Roxy Theatre

Remember the Roxy was the flagship for 20th Century-Fox. The Music Hall played the top films of the day from various studios. The Roxy followed the decline of the studio system in the late 1950’s. The Music Hall had its last great year in 1967 and the old Hollywood had died by 1970 with the beginning of the new Hollywood. Hollywood had its best financial year since 1946 in the year 1967.The industry went into a severe decline after 1967 and didn’t start a revovery until 1972. The release of “Star Wars” changed the industry forever.The industry has been very stable since with all the large studios being owned by deep pocketed media companies such as Time Warner,News Corp,Disney,Viacom,Sony and General Electric’s NBC Univeral. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer a shadow of its former self with a huge library of non-M_G_M films will be taken over by Sony next year.The growth of Cable,Dvd,pay on demand has made the film libraries very valuable to these companies. I still think the industry produces some very good films each year along with a lot of crap.Its a testament to the old Hollywood that the years 1939-1941 at the height of the studio system and it movie palaces,produced the greatest number of mass quality films in Hollywood history.The Roxy and the Music Hall were two of the industries shining stars at the time.brucec

As to the ROXY being “tacky” one only has to read the extensive chapters in the late Ben M. Hall’s landmark book THE BEST REMAINING SEATS: THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE PALACE to learn that the ROXY started out with just the same programming that the Music Hall did, but that by 1931 the ROXY was deprived of both Mr. Rothafel, as well as most of the financial backing it originally had. The Rockefellers were in a much better position to fund RCMH, and so it took the higher ground the ROXY was forced to abandon. In its last years, the venerable ROXY was humbled repeatedly and took anything the audiences fleeing to TV might accept. Sic transit gloria.

Awwarkâ€"you made me do it. I cracked open my cache of programs and playbills sealed up since a move in 1976. Here, from the program for “Bus Stop” in Sept. ’56, is “A story in verse” by the Roxy’s Managing Director Robert C. Rothafel, announcing the ice show “Magic of the Stage.”

All stage magic, dear people, and please hear me well,
Has a charming, and most wond’rous story to tell… .
Now the bone, and the rag, and the hank of dyed hair,
The Director auditions on stage, bleak and bare… .
… ‘Tis the tale of the magic of Scenery to tell… .
And now, the Director has taken his stand,
Thus the God-likened power of light, to command… .
Tireless master halts briefly for passing review
Of effects in HI-FI, the magnetic and new… .
Costumes and make-up cast magical spell,
Over all on the stage and the patrons as well.

It’s a hoot from a stuffed owl, and you gotta love it! In prose, Rothafel also wrote a Personal Message to the Patrons for each new stage show. Here, from the program for “The Sun Also Rises” in August ’57, is his blurb for “Showplane,” devised on the theme of air travel: “In essence, containing perhaps more showmanship than many show business ventures, Miss Betty Murray’s idea for ‘Showplane’ was brought to reality by Pan American World Airlines… . Ever seeking the timely and the new, ‘Showplane’ offers to the Roxy, highly imaginative, new sources for new faces and new formats. Thus working cooperatively with Pan Am and Miss Murray, makes an exciting reality of bringing to the Roxy stage, outstanding personalities and ideas from Showplane’s travels throughout Pan Am’s world of 82 countries.” I reproduce the purple prose verbatim. What might a ‘50s school marm do with its non sequiturs, redundancies, whimsical punctuation, and broken syntax?

Here, finally, is Rothafel fudging the truth about CinemaScope 55 (much discussed in previous postings for the Roxy) in his Message for “The King and I” in June ’56: “For a motion picture of such magnitude, … we at the Roxy are grateful to Twentieth Century Fox. In this instance our appreciation is twofoldâ€"for grandeur and excellence in entertainment; and for pioneering developments in sound engineeringâ€"making possible the completed innovation of the century (introduced with CinemaScope 55 and “Carousel”)â€"Six channel magnetic sound. Spending again as much as was spent before, the Roxy now enjoys the finest and most modern equipment achievements, making possible the presentation of CinemaScope 55 with new six channel High Fidelity and True Directional Magnetic and Stereophonic Sound.” I like that: “the completed innovation of the century” and “equipment achievements.”

Yes, the Roxy could be “tacky"â€"but who’d want to complain? Maybe "camp” is the better word—it confers an affectionate note.

“I remember their newspaper ads —always more brassy (for comedy) or lurid (for drama) than comparable ads for ever-so-dignified RCMH.”

