>>>>>>>>>>
Tom, if they had 3600 people on 44th street, the entire street would have been jam-packed. But, the crowd outside the windows only went from 7th Avenue to a few hundred feet past the theater.
>>>>>>>>>>
……………………………………..
It was indeed jam-packed, Bob. And the crowd spilled over from 44th Street onto Broadway. I’m not saying that the numbers are as high as Jerry’s estimate of 20,000 people, or even that every single person in the theater filed out onto 44th street. But I will say your numbers are low. When I get the Caddy screenshots developed I’ll post the pics. Even Conan O'Brien, commenting on the footage during his interview with Lewis last week, said: “It looked like Mussolini was giving a speech. The whole midtown was packed with thousands of kids.”
The only thing I would disagree with that statement is it wasn’t just kids. There were people of all ages, many of them older – most likely Times Square pedestrian traffic.
……………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
In the outtakes of the footage, Dean and Jerry are shown at the table in that room signing the pictures and then walking to the window to throw them out. It was a very plain room with a table and an empty mirror. I’ve seen photos of their dressing rooms, and the mirrors were usually covered with family photos and telegrams. I can’t state for an absolute fact that it isn’t one of their dressing rooms, but I don’t think it is based on the photographic evidence. >>>>>>>>>>
…………………………………………..
It seems you are basing this on information from Paramount outtake footage vs. separate dressing room photos. One doesn’t necessarily have to correspond with the other. And there could be a myriad of explanations for such a discrepancy.
…………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
I feel they may have moved down a few floors to throw out the pictures so they would be closer to the ground.
>>>>>>>>>>
…………………………………………..
All available quotes and logistics suggest otherwise. There is no evidence showing that they had to move to a lower floor.
…………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
Several years ago, I went searching in the building to try and find that window. But, the interior space was converted to offices and I didn’t feel comfortable poking around. I believe the guts of the building were totally ripped out when the theater was demolished anyway, so nothing would remain of the dressing rooms.
>>>>>>>>>>
………………………………………
I’ve done the same thing just a couple weeks ago. Went up to the sixth floor and estimated where I suspect the window would have been compared to the office space. Just as I reached what I believed to be the appropriate door, someone walked into the office and I was able to see the space.
It’s old. Very old (one might call it “a very plain room”). If it has been renovated I’d guess the renovations were minor. Either way, the window-well remains. And I’ll wager that the office space I saw was very likely Martin & Lewis' dressing room from 1951.
You mentioned that the window M&L were hanging out of wasn’t their dressing room, but all the historical information I’ve seen shows that it was. How did you come to that conclusion?
Also, I think you lowballed the crowd number on 44th street.
There’s clearly a few thousand people in that newsreel footage. And Lewis said recently the only way they could empty the theater for the next shows was to tell the audience they were giving out photos at their dressing room window.
Capacity at the Paramount Theater was 3664. That number looks a lot closer to what was in the street that day. And this tactic of performing from their window wasn’t done just once, but spanned their two week engagement. All things considered, that’s way more people than “750-1000.”
But my real question is how you came to believe that the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room.
I’m trying to document history over here and not chase windmills, so your insights would be valuable.
Thanks.
Very interesting Bob. I would love to get a hold of this footage.
I went to the Paramount Theater on Friday to check out the scene.
Everything looks different of course, but those windows are still there.
How do you know the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room? I don’t think that’s true. Every quote I’ve ever seen has stated that it WAS their dressing room. And since they spent so much time hanging out that window between performances, it would make sense – especially when taking into account that after one of their shows Jerry Lewis literally said “The next show will be done from Dean’s and my dressing room window.”
Also this recent Lewis quote pretty much confirms that it was their dressing room:
“Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd. The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows.”
I’ve also got quotes of them throwing down their wardrobe to the crowd, so common sense would dictate they were indeed in their own dressing room.
