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Radio City Music Hall : The Life Of Radio City Music Hall

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In October 1928, John D. Rockefeller Jr. signed a lease for a large amount of land in Manhattan to build a new metropolitan opera house. The stock market crash of 1929 put the opera house plans at a halt. Rockefeller then decided to build a city within a city, today known as Rockefeller Center. He took one undesired strip on land that ran along Sixth Avenue and turned it into Theatre No. 10, which later became Radio City Music Hall. This grand theatre featured a block-long, six-story Grand Foyer, a ceiling of eighty-four feet, over 6,000 seats, and a magnificent 144 –foot-by-66-foot stage. In order for Rockefeller’s theatre to be the greatest of its time, he needed to hire the greatest showman. Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel was just the man for the job since he was famous for revitalizing vaudeville theatres across America. (Roxys design in theatre.) Early in his career, Rothafel encountered a group of precision dancers by the name of the Missouri Rockets, originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Created and directed by Russell Markert, the Missouri Rockets were composed of girls with diverse dance styles, long legs, and the ability to perform high kicks. Once Roxy saw them perform, he immediately fell in love the group’s technique and showmanship and invited them to perform as the “Roxyettes” at Radio City Music Hall’s opening night. Radio City Music Hall’s opening night performance didn’t go as planned. A torrential downpour and traffic jams delayed many of the

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