Roxy Theatre (New York City) - The Roxy After "Roxy"

The Roxy After "Roxy"

In spite of the theater's fame and success, the financial problems of its majority owner, the Fox Film Corporation, destabilized the Roxy's operations and it was often saddled with inferior films. In 1932, Rothafel left the theater named for him to open the new Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy theaters at Rockefeller Center. Most of the Roxy's performers and artistic staff moved with him to the Music Hall, including producer Leon Leonidoff, choreographer Russell Markert, and conductor Erno Rapee. The Roxyettes went on to greater fame at the Music Hall, becoming the Rockettes, as they are still known today. (The RKO Roxy soon changed its name to the Center Theatre after the owners of the original Roxy sued Rockefeller Center for exclusive rights to the Roxy name.)

After Rothafel's departure, the Roxy Theatre never quite regained its former glory but remained a leading New York showcase for film and stage variety shows. In 1942, A. J. Balaban, co-founder of the Balaban & Katz theater chain, began nearly a decade as Executive Director of the Roxy. He came out of retirement to run the theater at the request of Spyros Skouras, the head of the Roxy's parent company National Theatres, as well as 20th Century-Fox Studios. Balaban restored the theater to profitability with access to first-run Fox films, as well as the production and presentation of first-class live shows. Among his innovations were building an ice rink on the Roxy stage, and engaging many noted performers of the era, such as the Nicholas Brothers, Carmen Cavallaro, and The Harmonicats to appear on the Roxy stage. Even classical ballet dancers, such as Leonide Massine, performed there. Balaban invited the New York Philharmonic to the Roxy along with soprano Eileen Farrell for a two week engagement in September 1950. Appearing for the first time as the main attraction at a movie palace, the orchestra played an abbreviated concert program four times a day between showings of the feature film, The Black Rose.

The Roxy's stage was rebuilt twice, in 1948 and 1952, to add the ice surface for skating shows. During the latter refurbishing the stage was extended out into the house over the orchestra pit and had colored neon embedded in the ice. Ice shows were presented, along with the feature film, on and off through the 1950s. In January 1956, skating star Sonja Henie brought her revue to the Roxy in her final New York appearance.

Widescreen CinemaScope was introduced at the Roxy with the world premiere in 1953 of 20th Century-Fox's film The Robe. The Roxy had also introduced the original 70mm widescreen format "Fox Grandeur" in 1930 with the premiere of Fox Films' Happy Days. Due to the Great Depression, however, the Roxy was one of only two theaters equipped for 70mm Grandeur and it never caught on (Grauman's Chinese was the other). Another widescreen format, the three-projector Cinemiracle debuted at the Roxy as well on a curved 110-foot screen with the 1958 film Windjammer.

One of the last big combined shows was in 1959 with feature film This Earth Is Mine starring Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons, followed by The Big Circus starring Victor Mature. On the Roxy stage were Gretchen Wyler, The Blackburn Twins, Jerry Collins, and The Roxy Orchestra. The managing director since 1955 was Robert C. Rothafel, son of the original Roxy. By this time the Roxy's appearance was altered considerably from its golden 1920s design. Part of the proscenium and side walls had been removed to accommodate the huge Cinemiracle screen and much of the rest of the auditorium was covered in heavy drapes. The big orchestra pit was mostly covered by the stage extension with the organ consoles removed. The elegant lobby areas, however, remained largely intact.