It was on an icy night in February of 1981 that the New York City of old came most fully alive for me. The occasion was a once-in-a-lifetime showing of Abel Gance’s epic film, “Napoleon” at Radio City Music Hall. The tickets were hard to get -- it seemed like you had to know someone who knew someone to get in the audience, even though the venue sat 6,000.
I was there, too. I remember joking that Reagan had been in office for a couple of weeks and now we were watching silent movies. I think at the end of the picture, Francis Ford Coppola addressed the crowd and said he had Abel Gance on the phone in France, and held up up the phone so he could hear the cheers of the packed Radio City Musical Hall.
Rubbing elbows and making small talk with various celebrities is what my wife misses about working at the airport. She especially misses seeing our regulars, as she calls 'em. Not long before Glen Campbell was diagnosed with dementia, or whatever it was that destroyed his brain, she spoke to him at the ticket counter. She met him previously at NBC studios, I think, when she worked at American Airlines' New York headquarters back in the '70s. Although years later he responded, "I thought you look familiar." She was in heaven.
Very nice! My wife and I were able to see this same roadshow in Hartford the following year, in a big college theatre. It was impressive then and is an impressive film now, even on smaller screens. I don't know if it's available in the USA at the moment, but an even LONGER restored version (they've kept working on this and found lots more "missing" reels since the 1980s) is out on DVD in Europe and the UK (if you have a region-free player, no problem!) and it has the original UK soundtrack by Carl Davis instead of the USA one by Coppola (they are both worthy). Too bad Gance wasn't able to complete his planned trilogy of Napoleon films. Altho' I think Stanley Kubrick's version would have been THE best, had he ever managed to have it made. "Barry Lyndon" was as close as we got.
PS: I believe that Coppola put up some financing to get the restoration made, or the distrbution arranged, something like that on the money end, and getting to stick on a new soundtrack for the North American version was one of the costs of bringing him onboard. Brownlow published a whole book on the restoration project that I used to have and I think the music issues were all discussed in it.
I so enjoyed reading this. Thanks Lucian. My stories of Hollywood actors can't hold a candle to this experience, but after retirement at the phone company and a few years as a driver and later an extra and occasional actor on some low budget stuff I got to meet a couple of them, first as a driver as my boss's social circle included Marvin Davis and at dinner parties at his house would be people like Jack Nicholson, Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, Kirk G Douglas's Bob and Dolores Hope. etc., Jack Nicholson cane out to smoke a cigarette and chatted to us drivers for a while, intil his lady friend came out and called him back in. I actually made Bob Hope laugh at the Betsy rette Bloomingdale's house, he and gloria were just coming out near the end of the evening and were humming together as they waited for their car, so I leaned over and said "Did you two ever think of trying to break into show business?" They thought that was pretty funny. and laughed out load. Waiting outside a store in Beverly Hills a guy I had got to know that worked there asked me if I'd like to meet Burt Lancaster as he was in the stare and would be out soon, I said sure, so a little bit later he introduced me to him and we shook hands chatted for a few minutes. Never thought few years later I'd get to meet and work with briefly his co actor in from Here to Eternity Ernest Borgnine as I was his stand in in his last movie and also in a scene with him and Barry Corbin as a fellow card player. .A nursing home scene. Then as an extra on Jerry Lewis's last film they put me in a scene with him a a body double for Mort Sahl who couldn't make it that day, My face not shown of course. As one of about 200 extra's on Hitchcock I was close to Anthony Hopkins at one point and between takes he asked me if I was having fun. I asked him a question and we chatted for about ten minutes. I mentioned Remains of the Day to him and how much I had enjoyed that picture. Of course an unwritten rule for extras is you never speak to the actors, but if they speak first it's okay. I worked with Jennifer Grey (as her elderly husband :) and Camila Cabello in music videos. With George Hamilton in a commercial and as an extra in a film he was in, With James Corden and Gordon Ramsey in a Late Late show skit, As Rhea Seehorn's elderly senile husband in a movie, but not to bore the reader, a few more odds and ends, but all fun, I especially enjoyed meeting Arnold Palmer and working as his body double and stand in on a commercial, Two days in Palm Springs and 3 days ib Latrobe PA at his club. Oh, another fun shoot was in Vegas with Ana Kendrick on a photoshoot for Kate Spade purses. I met Gregory Peck and Lisa Minelli at an event, Dean Martin outside a restaurant , John Lithgow and Jim Belushi on sets, ,Rhonda Fleming, Arlene Dahl, wives of two of my bosses friends, , Eva Gabor, a friend of Merv Griffin, another of the dinner crowd, Edie Albert I got to know fairly well. he was also connected to my boss's crowd and was a neighbor of another friend. Leslie Caron at a book signing, , Eddie Albert (several times), Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters I met at an event.
