Léo Staats at the Roxy, 1926-1928

Abstract

One of the stranger moments in theatre history was the flourishing in the 1920s of the American movie palaces with their elaborate 'prologs'. As part of a program lasting around two hours the patron could sit in baroquely spectacular surroundings and see a varied stage show featuring music and dance in addition to a film. Unlike the elaborate productions earlier in the century at London's Empire and Alhambra, the program was changed nearly every week, and was differently conceived from the kaleidoscopic variety of a vaudeville house (such as the Palace) or British music hall, with their wild melange of acts. There were circuits sending complete prologs around the country on a fixed schedule, but some of the principal theatres, such as New York's Capitol and Roxy, maintained a full symphony orchestra, chorus, corps de ballet, and soloists as well as special groups like the Roxy's American Rockets, soon renamed the Roxyettes and still famous as Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes, in addition to the craft workers needed to create the lavish productions. The coming of sound pictures and the Depression turned most of these theatres into straight film houses, and by the time Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932, only a few such elaborate shows were still being presented in New York and a few other major cities. Staging and running such shows required a large staff of designers, directors, conductors, and choreographers, many of whom were first-rate in their fields: perhaps the most famous musician to come out of this milieu was Eugene Ormandy, who rose from concertmaster and then assistant conductor at the Capitol to conductor of the Minneapolis and then the Philadelphia orchestras. And in 1929 the Roxy hired as its choreographer Leonide Massine, who remained there for three years. But even more unexpected, perhaps, was the combination of events that brought Leo Staats from the Paris Opera to be the first choreographer at the Roxy during a New York stay of about two years.