Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
118 people
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I found my old Music Hall programs, 5 of them. First up is “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”:
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Veyoung: “The Happiest Millionaire” played on roadshow at the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia from Oct. 20, 1967 to Jan. 17, 1968. I attended the Tues. 8:30pm performance on Jan. 2, 1968. Sat in Row AA of the Loge and the tickets were $2.50! I remember it was one of the first times I saw a film at the Boyd that there was considerably more empty seats then occupied ones. Still waiting to hear from you that you can receive the pictures I have to send you!
Dennis-Lancaster
Never mind! I made my post without reading or clicking on the program links, which now I realize mentioned the movie. I guessed the movie based upon the timeframe of the Nixon resignation reference.
On a visit to NYC… how could you go wrong with a Blake Edwards movie starring Julie Andrews? Boy, did I find out. …the day after I saw this show, Richard Nixon resigned from office.“ (BoxOfficeBill)
Let me guess: “The Tamarind Seed.”
Regarding the final months of the film/stage show era at RCMH. My only visit to RCMH during that era was in May of 1977. The feature was “Smokey and the Bandit”: a major box office hit that year although not during its engagement at RCMH, if my experience was any indication. I went to a Friday matinee and there couldn’t have been more than several hundred people in the audience. I remember staying for the stage show but don’t recall any specifics; it obviously wasn’t very memorable.
re the may 26 post: did “happiest millionaire” play roadshow in other cities? Yes, and so did the MGM 1960 remake of Cimarron. Played at least the Stanton in Philly hard ticket as well as (if memory serves), the Paramount in Hollywood.
Here’s a Program from August ’74. If you want to read the fine print, after you click on the URL you must click the image itself so that it enlarges on your screen. I’m sorry that a print-out won’t be so clear.
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Another fluke. On a visit to NYC, my spouse took over the dept stores and our parents took over their grandkids. That left me with the options of a bar-crawl, a library-raid, or hunkering down to some leftover work. On the other hand, how could you go wrong with a Blake Edwards movie starring Julie Andrews? Boy, did I find out. I don’t remember a single act from the stage show. The Corps de Ballet had recently been disbanded, and the Rockettes were reduced from thirty-six to thirty kickers. A fair amount of choral work appears to have taken up the slack. Of course, times were bad in general, with rampant inflation, energy shortages, and political corruption: the day after I saw this show, Richard Nixon resigned from office.
The telecast was a great way to see the hall, I don’t get there as much as I used to.I just wish they would lower and raise that curtain once in a while.
I have always loved the steamy 50’s film “A Summer Place” and just found out that it opened at the Music Hall in fall of 1959. On stage was something called Fall Frolics.
Vito: You’ve got me. I didn’t see the telecast, but they could be scenic pieces or speaker arrays. Lots of things get hung in that area including video screens for image magnification.
Watching the Tony’s on Sunday I noticed those four “Horn of Plenty” like devices hanging from the ceiling, two on each side of the stage.
Rob, what the heck are those?
Thanks for posting your programs, BoxOfficeBill. Even if the movies weren’t any good, these programs are something to treasure. You’ve inspired to look for my old Radio City programs. I think I still have a few from the early ‘70’s somewhere, including “Airport”.
I also remember those mid-week matinee shows during that time. There were never more than a few hundred people in the audience, and you could tell the end was near. It was very sad.
Here’s a Program from Oct. ’76. If you want to read the fine print, after you click on the URL you must click the image itself so that it enlarges on your screen. I’m sorry that a print-out won’t be so clear.
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This was the next-to-last show that I had seen at RCMH, and I happened upon it as a fluke: a business trip to NYC left me alone for an afternoon, and what better to do than to take in a Liza Minnelli-Ingrid Bergman film directed by Vincente Minnelli, with a stage show at RCMH. Bah. The film was sad enough (but, Ingrid, it was only a movie). The stage show lacked even a spark of life.
For the first time ever at RCMH, I remember hearing the shutters on the spot lights as they clicked on and off: the house held barely a few hundred patrons. And I recall hearing the cable chains clanking as the contour curtain rose and fellâ€"a sound I retained from the half-empty Roxy before it closed in the early 60’s, but never at the Showplace of the Nation. For the “Rhapsody in Blue†finale, the circular table tilted and spun with barely a handful of dancers on it. Another negative review from me, I’m afraid; but this too was a special case: I now knew that the great theater had passed the point of no return.
The credits of the actual movie didn’t say that, I’m sure, but it was in all the print ads and posters.
thanks Bill
I saw this film here and at the drive-in and don’t recall that.
I think that was part of the promotion for that film. All the ads read “John Wayne & The Cowboys”. Wayne had become the ultimate Western icon by that time, so his name could actually become part of the movie’s title (like Fellini).
http://www.westernposterpage.com/cowboys1.htm
In a NY Times ad for 1/31/72 the Music Hall has an ad that seems to me to be a misprint. It says final 3 days to see John Wayne & The Cowboys. It should have read John Wayne in The Cowboys. On the great stage was a show called “……and the indians” starring The Rockettes, The Radio City Ballet Company and Symphony Orchestra.
