When the Movies Got Smaller

One of the most famous lines in the 1950 cinema classic Sunset Boulevard is uttered by actress Gloria Swanson, who starred as former silent film star Norma Desmond. When the male lead, played by William Holden, meets her and recognizes her as a former movie queen, he comments, “You used to be big.” She responds, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

So it was fitting that Swanson came by to pose for a photo when the Roxy movie theater was being demolished in 1960. The Roxy was the largest movie theater in the world when it opened in 1927, and it could seat about 6,000 people. With the Roxy being torn down, now the movie houses were getting smaller.

Beyond the poetic resonance, Swanson also had a direct connection to history of the Roxy. Her silent film The Love of Sunya was the first movie to play there, and she was in the audience for the film’s premiere, and had carved her name into the theater’s dome.

When Swanson returned for the demolition, she played to the drama of the moment for a photo by LIFE staff photographer Eliot Elisofon. The magazine’s story, headlined “Swan Song For a Famous Theater” was a short one but captured Swanson, then 61 years old, playing the role of movie star to the hilt:

The famous theater, its day done, is now being torn down, and last month Miss Swanson came back for a last look at the ruins. A wry and witty woman, she remarked, “Wherever I go I hear people saying `Is it” or “Isn’t it?’ and once I heard a man say, “It is. It is the original. ‘” When, gowned in a Jean Louis sheath, a feathery boa and $170,000 in jewels, she swept up to the Roxy in a Rolls Royce, crowds gathered and she could hear again, “Is it, or isn’t it.?” Perhaps she also heard the man who said loudly, “It is, and it’s looking better than ever.”

The Roxy, which cost about $12 million to build back in 1927—that’s more than $200 million in today’s dollars—was more than a movie theater. The space also hosted big stage shows, which meant that it had dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, and a pipe organ. Also included was an infirmary and a menagerie to accommodate animal performers.

In addition to the photos that Elisofon took of Swanson, this collection also includes a couple photos of the Roxy’s demolition taken by another LIFE staff photographer, Ralph Morse. The Roxy may have had a special place in the hearts of people who worked at LIFE magazine because the theater was located at 153 W. 50th Street, which is just down the block from the old Time-Life building, where the magazine was headquartered. So it’s likely that LIFE staffers caught many shows there, perhaps even sneaking out of the office for an afternoon movie break.

The demolition meant goodbye to all that.

Actress Gloria Swanson posed on the site of old Roxy Theater in New York as it was being destroyed. Her silent movie The Love of Sunya was the first movie to play at the Roxy when it opened in 1927.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gloria Swanson arrived to pose at the Roxy theater as it was being town down, 1960.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gloria Swanson posed at the Roxy theater as it was being town down, New York City, 1960.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gloria Swanson posed at the Roxy, once the largest movie theater in the world, as it was being town down, New York City, 1960.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock