Radio City Music Hall

The Howard Johnson’s in Times Square has closed and is being razed very soon. And the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge has been revamped into a Hamptons Inn Hotel last year.
Be the way the during it’s last years of operation the Howard Johnson’s in Times Square. Had the worst & slowest service and the food was the worst for the price you paid.

Vincent, there is a Howard Johnson’s in Times Square which has been there for a long time (at least since the ‘70s) and it sort of reminds me of an old-time diner. A bit run down but I always see lots of people in it as I walk to work. (Address is 1551 Broadway at W. 46th Street.) There is also a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge down the block from my office at 851 Eighth Avenue at W. 51st Street, so take your pick!

Everyone enjoy seeing RCMH on the Tony’s,
Gee the ole girl looked great!
I just wish they had scaled down the set, just a tad, so that the curtain could have gone up and down. The darn thing seems to always be in the up position. Markert and Leonidoff would never approve, right Vincent?

That beautiful Art Moderne structure that housed the H&H on W. 57th has been the center of preservationist controversy for a while, now, Klass. In yet another failure on the part of the LPC to conserve our popular architectural heritage, I believe all efforts to have the place designated have been thwarted and the current tenant (Shelly’s Steakhouse, I believe) was being forced to relocate so that the strutcture could be razed to make way for a new residential tower – what else? I think the H&H closed in the ‘70’s and the place became a bookstore. I remember going there once or twice with my Grandfather (a huge patron of the automat). I remember it also as the short-lived Motown Cafe when 57th Street was rife with theme restaurants. Now that the Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood have relocated to Times Square, only Jekyll and Hyde’s remains on 6th Ave off 57th.

In the early ‘60s, during the Easter school break, my mom would take my brother and me to the Easter show at Radio City Music Hall. We would meet my aunt from New Jersey in front of the Hall and I remember seeing “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” with Debbie Reynolds (1964). After the show, we would walk over to 57th Street and 6th Avenue and eat at the Horn & Hardart’s Automat which, to me, was more fun than seeing the show!

Check out the prices for the RCMH Christmas Spectacular from Dec. 1980. This was just a little over a year after the “Showplace of the Nation” had been retired as a movie palace and switched over to “entertainment center” hosting concerts and other special events.

Daily News 12/12/80

How times have changed! $11.50 top dollar ticket! That was only 3 or 4 times the average movie ticket at the time and less than half of what one would expect to pay for a Broadway play! Today, prices for the Christmas show go as high as $200.00 which is DOUBLE most Broadway productions.

Was the Christmas show the only programming to survive the Hall’s transition? I know it is no longer offered, but I can’t recall if they attempted to keep the Glory of Easter stage show (which accompanied DeMille’s seafaring opus in Warren’s 1942 ad) alive for any length of time after the 1979 season.

As Warren writes in his terrific book on Lucy and Desi, LLT was filmed in June-July ‘53. By that date, MGM cinematographers routinely allowed for top-and-bottom cropping to fit the wide screens that debuted in May of that year. Instead of installing a modish wide screen, RCMH simply used its magnascope screen (double the previous size, but still with the old 1:1.33 ratio) for full-length features from “Shane” (April '53) until its Christmas show in Dec. '53 (“Easy to Love” in a 1.65 ratio, somewhat narrower than the 1:1.85 ratio favored by other theaters at the time). After “Knights of the Round Table” in CinemaScope (Jan. '54), “LLT” opened on RCMH’s wide screen at 1:1.65 ratio, approx. 32'x53’ across the 70' proscenium opening. (The CinemasScope screen covered 27'x68'; yes, it all seemed a bit small in the vast expanse of that great theater.)

And, yes, Minnelli’s genius and his demands on the technical staff compensated for the disaster that was Ansco Color. As a nutty kid with a camera at the time, I squeezed out whatever pennies I came across for color rather than b&w film (color film cost lots more than b&w then) and a few times went for Ansco rather than Eastman Kodak because MGM had endorsed Ansco. But to my eleven-year-old eyes, it immediately appeared greatly inferior.

In a few weeks, when I get myself out of a deadline mode at work, I’ll resume photo-bucketing my stock of Showplace Programs—I should reach the one for LLT about five weeks into the run.

