Biography
Reportedly born in, but actually born in Germany emigrating to the US at the age of 2. This fact he would always try to conceal.], Samuel L. Rothafel (born Rothapfel) was a showman of the 1920s silent film era. Best known by his nickname "Roxy", he was the impresario who brought the great New York movie palaces that he managed to fame and popular success.
He began his show business career in Forest City, Pennsylvania creating the "Family Theater", a combination cinema and skating rink. He came to New York City in 1912 where he would achieve his greatest successes. In New York he, at different times, managed and produced shows at the Strand, Rialto, Rivoli, and Capitol theaters. His greatest achievement was his eponymous Roxy Theatre at Times Square which opened March 11, 1927. He later opened the Radio City Music Hall in 1932, his last theatrical project. The Music Hall featured the precision dance troupe the Roxyettes (later renamed The Rockettes), which Rothafel brought with him from the Roxy Theatre.
Rothafel has been credited with many movie presentation innovations, including synchronizing orchestral music to movies (in the silent film era) and having multiple projectors to effect seamless reel changes. The book The Best Remaining Seats by Ben M. Hall (1961), gives a good overview of the movie palaces of the 1920s and, specifically, of Roxy himself.
Rothafel died in 1936 in New York City and is buried in Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery in Queens, New York.
Read more about this topic: Samuel Roxy Rothafel
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