I went to the Elysee/ABC Studio TV-15 sometime around 1955 to see a game show called “Dollar a Second.” The host was Jan Murray, the former Catskills comedian. My parents were friends with the head of the small ad agency that had the account of the show’s sponsor, Mogen David Wine. The show was done live (there was no tape in 1955) on Fridays at 9 PM. I sat in the sponsor’s booth which was in the rear of the theatre on the left side. It was very plush, like another world compared to the audience seating just outside the booth.
My parent’s friend had promised me I could see the control room, so about halfway through the show, he led me to the control room at the back of the theatre. It was extremely exciting. At one point, I saw on the monitor that the mic boom was visible in the shot. I tried to bring this to the attention of the director calling the camera shots who was right next to me. He never recognized my existence.
An interesting thing is that after “Dollar a Second” was over, a second show was aired there, but it was on NBC! It was some kind of variety show that was supposed to follow the Friday night Gillette (boxing) Fight of the Week. Its starting time depended on how many rounds the match lasted. The night I was there, there was not enough time for Jan Murray’s NBC show, because the fight ran too long. I heard them discussing what to do. They decided to do the show on Kinescope. I don’t know when or if the show ever played on TV.
After both shows were over, I and my school friend were led by the ad man out of the theatre to the stage door that was at the end of a long North-South alley just West of the theatre. Then up some stairs, we arrived at Jan Murray’s small, plain dressing room. Murray was exhausted and not interested in talking to us. He just said, “Okay boys, I’ll give you my autograph.”
I also met and got the autograph of the announcer, Ken Roberts.
My other memory of the theatre was when Dick Cavett was doing his show there. It was just before Christmas, and I happened to be walking by while he was taping a show some time after dark. Cavett’s limo was parked outside and was loaded with Christmas presents. His driver was chatting with some people about how Cavett was going to be going out to Montauk after the show and how long the drive would be etc. and how late it would be by the time they got to the end of Long Island. I remember thinking Dick Cavett has a darn good life.
On a Sunday evening in ‘53 or '54, my mother, aunt, myself and my sister, then seven or eight years old, went to the Trans Lux 52nd St. to see “Lili” with Leslie Caron. The movie was extremely popular and famously ran at the Trans Lux 52nd. for a record-breaking run. (Someone posted here that the run lasted two years.) The movie was a sweet — Pauline Kael called it sickeningly sweet —– innocent film to which parents enjoyed taking their younger children.
About half way through the movie, there was a commotion in the seats next to me, and my family suddenly got up and moved to the lobby. My sister had whispered to my mom that a man sitting next to her was touching her leg. My mother and aunt reported this to the management and for about fifteen minutes or more there was a lot of activity in the lobby with an alarmed management. I remember my sister crying, and my mother and aunt being extremely angry and upset. It was never explained to my sister or me exactly what this was all about — we were seven and ten — only that this man was a “pervert.” We were never given any explanation of what a pervert was. We never returned to our seats to the see the rest of the movie.
Sorry, but that’s my only memory (but still quite vivid) of this theatre. In later years, I’ve often dwelled on the irony of this happening during a family outing to see “Lili.”
I went to the Elysee/ABC Studio TV-15 sometime around 1955 to see a game show called “Dollar a Second.” The host was Jan Murray, the former Catskills comedian. My parents were friends with the head of the small ad agency that had the account of the show’s sponsor, Mogen David Wine. The show was done live (there was no tape in 1955) on Fridays at 9 PM. I sat in the sponsor’s booth which was in the rear of the theatre on the left side. It was very plush, like another world compared to the audience seating just outside the booth.
My parent’s friend had promised me I could see the control room, so about halfway through the show, he led me to the control room at the back of the theatre. It was extremely exciting. At one point, I saw on the monitor that the mic boom was visible in the shot. I tried to bring this to the attention of the director calling the camera shots who was right next to me. He never recognized my existence.
An interesting thing is that after “Dollar a Second” was over, a second show was aired there, but it was on NBC! It was some kind of variety show that was supposed to follow the Friday night Gillette (boxing) Fight of the Week. Its starting time depended on how many rounds the match lasted. The night I was there, there was not enough time for Jan Murray’s NBC show, because the fight ran too long. I heard them discussing what to do. They decided to do the show on Kinescope. I don’t know when or if the show ever played on TV.
After both shows were over, I and my school friend were led by the ad man out of the theatre to the stage door that was at the end of a long North-South alley just West of the theatre. Then up some stairs, we arrived at Jan Murray’s small, plain dressing room. Murray was exhausted and not interested in talking to us. He just said, “Okay boys, I’ll give you my autograph.”
I also met and got the autograph of the announcer, Ken Roberts.
My other memory of the theatre was when Dick Cavett was doing his show there. It was just before Christmas, and I happened to be walking by while he was taping a show some time after dark. Cavett’s limo was parked outside and was loaded with Christmas presents. His driver was chatting with some people about how Cavett was going to be going out to Montauk after the show and how long the drive would be etc. and how late it would be by the time they got to the end of Long Island. I remember thinking Dick Cavett has a darn good life.
My memory of the Trans Lux 52nd St.
On a Sunday evening in ‘53 or '54, my mother, aunt, myself and my sister, then seven or eight years old, went to the Trans Lux 52nd St. to see “Lili” with Leslie Caron. The movie was extremely popular and famously ran at the Trans Lux 52nd. for a record-breaking run. (Someone posted here that the run lasted two years.) The movie was a sweet — Pauline Kael called it sickeningly sweet —– innocent film to which parents enjoyed taking their younger children.
About half way through the movie, there was a commotion in the seats next to me, and my family suddenly got up and moved to the lobby. My sister had whispered to my mom that a man sitting next to her was touching her leg. My mother and aunt reported this to the management and for about fifteen minutes or more there was a lot of activity in the lobby with an alarmed management. I remember my sister crying, and my mother and aunt being extremely angry and upset. It was never explained to my sister or me exactly what this was all about — we were seven and ten — only that this man was a “pervert.” We were never given any explanation of what a pervert was. We never returned to our seats to the see the rest of the movie.
Sorry, but that’s my only memory (but still quite vivid) of this theatre. In later years, I’ve often dwelled on the irony of this happening during a family outing to see “Lili.”