Posted: 8/18/15 at 5:23pm
Seriously though, I would give anything to know what that original 1903 Wizard of Oz was like, in addition to what experience it was going to a Broadway show back then. The décor of this theatre was elegance personified!
Posted: 8/18/15 at 5:58pm
Posted: 8/19/15 at 4:46pm
Thank you all so much for the photos - they are incredible!
Posted: 8/19/15 at 4:52pm
The 1903 Wizard has long been on my time-travel wish list.
Posted: 8/19/15 at 5:00pm
Mine too, but since it tried out in my home town of Chicago (at another long-gone theatre, the Grand Opera House) I would really love to have seen it THERE!
Posted: 8/19/15 at 5:09pm
The exterior was used in the great old Judy Holliday movie "It Should Happen to You." You can see a bit of it in this clip:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/288507/It-Should-Happen-To-You-Movie-Clip-My-Right-Arm.html
There's another scene where she drives around Columbus Circle three times to see her billboard, but I didn't offhand see a clip online anywhere.
Posted: 8/19/15 at 5:18pm
Also I seem to recall that in the Victor Moore/Beulah Bondi 1937 MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, you can catch a glimpse of it there too.
Posted: 8/21/17 at 5:13pm
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that a show like Frozen would seem perfect playing in a theatre this magnificent.
Posted: 8/21/17 at 6:00pm
What a beautiful thread with well considered, intelligent posts.
Can we have more of these please than the streams of: over opinionated bitching, repetitive stage door actor worship/crucifying and endless speculations of closing notices that we've grown accustomed to?!
Updated On: 8/21/17 at 06:00 PM
Posted: 8/21/17 at 7:36pm
What a great thread to bring back but these posters were mostly all bullied off the board one by one. I watched it happen.
This board was a kinder place when actual theater people wrote on it. It was finally explained to me via post that this board is for audience members and not for actors on Broadway- so I stopped posting too.
The top creators of theater used to be here along with historians who knew more than all the rest of us put together. They had no reason to stay except to advise us all but when the posts became disrespectful to people and the art they rightfully moved onto other things.
If you still are reading know that you are all missed.
Posted: 8/21/17 at 7:44pm
markypoo said: "Seriously though, I would give anything to know what that original 1903 Wizard of Oz was like, in addition to what experience it was going to a Broadway show back then. The décor of this theatre was elegance personified!"
And it was in the day when the audience was elegance personified, as well. When people 'put on their Sunday clothes' to see attend the theater - not their tee shirts and gym clothes. Those days are long gone, I'm afraid.
Posted: 8/21/17 at 8:06pm
I wasn't planning on posting here (as I'm not too familiar with old theaters myself) but my goodness these pictures are just gorgeous! Thanks all for the pics and info. I love learning new things about theatre, and I probably would never have known about an original Magestic without you! This is what the boards are for. Thanks again!
Posted: 10/20/17 at 5:08pm
I think that the next theatre to be erected in Times Square should be an exact replica of this one.
(Watch it turn out to be an exact replica of the Marquis...)
Posted: 10/20/17 at 5:11pm
markypoo said: "Seriously though, I would give anything to know what that original 1903 Wizard of Oz was like, in addition to what experience it was going to a Broadway show back then. The décor of this theatre was elegance personified!"
You might then enjoy this video made by a talented artist who recreated the production in a very vivid Toy Theatre form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwmu-7soudU
Posted: 10/20/17 at 7:20pm
Beautiful. How much I appreciate it.
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