Actually as I think of it my old boss was friends with several prominent people in the business world too that I met from time to time such as ,Lew Wasserman (head of Universal and Walter Annenberg, The reagan's of course since they all met at New Years at the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, John Kluge, head of Metromedia before Murdock. Tom Jones, head of Northrup., Heads of Litton Industries, so many more.... So many of then m dead now.
Thank you Marlene, it was fun for those 10 years and before that as a driver as described. My boss was a retired business executive and socialized with the Reagans and their circle for t years like the Annenbergs, and other business people mostly retired. I worked also for the son of one of the founders of CBS before the Paleys. His father is mentioned in Sally Bedell Smith's book on Bill Paley. His father Sam built subways in Philadelphia and had retired when he invested in CBS as he played poker with a group that included Sam Paley. His name was Jerome Louchheim. So between the two I was treated to lots of stories about their lives and friends.
I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to sit next to Gloria Swanson! And, FFC holding up the phone so Abel Gance could hear the audience cheer makes my spine tingle. What a thrilling night. That’s New York for you. ❤️ Thank you for taking me back to that moment. xoxo
While I wasn’t there that night, I saw it later in the summer, also with Carmine Coppola. It’s how I fell in love with silent movies and why I have my website on them. It sparked a lifelong love I cherish!
I was there, too. I remember joking that Reagan had been in office for a couple of weeks and now we were watching silent movies. I think at the end of the picture, Francis Ford Coppola addressed the crowd and said he had Abel Gance on the phone in France, and held up up the phone so he could hear the cheers of the packed Radio City Musical Hall.
thank you, LKTIV, for another foray outside of our sometimes depressing current conditions.
this time taking us into the glamourous New York nightlife that i'll guess very few of us could experience.
as i read i could fell 3rd-hand and 4th-hand glamour rubbing off on me with your words.
thank you.
I was there! Pregnant with my first. It was spectacular. The live music. The color. Never forget it.
Rubbing elbows and making small talk with various celebrities is what my wife misses about working at the airport. She especially misses seeing our regulars, as she calls 'em. Not long before Glen Campbell was diagnosed with dementia, or whatever it was that destroyed his brain, she spoke to him at the ticket counter. She met him previously at NBC studios, I think, when she worked at American Airlines' New York headquarters back in the '70s. Although years later he responded, "I thought you look familiar." She was in heaven.
👋🏻
A story up there with Breslin and Hamill at their best vis a vis New York.
Very nice! My wife and I were able to see this same roadshow in Hartford the following year, in a big college theatre. It was impressive then and is an impressive film now, even on smaller screens. I don't know if it's available in the USA at the moment, but an even LONGER restored version (they've kept working on this and found lots more "missing" reels since the 1980s) is out on DVD in Europe and the UK (if you have a region-free player, no problem!) and it has the original UK soundtrack by Carl Davis instead of the USA one by Coppola (they are both worthy). Too bad Gance wasn't able to complete his planned trilogy of Napoleon films. Altho' I think Stanley Kubrick's version would have been THE best, had he ever managed to have it made. "Barry Lyndon" was as close as we got.
PS: I believe that Coppola put up some financing to get the restoration made, or the distrbution arranged, something like that on the money end, and getting to stick on a new soundtrack for the North American version was one of the costs of bringing him onboard. Brownlow published a whole book on the restoration project that I used to have and I think the music issues were all discussed in it.
