I didn’t think of it but you’re right. Odd for the time. But I was surprised that the front of the marquee for WSS at the Rivoli did not have the film’s artwork but the regular frozen plastic. Also Nich and Alex at the Criterion which disappointed me. My Fair Lady when it was revived at the theater in ‘71 nicely had the films artwork which was good to see though not as elaborate as in '64.
Who did this restoration? Was it Harris? If not what did he think of it if he made any comment? Also considering size the Museum’s screen wasn’t the image small?
So how many shows per day? Seven days? How many weeks? How many songs did Garland sing in a show? I’m sure Rooney was climbing the proscenium at every one of them.
Well you did get to see it at the Capitol. There are very few people who can say that. One of a very fortunate few. I bet it was the best presentation ever of this film.
A rising curtain doesn’t seem to make much sense to me in the case of Cinerama. But he was there I wasn’t. And I’m quite surprised they would show it at that time with curtains not working. It would remove all element of surprise as to the screen size.
Also I saw Napoleon at the Music Hall during its first run not the second. I distinctly remember the curtain being used. If it wasn’t I would have been appalled and remember it. But then maybe I’m having a senior moment(ugh, I can’t believe I’ve reached an age where I can say that.)
Yes I do remember the lights but I did not mention them and perhaps Canby did not as well because it was so poorly and weakly executed(I had no idea they were meant to simulate curtains) that it made no difference. To me it was still a bare screen. From what I’ve read the curtains and borders truly made a difference. In fact the use of them at the beginning of This is Cinerama was so effective it knocked audiences for a loop. I wonder if the Vistavision screen at the Paramount was larger than that of the Music Hall which of course always used curtains no matter what. Also wasn’t it slightly curved compared to the Hall’s flat screen?
It was an old Cinerama print simply transferred to 70mm so shown with a single lens on a bare screen with no curtains and therefore no showmanship whatsoever. Vincent Canby wrote a piece on it at the time so if you have access to the Times' archive you might want to read it.
Terrible terrible terrible. Even if the movie wasn’t good like some bad artsy French film it was always a pleasure coming here. Still remember those long weekend lines from decades ago. One of the last remaining signs that New York was once a great city.
Ok. I just mentioned that the news was very sad assuming that people on CT knew that I was referring to Fonda and putting it on this page because he was due to speak here in a highly publicized event in a month. Even at 79 he seemed healthy and planning public events.
This is strange. I made a serious comment about the sadness of Fonda’s death. Especially because he was set to make an appearance here. Somebody commented as if I were making a joke(I can like a man even if I don’t like a film he made) and both our comments were removed. Who in the world did this and why?
I guess any of us who have any affection for HD should meet here Dec 16th to salute its 50th anniversary. Anybody see it here? Closest I got was driving down Broadway with my family at Christmas and seeing the marquee. Also seeing the large billboard on the back of the theater walking up 7th Av to turn down 50th to see Airport at the Music Hall.
MayfairMike do you have anymore pictures of Asbury Park during the end of its hey in the 60s? Anymore outside and inside the St James and Paramount as well? The boardwalk?
Yes but Cinema Treasures has a long history of people congregating on one page discussing many things unrelated to that specific theater. Maybe Wally is a newbie.
Yes but it was filmed in ‘68. Merrick being the little devil he was decided to have some fun with 20th Century Fox and gave all the executives there heart attacks(figuratively speaking) because he was David Merrick and he could.
Lockin’s death was a terrible tragedy and I think the man who did it was given practically no time at all.
Yes the Hudson as a backdrop is magnificent. Though in the opening credits you see cars on the NY thruway which is kind of funny or is it the Palisades parkway?
How they got that wide expansive final shot with the church over looking the river with no 1968 intrusions I’ll never know.
With Six You Get Eggroll is the racist title. Of course I personally wouldn’t think it as such but you know how sensitive people are these days. But even if it were grammatically correct I still think it’s a poor title.
The problem with Radio City was that the exhibition of films was changing so exclusive rights to play a film in the NY Metro area was over. And producers no longer wanted to share any profits with a stage show. Starting in the late 60s it started playing abysmal films that audiences did not want to see. A number of films were objectional due to content such as Jean Brodie and Blazing Saddles and other films like The Way We Were, That’s Entertainment and Murder on the Orient Express which were perfect were withheld by their studios. Also the stage shows became embarrassing beyond belief. We are talking backyard amateur night. I used to watch them in complete disbelief. This simply was not what you expected in a professional theater.
Even if the Rockefellers did not want to close the place the counter culture, changing audiences and changing marketing would have forced it to close. Like the Ice Capades there was no longer an audience for it.
