decorative detail aside, Rapp&Rapp could manipulate space and create vistas and unexpected little intersections in a way that is breathtaking and unforgettable.
I didn’t say I thought there was anything wrong with it, I’m surprised that AMC (of course, not Sony now) thinks it’s okay since Loews is a registered trade owned by them.
Another puzzling thing to me is the architectural styles of this and a few other late Loew’s movie palaces. This theatre while attributed to Rapp and Rapp has none of their hallmark grand sweeping features and large ornamental details. It looks very much like the work of Thomas Lamb’s firm. The lobby is remarkably similar to Lamb’s beautiful Keith Memorial Theatre in Boston, and comparisons to Lamb’s San Francisco Fox auditorium have been made before. Did the leading theatre designers sometimes share designers or even designs in the mad productive period of movie palace building in the late 20’s? Do any of you architecture scholars out there have a theory?
I’m puzzled by the fact that they still call this theatre the Loew’s Jersey, since “Loews”, as it is now known, has nothing to do with the theatre now. The Loews name is now owned by Sony after multiple mergers. I’m surprised that they don’t have problem with this non-Loews theatre still using the name. Just curious.
Dave, your archive is priceless treasure. Perhaps the Performing Arts Library of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center would be interested in housing and properly archiving your photos or if not, certainly the Theatre Historical Society might be interested, but I don’t know if they have the resources to preserve such a large collection.
The “restored” (actually completely rebuilt) theatre is really superb. Search the website of the Columbus Dispatch for articles with stunning photos of the theatre.
P.S.: Calling it the United Palace or whatever doesn’t make me sad at all, because incredibly this beautiful theater has survived and is in gorgeous condition. It would be only a memory today if the folks who call it the United Palace had not bought it and preserved it!
Cute!
And what a thrill to hear Mr. Carter play again. Thanks for posting this. This IS the sound of the silents. No one has ever done it better. How lucky we were to have been born in time to hear Mr. Carter play and accompany great films on so many occasions. He was the real deal – the genuine link to the sound of Hollywood’s fabulous movie palace era.
This is also a copyrighted image owned by Life Magazine. I’m not saying that it’s not nice to post these photos here. But copyrighted photos shouldn’t be represented as being in the public domain.
Public Domain? I think this under copyright by Life Magazine.
The Lincoln was included as a venue in CAPA’s Summer Movie Series one or two years. Were those movies digital presentations?
Right. I didn’t make my point clearly. I wasn’t suggesting that CBS’s Ed Sullivan bcast from the Center, just that he had his audience downstairs and close to the stage also.
Thanks!
Also – Ed Sullivan every night looked into the theatre and pointed out the celebrities in the audience. All seated downstairs, close to the stage.
Re Tinseltoes comment, kinescopes of “The Voice of Firestone” show a large audience on the main floor of the theater. Many seats may have been removed to accommodate the cameras and lights but there were many rows of folks seated downstairs. Likewise, remember skits in “Your Show of Shows” where the performers ran into the audience? Most memorably when they pulled Sid Caesar kicking and screaming out of his seat and pulled him onstage for “This Is Your Story” lol – hysterical! Cheers.
(How do you add a live link to a message?) Thanks.
I think this is what you were looking for:
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=roxy+source:life&imgurl=8e0a8046e1427293
There are more shots of this as well. Search Google images for “roxy+source:life” to find all of the Roxy photos in the online LIFE archive.
I don’t have any proof regarding the architect of the Beacon except my eyes. It sure looks a lot more like Ahlschlager than it does Rapp and Rapp. If the Rapps created that design then it was amazingly atypical for them. My guess is that the design is Ahlschlager’s and the Rapp Bros. supervised whatever additional work that was needed to open the theatre. Why would Warners waste money completely gutting and rebuilding the interior of a new theatre, especially in late 1929? But we may never know for sure.
Two theories: The marble may have originally formed a border to a mostly carpeted floor. When the carpet was removed, terrazzo was either already underneath or installed in place of the carpet. Second theory: If the entire lobby floor really was marble (unlikely) it might have been replaced with terrazzo because marble is very slippery for a highly trafficked area. Don’t really know the theatre. Just guessing.
Cheers.
Of course the Roxy’s overhead with its stagehands, ushers, stage performers, orchestra, etc must have been staggeringly higher than the Empire. Still it was a very profitable theatre for most of its life except for a few years in the early 30s and the early 50s.
Just for fun, the Roxy Theatre’s annual attendance in its first year, 1927-28, was approximately 6.5 million people. It’s biggest single week was 176,000 (“What Price Glory?”). With a seating capacity of about 6000 (about 1000 more than the AMC Empire’s total) and about 5 shows per day, that gives a very rough estimate of an average 125,000 people a week, 17,800 per day and a staggering 3500 per show. Similar numbers persisted into the 1930s although profits dropped due to lower ticket prices. During WWII the numbers were probably even higher.
Too bad there are no interior photos of the 1920s Empire designed by Thomas Lamb to be found online. But photos can be found in a long-ago back issue of MARQUEE magazine. Here’s one of the exterior, which has been retained. It is identical to the 1926 Albee Theatre in Cincinnati, also by Lamb! The rest of the theatre bore no resemblance.
View link
I agree with a lot that you’ve said regarding the more rigorous and formal designs of Lamb vs the stunning effects of the Rapps. In general I do find Lamb’s work more satisfying. But on the other hand, decorative detail aside, Rapp&Rapp could manipulate space and create vistas and unexpected little intersections in a way that is breathtaking and unforgettable.
Thanks for the comments, guys!
I didn’t say I thought there was anything wrong with it, I’m surprised that AMC (of course, not Sony now) thinks it’s okay since Loews is a registered trade owned by them.
One more comment: The Jersey’s French curve marquee looks like Lamb all the way. Thanks!
Another puzzling thing to me is the architectural styles of this and a few other late Loew’s movie palaces. This theatre while attributed to Rapp and Rapp has none of their hallmark grand sweeping features and large ornamental details. It looks very much like the work of Thomas Lamb’s firm. The lobby is remarkably similar to Lamb’s beautiful Keith Memorial Theatre in Boston, and comparisons to Lamb’s San Francisco Fox auditorium have been made before. Did the leading theatre designers sometimes share designers or even designs in the mad productive period of movie palace building in the late 20’s? Do any of you architecture scholars out there have a theory?
I’m puzzled by the fact that they still call this theatre the Loew’s Jersey, since “Loews”, as it is now known, has nothing to do with the theatre now. The Loews name is now owned by Sony after multiple mergers. I’m surprised that they don’t have problem with this non-Loews theatre still using the name. Just curious.
Dave, your archive is priceless treasure. Perhaps the Performing Arts Library of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center would be interested in housing and properly archiving your photos or if not, certainly the Theatre Historical Society might be interested, but I don’t know if they have the resources to preserve such a large collection.
The “restored” (actually completely rebuilt) theatre is really superb. Search the website of the Columbus Dispatch for articles with stunning photos of the theatre.
P.S.: Calling it the United Palace or whatever doesn’t make me sad at all, because incredibly this beautiful theater has survived and is in gorgeous condition. It would be only a memory today if the folks who call it the United Palace had not bought it and preserved it!