You can see what the lower level looked like on page 14 before it was turned into those horrible theaters Mike talked about. I was never in them. I don’t remember those chairs(which seem out of place) just setees along the edges
The Criterion started its roadshow career with the world premiere of The Ten Commandments followed by the world premiere of South Pacific and ended it with the World premiere of Patton. Not too shabby. After there were Tora… and N&A but they were such bombs I don’t count them. It held the second premiere of Lawrence after its opening in London with Lean’s complete film. It was after the Criterion opening Lean decided to cut it so I don’t know how long the theater showed the original cut. It might have been only a couple of days. It got great reviews in NY so Lean’s decision to cut it is baffling. It was going to be a long film no matter what.
And do you know that space in the lower level(you would not have called it a basement) had been when it was a single screen theater a large oval shaped Edwardian style lounge off of which were the ladies and men’s rooms. It was very elegant. There was a reason the Criterion held world or US premieres of some of the biggest films of the 50s and 60s. An enormously prestigious house. Ray Stark reserved it for the Funny Girl world premiere when the film started filming in ‘67. And Jack Warner chose it for the world premiere of My Fair Lady.
Thank you Cineast. I never saw before the marquee of Half a Sixpence at the Criterion and always wanted to. I was too young to have seen it there which for me would have been great. Next door was Dr Dolittle in Todd AO in the single screen Loews State and up Broadway you could see 2001 at the Capitol. Why couldn’t I have been there?
Unfortunately when I was old enough it was playing things like Mandingo. No thanks. At least I got to see the first Superman there after it moved over from the Astor Plaza. I brought a friend who had never been in there before and she loved the place. And just a few years before we had seen together Reeve on Broadway when he was a nobody in A Matter of Gravity.
A perfect Easter film. Lucky people seeing it on the large Music Hall screen and in stereo. I imagine that this this Easter week the lines were insanely long with even evening performances sold out and people who had waited for hours later in the day being shut out of the final stage show. I always wondered how well the 7:30 in the morning shows were attended.
Nice picture of Times Square in the late 50s/early 60s. Looks like it was taken from under the Astor Hotel’s awning. But can anybody tell what’s on the Loew’s State marquee?
At top Barrymore gets top billing but in credits Bartholomew comes first. I know Easter week(after Easter) was off for school students but the Joliet High School Band had to take off a week of school preceding Easter at least. It probably didn’t run another week. Shows back then had very short runs. A hit was two weeks, a blockbuster was three. The Music Hall had a regular audience that didn’t want to wait too long before seeing a new film.
I was joking. They just took an ad for general theaters after the film went wide. Though special prices was usually ‘Now at popular prices!’
Remember popular prices for all sorts of entertainments? It was often used. Now it is never used.
Well it’s good to know you didn’t have to reserve seats at this drive-in.
I guess as opposed to others. Not many Drive-ins showed films in Super Panavision 70.
I went to see it at a drive-in with my family in our station wagon that summer of ‘66. Children under 12 free.
I really miss the Glory of Easter pageant as done during the movie/stage show era. It was done later during a spring stage show only. But they must have lost the original lighting charts because it was not as beautifully lit. Also there were no religious statues along the choral stairs. Now the sets must be long gone along with those of Leonidoff’s Nativity. Anyway during the 70s the secular part of the seasonal show got pretty amateurish and cheap.
Marc Platt eventually became director of the ballet at the Music Hall. He was the original Dream Curly in Oklahoma on stage.
In this film he does a Jack Cole choreographed dance to a Hitler speech.
Seeing a movie here if you were halfway back in the orchestra or in the mezz or balc must have been like watching TV albeit in the most luxurious of environments like most palaces over 3,000 seats.
This is a very wide theater so I’m surprised it showed hit movies. It’s too wide even for stage productions. Unless of course you’re not on the side. It’s where I saw the original production of Ain’t
Misbehavin after it moved from off Broadway. I was to see it many more times at the Plymouth when it was revived with the original cast. I think it is no longer considered politically correct. But that’s because today people find everything incomprehensively politically incorrect.