The aspect ratio for “The Long, Long Trailer” was 1:37. Remember that CinemaScope was introduced in 1953 and there was at that time only a few full production sets of lens available for filming. Fox rented out lens to other studios if they were not using them on their own productions. On the original poster material MGM only credits Ansco color and prints by Technicolor.

in the 70’s the Rockefeeler group Alton Marshal and the gang saw the hall stand in the way of progress the space where it stands is prime real estate. I really belive they did not execpt any one standing in there way, they figured oh there will be tears and some happy memories told to the papers they did not know just what the Hall means to many many people, remember they were buisnessw men not show people. Boy were they wrong!!

‘72 was the last year the Hall showed films that were popular and perfect for the place; What’s Up Doc, Play it Again Sam and Butterflies are Free. And considering some of the films the Hall played later(Mame, Mathilda, Girl from Petrovka, Caravans) Cancel My Reservation was practically a masterpiece.
I remember in some stage shows where parts of the stage would go up and down and they didn’t even bother covering the sections so you would see a cutaway of the pistons and revolving stage.
Al I wish you had seen Airport in Todd AO or Singing in the Rain in '75 there. You would have seen what a great movie theater it could be.
Also these were times people would be quiet in a house with thousands of seats.
Today people would be talking, text-messaging each other and cels would be going off right and left.

Nice job, as usual Al… You’re on the cusp of my era of movie going at the Hall – the horrible ‘70’s. Vincent is on to something in his comments. While I truly enjoyed some of the “spectacles” performed on stage, even at my tender age much of it seemed just as garish and trashy as the stuff you’d see on typical network TV variety shows of the day.

Paul Bubny… Yes… I sometimes see some old postings I made and can’t believe I’ve been tagging this site for so long. A lot of the very oldest comments here were removed and incorporated into the introductory paragraphs of some of the theaters on this site when the site was overhauled in late 2003. Back then there was a lot of sketchy information posted here. Anyway… see my much more recent posting above from Feb 20th for some more rumination on that “Crossed Swords” engagement as well as a few images of the souvenir booklets I took home with me the day I saw that flick and the Glory of Easter show.

What the hell, it is Radio City after all!

