Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

Roxy's Magic Touch ( Continued from Preceding Page) still remain? at the base price of 1928" True, the moviegoer is getting a stupendous bargain, but it's too much of a bargain in relation to other things in this financially ruinous world. The industry, especially on the exhibition side, has taken less than a fair share of the nation's increased spending power in the last two and a-half decades. Sages from here to Hollywood have proffered a score of reasons for the film industry's ii, ability to climb back to the palmy days which Roxy Rothafel knew when he began his great adventure on Seventh Avenue: television, taxes, autos, indifferent films, declining showmanship, increased sophistication of audiences dearth of star material — and so on. We have certainly spent a lot of time feeling sorry for ourselves, searching for alibis. Stop Moaning It seems to me, however, that instead of bemoaning the bad times which have befallen the exhibitor, we might take a peep through the other end of the business telescope, and ask ourselves not why we aren't netting as much as we should be, but why Roxy and his confreres did so well. The Roxy Theatre's opening picture was a corny little melodrama called "The Loves of Sunya", a United Artists release, starring Gloria Swanson and a handsome young romantic actor named John Boles, whose ascent to fame came much later when someone in Hollywood discovered he could sing. How would "Sunya" measure up today? As part of its birthday celebrations, the Roxy screened it privately the other day to an audience which greeted it with titters. The story-line was about an Egyptian princess who is reincarnated in the being of a young American girl. The opening captions in this silent epic were packed with cliches. The players' gestures were exaggerated to absurdity. Their facial expressions were more extreme than a Communist manifesto. And in the Roxy's preview theatre they'd .igged up a piano at which an accomplished musician completed the illusion of moviegoing a quarter-century ago. And then, as we sat watching this echo from a bygone era, something very strange occurred. The titters ceased. The pianist's pretty touch on the ivories slipped from our consciousness. The captions seemed almost unnoticeable and we lost our awareness of the absence of a sound-track on the film. It was a weird experience, and a rather enlightening one. In that old, flickering film was demonstrated, for one spectator, at least, the tremendous power of the motion picture as a medium of entertainment. Nothing much in a physical way has changed about the Roxy in these 25 years. Oh yes, the facade had had its face lifted here and there, some neon has been added and the silhouette attraction signs on the marquee offers a "modern" touch. But the theatre's basic asset — the motion pictures on the screen — have undergone some remarkable changes for the better since the days 8 mv.amj i-uk stKVlOE lO MOVIE-GOERS Executive Director Katz receives a scroll from the Broadway Association honoring the Roxy's Theatre's 25 years of service to movie-goers. In attendance: Charles Skouras. Otto Koegal, Sam Rauch. JT. C. Michel. Mr. Katz. Spyros Skouras. Joseph Schenck. Charles Einfeld. of "The Loves of Sunya." Color and sound and many technical improvements have come along to make the movies greater than before; ahead lies the exciting prospect of the third dimension. In story content and in treatment the movies have come of age since the days of the fabulous Roxy. Do we in the business realize how much progress has been made? And do we capitalize our gains." Yes, today there is more and tougher com petition, but NOTHING has arrived t< match the quality entertainment of th< motion picture. That is as true today as i was in the year the Roxy Theatre was buil< All we need now is to recapture the spiri of adventure which motivated Roxy Rothal fel, to emulate the courage he possessed, an< to practice the art and craft of that show manship symbolized by the theatre namec after him.