On October 1, 1928, John D. Rockefeller and Columbia University negotiated a 24-year lease for three city blocks in Manhattan for a new opera house, but a year later the stock market crashed and the Metropolitan Opera Company backed out of the agreement. Rockefeller was left with a 24-year lease that cost more than $3 million per year (nearly $57 million today). He quickly pivoted, resulting in one of the nation’s most historic complexes. In June 1930, RCA signed a lease agreement to construct what was initially called “Radio City.” Construction of the 70-story RCA Building began in September 1931 and was completed in 1933. Rockefeller turned to theater manager and creative genius Samuel Lionel Rothafel, famously known as “Roxy.” He demanded the highest standards of behavior and appearance from his ushers and employees. His adherence to excellence was even mentioned in Cole Porter’s 1934 song “You’re the Top,” with the line “You’re the pants on a Roxy usher.” Roxy’s visions were spot-on, leading to the construction of a massive marquee the length of a city block, a 160-foot auditorium, an 84-foot-high ceiling, a massive stage, and a stunning 60-foot high and 100-foot wide proscenium arch over the stage. Radio City Music Hall opened on Dec. 27, 1932 with 20 dancing, musical and comedy numbers performed throughout the evening by an in-house company of 80 singers and a 60-member ballet known as "Roxyettes" who performed 48 precision dances. The group would soon become known as the Rockettes. The New York Times proclaimed the evening to be “the greatest achievement of the theatrical world,” marking “a new era in the history of New York.”
