Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,401 - 2,425 of 4,511 comments
The Ziegfeld is usually pretty good about the curtains being closed when there’s an overture. “2001”, “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago” were all done right during the Classics series in 2006. There were a couple of no-curtain blank-screen shows in that time too, unfortunately, but maybe that guy won’t be working on the “Porgy and Bess” nights.
I understand why they wouldn’t allow for more than a few shows, but I wish there was a Saturday afternoon show. There are no trains back from New York to Philadelphia on weekday evenings, so I can’t attend.
Perhaps a moviegoer well versed on traditional Roadshow presentation can ask the Ziegfeld staff to keep the curtain closed, …..for the music until the picture starts.
This is the last known 35mm Technicolor print of the Roadshow version, and the Archive providing it would not allow more than a few shows. In order to secure this booking, the Ziegfeld had to get their second projector running. The Archive would not allow it to be run on a platter.
In addition, the print has 4 channel magnetic stereo tracks as well as the standard mono optical. However, I was told the technicians weren’t sure they could get the magnetic equipment working again. It hasn’t been used in MANY years.
We’ll know for sure on Wednesday, and let’s hope the Overture doesn’t play on a blank screen…
With Porgy & Bess unseen all these years I’m suprised it’s not playing for a few weeks?
Thanks for clearing that up, Al. I saw it on the ABC Sunday Night Movie so it must’ve been back in 1967. Also, we finally had a color TV by 1974 and I definitely remember seeing it in black and white. Really looking forward to Wednesday night’s show.
Thanks, Al. I think 1974 coincides pretty well with my memories. I’d have just turned 9 years of age and had been back in NYC by then (in ‘72 I lived in Miami and my viewing of the movie was definitely with extended family so must have been in NY).
According to the New York Times, PORGY & BESS aired on March 3, 1974 on channel 11 and on November 7, 1972 at 8:00pm, same channel.
What’s planned for the theater’s 40th anniversary? 2009 seems two years away, and that’s when the new Avatar movie from James Cameron opens…I would love to see it in digital 3d at the theater. Too bad Avatar comes out in summer of 09 and not xmas. 2009 also is the year when fewer movies will be released if there is a possible Hollywood strike, thus crippling the box office for the first time in four years if that happens.
I’m not sure that Wikipedia is accurate, Bill. In 1967 I’d have been 2 years old – perhaps going on 3 depending on the time of year. I definitely remember watching this movie with family members around and I was maybe around 7 or 8 years old. Perhaps there was only the one network showing and I’m recalling a subsequent showing on a local channel? In any event, it was certainly closer to 1974 then 1967 for me – and it was definitely on broadcast television.
To Ed Solero: If Wikipedia can be trusted, we saw “Porgy and Bess” on TV much earlier than we thought:
“The Gershwin estate was disappointed with the film, as the score was edited to make it more like a musical. Much of the music was omitted from the film, and many of Gershwin’s orchestrations were either changed or completely scrapped. It was shown on network television in the U.S. only once, in 1967. It was pulled from release in 1974, and prints can now only be seen in film archives or on bootleg videos.”
1967 sounds about right, come to think of it. When I see it on Wednesday, it’ll be the first time in 40 years.
Very scary Jeff, especially watching it at the Ziegfeld, where they will run the overture in the dark, with the curtains open, as we stare at a white sheet (screen).
“The film to be shown is an original road show print, with overture, intermission music and exit music. It is the only known complete print of the film in the United States.”
Pete, scary, isn’t it?
Thanks for the update, Howard. That’s the same 35mm IB Technicolor print that played in NYC a few years ago. I sure hope the Ziegfeld has invested in getting their two projector setup running and is not subjecting this one of a kind print to the platter.
I telephoned the Ziegfeld. Daytime shows of Porgy and Bess cancelled. Only 8 PM on Wed & Thursday.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/111222.html
By Kenneth Jones
20 Sep 2007
The 1959 Hollywood movie “Porgy and Bess” will get a rare big-screen engagement Sept. 26-27, marking the first time in nearly 50 years that the “road show” print of the Gershwin musical has appeared in a movie house.
The 8 PM special screenings â€" open to the public â€" at Clearview Cinemas' Ziegfeld Theatre in Manhattan will be followed by a discussion on the film and its director, presented by film professor and author Foster Hirsch. The picture’s director, Otto Preminger, is the subject of a new Hirsch-penned book, “Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would be King,” due out from Knopf Oct. 21.
“Porgy and Bess,” drawn from the 1935 stage musical (sometimes billed as a folk opera) by George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, earned four rather low-profile Academy Award nominations. André Previn and Ken Darby won Oscars for their efforts in the category of Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. It won a 1960 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical.
“The screening of ‘Porgy and Bess’ at the Ziegfeld Theatre is a unique opportunity to see a great ‘lost’ film in one of New York’s great theatres…,” Hirsch said in a statement. “The film to be shown is an original road show print, with overture, intermission music and exit music. It is the only known complete print of the film in the United States.”
The picture is based on the musical by George Gershwin, from the novel “Porgy” by DuBose Heyward and the play Porgy by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward. The film was produced by Samuel Goldwyn.
The cast includes Sidney Poitier as Porgy, Dorothy Dandridge as Bess and Sammy Davis, Jr. as Sportin' Life.
First released in 1959, “Porgy and Bess” is “set among the African-American residents of a fishing village called Catfish Row in 1912 South Carolina,” according to screening notes. “Bess — a woman with a disreputable history â€" tries to break free from her brutish lover Crown after he becomes wanted for murder. The only person willing to overlook her past and offer her shelter is the crippled Porgy. Their relationship is threatened by the disapproval of the townspeople, the presence of her old drug supplier Sportin' Life, and the threatened return of Crown."
