Films like Matilda as posted by NYer were intentionally programmed along with the staggeringly bad stage shows. The people in charge wanted to make sure business was lousy so they could close the place. Absolutely no effort was any longer being made to make the Music Hall worth going to. Even the tourists were avoiding it like the plague.
Notice Leonidoff retired just when the ballet company was disbanded. Because this meant the Music Hall would no longer be able to stage any more of its spectacles and the stage would be sparsely populated. Embarrassing everybody on stage and in the audience.
And the Paramount and the Roxy screens had to be flown when there were stage shows so I’m sure that kept the stage hands busy. Interesting that the Music Hall kept it flat. I guess the extra 6 ft was too unwieldy or they were worried about sightlines.
The Paramount Vistavision must have been really impressive.
MarkD you say on the Capitol page the Roxy CinemaScope screen was 68ft wide. Did this have any curvature as one sees in the ads? This also had to be inside the proscenium if it was to be ‘flown’ and therefore did not have the immersive effect the ads would like you to believe?
I haven’t read the intro in a while. Thank you. Was that NY’s widest screen? And I thought the Warner Cinerama was impressive at about 81 feet. The Rivoli was small in comparison. Anybody know the sizes of the 70MM screens of the DeMille, Loew’s State before twinning and Criterion? And what about the size of the screen for Windjammer at the Roxy?
Still would like to know how more modest 35MM films played at the Capitol.
From photos that screen looks humongous. I’d like to know the measurements. I also wonder how grainy Zhivago was as a blow up on that screen. Anybody see it there?
For those of you who were going to the Capitol in the ‘60s being that the Capitol was converted to 3 strip Cinerama and then was pretty much a single 70MM/Cinerama house I was wondering when they presented a film like Sergeants 3 or In the Heat of the Night was the Cinerama screen simply using black borders made smaller according to whether it was in Panavision or 1:85.1 ratio? Also did they install a new screen screen change when they went from 3 strip to single lens Cinerama? Thank you.
Maybe I need to resee Ice Station Zebra. I saw it as a boy when it came to the suburbs though remember seeing the billboard above the Strand/Warner at Christmas of ‘68. I remember it looking very fake on cheesy indoor sets that was supposed to be outdoors like some sort of 50s science fiction film. Maybe it was a better experience at the Strand. Who knows maybe Camelot was better there as well and I remember that being pretty awful. I didn’t even bother to see it at the '78 70mm festival. But My Fair Lady, South Pacific and Paint Your Wagon(yes really, though I wish it had been filmed in 70mm) were spectacular.
What tipped me off is large The Bible billboard between 45th and 46th Street. This was the early one announcing production of the film. There was a second one for when the film was completed and would open at Loew’s State in'66 using the photos that you see on the cover of the LP(I saw this one as a boy.)
Then if you look closely at the Warner marquee IAMMMMW is playing its Cinerama roadshow engagement which had opened in ‘63. And you see a large sign part of which says HAM. This could be an advertisement for the Burton Hamlet(not that it needed it) which played on Broadway in '64.
Hard though to see what was playing at the Trans Lux.
Sorry but I love the minutiae of the old Times Square.
I should have said the recently posted circa ‘69 photo. This was the beginning of the steep decline of Times Square. Although for those who were already visiting it they might say it began earlier. Unfortunately the great wraparound DeMille billboard was to feature only one more movie and that was a softcore porn film which I believe was called Ginger. I’m basing this all on memory. No more Hawaii or Spartacus spectaculars. Not even a Shoes of the Fisherman or Battle of Britain.
Circa ‘69 is in early 70s. You can see Anne Baxter is in Applause and I believe she replaced Bacall in '71. I saw Bacall do it in June of '71 and that same summer I saw Cliff Gorman in Lenny the billboard of which you can also see in that photo.
As per the discussion of the ‘73 Cinerama screen. Though the presentation of this Is Cinerama was very poor and in 70mm the screen should have been kept. The theater finally had a screen worthy of it’s size. Like the Cinerama screen that was kept at the Warner and I assume at the Capitol different film ratios could have been presented on it with proper masking and the use of curtains. Films like the epics that were to play there in the future and the restored films done by Harris would have been so much more impressive.
