Editing Radio City Music Hall (section)

=== Opening ===
Radio City Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932, with a lavish stage show featuring numbers including [[Ray Bolger]], [[Ronnie Mansfield]], [[Doc Rockwell]], [[Martha Graham]], [[Ralph Dumke|The Mirthquakers]], [[The Tuskegee Choir]] and [[Patricia Bowman]].{{sfn|Balfour|1978|p=94}}{{sfn|Okrent|2003|pp=239–243}}<ref>{{cite news|title=RALPH DUMKE, 64, PERFORMER, DEAD: Former Radio Star Was on Stage, In Films and on TV |work=The New York Times|date=January 6, 1964|page=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/arts/patricia-bowman-a-ballerina-who-linked-two-eras-of-dance.html|title=Patricia Bowman, A Ballerina Who Linked Two Eras of Dance|author=Jack Anderson|date=April 27, 1999|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 21, 2021 |archive-date=April 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419213108/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/arts/patricia-bowman-a-ballerina-who-linked-two-eras-of-dance.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment.<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%25201931%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201931%2520-%25200398.pdf|title=Mount Vernon Shares Glory at Opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York|date=December 28, 1932|work=Daily Argus|location=[[Mount Vernon, New York]]|access-date=November 10, 2017|page=16|via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Music Hall Marks New Era In Design; Many Traditions in Building of Theatres Cast Aside for Modern Devices|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=December 28, 1932 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/12/28/105940014.pdf|access-date=November 12, 2017|archive-date=April 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403220542/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/12/28/105940014.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|url-status=live}}</ref> However, Radio City's opening program flopped because the program was very long, spanning from 8&nbsp;p.m. to 2&nbsp;a.m. the next day, and a multitude of acts were crammed onto the world's largest stage, ensuring that individual acts were lost in the cavernous hall. As the premiere went on, audience members, including John Rockefeller Jr, waited in the lobby or simply left early.{{sfn|Balfour|1978|p=94}}{{sfn|Okrent|2003|pp=241–242}} Some news reporters, tasked with writing reviews of the premiere, guessed the ending of the program because they left beforehand.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=242}}

Reviews ranged from furious to commiserate.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=244}} The film historian [[Terry Ramsaye]] wrote that "if the seating capacity of the Radio City Music Hall is precisely 6,200, then just exactly 6,199 persons must have been aware at the initial performance that they were eye witnesses to [...] the unveiling of the world's best 'bust'".<ref>{{cite news|last=Ramsaye |first=Terry|title=Static in Radio City|work=Motion Picture Herald|via=Internet Archive|date=January 14, 1933 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher110unse#page/n179/mode/2up/search/seating+capacity+of+the+radio+city+music+hall|access-date=November 28, 2017|page=11}}</ref> Set designer [[Robert Edmond Jones]] resigned in disappointment, and Graham was fired.{{sfn|Okrent|2003|p=244}} Despite the negative reviews of the performances, the theater's design was very well received.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=18}} One reviewer stated: "It has been said of the new Music Hall that it needs no performers; that its beauty and comforts alone are sufficient to gratify the greediest of playgoers."<ref>{{Cite journal |title=World's Biggest Playhouse Opens|journal=Literary Digest|volume=115|date=January 14, 1933|page=16}}</ref>