I will need some time to get the rest of the seventies together.
40/01/14 His Girl Friday (1940)
40/01/28 Shop Around the Corner, The (1940)
40/02/11 Swiss Family Robinson (1940)
40/02/18 I Take This Woman (1940)
40/02/25 Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
40/03/10 Too Many Husbands (1940)
40/03/17 Young Tom Edison (1940)
40/03/31 Rebecca (1940)
40/05/12 My Son, My Son (1940)
40/05/26 Irene (1940)
40/06/02 My Favorite Wife (1940)
40/06/16 Our Town (1940)
40/06/30 Tom Brown’s School Days (1940)
40/07/07 All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
40/08/04 South of Pago Pago (1940)
40/08/11 Pride and Prejudice (1940)
40/09/08 Lucky Partners (1940)
40/09/22 RAMPARTS WE WATCH, THE
40/09/29 Howards of Virginia, The (1940)
40/10/13 They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
40/10/27 Westerner, The (1940)
40/11/03 Escape (1940)
40/11/24 Bitter Sweet (1940)
40/12/08 Thief of Bagdad, The (1940)
40/12/22 NO, NO, NANETTE (1940)
40/12/29 Philadelphia Story, The (1940)
41/02/09 Arizona (1940)
41/02/16 This Thing Called Love (1941)
41/02/23 Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
41/03/02 So Ends Our Night (1941)
41/03/16 Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
41/03/30 Adam Had Four Sons (1941)
41/04/06 That Hamilton Woman (1941)
41/05/04 That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
41/05/18 Devil and Miss Jones, The (1941)
41/05/25 Penny Serenade (1941)
41/06/15 Sunny (1941)
41/06/22 SHE KNEW ALL THE ANSWERS
41/06/29 Blossoms In the Dust (1941)
41/07/20 Tom, Dick and Harry (1941)
41/08/10 Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
41/08/24 Little Foxes, The (1941)
41/09/21 Lydia (1941)
41/10/05 It Started With Eve (1941)
41/10/19 All That Money Can Buy, The (Devil and Daniel Webster) (1941)
41/10/26 You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)
41/11/09 Appointment for Love (1941)
41/11/16 One Foot in Heaven (1941)
41/11/23 Suspicion (1941)
41/12/14 Men in Her Life, The (1941)
41/12/21 H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
42/01/04 Babes on Broadway (1941)
42/01/18 Ball of Fire (1941)
42/02/08 Woman of the Year (1942)
42/03/22 Bedtime Story (1941)
42/03/29 Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
42/05/03 We Were Dancing (1942)
42/05/10 Saboteur (1942)
42/05/24 Tortilla Flat (1942)
42/06/07 Mrs. Miniver (1942)
42/08/16 Bambi (1942)
42/08/30 Talk of the Town, The (1942)
42/09/27 Tales of Manhattan (1942)
42/10/25 My Sister Eileen (1942)
42/11/15 Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
42/12/06 You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
42/12/20 Random Harvest (1942)
43/03/07 They Got Me Covered (1943)
43/03/21 Keeper of the Flame (1942)
43/04/18 Flight for Freedom (1943)
43/05/16 More the Merrier, The (1943)
43/06/27 Youngest Profession, The (1943)
43/07/25 Mr. Lucky (1943)
43/09/12 So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
43/10/10 Lassie Come Home (1943)
43/11/07 Claudia (1943)
43/12/05 What a Woman! (1943)
43/12/19 Madame Curie (1943)
44/02/06 Jane Eyre (1944)
44/03/05 Up in Arms (1944)
44/04/02 Cover Girl (1944)
44/05/14 White Cliffs of Dover, The (1944)
44/07/02 Once Upon a Time (1944)
44/07/23 Dragon Seed (1944)
44/09/17 Casanova Brown (1944)
44/10/15 Mrs. Parkington (1944)
44/11/26 Together Again (1944)
44/12/17 National Velvet (1944)
45/01/28 Song to Remember, A (1945)
45/03/11 Tonight and Every Night (1945)
45/03/25 Without Love (1945)
45/05/06 Valley of Decision, The (1945)
45/07/08 Bell for Adano, A (1945)
45/08/19 Over 21 (1945)
45/09/09 Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
45/10/07 Weekend at the Waldorf (1945)
45/12/09 Bells of St. Mary’s, The (1945)
46/02/10 Adventure (1945)
46/03/17 Gilda (1946)
46/04/07 Green Years, The (1946)
46/05/26 To Each His Own (1946)
46/06/23 Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
46/08/18 Notorious (1946)
46/10/13 Jolson Story, The (1946)
46/12/08 Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
47/01/26 Yearling, The (1946)
47/03/02 Sea of Grass, The (1947)
47/03/23 Late George Apley, The (1947)
47/04/27 Egg and I, The (1947)
47/05/25 Great Expectations (1946)
47/06/29 Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The (1947)
47/07/27 Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The (1947)
47/09/14 Down to Earth (1947)
47/10/12 Song of Love (1947)
47/11/09 Cass Timberlane (1947)
47/12/07 Good News (1947)
48/01/11 Paradine Case, The (1948)
48/02/22 Double Life, A (1947)
48/03/14 I Remember Mama (1948)
48/04/25 State of the Union (1948)
48/05/23 Pirate, The (1948)