I’m a big fan of Dolly but some of it even I find cloying and silly. Michael Crawford at times threatens to torpedo the film single handedly with a to put it kindly mentally challenged Cornelius and even the wonderful Danny Lockin overdoes the naïve youth. But this is Kelly’s fault. It doesn’t help that Kidd’s choreography is at times more muscle exertion than the inspired dance of Band Wagon and Seven Brides. The Waiters' Gallop…oy.
Still much of it is pretty great with one of the great production designs of all time. What do you expect with Irene Sharaff and DeCuir given an unlimited budget? I’ve never gotten the over produced objections. Have you ever seen pictures of 14th Street and parades at the beginning the 20th Century? And this is a big splashy musical so we’re talking the scale of DW Griffith’s Babylonia here.
And yeah Streisand kills it. Funny Girl hadn’t even been released yet and she confidently leads a cast of thousands as if she were leading the storming of the Bastille. Her confidence is kind of scary. And she’s at her vocal peak taking a role not known for its vocal demands and turning it into a musical tour de force.
The bluray is a stunner. I always get a kick out of seeing the fibers and textures of the fabric of the costumes and seeing what I always thought were Dolly’s white cloth arm length gloves in the Harmonia Garden are actually calfskin.
A better film yes and it should have opened at the Music Hall instead of Where Were You. Though it could have used another and less racist title.
Walk Don’t Run was another swan song that should have played the Hall and inscrutably didn’t. Even the Times reviewer wondered why and for Grant’s last film he was disappointed it wasn’t chosen.‘66 had some pretty bad films shown there so it wasn’t because it wasn’t good enough. Ironic that in a couple of years the movies that played there would be from hunger.
They are never the movies I want to see or gain anything being seen on the Music Hall screen. Of course the movies I would want to see there would be attended by a total of 10 people.
1776 was probably the biggest Music Hall hit that went down like the Andrea Doria everywhere else. 2 and a half hours trapped in the revolutionary congressional chamber with a crew of Broadway musical hams. I still shudder when I recall it.
I didn’t think of it but you’re right. Odd for the time. But I was surprised that the front of the marquee for WSS at the Rivoli did not have the film’s artwork but the regular frozen plastic. Also Nich and Alex at the Criterion which disappointed me. My Fair Lady when it was revived at the theater in ‘71 nicely had the films artwork which was good to see though not as elaborate as in '64.
Who did this restoration? Was it Harris? If not what did he think of it if he made any comment? Also considering size the Museum’s screen wasn’t the image small?
So how many shows per day? Seven days? How many weeks? How many songs did Garland sing in a show? I’m sure Rooney was climbing the proscenium at every one of them.
Well you did get to see it at the Capitol. There are very few people who can say that. One of a very fortunate few. I bet it was the best presentation ever of this film.
One thing I can say for sure is that Bill Boggs and Hermione Gingold were sitting behind me at Napoleon. Can one dream that?
A rising curtain doesn’t seem to make much sense to me in the case of Cinerama. But he was there I wasn’t. And I’m quite surprised they would show it at that time with curtains not working. It would remove all element of surprise as to the screen size.
Also I saw Napoleon at the Music Hall during its first run not the second. I distinctly remember the curtain being used. If it wasn’t I would have been appalled and remember it. But then maybe I’m having a senior moment(ugh, I can’t believe I’ve reached an age where I can say that.)
Yes I do remember the lights but I did not mention them and perhaps Canby did not as well because it was so poorly and weakly executed(I had no idea they were meant to simulate curtains) that it made no difference. To me it was still a bare screen. From what I’ve read the curtains and borders truly made a difference. In fact the use of them at the beginning of This is Cinerama was so effective it knocked audiences for a loop. I wonder if the Vistavision screen at the Paramount was larger than that of the Music Hall which of course always used curtains no matter what. Also wasn’t it slightly curved compared to the Hall’s flat screen?
It was an old Cinerama print simply transferred to 70mm so shown with a single lens on a bare screen with no curtains and therefore no showmanship whatsoever. Vincent Canby wrote a piece on it at the time so if you have access to the Times' archive you might want to read it.
Terrible terrible terrible. Even if the movie wasn’t good like some bad artsy French film it was always a pleasure coming here. Still remember those long weekend lines from decades ago. One of the last remaining signs that New York was once a great city.
Ok. I just mentioned that the news was very sad assuming that people on CT knew that I was referring to Fonda and putting it on this page because he was due to speak here in a highly publicized event in a month. Even at 79 he seemed healthy and planning public events.
Can the hall monitor of Cinema Treasures explain this?