I reviewed The Caddy the other day where newsreel footage is spliced into the film and just as the camera pans up to their window it cuts to the studio-filmed scene of M&L. But just before it cuts off, you can barely make out M&L in the window (had to pause the VCR to be sure). The window they are in is the first level above the cement architecture and it is the first window level to be surrounded by brickface. When you are at the building in person, you can clearly see that level is indeed the sixth floor. I’m pretty positive about this. The only thing I’m not sure of is which window along the sixth floor was actually the one they were in.
I’d also like to pinpoint this window so I can confirm where their dressing room actually was (If I could ask Jerry Lewis one question, this would probably be it).
I took photographs of the window area and later that day when I got home I cued up the scenes in The Caddy on my television and literally took photographs of the TV screen. When I get all of these pictures developed I will compare and contrast and hopefully identify the window precisely.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for about 25 years. I’m finally getting around to it and hopefully when I’m done with this little project it will be confirmed where Martin & Lewis' dressing room window indeed was. Perhaps when all is said and done I’ll put up a web page with all the photographic information available to anyone interested in the historical documentation of this event at the Paramount Theater in 1951.
Any help you can offer would be most appreciated, Bob.
Thanks very much.
TP
Here’s a related article on the Martin & Lewis chaos at the Paramount:
We Had That ‘X’ Factor
Published: October 23, 2005 View link
<snip> By 1951, five years after we began, fans still could not get enough. We played the Paramount Theater on Broadway for the first time that summer. (The same Paramount where fans had fainted for Frank Sinatra in the ’40s.) Arriving for our first show, our cab was stopped by a huge mob of fans filling Times Square, waiting to get into the theater. Most of them, we later learned, had been there since 6 a.m.
Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd.
The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows. His cops couldn’t handle the traffic!<snip>
Just found this site.
I’m on a mission and I’m hoping someone here can help.
I’m trying to locate the exact window that Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were hanging out of in the 1951 newsreel footage that was included in The Caddy (1953).
I believe the window is on 44th Street, sixth floor level, but beyond that I’m not sure.
I plan on photographing the window and surrounding area for historical purposes.
Any insights would be much appreciated.
Perhaps Mr. Furmanek would know?
TIA
>>>>>>>>>>
Tom, if they had 3600 people on 44th street, the entire street would have been jam-packed. But, the crowd outside the windows only went from 7th Avenue to a few hundred feet past the theater.
>>>>>>>>>>
……………………………………..
It was indeed jam-packed, Bob. And the crowd spilled over from 44th Street onto Broadway. I’m not saying that the numbers are as high as Jerry’s estimate of 20,000 people, or even that every single person in the theater filed out onto 44th street. But I will say your numbers are low. When I get the Caddy screenshots developed I’ll post the pics. Even Conan O'Brien, commenting on the footage during his interview with Lewis last week, said: “It looked like Mussolini was giving a speech. The whole midtown was packed with thousands of kids.”
The only thing I would disagree with that statement is it wasn’t just kids. There were people of all ages, many of them older – most likely Times Square pedestrian traffic.
……………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
In the outtakes of the footage, Dean and Jerry are shown at the table in that room signing the pictures and then walking to the window to throw them out. It was a very plain room with a table and an empty mirror. I’ve seen photos of their dressing rooms, and the mirrors were usually covered with family photos and telegrams. I can’t state for an absolute fact that it isn’t one of their dressing rooms, but I don’t think it is based on the photographic evidence. >>>>>>>>>>
…………………………………………..
It seems you are basing this on information from Paramount outtake footage vs. separate dressing room photos. One doesn’t necessarily have to correspond with the other. And there could be a myriad of explanations for such a discrepancy.
…………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
I feel they may have moved down a few floors to throw out the pictures so they would be closer to the ground.
>>>>>>>>>>
…………………………………………..
All available quotes and logistics suggest otherwise. There is no evidence showing that they had to move to a lower floor.
…………………………………………..
>>>>>>>>>>
Several years ago, I went searching in the building to try and find that window. But, the interior space was converted to offices and I didn’t feel comfortable poking around. I believe the guts of the building were totally ripped out when the theater was demolished anyway, so nothing would remain of the dressing rooms.