You’re welcome. Sadly Loew’s State 1 was never to show another roadshow movie and after PYW neither did Loew’s State 2. It was the end of the roadshow era. There were a few more sporadic films like Song of Norway, Fiddler, and Nicholas and Alexandra even bewilderingly Man of La Mancha but as a form of exhibition it was dead. Except for Fiddler they were very brief runs.
Oliver! was no longer roadshow. It had already ended its roadshow run and gone wide. I saw it in the suburbs at this time. Paint Your Wagon was the Paramount roadshow at Loew’s State 2.
The Cine-Teatro Aguia was opened in the 1950’s. It was the largest cinema in the town of Quelimane. It was destroyed by fire in the 1980’s.
When you list a theater like this could you tell us where it is exactly? The above info needs to be more specific. What country and what continent. MZ? Mozambique? There is a lot of this with foreign theaters. You have no idea about these theaters of different countries and continents.
Lucky you! How lucky that you were able to see those films in those theaters. I remember passing them with my parents but my parents would never pay roadshow prices for a movie. I was too young to go on my own and certainly did not have the money. Loew’s State was twinned in ‘68. I wish I could have seen it as a single screen theater.
Clear Day was a perfect Music Hall movie and should have played there.
Looks like the kind of film that would have opened at the Astor or Victoria and one of the less prestigious east side houses. But the film to follow was pretty bad. That one I did see.
I saw the June in January finale with Promise at Dawn.
You can see what the lower level looked like on page 14 before it was turned into those horrible theaters Mike talked about. I was never in them. I don’t remember those chairs(which seem out of place) just setees along the edges
The Criterion started its roadshow career with the world premiere of The Ten Commandments followed by the world premiere of South Pacific and ended it with the World premiere of Patton. Not too shabby. After there were Tora… and N&A but they were such bombs I don’t count them. It held the second premiere of Lawrence after its opening in London with Lean’s complete film. It was after the Criterion opening Lean decided to cut it so I don’t know how long the theater showed the original cut. It might have been only a couple of days. It got great reviews in NY so Lean’s decision to cut it is baffling. It was going to be a long film no matter what.
And do you know that space in the lower level(you would not have called it a basement) had been when it was a single screen theater a large oval shaped Edwardian style lounge off of which were the ladies and men’s rooms. It was very elegant. There was a reason the Criterion held world or US premieres of some of the biggest films of the 50s and 60s. An enormously prestigious house. Ray Stark reserved it for the Funny Girl world premiere when the film started filming in ‘67. And Jack Warner chose it for the world premiere of My Fair Lady.
Thank you Cineast. I never saw before the marquee of Half a Sixpence at the Criterion and always wanted to. I was too young to have seen it there which for me would have been great. Next door was Dr Dolittle in Todd AO in the single screen Loews State and up Broadway you could see 2001 at the Capitol. Why couldn’t I have been there?
Unfortunately when I was old enough it was playing things like Mandingo. No thanks. At least I got to see the first Superman there after it moved over from the Astor Plaza. I brought a friend who had never been in there before and she loved the place. And just a few years before we had seen together Reeve on Broadway when he was a nobody in A Matter of Gravity.
A perfect Easter film. Lucky people seeing it on the large Music Hall screen and in stereo. I imagine that this this Easter week the lines were insanely long with even evening performances sold out and people who had waited for hours later in the day being shut out of the final stage show. I always wondered how well the 7:30 in the morning shows were attended.
Nice picture of Times Square in the late 50s/early 60s. Looks like it was taken from under the Astor Hotel’s awning. But can anybody tell what’s on the Loew’s State marquee?