This is strange. I made a serious comment about the sadness of Fonda’s death. Especially because he was set to make an appearance here. Somebody commented as if I were making a joke(I can like a man even if I don’t like a film he made) and both our comments were removed. Who in the world did this and why?
Wally I was teasing you. It was no way an attack. You have a proud history on CT and I thought I’d needle you a bit. I apologize.
I guess any of us who have any affection for HD should meet here Dec 16th to salute its 50th anniversary. Anybody see it here? Closest I got was driving down Broadway with my family at Christmas and seeing the marquee. Also seeing the large billboard on the back of the theater walking up 7th Av to turn down 50th to see Airport at the Music Hall.
MayfairMike do you have anymore pictures of Asbury Park during the end of its hey in the 60s? Anymore outside and inside the St James and Paramount as well? The boardwalk?
Yes but Cinema Treasures has a long history of people congregating on one page discussing many things unrelated to that specific theater. Maybe Wally is a newbie.
Yes but it was filmed in ‘68. Merrick being the little devil he was decided to have some fun with 20th Century Fox and gave all the executives there heart attacks(figuratively speaking) because he was David Merrick and he could.
Lockin’s death was a terrible tragedy and I think the man who did it was given practically no time at all.
Yes the Hudson as a backdrop is magnificent. Though in the opening credits you see cars on the NY thruway which is kind of funny or is it the Palisades parkway?
How they got that wide expansive final shot with the church over looking the river with no 1968 intrusions I’ll never know.
With Six You Get Eggroll is the racist title. Of course I personally wouldn’t think it as such but you know how sensitive people are these days. But even if it were grammatically correct I still think it’s a poor title.
The problem with Radio City was that the exhibition of films was changing so exclusive rights to play a film in the NY Metro area was over. And producers no longer wanted to share any profits with a stage show. Starting in the late 60s it started playing abysmal films that audiences did not want to see. A number of films were objectional due to content such as Jean Brodie and Blazing Saddles and other films like The Way We Were, That’s Entertainment and Murder on the Orient Express which were perfect were withheld by their studios. Also the stage shows became embarrassing beyond belief. We are talking backyard amateur night. I used to watch them in complete disbelief. This simply was not what you expected in a professional theater.
Even if the Rockefellers did not want to close the place the counter culture, changing audiences and changing marketing would have forced it to close. Like the Ice Capades there was no longer an audience for it.
Great ad and I saw it at the Fox in Hackensack which you see listed. however its reserved seat engagement was anything but sensational.
I’m a big fan of Dolly but some of it even I find cloying and silly. Michael Crawford at times threatens to torpedo the film single handedly with a to put it kindly mentally challenged Cornelius and even the wonderful Danny Lockin overdoes the naïve youth. But this is Kelly’s fault. It doesn’t help that Kidd’s choreography is at times more muscle exertion than the inspired dance of Band Wagon and Seven Brides. The Waiters' Gallop…oy.
Still much of it is pretty great with one of the great production designs of all time. What do you expect with Irene Sharaff and DeCuir given an unlimited budget? I’ve never gotten the over produced objections. Have you ever seen pictures of 14th Street and parades at the beginning the 20th Century? And this is a big splashy musical so we’re talking the scale of DW Griffith’s Babylonia here.
And yeah Streisand kills it. Funny Girl hadn’t even been released yet and she confidently leads a cast of thousands as if she were leading the storming of the Bastille. Her confidence is kind of scary. And she’s at her vocal peak taking a role not known for its vocal demands and turning it into a musical tour de force.
The bluray is a stunner. I always get a kick out of seeing the fibers and textures of the fabric of the costumes and seeing what I always thought were Dolly’s white cloth arm length gloves in the Harmonia Garden are actually calfskin.
A better film yes and it should have opened at the Music Hall instead of Where Were You. Though it could have used another and less racist title.
Walk Don’t Run was another swan song that should have played the Hall and inscrutably didn’t. Even the Times reviewer wondered why and for Grant’s last film he was disappointed it wasn’t chosen.‘66 had some pretty bad films shown there so it wasn’t because it wasn’t good enough. Ironic that in a couple of years the movies that played there would be from hunger.
They are never the movies I want to see or gain anything being seen on the Music Hall screen. Of course the movies I would want to see there would be attended by a total of 10 people.
Liza’s next appearance on the Music Hall screen would be in her father’s A Matter of Time 27 years later.
1776 was probably the biggest Music Hall hit that went down like the Andrea Doria everywhere else. 2 and a half hours trapped in the revolutionary congressional chamber with a crew of Broadway musical hams. I still shudder when I recall it.