I so enjoyed reading this. Thanks Lucian. My stories of Hollywood actors can't hold a candle to this experience, but after retirement at the phone company and a few years as a driver and later an extra and occasional actor on some low budget stuff I got to meet a couple of them, first as a driver as my boss's social circle included Marvin Davis and at dinner parties at his house would be people like Jack Nicholson, Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, Kirk G Douglas's Bob and Dolores Hope. etc., Jack Nicholson cane out to smoke a cigarette and chatted to us drivers for a while, intil his lady friend came out and called him back in. I actually made Bob Hope laugh at the Betsy rette Bloomingdale's house, he and gloria were just coming out near the end of the evening and were humming together as they waited for their car, so I leaned over and said "Did you two ever think of trying to break into show business?" They thought that was pretty funny. and laughed out load. Waiting outside a store in Beverly Hills a guy I had got to know that worked there asked me if I'd like to meet Burt Lancaster as he was in the stare and would be out soon, I said sure, so a little bit later he introduced me to him and we shook hands chatted for a few minutes. Never thought few years later I'd get to meet and work with briefly his co actor in from Here to Eternity Ernest Borgnine as I was his stand in in his last movie and also in a scene with him and Barry Corbin as a fellow card player. .A nursing home scene. Then as an extra on Jerry Lewis's last film they put me in a scene with him a a body double for Mort Sahl who couldn't make it that day, My face not shown of course. As one of about 200 extra's on Hitchcock I was close to Anthony Hopkins at one point and between takes he asked me if I was having fun. I asked him a question and we chatted for about ten minutes. I mentioned Remains of the Day to him and how much I had enjoyed that picture. Of course an unwritten rule for extras is you never speak to the actors, but if they speak first it's okay. I worked with Jennifer Grey (as her elderly husband :) and Camila Cabello in music videos. With George Hamilton in a commercial and as an extra in a film he was in, With James Corden and Gordon Ramsey in a Late Late show skit, As Rhea Seehorn's elderly senile husband in a movie, but not to bore the reader, a few more odds and ends, but all fun, I especially enjoyed meeting Arnold Palmer and working as his body double and stand in on a commercial, Two days in Palm Springs and 3 days ib Latrobe PA at his club. Oh, another fun shoot was in Vegas with Ana Kendrick on a photoshoot for Kate Spade purses. I met Gregory Peck and Lisa Minelli at an event, Dean Martin outside a restaurant , John Lithgow and Jim Belushi on sets, ,Rhonda Fleming, Arlene Dahl, wives of two of my bosses friends, , Eva Gabor, a friend of Merv Griffin, another of the dinner crowd, Edie Albert I got to know fairly well. he was also connected to my boss's crowd and was a neighbor of another friend. Leslie Caron at a book signing, , Eddie Albert (several times), Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters I met at an event.
Actually as I think of it my old boss was friends with several prominent people in the business world too that I met from time to time such as ,Lew Wasserman (head of Universal and Walter Annenberg, The reagan's of course since they all met at New Years at the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, John Kluge, head of Metromedia before Murdock. Tom Jones, head of Northrup., Heads of Litton Industries, so many more.... So many of then m dead now.
You’ve had quite an interesting life, Robert!
Thank you Marlene, it was fun for those 10 years and before that as a driver as described. My boss was a retired business executive and socialized with the Reagans and their circle for t years like the Annenbergs, and other business people mostly retired. I worked also for the son of one of the founders of CBS before the Paleys. His father is mentioned in Sally Bedell Smith's book on Bill Paley. His father Sam built subways in Philadelphia and had retired when he invested in CBS as he played poker with a group that included Sam Paley. His name was Jerome Louchheim. So between the two I was treated to lots of stories about their lives and friends.
Fascinating!
I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to sit next to Gloria Swanson! And, FFC holding up the phone so Abel Gance could hear the audience cheer makes my spine tingle. What a thrilling night. That’s New York for you. ❤️ Thank you for taking me back to that moment. xoxo
Thank you for taking us all there with you.
Roger Ebert's account from that month:
www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/napoleon-conquers-radio-city-music-hall
Thanks for that, Lucian!
Thank you for bringing this incredible experience of a special time in your life.
This just takes your breath away! Thank you.
While I wasn’t there that night, I saw it later in the summer, also with Carmine Coppola. It’s how I fell in love with silent movies and why I have my website on them. It sparked a lifelong love I cherish!
I too was there, entranced. I wonder if I was sitting near you.
Bravo!
I can only imagine what the popcorn sales should have been like.