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Radio City Music Hall
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==== Planning ==== The [[construction of Rockefeller Center]] occurred between 1932 and 1940.{{efn|[[30 Rockefeller Plaza]] was the first building to start construction, in March 1932.<ref>{{cite news|page=43|title=First Steel Column Erected in 70-Story Rockefeller Unit|date=March 8, 1932|work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/08/issue.html|issn=0362-4331 |access-date=November 15, 2017 |url-status=live|archive-date=March 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316163403/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/08/issue.html}}</ref> The last building was completed in 1940.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1940/10/16/102265018.pdf |title=Airline Building Is Dedicated Here; Governors of 17 States Take Part by Pressing Keys |date=October 16, 1940|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=November 21, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316163359/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1940/10/16/102265018.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live}}</ref>}} on land that [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] leased from [[Columbia University]].{{sfn|Glancy|1992|p=431}} The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new [[opera house]] for the [[Metropolitan Opera]].{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} By 1928, [[Benjamin Wistar Morris (architect)|Benjamin Wistar Morris]] and designer [[Joseph Urban]] were hired to come up with blueprints for the house.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=21}} The new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an [[Financial endowment|endowment]];{{sfn|Adams|1985|p=13}} the project ultimately gained the support of [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]]{{sfn|Adams|1985|p=13}}{{sfn|Krinsky|1978|pp=31β32}} The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/06/94215747.pdf|title=Rockefeller Site For Opera Dropped |date=December 6, 1929|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=November 10, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316163358/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/06/94215747.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Balfour|1978|p=11}}{{sfn|Krinsky|1978|pp=16, 48β50}} but Rockefeller made a deal with [[RCA]] to develop Rockefeller Center as a [[mass media]] complex with four theaters.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|pp=137β138}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/06/14/96156413.pdf|title=Rockefeller Plans Huge Culture Centre|date=June 14, 1930|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=November 15, 2017|archive-date=April 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403220537/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/06/14/96156413.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live}}</ref> This was later downsized to two theaters.{{sfn|Adams|1985|p=45}}{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=177}} [[Samuel Roxy Rothafel]], a successful theater operator who was renowned for his domination of the city's movie theater industry,{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=203}} joined the center's advisory board in 1930.{{sfn|Balfour|1978|p=91}}{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=213}}{{sfn|Krinsky|1978|p=64}} He offered to build two theaters: a large vaudeville "International Music Hall" on the northernmost block, with more than 6,200 seats, and the smaller 3,500-seat "RKO Roxy" movie theater on the southernmost block.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=213}}{{sfn|Krinsky|1978|p=65}}{{sfn|Hofmeister|1932|p=355}} The idea for these theaters was inspired by Roxy's failed expansion of the 5,920-seat [[Roxy Theatre (New York City)|Roxy Theatre]] on 50th Street, one and a half blocks away.{{sfn|Adams|1985|p=46}}{{sfn|Balfour|1978|p=92}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252018%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201932%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201932%2520-%25206106.pdf|title=Roxy Presents New Mood|last=Gilligan|first=Edmund|date=November 29, 1932|work=The New York Sun|access-date=November 11, 2017|page=20|via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> The Music Hall was to have a single admission price of $2 per person.{{sfn|Hofmeister|1932|p=355}} Roxy also envisioned an elevated promenade between the two theaters,<ref>{{cite news|last=Brock|first=H.I.|title=Problems Confronting the Designers of Radio City|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=April 5, 1931|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/04/05/102224374.pdf|access-date=November 28, 2017|archive-date=April 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403220542/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/04/05/102224374.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live}}</ref> but this was never published in any of the official blueprints.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=213}}
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