To realize his dream, Lubin brought in the successful and innovative theater operator Samuel L. Rothafel, aka "Roxy",[2] enticing him with a large salary, a percentage of the profits and stock options, and even offering to name the theatre after him.

Its main lobby was a large columned rotunda called the Grand Foyer, which featured "the world's largest oval rug",[5] manufactured by Mohawk Carpets in Amsterdam, New York, and its own separate pipe organ on the mezzanine.

Ahlschlager succeeded in creating an efficient plan for the Roxy's irregular plot of land, utilizing every bit of space by designing a diagonal auditorium with the stage in one corner of the lot.

In spite of the theater's fame and success, the Wall Street crash of 1929 created financial problems for its majority owner, the Fox Film Corporation.

Most of the Roxy's performers and artistic staff moved to the Music Hall with him, including producer Leon Leonidoff, choreographer Russell Markert, and conductor Erno Rapee.

After Rothafel's departure, the Roxy Theatre never quite regained its former glory, but remained a leading New York showcase for film and stage variety shows.

[13] He came out of retirement to run the theater at the urging of Spyros Skouras,[14] the head of the Roxy's parent company, National Theatres, as well as 20th Century-Fox Studios.

Balaban restored the theater to profitability with access to first-run Fox films, as well as the production and presentation of first-class live shows.

[15] Among his innovations were building an ice rink on the Roxy stage, and engaging many of the era's noted performers, such as the Nicholas Brothers, Carmen Cavallaro, and The Harmonicats.

[20] Another widescreen format, the three-projector Cinemiracle, also debuted at the Roxy on a curved 110-foot screen with the 1958 film Windjammer which resulted in the capacity being reduced to 2,710.

Part of the proscenium and side walls were removed to accommodate the huge Cinemiracle screen, and much of the rest of the auditorium was covered in heavy drapes.

[25] Eliot Elisofon's photograph of Gloria Swanson amidst the theater's ruins appeared in the November 7, 1960 issue of LIFE.

[26] The theater can briefly be seen from the air, during its demolition, in the prologue of the film West Side Story, across 7th Avenue from the back of the Winter Garden Theatre.

The spectacular stage and screen programming ideas of the Roxy's founder continued at Radio City Music Hall into the 1970s.

The Music Hall itself was saved from demolition by a consortium of preservation and commercial interests in 1979, and remains one of New York's entertainment landmarks.

Its restored interior includes the lavish Art Deco offices created for "Roxy" Rothafel, preserved as a tribute to the visionary showman.