Why Is Radio City Music Hall

New York City’s Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music hall, also named “Showplace of the Nation”, is an entertainment venue located in New York City. The Hall first opened December 27, 1932. It became one of New York City’s largest movie theaters within only a year of it being open and always provided entertainment for those longing for escape. New York City’s Radio City Music Hall thrives through design and the developing of a historic building. So much time and effort was put into the making of Radio City to make it look absolutely stunning in all aspects. To find inspiration for design ideas, a group of members from NBC and a few architects traveled to an Australian Theater. In the Art Deco style, Radio City Music Hall was designed by
One of the country’s most valued concert and performance venues, was almost demolished in 1978 after regular attendance plummeted throwing the Hall into debt. The Hall was expected to be closing April of the following year. During the Great Depression, many people turned to theaters to take their minds off everything going on outside of the theater walls. People could walk in and spend the entirety of their days watching entertainment acts and listening to the radio, laughing, bonding, escaping from reality. Of the 700 plus films shown at Radio City “King Kong,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Lion King,” and more were first premiered in the Theater. Since opening, Radio City has provided entertainment through movies, shows, concerts and other special events for more than 300 million people. Originally, instead of the Radio City Music Hall an Opera house was planned to be put up on the land plot, but those plans were canceled in 1929 leading to the construction of Rockefeller Center. Then, soon after, the “Radio City” portion of Rockefeller Center was added on, including the International Music Hall as well as the Center Theatre. A large part of what Radio City is known for is its history of entertainment which keeps expanding each year. The great thing about Radio City is there isn’t any event it can’t
Up until the Paramount was built, Radio City had no major competition because it was the only theater of its kind. Ron Delsener, a promoter, said he expected “concert wars” with Radio City, also stating “We can’t wait; we’re chomping at the bit”(Delsener). Acts are said to be making more at Paramount than they would be making at Radio City due to a smaller full-time staff, less money going to maintenance work and it wouldn’t cost as much to run. Paramount has an amphitheater and the last row is only 174 feet from the stage, which is much closer compared to Radio City. Which raises the question, can New York handle two Theaters of this size? They both offer certain things the other