Lauryn Johnson

On December 28, 1932, Radio City Musical Hall opened. The Rockettes were a part of that very first performance. Below are covers, and insides the programs from the 30s and 40s. About a year after opening, the Music Hall became a movie house in order to be financially viable. Every movie was accompanied by a stage show featuring the Rockettes. From that point on, the stage shows were 50 minutes long. From the 30s-70s the Music Hall was a first-run movie house and before and after the movies,...

On December 28, 1932, Radio City Musical Hall opened. The Rockettes (Then called the Roxyettes) were a part of that very first performance. Opening Night, 1932. Photo from New York Times In the days leading up to the grand opening of the theater, an advertisement quoted Roxy Rothafel as saying: “We believe that nothing approaching the Radio City theaters has ever been given to the entertainment world…into this crowning work of my life I have poured the best that I have learned in twenty-five...

In 1928, the Missouri Rockets traveled to New York City to perform in the Broadway show Rain or Shine where the caught the eye of showbiz impresario Roxy Rothafel. In 1930 they appeared in their first film, “ King of Jazz ”—a pre-Code musical revue starring Paul Whiteman ands orchestra. It contained only musical numbers and comedy sketches. King of Jazz  was the nineteenth all-talking motion picture filmed entirely in two-color  Technicolor  rather than simply including color sequences. At...