Plaza Suite was in no way a family film. And in no way was this film going to match anywhere near the success of BITP or Odd Couple. But look at those cheap prices even for ‘71.
Rhapsody in Blue was a wonderful Music Hall spectacle staple and this was sadly the last time it was done.
I’m sure anybody can go and pay face value. Looks like the least interesting race in Tony history and that’s saying something. Even on theater chat sites there isn’t much interest. Scalpers even sell tickets to easily available Broadway shows. I guess there are enough tourists who aren’t aware how this works. England now has draconian laws for a show like Hamilton to avoid this kind of thing. And a current British music star who has a concert tour coming up has a complex system in place to make sure his fans can buy tickets at face value. There is even discussion about people presenting ID when purchasing tickets. Which means of course no gifting of tickets. It might be a price to pay for going to a hit show.
I saw that marquee all the time because I was going to shows frequently. It played there for over a year which is especially astounding when you consider it was a continuous playing non roadshow run and was already running everywhere else.
I saw it at the late great Stanley Warner on route 4 when it’s orchestra was still intact and not yet multiplexed though it’s balcony had been.
Star Wars might have been one of the last summer big films to have a limited opening engagement at relatively few theaters.
I remember seeing something said by Jack Valenti how disappointing it was seeing a film like this playing on Broadway. Maybe it was X at the time though a poster I saw said R.
Films like Matilda as posted by NYer were intentionally programmed along with the staggeringly bad stage shows. The people in charge wanted to make sure business was lousy so they could close the place. Absolutely no effort was any longer being made to make the Music Hall worth going to. Even the tourists were avoiding it like the plague.
Notice Leonidoff retired just when the ballet company was disbanded. Because this meant the Music Hall would no longer be able to stage any more of its spectacles and the stage would be sparsely populated. Embarrassing everybody on stage and in the audience.
And the Paramount and the Roxy screens had to be flown when there were stage shows so I’m sure that kept the stage hands busy. Interesting that the Music Hall kept it flat. I guess the extra 6 ft was too unwieldy or they were worried about sightlines.
The Paramount Vistavision must have been really impressive.
And the Music Hall would have only 2 more B&W films for Christmas.
MarkD you say on the Capitol page the Roxy CinemaScope screen was 68ft wide. Did this have any curvature as one sees in the ads? This also had to be inside the proscenium if it was to be ‘flown’ and therefore did not have the immersive effect the ads would like you to believe?
I haven’t read the intro in a while. Thank you. Was that NY’s widest screen? And I thought the Warner Cinerama was impressive at about 81 feet. The Rivoli was small in comparison. Anybody know the sizes of the 70MM screens of the DeMille, Loew’s State before twinning and Criterion? And what about the size of the screen for Windjammer at the Roxy?
Still would like to know how more modest 35MM films played at the Capitol.
From photos that screen looks humongous. I’d like to know the measurements. I also wonder how grainy Zhivago was as a blow up on that screen. Anybody see it there?
For those of you who were going to the Capitol in the ‘60s being that the Capitol was converted to 3 strip Cinerama and then was pretty much a single 70MM/Cinerama house I was wondering when they presented a film like Sergeants 3 or In the Heat of the Night was the Cinerama screen simply using black borders made smaller according to whether it was in Panavision or 1:85.1 ratio? Also did they install a new screen screen change when they went from 3 strip to single lens Cinerama? Thank you.
Hey you got your chance. I’m the one who needs that time machine!
And by the way no 60th Anniversary showings. Sad. 2001 gets all the love.
Just looked at Bill Huebig’s article from ‘13.
Jane Fonda did Moon is Blue in Fort Lee NJ?!
Maybe I need to resee Ice Station Zebra. I saw it as a boy when it came to the suburbs though remember seeing the billboard above the Strand/Warner at Christmas of ‘68. I remember it looking very fake on cheesy indoor sets that was supposed to be outdoors like some sort of 50s science fiction film. Maybe it was a better experience at the Strand. Who knows maybe Camelot was better there as well and I remember that being pretty awful. I didn’t even bother to see it at the '78 70mm festival. But My Fair Lady, South Pacific and Paint Your Wagon(yes really, though I wish it had been filmed in 70mm) were spectacular.