I remember this show well. We actually came in midway through the movie and then watched the stage show and the whole movie again. This show was better then some of the ones that followed that looked like high school staging.
Believe it or not, BoxOfficeBill, that 1976 show was also MY last Christmas show. Wasn’t the movie “The Slipper and the Rose” playing with it?
Funny but I remember the show still being very, very good. Hell, it was way better than the crapola show they put on now. On The Nativity scene still rocked then. I know this must be the same show because I clearly remember and can still picture the all skating routing as you mention. Even at a somewhat young age (10) I could tell it was done with a moving stage. But at the age and limited experience, the idean of a stage that moved was incredibly nifty.
Here’s a Program from Dec. ’76. If you want to read the fine print, after you click on the URL you must click the image itself so that it enlarges on your screen. I’m sorry that a print-out won’t be so clear.
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This was the last show that I had seen at RCMH. (Well, not exactly. In Oct. ’95, I attended a performance of “Riverdance.â€) I brought my kids to it, then at ages 6 and 7, and was fairly disappointed. (They were, too.) The film proved mediocre and the stage show threadbare.
In “The Nativity,†baubles, bangles, and swirling lights replaced what Leonidoff had once staged as a dimly lit starry night by a Bethlehem stable. The effect of itâ€"and the rest of the showâ€"came across as static and mechanical, rather like the Christmas display windows at Lord and Taylor, full of gestural action and no real life. “Build the Snowman†was just that: a couple of dozen Victorian mannequins pretending to, um, build a styrofoam snowman. The “All Skating†routine deployed the circular table as a permafrost ice stage for a dozen or so skaters. Barry Busse, a Wagnerian tenor of some distinction who had sung internationally with Leonie Rysanek, trolled Christmas carols. The Rockettes performed their “Wooden Soldiers†routine, one that included none of their high-kicks (I always ached for out-of-towners when they did that, because the visitors missed seeing what the dancers were most famous for doing). The finale offered a stage full of an enormous Tannenbaum. Full, but empty. I never publish negative reviews (almost never, anyway) and will not do so again (at least not often). But this, my last visit to a stage-and-screen show at RCMH, was a special case.
Ron: The Music Hall did do a largely RKO Film Festival when they did their first Art Deco Festival in 1974. I don’t remember all of the films we played (Warren will probably have the list), but we did do “King Kong”, “She”, “Becky Sharp” and at least one of the Rogers/Astaire musicals. I had just started at the Hall, and that was the most film we had ever had in the booth at one time. I remember the Rogers/Astaire picture because the promoter of the Festival was going to have to pay for a print since none existed for distribution at that time. Ginger Rogers offered to loan him her personal print, but it was nitrate. By that time we no longer had nitrate fire rollers on our machines having installed 70mm, and our insurance company said “No”! The promoter went ahead and had a print struck at his personal expense. Fortunately, the festival was a success, since it combined film screenings with a lobby full of booths selling Art Deco memorabilia. The poster became a classic (I still have one), and was actually featured in a couple of movies. Our print of “She” was loaned to us by Raymond Rohauer, who also managed to save a number of Buster Keaton’s films. I was told that he virtually kept the film under his bed at night to protect it. He did come up to the booth when we inspected it (with me wearing white gloves — an impression somewhat mitigated by one of the crew looking over our shoulders with an unlit cigar in his mouth). I said he could have the print back right after the screening, but I guess he was reassured since he said, “Hang onto it. I’ll pick it up next week.”
I for one refuse to dignify ALALvarez’s remarks with a responce.
Response to AlAlvarez: You certainly have a right to your opinion, but the truth is that no other presentation house in the world has ever come close to offering (during its golden years, of course) a film and stage show policy that was as consistantly dedicated to a policy that assured the absolute perfection of execution in every department. Whether it was those professionals working in front of the house or in back, every detail was attended to so that the patron would have as close to a magical and satisfying experience as possible. This regard for the highest standards has never or since been duplicated in any other theater in the world. For many years the Music Hall was the destination for the intelligent and the discriminating and it instilled and fostered in many (particularly children going for the first time) a love for the movie and the stage experience that would last a lifetime. Thank heavens, the glorious Music Hall is still with us.
I know there is a lot of nostagia surrounding this theatre and it is indeed an impressive building but have you ever watched a movie here?
I saw THE SUNSHINE BOYS, the World Premire of THE ABYSS, and several other screenings in this barn. The acoustics and screen presentation can best be described as appalling. Long live the MUSIC HALL, but for movies give me the megaplex. Without the tacky live shows (camels on ice!)it is rather amazing this place is still standing.
To compare the real palaces around the US to this freak hall is not fair. Movies should never have played here and audiences made that clear. There, I’ve finally said it.