but the theater was too large to find lasting success in this venture either. The last feature film to play at the theatre was Walt Disney's Pinocchio in 1940. Looking for a way to make the Center Theatre profitable, Rockefeller Center, inspired by the theatrical success of figure-skating champion Sonja Henie, converted it into a theater expressly designed for the presentation of musical ice shows. This venture was headed by G.S. Eyssell, executive manager of Rockefeller Center, and Arthur M. Wirtz, of Chicago. An ice stage wide with a skating surface of was built in the theater. Beneath it of pipe were laid, capable of continuously circulating a freezing solution at the rate of . For the surface, specially designed ice-making machinery was installed. The result was a permanent frozen stage surface that was ideal for skating. As an ice theater, the Center Theatre reopened on October 10, 1940 with the presentation of Sonja Henie's production, It Happens on Ice, first of the musical ice spectacles. This proved to be a popular new form of entertainment. The show was a huge success, attracting greater than 1.5 million people during its run. For the next several years the Center offered more ice spectacles produced by Henie and Wirtz, including: Stars on Ice, Hats Off to Ice, Icetime, and Howdy Mr. Ice. In addition, during this time the Center was the home for the spring season of the San Carlo Opera Company from 1944 to 1949. The Center Theatre had never been able to become a consistently profitable venture for Rockefeller Center. In 1951, the theatre was leased by NBC and became a venue for live television broadcasts. Many early programs, including The Voice of Firestone and Your Show of Shows, were broadcast from the Center Theatre. Two years later, the United States Rubber Company indicated that it wanted to expand the U.S. Rubber Company Building above the Center Theatre, meaning that the theater had to be closed and demolished to make way for the extra office space. After 21 years of operation, the Center Theatre was demolished in 1954 and replaced with a 19-story addition to the U.S. Rubber Company Building. The final production at the theatre was the New York-portion of the 1953 Academy Awards, when Audrey Hepburn won Best Actress for Roman Holiday. During the demolition process, the U.S. Rubber Building above it was put on temporary stilts, with