48/06/20 Emperor Waltz, The (1948)
48/08/08 Date With Judy, A (1948)
48/09/19 Good Sam (1948)
48/10/10 Julia Misbehaves (1948)
48/11/07 You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)
48/11/28 Hills of Home (1948)
48/12/12 Words and Music (1948)
49/01/23 Letter to Three Wives, A (1949)
49/02/27 Family Honeymoon (1948)
49/03/13 Little Women (1949)
49/04/10 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, A (1949)
49/05/15 Stratton Story, The (1949)
49/06/05 Edward, My Son (1949)
49/06/26 Look for the Silver Lining (1949)
49/08/07 In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
49/09/11 Under Capricorn (1949)
49/10/09 Heiress, The (1949)
49/11/13 That Forsyte Woman (1949)
49/12/11 On the Town (1949)
50/01/22 My Foolish Heart (1949)
50/02/12 Young Man With a Horn (1950)
50/02/26 Stage Fright (1950)
50/03/19 Woman of Distinction, A (1950)
50/04/01 Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, The (1950)
50/04/28 No Sad Songs for Me (1950)
50/05/19 Father of the Bride (1950)
50/06/30 Next Voice You Hear, The (1950)
50/07/21 Men, The (1950)
50/08/11 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
50/09/29 Glass Menagerie, The (1950)
50/10/27 Miniver Story, The (1950)
50/11/10 King Solomon’s Mines (1950)
50/12/08 Kim (1950)
51/01/19 Magnificent Yankee, The (1950)
51/02/02 September Affair (1950)
51/02/16 Payment on Demand (1951)
51/03/09 Royal Wedding (1951)
51/04/13 Father’s Little Dividend (1951)
51/05/11 Great Caruso, The (1951)
51/07/20 Show Boat (1951)
51/09/14 Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
51/10/05 American in Paris, An (1951)
51/11/23 Too Young to Kiss (1951)
51/12/07 I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951)
52/01/11 Greatest Show on Earth, The (1952)
52/03/28 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
52/05/09 Scaramouche (1952)
52/05/30 Lovely To Look At (1952)
52/06/27 Where’s Charley? (1952)
52/08/01 Ivanhoe (1952)
52/09/26 Because You’re Mine (1952)
52/10/31 Happy Time, The (1952)
52/11/14 Plymouth Adventure (1952)
52/12/05 Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
53/01/16 Bad and the Beautiful, The (1952)
53/02/13 Tonight We Sing (1953)
53/03/06 Story of Three Loves, The (1953)
53/03/27 By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
53/04/24 Shane (1953)
53/05/22 Young Bess (1953)
53/06/19 Dangerous When Wet (1953)
53/07/10 Band Wagon, The (1953)
53/08/28 Roman Holiday (1953)
53/10/02 Mogambo (1953)
53/11/06 Kiss Me Kate (1953)
53/12/04 Easy to Love (1953)
54/01/08 Knights of the Round Table (1953)
54/02/19 Long, Long Trailer, The (1954)
54/03/12 Rhapsody (1954)
54/04/02 Rose Marie (1954)
54/05/07 Executive Suite (1954)
54/06/18 Student Prince, The (1954)
54/07/23 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
54/09/17 Brigadoon (1954)
54/10/15 White Christmas (1954)
54/12/10 Deep in My Heart (1954)
55/01/21 Bridges at Toko-Ri, The (1954)
55/02/18 Jupiter’s Darling (1955)
55/03/04 Hit the Deck (1955)
55/03/25 Glass Slipper, The (1955)
55/05/06 Interrupted Melody (1955)
55/05/27 Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
55/07/15 Mister Roberts (1955)
55/09/16 It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
55/10/14 Trial (1955)
55/11/11 Tender Trap, The (1955)
55/12/09 Kismet (1955)
56/01/13 I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
56/02/17 Picnic (1955)
56/03/23 Serenade (1956)
56/04/27 Swan, The (1956)
56/05/25 Bhowani Junction (1956)
56/06/22 Eddy Duchin Story, The (1956)
56/08/10 High Society (1955)
56/09/28 Tea and Sympathy (1956)
56/11/02 Friendly Persuasion (1956)
56/11/30 Teahouse of the August Moon, The (1956)
57/01/18 Barretts of Wimpole Street, The (1957)
57/02/01 Wings of Eagles, The (1957)
57/02/22 Spirit of St. Louis, The (1957)
57/03/29 Funny Face (1957)
57/05/17 Designing Woman (1957)
57/06/14 Prince and the Showgirl, The (1957)
57/07/19 Silk Stockings (1957)
57/08/30 Pajama Game, The (1957)
57/10/04 Les Girls (1957)
57/11/15 Don’t Go Near the Water (1957)
57/12/06 Sayonara (1957)
58/01/31 Seven Hills of Rome (1958)
58/02/21 Brothers Karamazov, The (1958)
58/03/21 Merry Andrew (1958)
58/04/25 Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
58/05/30 No Time for Sergeants (1958)
58/06/27 Indiscreet (1958)
58/08/15 Reluctant Debutante, The (1958)
58/09/19 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
58/11/07 Home Before Dark (1958)
58/12/05 Auntie Mame (1958)
59/01/23 Some Came Running (1958)
59/02/20 Journey, The (1959)
59/03/20 Green Mansions (1959)
59/04/24 Count Your Blessings (1959)
59/05/22 Ask Any Girl (1959)
59/06/19 Nun’s Story, The (1959)
