Exhibitors Herald (1927)

34 BETTER THEATRES SECTION OF dent that the audience is seated in a workable stage setting itself. Architectural forms, rather than paint, are used to decorate the auditorium in order that the crowds and vistas shall enhance the spectacle and that the concealed four color lighting with its power to control and change the entire color scheme of the house, together with the music of the chorus, the concealed choir, the organ, and the orchestra shall form any atmosphere desired in working stagecraft on the stage, in front of a lowered curtain or both. The orchestra pit may be lowered by eelctrical control to a distance of fifteen feet below stage level, from which lower position direct access is available to club rooms, lounge room, lockers, smoking room, and library of musicians. This platform may be raised to a total height of three feet above stage level, if desired. A separate elevator, within the orchestra pit, independent of the elevator of the orchestra platform, will take care of the piano and the lecturn, enabling it to be elevated, if desired, independently. In front of the orchestra pit, and as an extension thereof, is located the fourth electric elevating platform, upon which are located three organ consoles, which again may be operated independently of the orchestra platform, and of the lecturn platform. The stage presents many interesting appointments. Its maximum depth at the center line is 55 feet. Approximately the rear half of the stage is elevated by electric elevator 60 feet wide, 20 feet deep, enabling 75 people to be located thereon below stage, and raised into position at stage level or above the stage in terrace fashion, and enabling them to be as quickly removed. A scenic production of great splendor may also be built thereon in almost prolific fashion. In its architecture, both the interior and exterior, the Roxy theatre has been designed in the early plateresque period, which prevailed in the early Renaissance in Spain, with a touch of the Italian. * * * With a view to making the new Roxy a work of art, as well as a practical theatre eight sculptors and three hundred skilled mechanics worked for five months on the art plaster decorations of New York’s newest playhouse. Pietro Ciavarra, well known sculptor, was in charge of the designing. More than one thousand designs were modelled. Five men worked day and night for a month over the proscenium arch on a panel which is 72' long with human figures twelve feet high and the work on the dome of the grand foyer consumed an equal period of time. For the art plaster work, 1,100 tons of plaster and lime were used. Included in the materials for this job were 30,000 yards of metal lathe, 40,000 yards of burlap for reinforcing the plaster (imported specially from Dundee, Scotland), 250 tons of steel fabrication, 500,000' of galvanized tie wire, 700,000' of channel iron to hold the plaster in place, 200,000' 1)4" angle iron and 70 tons of modelling clay. The unique plan of putting the stage in one corner of the building has necessitated an entirely new method of attack and the stage mechanism designed by art director Clark Robinson is the culmination of four years’ work and experimentation with Roxy. * * * The stage is triangular rather than square, a form which lends itself peculiarly to new developments in stage craft. March 19, 1927 Simply by rounding off the rear corner, a perfect sky cyclorama has been effected and by flying this cyclorama with the aid of a separate steel beam construction overhead and electric motors, the unusual depth of 60' in the centre of the stage was obtained, a distance equalled only by the Metropolitan Stage and the Manhattan Opera House now obsolete. This makes possible a new scheme of rear projection by which animated backdrops are obtained. A system of elevators arranged to produce any desired combination of levels with the use of platforms controls the stage floor which may be sunk to the basement or cellar if desired. The proscenium opening is 80' but with the use of stage draperies the actual working dimensions are cut down to 60' wide by 32' high, the depth from the curtain line to the cyclorama in the centre being 44'. The lighting equipment is comprised of four color units providing an elasticity of color play. A large stage switchboard having over 1,000 switching levers has been installed. Three spearate organs have been installed in the Roxy, one in the auditorium, and another in the grand foyer. Particular attention has been given to the selection of the uniform staff, one hundred and twenty-five in number, which, placed under two drill masters, both ex-sergeants of the Marines long before the theatre opened, have been trained on a military basis. * * * The careful selection of the personnel covered a period of many months, the older men comprising college graduates who have either been to Plattsburg or who have been drilled in the R. O. T. C. of their Universities, and the younger boys being part-time students in first year colleges throughout the city. Their training period called for a com The World’s GREATEST Theatre! The Roxy HAS BEEN COMPLETELY EQUIPPED WITH Perfection Rheostats Smaller theatres can well ajjord the same equi pm ent. Ask your dealer or write us. HOFFMANN & SOONS, 522 FIRST AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY Contracting Electrical Engineers Moving Picture Theatre Electrical Specialists