Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
118 people
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Oops! Of course its “Mr. Billions” (Perhaps “Billious” would have been better!) When Bob Jani took over in ‘79 after the format change both consoles were played at each performance. The two organists were reputedly the youngest in the country to play a dual console gig and were featured in the Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not” strip in the Sunday comics. One of the two was Lance Luce, a name I remember because everyone in his family had a first and last name that began with an “L”. One night I was showing a projection lens company representative around the theatre after the last show, and Lance was practicing at the console as we walked up. When we admired what he was playing, he launched into a “Star Wars” medley that included the bar room sequence and utilized the “toy counter” of organ effects in a way that I hadn’t heard before. I always wished the organists (Jimmy Paulin in particular) were given more latitude to chose their selections since some of the music I heard while they were rehearsing made a far more interesting use of the instrument than what was heard during the shows. I remember Ray Bohr playing out of the feature into the intermission, and when I came to the Hall I had shown “Super Dad” in Illinois as a New Year’s Eve special with some other Disney feature. It ended with a wedding and a really nice theme. It was the first feature we played when I started at the Hall, and I asked if Ray could pick up the theme going into the intermission. He did – beautifully blending the Hall organ with the organ in the church on the soundtrack of the film, and then continuing the theme as the contour came in and the house lights came up. That was a transition I’ll never forget!
During the Glory of Easter pageant the two organs would be played though during the 70’s the organ on the right side would have a dummy. In fact I have no idea when it happed but many of the figures in this Easter pageant were replaced by dummies. I never had any idea of this until the review of I believe the ‘74 Easter show by Variety which lamented that the pageant had become a shadow of itself.
The two organs were used for the only time I can remember in the '70 one time. The orchestra was on stage with the two organs playing the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor. You all know this from Fantasia.
The stage show was From Bach to Bacharach for The Bluebird.
Did Radio City (or any other theater) ever have twin Wurlitzers? For some reason, I seem to remember that there were two organs (one on either side of the proscenium) that emerged simultaneously from their bays while their operators labored furiously to produce the thunderous music that filled the great space. Memory can play tricks (and my memory in particular ought to be clad in top hat, cape and magician’s wand), but the image seems vivid enough to me. Am I mistaken?
Denpiano … thanks for sharing your information on the Mightiest of All Wurlitzers. If it weren’t for you and your company, another American Classic would go silent. I believe I met you way back in January 2000 (bitterly cold that day) when a group of four came up to the Music Hall with my friend who was a former RCMH organist and friend of Ray Bohr’s for a reunion for him and the organ. We still talk about the trip. Say hello to RCB and RB for us.
I think “Mr. Billion” is the correct title.
I agree with that last comment. Yes, even ANY of the A&C or Martin and Lewis pics would have been signifigent better than those two dismal movies.
From the audience I saw I can’t imagine Thieves did any better than Mr.Billions(or is it Millions?) Who in the world was booking movies at this time? Movies that you wouldn’t go to see on the bottom of a double bill on 42nd street for $1.50. Even another revival of Singing in the Rain would have been better and probably a lot cheaper.
“The Littlest Horse Theives” did indeed play the Hall as a replacement for “Mr. Millions”. I remember that engagement for several reasons. We had installed Dolby single channel decoders and E.Q. for up to six tracks of 70mm mag sound (note—I didn’t say we BOUGHT six channels of Dolby equipment, we more or less “borrowed” them from Dolby since we were doing testing for them), but we couldn’t play the new Dolby stereo/optical tracks. Fox was planning to release “Star Wars” in stereo/optical, and did “Mr. Millions” in that format. Because of the status of the Hall, we were able to “borrow” a CP-100 processor from them which we kept until we re-did the whole system for the premiere of “The Lion King”. Thus we spent a lot of time getting ready for “Mr. Millions”, only to have the picture pulled after a couple of weeks. It was our Easter Show that year, and my parents and their friends came to New York from Illinois for a visit. My parents friends had never seen the Hall, and the first thing they saw there was the short-lived “Millions”! I don’t know all of the details, but pulling “Millions” soured relations with Fox because the picture didn’t do enough business to even make the portion of the advertising costs the Hall was supposed to pay, and there was discussion as to who was resposible. The replacement picture was “Theives”, but it doesn’t show up on a lot of the lists of the Hall’s pictures because the booking was for “Millions”.
BOB what an excellent description of the stage show. So much more informative than the reviews one reads in the old Varietys.
The Balanchine connection to the Hall seems to have been explicit at this time. Was he a friend of Leonidoff’s?
His extraganzas of the 70’s like Union Jack and Vienna Waltzes(maybe one can go back to Figure in the Carpet?)seemed to owe a lot to Music Hall style presentation, at least as I imagine them being during the golden years.
Suzanne Farrell arguably the greatest dancer of the 20th Century once said that she would have danced anywhere if she had to even Radio City(ouch!) But she didn’t have to.