>>>>>>>>>>
………………………………………
I’ve done the same thing just a couple weeks ago. Went up to the sixth floor and estimated where I suspect the window would have been compared to the office space. Just as I reached what I believed to be the appropriate door, someone walked into the office and I was able to see the space.
It’s old. Very old (one might call it “a very plain room”). If it has been renovated I’d guess the renovations were minor. Either way, the window-well remains. And I’ll wager that the office space I saw was very likely Martin & Lewis' dressing room from 1951.
Now I’m just searching for confirmation.
Bob,
You mentioned that the window M&L were hanging out of wasn’t their dressing room, but all the historical information I’ve seen shows that it was. How did you come to that conclusion?
Also, I think you lowballed the crowd number on 44th street.
There’s clearly a few thousand people in that newsreel footage. And Lewis said recently the only way they could empty the theater for the next shows was to tell the audience they were giving out photos at their dressing room window.
Capacity at the Paramount Theater was 3664. That number looks a lot closer to what was in the street that day. And this tactic of performing from their window wasn’t done just once, but spanned their two week engagement. All things considered, that’s way more people than “750-1000.”
But my real question is how you came to believe that the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room.
I’m trying to document history over here and not chase windmills, so your insights would be valuable.
Thanks.
Very interesting Bob. I would love to get a hold of this footage.
I went to the Paramount Theater on Friday to check out the scene.
Everything looks different of course, but those windows are still there.
How do you know the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room? I don’t think that’s true. Every quote I’ve ever seen has stated that it WAS their dressing room. And since they spent so much time hanging out that window between performances, it would make sense – especially when taking into account that after one of their shows Jerry Lewis literally said “The next show will be done from Dean’s and my dressing room window.”
Also this recent Lewis quote pretty much confirms that it was their dressing room:
“Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd. The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows.”
I’ve also got quotes of them throwing down their wardrobe to the crowd, so common sense would dictate they were indeed in their own dressing room.
I reviewed The Caddy the other day where newsreel footage is spliced into the film and just as the camera pans up to their window it cuts to the studio-filmed scene of M&L. But just before it cuts off, you can barely make out M&L in the window (had to pause the VCR to be sure). The window they are in is the first level above the cement architecture and it is the first window level to be surrounded by brickface. When you are at the building in person, you can clearly see that level is indeed the sixth floor. I’m pretty positive about this. The only thing I’m not sure of is which window along the sixth floor was actually the one they were in.
I’d also like to pinpoint this window so I can confirm where their dressing room actually was (If I could ask Jerry Lewis one question, this would probably be it).
I took photographs of the window area and later that day when I got home I cued up the scenes in The Caddy on my television and literally took photographs of the TV screen. When I get all of these pictures developed I will compare and contrast and hopefully identify the window precisely.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for about 25 years. I’m finally getting around to it and hopefully when I’m done with this little project it will be confirmed where Martin & Lewis' dressing room window indeed was. Perhaps when all is said and done I’ll put up a web page with all the photographic information available to anyone interested in the historical documentation of this event at the Paramount Theater in 1951.
Any help you can offer would be most appreciated, Bob.
Thanks very much.
TP
Here’s a related article on the Martin & Lewis chaos at the Paramount:
We Had That ‘X’ Factor
Published: October 23, 2005
View link
<snip> By 1951, five years after we began, fans still could not get enough. We played the Paramount Theater on Broadway for the first time that summer. (The same Paramount where fans had fainted for Frank Sinatra in the ’40s.) Arriving for our first show, our cab was stopped by a huge mob of fans filling Times Square, waiting to get into the theater. Most of them, we later learned, had been there since 6 a.m.
Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd.
The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows. His cops couldn’t handle the traffic!<snip>
View link
Hello folks,
Just found this site.
I’m on a mission and I’m hoping someone here can help.
I’m trying to locate the exact window that Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were hanging out of in the 1951 newsreel footage that was included in The Caddy (1953).
I believe the window is on 44th Street, sixth floor level, but beyond that I’m not sure.
I plan on photographing the window and surrounding area for historical purposes.
Any insights would be much appreciated.
Perhaps Mr. Furmanek would know?
TIA