59/08/07 North by Northwest (1959)
59/09/25 FBI Story, The (1959)
59/10/23 Summer Place, A (1959)
59/11/13 Miracle, The (1959)
59/12/04 Operation Petticoat (1959)
60/01/22 Never So Few (1959)
60/02/12 Once More, With Feeling (1960)
60/03/04 Home From the Hill (1960)
60/04/01 Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960)
60/05/20 Pollyanna (1960)
60/06/24 Bells Are Ringing (1960)
60/08/12 Song Without End (1960)
60/09/23 Dark at the Top of the Stairs, The (1960)
60/10/14 Midnight Lace (1960)
60/11/11 World of Suzie Wong, The (1960)
60/12/09 Sundowners, The (1960)
61/01/20 Where the Boys Are (1960)
61/02/17 Cimarron (1960)
61/03/17 Absent Minded Professor, The (1961)
61/05/05 Parrish (1961)
61/06/02 Pleasure of His Company, The (1961)
61/07/07 Fanny (1961)
61/09/08 Come September (1961)
61/10/06 Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
61/11/10 Flower Drum Song (1961)
61/12/15 Babes in Toyland (1961)
62/01/12 Majority of One, A (1962)
62/02/09 Lover Come Back (1961)
62/03/16 Rome Adventure (1962)
62/04/06 Moon Pilot (1962)
62/05/18 Bon Voyage! (1962)
62/06/15 That Touch of Mink (1962)
62/08/24 Music Man, The (1962)
62/09/28 Gigot (1962)
62/11/02 Gypsy (1962)
62/12/07 Jumbo (Billy Rose’s) (1962)
63/01/18 Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
63/02/15 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
63/03/15 Girl Named Tamiko, A (1962)
63/04/05 Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
63/05/17 Spencer’s Mountain (1963)
63/06/07 Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
63/08/02 Thrill of It All, The (1963)
63/09/20 V.I.P.s, The (1963)
63/10/25 Mary, Mary (1963)
63/11/15 Wheeler Dealers, The (1963)
63/12/06 Charade (1963)
64/01/24 Prize, The (1963)
64/02/21 Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
64/03/20 World of Henry Orient, The (1964)
64/04/24 Pink Panther, The (1964)
64/05/22 Chalk Garden, The (1964)
64/07/17 Unsinkable Molly Brown, The (1964)
64/09/25 Mary Poppins (1964)
64/11/13 Send Me No Flowers (1964)
64/12/11 Father Goose (1964)
65/01/29 36 Hours (1964)
65/03/05 Dear Heart (1964)
65/04/02 Operation Crossbow (1965)
65/05/14 Yellow Rolls-Royce, The (1964)
65/07/16 Sandpiper, The (1965)
65/09/17 Great Race, The (1965)
65/11/05 Never Too Late (1965)
65/12/03 That Darn Cat (1965)
66/01/21 Judith (1966)
66/02/18 Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
66/03/18 Singing Nun, The (1966)
66/05/06 Arabesque (1966)
66/06/10 Glass Bottom Boat, The (1966)
66/07/15 How to Steal a Million (1966)
66/09/23 Kaleidoscope (1966)
66/10/14 Any Wednesday (1966)
66/11/11 Penelope (1966)
66/12/02 Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
67/01/20 Hotel (1967)
67/02/17 25th Hour, The (1967)
67/03/10 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
67/04/28 Two for the Road (1967)
67/05/26 Barefoot in the Park (1967)
67/08/18 Up the Down Staircase (1967)
67/09/29 Bobo, The (1967)
67/10/27 Wait Until Dark (1967)
67/12/01 Happiest Millionaire, The (1967)
68/01/19 How to Save a Marriage (And Ruin Your Life) (1968)
68/02/09 Sweet November (1968)
68/03/01 Secret War of Harry Frigg, The (1968)
68/03/22 One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, The (1968)
68/05/03 Odd Couple, The (1968)
68/08/09 Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)
68/09/20 Hot Millions (1968)
68/10/18 Bullitt (1968)
68/12/06 Impossible Years, The (1968)
69/01/17 Brotherhood, The (1968)
69/02/14 Mayerling (1968)
69/03/14 Love Bug, The (1969)
69/04/25 IF ITS TUESDAY THIS MUST BE BELGIUM
69/05/23 WINNING
69/06/18 TRUE GRIT
69/08/29 GYPSY MOTHS, THE
69/09/26 CHRISTMAS TREE, THE
69/10/24 HAIL, HERO!
69/11/14 BRAIN, THE
69/12/05 BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN, A
70/01/23 VIVA, MAX!
70/02/13 TICK…TICK…TICK
70/03/06 AIRPORT
70/05/29 OUT-OF-TOWNERS, THE
70/07/24 DARLING LILI
70/09/25 SUNFLOWER
70/10/30 PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE
70/11/20 SCROOGE

Ha! You could probably drop the entirety of the Lincoln Square multiplex and Imax theater on 68th and Broadway very comfortably into the confines of the Hall’s vast auditorium with some room to spare!

Nice list, AlAlvarez. And I can’t think of a better place to share it than right here amongst the comments. On a quick glance, looks like most features changed after a week or two. A three week run must have meant a pretty big success. The one that pops out looks to be Disney’s 1937 “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs” which looks like it ran for over a month! Give or take the 5 day margin of error Al notes in his post.