Roxy Theater

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The Roxy Theater in New York was once the largest cinema in the world with a seating capacity of 5,920 .

history

The film producer Herbert Lubin designed the large cinema around 1925 as the largest and most magnificent cinema palace in the world. He won Samuel L. Rothafel , nicknamed "Roxy", an innovative theater manager as a highly paid partner. There should be six Roxy theaters in the New York area.

Rothafel hired the Chicago architect Walter W. Ahlschlager and the designer Harold Rambusch. Ahlschlager designed a successful plan for the somewhat irregular property and arranged the auditorium diagonally. Rothafel's opulent design ideas, however, drove the cost of the construction to astronomical heights. Shortly before the opening of the house, the near bankrupt Lubin had to sell his majority stake to the film mogul William Fox (for $ 5 million), the total cost of the construction was $ 12 million. The capacity of the cinema was originally specified as 6,214 seats, but it should actually have been “only” 5,920 seats.

Rothafel's “cathedral” of the film with its spectacular golden, Spanish-inspired auditorium and a round portico as the “grand foyer”, however, proved to be a success. (The main entrance was on the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 50th Street).

The stage of the Silent Film Palace was designed for an orchestra of up to 110 people, and there was also a large theater organ. The film projection was considered the sharpest of its time. The ushers were trained almost militarily and were considered exemplary polite. The Roxy presented great Hollywood films but also stage shows with its own orchestra, choir and ballet. The "Roxy Hour", a weekly live radio program, made the house known throughout the USA.

Fox Film Corporation also had financial problems. In 1932 Rothafel left the house and opened the Radio City Music Hall , which from then on would become the overwhelming competition of the Roxy. Most of the artistic staff went with him.

As a result, the Roxy stage was rebuilt twice (1948 and 1952), and ice revues were now also possible here. In January 1956, Sonja Henie's Revue appeared here. The New York premiere of the Cinemascope wide screen process took place in 1953 at the Roxy. The cinema was bought by Rockefeller Center in 1960 , closed and soon demolished.

literature

  • L'Estrange Fawcett: The World of Film. Amalthea-Verlag, Zurich, Leipzig, Vienna 1928, p. 42 (translated by C. Zell, supplemented by S. Walter Fischer)
  • Ben M. Hall: The Best Remaining Seats - The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace. Clarkson N. Potter, New York 1961, ISBN 0-306-80315-1 , pp. 77-129

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fawcett, 1928, p. 42, names the capacity with 6,200 seats; However, theater plans published in American Theaters of Today (1927) show a capacity of 5,920 seats.

Web links

Coordinates: 40 ° 45 ′ 39 "  N , 73 ° 58 ′ 54.4"  W.