Monday, December 03, 2012

From Chic Silber #6

Posted by Buckles at 12/03/2012 05:58:00 AM

3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


The Roxy Theater was a 5,920 seat
movie theater located at 153 West
50th Street between 6th and 7th
Avenues, just off Times Square in
New York City. It opened March 11,
1927 with the silent film The Love
of Sunya, produced by and starring
Gloria Swanson. The huge movie
palace was a leading Broadway film
showcase through the 1950s and was
also noted for its lavish stage
shows. It closed and was demolished
in 1960.

The Roxy Theater was originally
conceived by film producer Herbert
Lubin in 1925 as the largest and
finest motion picture palace. To
realize his dream, he brought in
the successful and innovative
theater operator Samuel Rothafel,
aka "Roxy", to bring it to fruition
enticing him with a large salary,
percentage of the profits, stock
options and offering to name the
theater after him. It was intended
to be the first of six planned
Roxy Theaters in the New York area.

Roxy's lavish ideas and his many
changes ran up costs dramatically.
Shortly after the theater opened,
Lubin, who was $2.5 million over
budget and near bankruptcy, sold
his controlling interest to movie
mogul William Fox for $5 million.
The final cost of the theater was
$12 million.
Known as the "Cathedral of the
Motion Picture," the Roxy's design
by Ahlschlager featured a soaring
golden, Spanish-inspired auditorium
and a lobby in the form of a large
columned rotunda called the 'Grand
Foyer,' plus its own pipe organ
on the mezzanine. Off the rotunda
was a long entrance lobby that led
through the building of the Manger
Hotel (later called the Taft Hotel)
to the theater's entrance at the
corner of Seventh Ave. and 50th St.
The hotel was built at the same
time as the theater.

Ahlschlager succeeded in creating
an efficient plan for the Roxy's
irregular plot of land, which used
every bit of space by featuring a
diagonal auditorium plan with the
stage in one corner of the lot.
The design maximized the seating
capacity but compromised the
function of its triangular stage.
The Roxy's stage, while very wide,
was not very deep and had limited
space off stage. The innovations
included a rising orchestra pit
which could hold an orchestra of
110 and a Kimball theater pipe
organ with three consoles which
could be played simultaneously.
The film projection booth was
recessed into the front of the
balcony to prevent film distortion
caused by the usual angled throw
from the rear wall of a theater.
This enabled the Roxy to have the
sharpest film image for its time.

03 December, 2012 21:18
Chic Silber said...


Many circus performers worked in

the variety segments of the shows

at both the Roxy & the Music Hall

03 December, 2012 23:52
Chic Silber said...


I recall some years back watching

the Russian "Cranes" multi level

flying & casting act that had their

tremendous net at stage level in

Radio City Music Hall

04 December, 2012 08:34

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