Here’s a Program from June, 1957:
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Seeing “The Prince and the Showgirl†at the 10:30 am showing on opening day remains one of my favorite memories of RCMH. Maybe it’s because the school year had just ended the day before and I looked forward to an endless summer of reading and seeing movies, the last before I’d be tied down by seasonal jobs. Maybe it’s because at the age of fifteen I felt myself sprouting wings and entering a new kind of grown-up world. Only two years earlier I had lied to my parents about seeing the tsk-tsked “The Seven-Year Itch†at the RKO Dyker, though I really didn’t fathom the fuss over Monroe. Now in the summer of ’57, I understood.
I shall never forget the enormous roar from 6,000 patrons at RCMH during the first encounter between Olivier and Monroe when the strap on her dress breaks loose and his monacle pops into her cleavage. My friend and I stayed to see the film twice. I realize that both stars made much better movies, and that later reports about tensions on the set proved disheartening. But this film pleased me immensely. And the stage show celebrating NYC was an eye-popper.
As Vincent pointed out last week, Melissa Haydenâ€"a principal dancer from the City Balletâ€"joined the Corps de Ballet, already augmented by tutu-fitted Rockettes, to flood the stage with a Chopin extravaganza. Ronnie Ronalde, still performing today at the age of eighty-two, was an English music-hall star who’d been billed as the world’s greatest whistler and whose whistling-cum-accordion-playing was said to have made Marilyn Monroe shiver with excitementâ€"a kinky stage accompaniment for the film. The Morlidor Trio featured a male contortionist who wore a black mask and was assisted by two female attendants. Also kinky. A grotesquely garbed figure of Father Knickerbocker linked the various acts and swelled to unimaginable proportions at the Finale. Kinkiest.
Well astrocks I saw a Disney movie with children and mining ponies there that replaced Mr Billions so what was the name of it?
By R.C. do you all mean Radio City or was that Rothaphel’s (Roxy’s) first two initials?
By R.C. do you all mean Radio City or was that Rothaphel’s (Roxy’s) first two initials?
Sorry, but “The Littest Horse thieves” did not play the hall. The only Disney/BV film that tear was “Pete’s Dragon”
Well I’d sure give a lot to see Buck Privates at the Music Hall today with the Rockettes and the organ(no recording thank you.)
The Hall primarily played MGM films, I believe, at least in their heyday. Until movies began losing their luster, the Hall played quality films. Abbott and Costello just didn’t cut it, although they would have been better than those bombs that played there in the late 50’s-60’s. Even Abbott and Costello and Martin and Lewis would have been better bookings, that is if A&B were still making movies. I do believe that both teams had better represntation playing in their proper venues.
Yes I guess that was it. Probably it was ‘77.
Would that be “The Littlest Horse Theives,” Vincent? About the kids who steal the ponies when the owner decides to close the mine and sell them to make glue (or something like that)? Very dark for a Buena Vista release. Took place in England, didn’t it? Gosh… I haven’t thought about this movie in 30 years!
Mr Billions was booked as an Easter film.Talk about corporate incompetence.
It was so bad they pulled it after a week or two and threw in the Disney mining pony movie(I think I was one of 5 people in the audience.) Does anybody remember the name of this?
I don’t think they even turned on the house lights during the breaks the place was so empty.
Also speaking of Universal Airport was the only genuine 70mm film to ever play at the Music Hall during its premiere engagement.
I understand that Abbott and Costello are considered “low comedy” but, as stated above, they were pretty high box office and many of their earlier films could have topped some bills. I think “The Time of Their Lives” would have been a wonderful Music Hall feature. As for Martin and Lewis, they were box office champs for a few years, weren’t they?
Your point is taken, Ron… But then, look at the drivel the Hall booked in its later years. Certainly, films like “Paper Tiger” and “Mr. Billions” weren’t considered “prestige”… nor, I’m sure, were any of the live-action Disney films to play here.
Maybe at that time in the 40’s Universal was low rent but going into the 60’s Universal started having some big hit movies at the Hall.
One of the movies which I wish the Hall could have premiered was The Sting.
When I first saw the film I wasn’t too crazy about it. But when I saw it re-released at the Hall it worked like magic. And the score never sounded better!
I believe RC would have died for a Martin and Lewis picture but the Paramount was still going strong at the time and had them as a live act.
Abbot and Costello were maybe a little too crude (although I was crazy for them) for Radio City. But they did have the Andrew Sisters in a lot of their films and also Dick Powell and
Carmen Miranda which gave them so called class so it wasn’t all 3 Stooges stuff. Abbot and Costello were also big box-office in the early and middle forties. How many early Universal pictures ever played RC anyway?
I believe RC would have died for a Martin and Lewis picture but the Paramount was still going strong at the time and had them as a live act.
Abbot and Costello were maybe a little too crude (although I was crazy for them) for Radio City. But they did have the Andrew Sisters in a lot of their films and also Dick Powell and
Carmen Miranda which gave them so called class so it wasn’t all 3 Stooges stuff. Abbot and Costello were also big box-office in the early and middle forties. How many early Universal pictures ever played RC anyway?
I knew someone would have a problem with those two teams. I including them because the Music Hall showed They Got Me Covered with Hope and Lamour in ‘43.
And these two films were probably the best of what were among the biggest stars of their eras.
I would think they would have both been sensational at Radio City.
And I always think that the Hall premiered the ultimate and first Beach Party movie Where the Boys Are.