At top Barrymore gets top billing but in credits Bartholomew comes first. I know Easter week(after Easter) was off for school students but the Joliet High School Band had to take off a week of school preceding Easter at least. It probably didn’t run another week. Shows back then had very short runs. A hit was two weeks, a blockbuster was three. The Music Hall had a regular audience that didn’t want to wait too long before seeing a new film.
Concerning the dbellis54 picture from'22
Anybody know what year this picture was taken? Theater looks somewhat dingy and there are speakers above the box entrances. The 50s? 60s?
I was joking. They just took an ad for general theaters after the film went wide. Though special prices was usually ‘Now at popular prices!’ Remember popular prices for all sorts of entertainments? It was often used. Now it is never used.
Well it’s good to know you didn’t have to reserve seats at this drive-in. I guess as opposed to others. Not many Drive-ins showed films in Super Panavision 70.
I went to see it at a drive-in with my family in our station wagon that summer of ‘66. Children under 12 free.
This is the Harvey? It was totally redone? It looks like BAM.
I really miss the Glory of Easter pageant as done during the movie/stage show era. It was done later during a spring stage show only. But they must have lost the original lighting charts because it was not as beautifully lit. Also there were no religious statues along the choral stairs. Now the sets must be long gone along with those of Leonidoff’s Nativity. Anyway during the 70s the secular part of the seasonal show got pretty amateurish and cheap.
Beautiful.
Marc Platt eventually became director of the ballet at the Music Hall. He was the original Dream Curly in Oklahoma on stage. In this film he does a Jack Cole choreographed dance to a Hitler speech.
Seeing a movie here if you were halfway back in the orchestra or in the mezz or balc must have been like watching TV albeit in the most luxurious of environments like most palaces over 3,000 seats.
The Bobo and this are when the Music Hall started getting films from hunger.
This is a very wide theater so I’m surprised it showed hit movies. It’s too wide even for stage productions. Unless of course you’re not on the side. It’s where I saw the original production of Ain’t Misbehavin after it moved from off Broadway. I was to see it many more times at the Plymouth when it was revived with the original cast. I think it is no longer considered politically correct. But that’s because today people find everything incomprehensively politically incorrect.
Shouldn’t these people be at work? They must have called in sick. Like I would have. The weekend lines for this film must have been a nightmare.
You’re welcome. Sadly Loew’s State 1 was never to show another roadshow movie and after PYW neither did Loew’s State 2. It was the end of the roadshow era. There were a few more sporadic films like Song of Norway, Fiddler, and Nicholas and Alexandra even bewilderingly Man of La Mancha but as a form of exhibition it was dead. Except for Fiddler they were very brief runs.
Oliver! was no longer roadshow. It had already ended its roadshow run and gone wide. I saw it in the suburbs at this time. Paint Your Wagon was the Paramount roadshow at Loew’s State 2.
Mr Roe can you be more specific about where these theaters are? Martyrs Avenue, Asmara is pretty meaningless to us unless you expect us to google it.
The Cine-Teatro Aguia was opened in the 1950’s. It was the largest cinema in the town of Quelimane. It was destroyed by fire in the 1980’s.
When you list a theater like this could you tell us where it is exactly? The above info needs to be more specific. What country and what continent. MZ? Mozambique? There is a lot of this with foreign theaters. You have no idea about these theaters of different countries and continents.
Lucky you! How lucky that you were able to see those films in those theaters. I remember passing them with my parents but my parents would never pay roadshow prices for a movie. I was too young to go on my own and certainly did not have the money. Loew’s State was twinned in ‘68. I wish I could have seen it as a single screen theater. Clear Day was a perfect Music Hall movie and should have played there.
I wonder if this included the Sunflower segment or if it was cut by then. It certainly was in no print from the 70s on.
Paramount changed its policy on R&J. Frank told Paramount no to a roadshow run and it was done continuous performances at the Paris.
Looks like the kind of film that would have opened at the Astor or Victoria and one of the less prestigious east side houses. But the film to follow was pretty bad. That one I did see. I saw the June in January finale with Promise at Dawn.