Unfortunately, we seem to have lost the language of the curtain in movie theaters today. Unless the atmosphere is perfectly set, they seem a bit pretentious. The last time I have seen the curtain used where it didn't seem awkward was at Walt Disney World. "The Hall of Presidents" and the "France" exhibit in EPCOT are two that come to mind as being excellent examples where it still works.

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I think one reason they don't do "roadshow" releases any more is it allows people to read or hear about the film before it get to their town. So, if the film is not that good, it can be killed before it gets off the ground.

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The film company would send an advance man in to the theatre to create publicity about the films arrival. He would also check the theatre from top to bottom and file a report with the distributor.
This included the physical theatre as well as projection and sound.

As an example when I was the Manager of the Town Cinerama Theatre in Baltimore in 1962 we opened "Mutiny On The Bounty." The film company required that new masking and curtains be installed before opening. They shared in the cost of these items. Our group sales office opened two months before the opening of the film. The publicist arranged for the replica of the HMS Bounty to carry passengers from Washington, DC to Baltimore for the Premiere. Government officials, the Mayor, congressmen. Film production personnel, Stars, distribution personnel, theatre personnel, press from both Washington and Baltimore were on board. Live radio was set up in the lobby of the theatre, with tickets being given away as well as other prizes, including a new automobile.

Our advance sales for this two shows per day reached over $150,000., before we opened the doors.This figure included groups.

The show included an intermission and it played at this theatre for
five months as a roadshow in 70mm.It then played for an additional month on grind operation.

I was fortunate in my management life to have worked with the following roadshow films in various theatres:

Ben Hur,This is Cinerama, How The West Was Won, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Fiddler On The Roof,Sound Of Music, Caligula, Last Tango In Paris.

We run an "attraction" reel that always includes a 1.37 ar cartoon, attractions and one or two PSAs. This allows us to always go from an Academy 1.37 ratio to full scope or to 1.85. This makes the feature, even if it is only 1.85, look more impressive than the preceding cartoon. We have motorized side masking and curtains, so naturally we do a curtain close in between the attraction reel and the feature. The curtain opening before the feature sets the feature aside and tells the audience that something important is happening. (I got that from the "Curtian Protocol" section of the Interstate Theatres Manager's Manual, Austin TX, circa 1965 [I was VERY young]). In fact that's the way they did it in Century's flagship first run theatres in Queens, NY, so it's not just a Texas thing.

We bring the curtain warmers up to a glow as the attraction reel ends. The curtain then closes, there is a 15 - 30 sec pause and the curtain warmers do a slow fade while the houselights dim to their "Feature Level" -- a bit darker than the preshow level which has more light in the asiles. These lighting changes avoid making it seem like we just closed the curtian for no reason as James said. There is a pause, the light levels change and then the curtain opens to whichever wide screen size the feature is in. Our audiences love it. One one patron did voice the fact that "all that stuff before the feature was silly and a waste of time." I told my box office personnel to memorize her face -- that she was forbidden to ever come into the theatre again.

I have gone with both concepts -- opening the masking "in secret" behind the curtain, and also opening the curtain and allowing the audience to see the mask open as well. We let the curtain open past the mask which is still at 1.45ar; about two or three feet past it, the mask is then started so that it follows the curtains.

If you ever ran WOODSTOCK, you can really have fun with this. Nearly the entire first reel is in 1.37 -- the anamorphic image placing the square image in the middle of the screen. We play the that entire first 15 minutes with the mask and the curtains set at 1.37 -- it's in mono, no music just documentary-type talk. Then the picture fades to black and the opening credit music starts in full stereo with the surrounds kicking in and the image goes to full width scope -- we obviously aint in Kansas any more. At the point we open the mask and curtains simultaniously to full scope positions. Simply spectacular. God, I love this business!

What are your memories of the most dramatic music overtures, Intermission points (Ben Hur and El Cid are mine), ent'acts to the second half, finale etc?

Kind regards,

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For me it's a toss-up between MY FAIR LADY and CAMELOT as far as incredibly dramatic endings into intermission go. Both have great music that swells to a powerful climax. But I have to tip it to CAMELOT because the music is a bit longer and more rousing; after a great monologue by Richard Harris as King Arthur (with a weird looking phalic shadow playing on his face during the whole speech -- quite bizzar), the camera cranes up to show an overhead shot of the Round Table with all the knights around it. If you don't get goosebumbs and chills bringing the up the curtain warmers, kick up the sound level a few points and timing the curtains to close precisely at the fade-out of this powerful sequence, then you need to get your vital signs checked.

I have run both of these classics many times in my career and the pleasure never deminishes; it's just so cool making these works accessible to new audiences.

After 135 minutes of drama, intrige and spectacle, Judah Ben-Hur is told falsly, by Esther, that his mother and sister are dead.

He breaks down in the derelict courtyard of his formerly lavish villa and then looks up with vengeance in his eyes.

He storms off into the night as winds swirl the leaves in the courtyard, there is a slow fade and Miklos Rozsa's music swells into an impressive and quite long Intermssion title.

Ah. The memories.

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