Back to the beginning of the Museum Web Site

By 1961, the 70mm Roadshow super production was becoming increasingly popular. While not on a par with the complexity and expense of films like Ben-Hur and Spartacus, West Side Story came pre-sold to the screen as a result of having been an immensely popular Broadway stage musical that, in turn, had been not too loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It was the third feature produced in 65mm using Panavision, Inc.'s copy of Todd-AO. Like many recent musicals, United Artists handled the film as a hard ticket, reserved seat roadshow, but being unusual in its modern storyline, its presentation was a bit unusual as well. The film did not feature an intermission or exit music and its credits were in the very unusual, for the time, location at the end of the film. (Allowing general release theatres to chop the credits off and save five minutes.) Our thanks to Tao Yue for providing this copy of UA's presentation instructions.


Back To The SHOWMANSHIP Page
Back To The Lobby