Tickets are on sale now at the Ziegfeld Theatre box office at 141 West 54th Street in New York City and online at www.clearviewcinemas.com
The print of “Porgy and Bess” comes courtesy of Ken Kramer’s The Clip Joint for Film in Burbank, CA.
Foster Hirsch, a film professor at Brooklyn College, is the author of 16 books on film and theatre, including “The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir,” “A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio” and “Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway.”
More information about Hirsch’s book can be found at www.aaknopf.com
A lot of sales fanfare within the industry for 4K, but not outside because the audience can’t tell the any difference.
Well yeah, just because Spiderman was only playing 4K in a couple places doesn’t mean 4K isn’t installed elsewhere… like you, I was convinced that Sony would have made some noise about installing 4K, but after asking around (and some posts on other forums, I learned that 4K is already in plenty of theatres. One chain bought a bunch of them about a year ago. How good could it be if there wasn’t any fanfare or big reaction?
I have also learned it costs an awful lot of money just to have a movie downloaded onto a theatre’s server. Studios only entrust their files to certain 3rd party tech companies who charge a bundle to download, then erase the film. So much that it’s prohibitive for a smaller cinema to book say, MGM classics in digital unless they have pre-sold a full house for several screenings.
Thanks for the info, Roadshow; I re-checked my info (email) and I was told (as of May 22) Spider-Man 3 was playing in 4k only in London & Tokyo. Maybe the 4K installs had/were projecting uprezzed 2k. Well, alot can happen in a couple months. It is surprising Sony isn’t really publicizing it.
At the 42nd street theaters, with the booths way up high, the screens were tilted back a bit so the light was disbursed more evenly. It was a strange sight to sit in the balcony and see the screen at such an angle, but I guess they knew what they were doing.
Sub-Woofers:
The Ziegfeld’s original sound system was capable of similar or better sub-bass rumbling as Sensurround. When CLOSE ENCOUNTERS had its world premiere engagament there in 77, the scene where Richard Dreyfuss' truck shakes up and reverses gravity was accompanied by a thundering roar that I vividly remember as being better than the repetitive rumple pattern effect in EARTHQUAKE. When it stopped, the surprised audience roared in appreciation. There were no big subwoffer boxes anywhere, in fact no speakers were visible in the auditorium at all. Speakers can be very effectively heard without being seen.
Stadium Seating:
Cellboy is right about stadium seating being overrated and introducing its own set of problems by placing the projector at such a sharp angle that it keystones the picture.
Some of the finer older theatres were built with a steep slope to the floor staggered seats so that your sightline was above and between the heads of the people in front of you. This still allowed for the placement of the projector to throw straight to the center of the screen, resulting in a bright undistorted picture.
Building codes now prevent floor angles steeper than a couple inches per yard. Builders have resorted to steps and stadium style risers, but like any “new” and popular feature, many builders try to “show off” – making the risers higher than they need to be, requiring a severe projection angle. Picture quality suffers as a result. One cinema where the risers are not unnecessarily high is the Winnteka complex in Chatsworth, CA. You have absolutely clear sightlines without feeling like you’re sitting on the side of a mountain.
A severe projector throw angle isn’t necessariy shorter (draw a rectangle with a diagonal line from top corner to bottom – it is longer than a straight line). The sharp angle produces geometric distortion because the bottom of the screen is farther away from the projector than the top of the screen, meaning the picture will be spread out wider and less bright toward the bottom. Masking can hide the keystoned picture shape, but the picture does suffer.
I have a 1966 issue of Boxoffice magazine with an article about the new (back then) Arvada Plaza Theatre near Denver, with what was considered an innovative auditorium design: steep incline, staggered seats, projection level with the center of the screen. Sad that the same logical setup wasn’t considered by more exhibitors. Despite falling all over themselves to install the latest sound systems, they haven’t given as much thought to the picture.
As with most non-stadium seating, you could always improve the orchestra level sightlines at the Ziegfeld by pushing the rows farther apart and staggering the seats, (if they aren’t staggered already). Lowers capacity but improves sightlines. Not exactly a Sophie’s Choice for the money men.
4K Digital:
I was surprised to learn a few months ago that Sony’s 4K digital projectors have been running in a quite a few U.S. theatres for some time now without much fanfare. One of them is at the new Landmark plex in West LA. Haven’t seen one in action yet.
I think they should raise the roof and install a proper balcony. Now, THAT would be a showplace.
I’ve gotta say that I’ve never thought much of stadium seating. i never liked the way alot of the theaters keystoned the image due to the auditoriums short throw. Or maybe thats just the stadiums I’ve been to.
I prefer old theaters with projection done right.
I would think the Ziegfeld would lose seats with modern stadium seating.
I’ve never thought stadium really increases the amount of good seats that much. To me, there always only a few good seats that have the sweet spot.
The Ziegfeld has stadium seating for the back half. The rest of the seating is the normal preferred orchestral rake.
Currently, Clearview owns a majority of several top-grossing theaters that show digital projection on just one screen, which started with “Meet the Robinsons” in 3-D. It was so successful, that Clearview decided to keep the DLP projectors for future releases. I hope Clearview installs more digital projectors in its other theaters, such as the Allwood, Washington Twsp., Wayne, Tenafly, Mansfield, Chester, and Montclair (Clairidge). These theaters still do money but need to profit as much as the top theater in the chain, this theater. In the future, will the Ziegfeld have stadium seating? That would make watching a movie better.
It was my impression that the only installed 4k projector in use right now is in Japan for Spider-Man 3. I think it will still be a while before 4k & its storage requirements becomes attainable for chains like Clearview. I would think BladeRunner is a DCI 2k presentaton.