Fox Theatre

The Fox began preparing for widescreen films early in 1953 and photos show a portion of the 68 foot wide slightly curved screen in late May of that year, at a time when Twentieth-Century-Fox executives and others came to demonstrate the new CinemaScope format to theater owners. The proscenium of the Fox is 70 feet wide. On 02 October of that year “The Robe” began its run at the Fox as the first ‘scope film released, one year after the introduction of Cinerama to the public at the Broadway Theater in New York City. In the early 'scope years the Fox screened only films from its namesake Hollywood studios.

The new movie “Detroit” had its world premiere here July 25.

Undated photo added of Tom Poston & Tim Conway in front of the Fox. Courtesy of Gary Day.

Last night the Republican candidates for president debated at the Fox Theatre. Shown on Fox TV & elsewhere, the lit marquee & exterior, the grand lobby and the auditorium all looked glorious!

As a child I became interested in the new-fangled cinema photography as it was being presented: Cinerama, CinemaScope, etc. As my birthday gift in 1953 I visited the Fox to see the first film released in CinemaScope, “The Robe.” I know that the Fox just prior to showing this film was advertising its films as being on “the giant screen,” as other theaters downtown were doing. My questions: What were the dimensions of the old screen at the Fox? The dimensions of the ‘scope screen?

In neighborhood theaters, larger screens were installed, but masking was used to cover the upper part of the screens and to open on the sides in order to provide the aspect ratio for CinemaScope. In other words, ‘scope films actually used less square footage of the screen than did non-'scope films. I wonder whether the Fox also did this, although for years after every film shown at the Fox was in CinemaScope or its successor, Panavision.

Martin and Lewis on the set of “Money from Home” promote a May, 1953 engagement at the Fox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlkoUN6LVGw

By the way, that’s a massive 3 strip Technicolor 3-D camera rig on the set. MONEY was one of only two movies filmed with this particular camera.

For John Lauter – Did you create the CD you mentioned several years ago? I’d be very interested in buying a copy. Regards, Keith O.

Thanks Twistr54 for the fine photos.

Hey, I just found this again, sorry for the long lag—Thank you for your kind words re: my performance on “Prairie Home Companion”, it was a blast to be a part of, even if I didn’t get the gig until Friday morning! I work well under pressure, and Mr. Keillor, Rich Dworsky and the staff were wonderful to work for. To answer some questions, Bob Jensen, good info there, mostly accurate. It had been a habit to call those 4-36 organs either “Fox specials” or “Crawford specials” and it turns out that those terms are nomenclature that organ enthusiasts developed, the factory referred to them as “4-36 specials” The first one went to the Paramount theatre in NYC, they weren’t called “Paramount specials”. Crawford himself refuted the claim that he designed that model, he stated that it was designed by someone at the factory and that he simply asked for certain stops, which they obliged. I played that performance on PHC from the slave console, which is located in the balcony colonnade, a half a city block and 35 feet up from center stage, where the guy’s all-star shoe band was playing! thanks to a wireless headset feeding me the show mix, we were all together. The Detroit Fox Wurlitzer is remarkably unchanged and intact, not visited by “Midnight Organ supply” in the least. The Moller lobby organ gets used far more often than the Wurlitzer in the auditorium, we play that for a lot of shows. It is in great condition, thanks to roger Mumbrue and Dick Smith, the men who care for both organs. In terms of recordings made on the Detroit Fox Wurlitzer, There is the Reginald Foort 10" disc on the Cook label from 1952, Ed Gress on the Prescott(?-senior moment)label from 1957, Ray Shelley 1960 Columbia LP, Don Thompson’s Pipe organ presentations LP from the 1980s and Simon Gledhill’s CD from 1995.
I am contemplating making a CD there, possibly this summer.

The sound of the detroit fox wurlitzer is truly one of a kind!! Mr. John lauter are there
Any plans in the near future of a recording being made on this mighty wurlitzer?
As far as I know there are only 3 albums made on this wurlitzer & both are no
Longer for sale. I fill that only 3 albums being made over the past 80yrs on this outstanding
Installation is a real shame.

Best regards, rob allen

Some people have said the FOX Detroit and the FOX St Louis are twins. Not quite. The Detroit FOX is 500 seats (11%) larger, and while much of the architecture is similar, there are many differences; as befits the work of outstanding architects.

Where the FOX Detroit truly excels is in their $8 million restoration; making all the fine artwork and atmosphere look “like new” — bright and fresh. The FOX St Louis had only $2 million to spend on renovation, and $6 million makes a difference. So Detroit wins this one.

Small matter! Visiting either theater is an outstanding experience.

[incidently, the Atlanta FOX is an altogether different (but stunning) architecture.]

Nice shots of the Vertical looks much better with it.