The Ziegfeld Is Dead

By the way, I saw that Rocky trailer at the Ziegfeld, the last grand movie palace left in New York City. There's no other one-screen theater that comes close to its capacity, now that Astor Plaza and others have disappeared. And I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before the Ziegfeld closes too. Never luxurious, the Ziegfeld has for years been one of the choice locations for movie premieres. And if a film like "The Lord of the Rings" or "Superman Returns" was playing there, that was definitely the theater you wanted to see it in. No other movie house in NYC came close its sense of occasion. Heck, the very first movie I saw in New York was a revival of "Spartacus" at the Ziegfeld and I was thrilled and astonished to see the line stretching down the block, around the corner and down the next block as well. In the past few weeks, I've gone to see "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Casino Royale" on opening weekend at the Ziegfeld and it's been at least half empty both times. With the multiplexes all over town, people simply won't trudge out to the midtown, isolated location of the Ziegfeld. In recent months, it's also filled up down time with tired reruns of old movies. No one came. Soon, inevitably, the Ziegfeld will close.