You see? That’s what I mean. The Music Hall seemed to present a more “dignified” front while the Roxy appears to have put out a more sensationalistic approach to fill their seats. Very interesting.

This site has been quite educating and one of the surprising impressions that I’m getting is that, as grand as the Roxy was, it sounds like both it’s decor and presentation was, well…tacky as compared to the Music Hall. Someone either on the Roxy board or the Music Hall even kind of comes out says that the Music Hall’s presentation was classier than the Roxy’s. Ok…so maybe that person worked at the Music Hall and has not buried his vendetta against the Roxy but is there a grain of truth in this?

Yes Bill, but wouldn’t we all just love to go back in time and see the grand curtain open with the Fox fanfare just one more time.

Myron, you couldn’t be more right: as the theatres grew smaller, so did the films! Hollywood is no longer the base of artists trying to achieve art, or even enterainment, just PROFITS. Get the video from PBS “The Monster That Ate Hollywood” to find out how the conglomerates are steadily destroying it by authorizing only cookie cutter product best able to guarantee profits. And with the TV writers' stike a few years ago, the studios are trying freeze out the writers to reduce fees. Since all the great novels have been converted to film, the source of good stories in a visual generation is drying up, what with few writers having the morals to write decently, and the studios wanting big effects and soft porn to sell big.

The movie palaces we enjoyed are mostly gone but so are the films, as well as most celebrities. I just saw “Finding Neverland” and almost fell asleep. This film is supposed to be nominated for best picture. What happened to all the great classic films we used to enjoy? I haven’t seen a great film since “Titanic” and whatever I do see on small multiplex screens do not offer the experience we used to have watching “Star Wars” in Dolby Stereo in 70mm, as an example. Many will disagree of course and say that today’s films are as good as past films. I don’t think so. The glamorous and talented actors are no longer around; except for a few exceptions. Where are the Brandos, Burtons,etc? Where are the great musicals? It seems the disappearance of great movie palaces is coinciding with mediocre films that can be viewed at home. It’s a sad situation.

ken roe and jim rankin
Thank you for name of book now i have ordered through library and seems to be copy on E bay
David Robertson

PS— the book “Times Square Style” provides a rare color photo of a stage show at the Roxy, on page 35, upper right, with sixteen Roxyettes balancing themselves on beach balls, while a jazz band (Louis Armstrong?) plays behind them; as a kid, I had a post-card of that image in my collection, which identified it as a Roxy performance.

Warren: The murder Ben M. Hall, author of the book THE BEST REMAINING SEATS: THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE PALACE, was never solved to the best of my knowledge, but then I am not a New Yorker, so may have missed hearing of it. Incidentally, the date I gave was wrong; a news item about his murder appears in the New York Times of Dec. 16, 1970, page 54, titled: “WRITER FOUND SLAIN IN VILLAGE ROOMS” and reads:

“Benjamin M. Hall III, a writer and historian of American movie theaters and an expert on old theater organs, was found dead in his apartment early today with his throat slashed, according to the police. Mr. Hall, who was 47 years old, occupied the upper two floors of a house at 181 Christopher St. in Greenwich Village.

“The police said that a neighbor, who lived on a lower floor, became suspicious when he heard Mr. Hall’s telephone ringing for almost an hour late last night and early today. He went upstairs and, the police said, found three days' mail piled near Mr. Hall’s door. The neighbor summoned the owner of the building and, together, they found Mr. Hall’s body in his bed.

“Mr. Hall, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, was active in the American Theater Organ Enthusiasts [now: [,]www.ATOS.org],](http://www.ATOS.org) a group that sought to restore and preserve the huge pipe organs that once graced many movie theaters across the nation.”

One might contact the NYC police as to the disposition of the case, since there is no statute of limitations on murder, but it is somewhat doubtful that they retain records from that long ago date. Since he founded the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA [www.HistoricTheatres.org] in 1969, it is possible that his friends there may know more of this. I always liked the blurb about him on the back jacket flap of his book: “…now lives in New York in a large and unorthodox apartment. It contains (among other odds and ends) a baby grand Pianola, a two manual organ, some murals rescued from the late lamented Loew’s 72nd St. Theater, an electric fountain, a collection of vintage telephones, and enough stereo and recording equipment to make his neighbors wish he lived somewhere else.”

David;
The book you refer to is titled “The Best Remaining Seats” – The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace by Ben M. Hall Published by Bramhall House in 1961

It has ben re-printed a couple of times since then and there are copies to be found in 2nd hand book stores and on the internet.