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Author Topic: Curtains do you use them? Warren Dewey Film Handler Posts: 28 From: monterey ca usa Registered: Jan 2006 posted 01-27-2010 06:17 AM                        quote: Tony Ratcliff Curtains are especially nice when showing classic films. Most classics' beginnings and endings were designed for this. Many modern movie openings look great under curtains too, especially the Fox "Cinemascope Extension" logo and the Disney logo that pulls back to reveal the castle as the curtains open. quote: Monte L Fullmer Anybody still have, or heard of "fire curtains?" There were 2 classic asbestos fire curtains in Pasadena CA, one (now destroyed) that was in the Raymond Theatre of a twenties Oldsmobile, and a great Vaudeville-style curtain with ads for 10-cent breakfasts and $2 valve jobs in an Egyptian style theater that is now a warehouse.  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-27-2010 07:09 AM                     Im with Mike O on this one, the show is in segments, sorry, but i think the magic is lost without them, if you have them, please use them.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 01-27-2010 09:59 AM                     In the business plan, we dont use the curtains in our theatres, but in my spare time, I have gone around and gotten the curtain controls all cleaned up and lubricated. I let them all down and we vacuumed the fronts. I was amazed at how much stuff had been thrown at the curtain over the years... popsicle sticks, straws, popcorn... I do wish we could use them. If for no other reason, use them at night to protect the screens from the ravages of our night-time cleaning crews using leaf blowers in the auditoriums! When I run one of my own prints, I use the curtains. Makes the old place look really snazzy. One day, I will actually be in the auditorium and get to see one of my prints actually start instead of a few minutes in...  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 01-27-2010 11:34 AM                     I recently repaired the giant "waterfall" curtain in the largest (formerly70mm) auditorium at one of my theaters. It had been 'stalled' in the "up" position for several years and it required a lot of climbing and crawling around on top of the stage to get everything working again. But it was well worth the effort! It adds so much more 'class' to the presentation. Although I have automation in that auditorium, I usually go totally "manual" at show start and handle the non-sync fade, house & stage lights, curtain open & projector start myself. (I also like to 'fade in' with the manual dowser) I then kick everything back to the automation for show close, since I can't always be there at the end of the film.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 01-27-2010 03:26 PM                     We got a guesstimate from a specialist in theatrical curtains on replacing our waterfall, it's about 39' wide by 23' high, reusing as much of the rigging as possible. $21,000 = or - 10%.  |  IP: Logged Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 01-27-2010 05:25 PM                     Anyone know what type of oil the gear box takes. This was an old general cinema from the 80's that had 70mm in this auditorium. We use slide projectors now and we have them turned off. Unfortunately looks over presentation is at play here I would love to run them shut when we start a movie or when we play classic films, we have a 35mm print of easy rider this weekend.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-27-2010 09:17 PM                        Pretty much every house with a stage will have a fire curtain. It's essentially standard issue, and (almost?) always required by code. What do they make the new ones out of? I've only seen older asbestos fire curtains.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-28-2010 02:43 AM                     ....a local theatre's fire curtain... -Monte  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 01-28-2010 11:22 AM                     All the curtain and masking motor gearboxes we have take #90 gear oil.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-28-2010 11:27 AM                        I have been wanting to put a curtain in the Roxy for about 20 years. It would be the icing on the cake. But it's looking more and more like I'm gonna need to pay for my own -- basically zero help is on the horizon for single screens. So, the curtain is still on the list, it's just a little farther down for a while.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-28-2010 11:52 AM                     Mike, screw the D-Crapema and put the curtain in first...film is gonna be around long enough for you to still get product and save up for the A curtain is a change your customers WILL notice and appreciate!! The is just a gimmick and doesn't enhance a presentation enough to justify the cost and operational headaches. And you said it yourself..ZERO help for single screens on !!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-28-2010 12:04 PM                        Tony - Good sentiments which I agree with, but I admit to being a little stymied about the 3-D "juggernaut." I am very curious about what will happen post-Avatar...studios are talking now about pure 3-D releases. If it really does catch on and become a "given" for certain types of movies, it may be necessary to put with 3-D in to even get product in some cases.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 01-28-2010 02:11 PM                        For Scott, some of the stages here use water deluge systems instead of fire curtains. Code here allows for this. I imagine a modern fire curtain is made from the same stuff used for current stage electrical cable insulation (the stuff used to wire the "pigtails" on lighting fixtures). Not a single movie house here has curtains. If I ever get to build my dream "ImaginAsian"-style screening facility, the budget will certainly include curtains. It would be a novelty. Everything old is new again.  |  IP: Logged Matt Gress Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Boston, MA USA Registered: Jul 2009 posted 02-08-2010 07:07 PM                     I use them between the slideshow and the trailers and close them as the show ends. Also, films with overtures really benefit from a curtain presentation. As more new technology enters our booth, with controls at various levels of arms-length convenience, it gets more difficult to do this correctly. You really have to want it. I've been at this about 13 years and have the benefit of working in some beautiful old houses with curtains and I've also benefited from good training. We have a strange booth - automated changeovers on two screens. Lots of archival prints mixed in with the regular stuff. Every film starts with a short subject on video. If you snooze you lose. I think the curtains keep everyone sharp.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-09-2010 11:56 PM                        Yup, we have them in all three of our theatres. In our biggest house, we have two -- the grand curtain that flies and also a beautiful cream satin curtain on the screen frame itself. Radio City Music Hall has the same thing and uses them the same way we do -- the main waterfall raises a few seconds before the screen curtain begins to split. In fact, our Walt Whitman Theatre is a faux art-deco design and the curved coves in our ceiling were designed to mimic the curved coves in that Grand Lady. Of course they hardly ever run film any more at RCMH. Our cinema activity has slowed down substantially as well. I don't always use both curtains when showning movies in the Whitman because the main rag flies and can't be motorized (or at least ours isn't) so we need a separate stagehand just to do that pull. I don't like it when I don't have direct control and have to rely on someone to be at his post exactly when he's supposed to be (I've gotten burned with that more than once -- they could hear me cursing as far as the front balcony), but occassionally I have used both and it sure is impressive. Can your presentation be spot-on without curtains? Of course. But as I have said many times, a naked screen without a curtain, sitting there, staring back at the audience is like a 5 star restaurant without any table cloths on the tables. Can the food still be superb? Sure, but as for a certain level of class and civility -- patrons will be walking away snickering. There just are some things that you do because they add character to the place; not everthing has to be utilitarian.  |  IP: Logged

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