my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » When did XXX theaters stop using film? (Page 4)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

Author Topic: When did XXX theaters stop using film? Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-29-2002 09:37 AM                        Where are they getting the 35mm adult films? Are they showing older titles, or are current films being produced in the format? I thought that most adult films were now being shot either on 16mm or video and never had composite release prints made. Is there really any money left in the theatrical end of this business? I know one theatre owner who recently got out of it (he ran 35mm until 1987 and video since then) due to declining demand resulting from cable TV and videotape and also due to the damage which his patrons tended to cause to his theatre. He is doing art films (no, not that kind of "art film") and special events now with varying degrees of success.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 12-29-2002 09:58 AM                     Hi Scott. The Fine Arts is showing more mainstream films these days. In 1999, they were the only theatre that played"Gone With The Wind" in this whole city. Many of the films now running there are foreign films. I can't recall hearing of any complaints there, even when they ran John Waters "Pink Flamingos" for a solid week in 35. Many of the older residents still consider the place to be a skid-row business. The street it is on is now very "trendy" (expensive) The tourists love the place.  |  IP: Logged Gerard S. Cohen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 975 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 12-29-2002 04:29 PM                     In the early 70's I worked the Victory Theatre, NYC 42nd Street, built as a stage theater 100 years ago. I started in 1970 running 35mm mystery and horror shows on three Simplex X-L's with Peerless lamphouses. That changed to soft porn, then to hard core as the street went downhill. The greatest hit was the antics of the house cat, a large white pet kept as a mouser. One double feature bill ended with a scene in which the hero punishes a man who violated his girl by tying the rapist to the grill of a large truck, then tying one end of a rope to the offender's member. The other end he tied to the trailer hitch of his pickup. As he accellerated, and the rope rapidly uncoiled, the house cat sprang into action, leaping from under the balcony across the tops of the seat-backs onto the stage, where he would leap above the masking, clawing at the image of the dancing rope, until the victim's screams coincided with the brief flight of his member at the end of the rope. The few dazed patrons roared. But the kicker was that the cat did this at the close of the last show every night that feature played! The Victory finally closed, its facade was restored to its original beauty, and reopened as the New Victory Theater, presenting live theatrical, ballet and musical events with rehearsal rooms to spare, in the late 1990's.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-29-2002 04:45 PM                     To answer a question Brad posted a while back, yes some porno DVDs do use the multiple angle feature. But more often than not, the "feature" is just baloney. Either the alternate angle will just be flipped horizontally, or you will see the "cable friendly" version of the shot (no explicit shots of penetration, etc.).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-29-2002 04:46 PM                     Seems to me that in the Midwest area, Myself and Steve Kraus bought up all the X rated theatres projection equipment....Really ! That was back in the early 90's and alot of the equipment had been idle for some time already. Alot of that equipment is now being used(probably to show family films)in Wisconsin and other Midwestern area theatres . Mark  |  IP: Logged Jean-Michel Grin Expert Film Handler Posts: 222 From: Geneva & Lausanne, Switzerland Registered: Jul 2002 posted 12-29-2002 05:32 PM                        You know, in Geneva from long time, hardcore porn cinema theater are definitly svitched to DVD... But pay attention where you sit The floor couly be dirty and slippy !  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 12-30-2002 01:13 AM                        Wierd I should see Paul's response in earlier posts. The Seattle local made a tour of local porn houses part of my "training" back in the mid-'70s... lucky me! The "Midtown Theatre" was probably one of the "classiest" operations back then. It was a relatively recent (and therefore, relatively clean) remodel with vending machines in the lobby (including popcorn). 2 people ran the place... a manager/bouncer/concession worker, and a projectionist... amazingly enough... a union operator. We had a pair of Century machines with Kneisly-converted Enarc lamps & some sound system I don't remember... a wall-mounted RCA, Kintek, Kelmar... whatever. We also had a Hortzon 16mm machine... reverse-side threading & also xenon. All machines had bulbs that were a real study in how many hours you could really get out of a xenon, envelope color notwithstanding! On a full show we ran a 16mm feature on the Hortzon, then a feature on the 35mm machines, one 6,000 reel each. Each machine got run one reel per "presentation". On the other end of the "class" scale was an old single-screen "palace" that was operated by the local porn king. It had Simplex machines, Magnarcs and NO house lights ever! The machines sat on a concrete riser, and the ports were just about up against the auditorium ceiling. Thankfully, that place is long gone... razed in favor of an office building or condos or the like. Paul will appreciate this. There was a dive called the "Champ Arcade", which actually used union operators. They had a room full of view boxes, each of which had a 16mm projector, running an endless loop reel, projecting on a reverse screen. The "customer" plugged quarters into the box, ratcheting some kind of impulse-activated timer... each quarter running the machine for a minute or so. The mechanics of the whole operation were pretty amazing, but wow... did that place smell bad! Because of the endless loops and the fact that the films stayed with the property, they operated their own cleaning system downstairs... some contraption with a huge vent hood that ran the film through a solution of triclorethane. I saw some pretty stoned guys come up from that room... I guess because of the cleaning solvent. After a mercifully short stint there, the union took pity on me & gave me SRO's flagship for a couple of weeks. Guess that somehow made it all worth it...  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.