New photo I would say is not ‘66 but '64.
What tipped me off is large The Bible billboard between 45th and 46th Street. This was the early one announcing production of the film. There was a second one for when the film was completed and would open at Loew’s State in'66 using the photos that you see on the cover of the LP(I saw this one as a boy.)
Then if you look closely at the Warner marquee IAMMMMW is playing its Cinerama roadshow engagement which had opened in ‘63. And you see a large sign part of which says HAM. This could be an advertisement for the Burton Hamlet(not that it needed it) which played on Broadway in '64.
Hard though to see what was playing at the Trans Lux.
Sorry but I love the minutiae of the old Times Square.
I should have said the recently posted circa ‘69 photo. This was the beginning of the steep decline of Times Square. Although for those who were already visiting it they might say it began earlier. Unfortunately the great wraparound DeMille billboard was to feature only one more movie and that was a softcore porn film which I believe was called Ginger. I’m basing this all on memory. No more Hawaii or Spartacus spectaculars. Not even a Shoes of the Fisherman or Battle of Britain.
Circa ‘69 is in early 70s. You can see Anne Baxter is in Applause and I believe she replaced Bacall in '71. I saw Bacall do it in June of '71 and that same summer I saw Cliff Gorman in Lenny the billboard of which you can also see in that photo.
As per the discussion of the ‘73 Cinerama screen. Though the presentation of this Is Cinerama was very poor and in 70mm the screen should have been kept. The theater finally had a screen worthy of it’s size. Like the Cinerama screen that was kept at the Warner and I assume at the Capitol different film ratios could have been presented on it with proper masking and the use of curtains. Films like the epics that were to play there in the future and the restored films done by Harris would have been so much more impressive.
Apropos CC’s posted ad.
Plaza Suite was in no way a family film. And in no way was this film going to match anywhere near the success of BITP or Odd Couple. But look at those cheap prices even for ‘71.
Rhapsody in Blue was a wonderful Music Hall spectacle staple and this was sadly the last time it was done.
When they were held in Broadway theaters no. The Music Hall is so large that yes.
I’m sure anybody can go and pay face value. Looks like the least interesting race in Tony history and that’s saying something. Even on theater chat sites there isn’t much interest. Scalpers even sell tickets to easily available Broadway shows. I guess there are enough tourists who aren’t aware how this works. England now has draconian laws for a show like Hamilton to avoid this kind of thing. And a current British music star who has a concert tour coming up has a complex system in place to make sure his fans can buy tickets at face value. There is even discussion about people presenting ID when purchasing tickets. Which means of course no gifting of tickets. It might be a price to pay for going to a hit show.
Odd Couple at the Music Hall. 2001 at the Capitol.
This is killing me.
I saw that marquee all the time because I was going to shows frequently. It played there for over a year which is especially astounding when you consider it was a continuous playing non roadshow run and was already running everywhere else.
I saw it at the late great Stanley Warner on route 4 when it’s orchestra was still intact and not yet multiplexed though it’s balcony had been.
Star Wars might have been one of the last summer big films to have a limited opening engagement at relatively few theaters.
$44.31.
Which I would happily pay today to see a Super Panavision 70(not digital)print with 6track stereo(analog.) I assume this no longer exists.
Mezz for My Fair Lady at the Criterion was $5.50(I’m pretty sure) for weekend evenings in ‘64. What is that today?
When and where did Without A Stitch play?
I remember seeing something said by Jack Valenti how disappointing it was seeing a film like this playing on Broadway. Maybe it was X at the time though a poster I saw said R.
Concerning NYer Pink Panther ad. That’s very early for a post Easter film. How many weeks did Henry Orient play and what date was Easter that year?
And did Pink Panther open everywhere before opening in NY? That’s unusual as well.
If I had a time machine it’s one of the top films I would have chosen to see at the Hall.
Comfortably Cool posted White Cliffs of Dover announcement.
Amazing that June Lockhart who plays the grown up Elizabeth Taylor is still with us.
A wonderful movie.