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May 6, 1916.
MOTOGRAPHY
1019
New York's Rialto Opens
PREMIERE OF AMERICA'S FINEST PHOTOPLAY THEATER
ON FRIDAY, April 21, a new electric sign elbowed its way into public interest on Broadway. Just above the door of a brand new theater in Times Square a swirling ball of light whirled skyrockets of color towards the roof which they neatly evaded by a graceful curve and dropped the letters R-I-A-L-T-O.
It was the theater's formal opening and the crowd hovering between the lobby and the street indicated that others than the invited knew that S. L. Rothapfel was making more motion picture history. The Rialto has taken a long time to get on its feet. More than one who saw the mass of rock out of which its foundation is hewed had more hope than confidence that it would eventually get there. And now that it has, nothing short of an earthquake could jar this structure which has consumed more time in erection than many towns.
The house is the property of the Rialto Theater Corporation, which in turn owes its birth to Crawford Livingston, Felix Kahn and S. L. Rothapfel. The latter's official title in the corporation is vice-president and managing director. His principal duty is being the soul of the theater. He is a familiar personage to Motography readers through his "First Aid to Theater Men."
money he needed at his command in fitting up this theater, but that it not what has made it "The Temple of the Motion Picture." Luxurious furnishings cost money, but the Rialto represents more than just that.
One of the Rialto's interior vistas.
Everything in it contributes to either the physical or optical comfort of the patron. Rothapfel renders "service beyond the film." I take a chance on hearing from a certain releasing concern on a charge of theft, for that phrase is their slogan, but it is the one handy line which describes Roxie's method of entertainment. The picture itself is important. It is what the people come to the theater to see, but there are other things which in the Rialto are treated with equal respect. The music and the efficient politeness of the attendants are most noticeable of these; other details, such as surroundings, seats, programs, lounging rooms and tasteful decorations, are in perfect accord with the more prominent features of the house and leave with one the pleasing impression of having been in a theater without discord.
In the Rialto Rothapfel has joined the best of the past with a little of the future. Where the stage would ordinarily be located there is a permanent decoration in the form of a colonade. Its marThe beautiful stageless stage and the Rialto's symphony orchestra. ble stairs afford an effective spot for
None of you exhibitors are too far from -Broadway soloists, while one panel of the colonade contains the to be interested in its newest theater. To say that it is screen. Concealed about here somewhere is the beautiful and wonderful would not be original. Every mechanism of the largest organ ever installed in a theater, one .will tell you that. Rothapfel no doubt had all the Instead of confining his lighting effects to the pro