Edwards El Toro 5, El Toro (Now closed)

Edwards Town Center 4, Costa Mesa. Screens 1 & 4 were 70mm. (Open, current 70mm capability unknown).

Edwards South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. (status unknown)

Edwards Big Newport, Newport Beach, had 3 screens with 70mm. (Open)

AMC Mainplace (16?), Santa Ana. (Status unknown)

I wonder what happened to the original 70mm projectors they
installed in 1959 for the LA debut of "The Big Fisherman" &
also "Born Free"?
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If the Vogue theatre had 70mm projectors in 1959. Then why
did it take till 1980 for the Vogue to show it's next 70mm
film. ("The Island"). The Vogue theatre was part of Fox West
Coast theatres, then National General Theatres then Mann Theatres.
At the time the only type of 70mm projectors were DP70's in that chain. The Simplex 35/70 machines in the Hollywood Theatre was a prototype. That machine ate so much film. Maybe the chain put in
70mm projectors only for that engagement. And took them out soon after. Yes, in the early 80's the Hollywood houses had change-over projection. But by the mid 80's, they changed over to platter format.
When I looked in the booth at the Vogue last in Oct. 2000, I still found parts for the DP75. Mann theatre took out all the DP75's and CP100's and sold them. For a short time Mann ran the Vogue as a move-over and replaced the DP75 with a old Simplex XL machine. So that
management could run the theatre. During the last years of the
Hollywood, Vogue and Fox theatres. The one projectionist ran all
three houses. (It's about 6 1/2 blocks between the Hollywood & the
Fox. The Vogue was in the middle). The National and the Village theatres had DP75's but later put in DP70's. The Bruin theatre got 70mm equipped in 1978 with "Capricorn One".

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If that's the case, they must of put the equipment in. And never
booked or ran that many 70mm's. But the DP75's were put in the early 80's. The last time I was back stage they still have all five big
Altec speakers in place. But the theatre is a very sad place to see or run a movie, Thanks Mann theatres. The big roadshow houses had DP70's, except the Warner Cinerama House (aka:Hollywood Pacific). The Fox got remodeled in the mid 60's, it was known as the Iris theatre. The Hollywood got remodeled in 1977, for the "Star Wars" move-over from the Chinese. In Hollywood, I ran mostly in the Pacific houses. But I did do a shift in some of the Mann houses.

According to the Landmark theatre page, the Fine Arts has 70mm equipment. Would you happen to know if this is accurate, and if so, when the equipment would have gone in? The reason I'm asking is that last year I had gone through every LA Times on a weekly basis from 1965-1972 looking over movie ads (I saw the Fox remodel ad, was this when they added 70mm?) and saw that CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE was roadshowed at the Fine Arts. Would you know if this was a 70mm release? I also came across a roadshow of an AIP production of JULIUS CAESAR with Charltone Heston at the Pacific Beverly Hills around 70-71. Do you know if this was also 70?

AIRPORT at the Hollywood Pacific was advertised in 70mm 8-TRACK stereo. Do you know if this was accurate (any surround switching cues, perhaps?) The Egyptian also claimed 8-track for a "D-150" presentation of 2001.

The Fine Arts (aka:Regina) theatre to what I know has always been
35mm house. When National General, Mann and Laemmle theatres had the house it had a very nice pair of Black Simplex XL's. I will try to check for you about the 70mm equipment.In 1993 Cecchi Gori company remodeled the Fine Arts theatre and AMC managed the theatre for a few
years. Before turning it over to Landmank theatres. When Mann & Laemmle had the house the surrounds were in the ceiling. We had a different system
, before the last sound system we had at the Hollywood Pacific. With
"Airport" and "2001" those must have been newspaper typos. Those theatres had Ampex systems in the booths. But the D-150 screen at the
Egyptian, was unreal. One day I opened the curtains and hit the wrong
screen masking. This format opened SO wide, it looked like the curtains were never going to stop. I think the old D-150 screen was about 80 or 90 feet wide. Back at the Pacific during its last years,
we had a CP200 in #1 & #3 and a CP-50 w/SR in #2. The Hollywood Pacific was a very fun theatre to run during that time. One day I
went back stage, You could see behind the new screen. The curve of the old Cinerama screen on the front of the stage. The Vogue theatre
had a very nice wall to wall screen with a waterfall curtain. Out of
the Hollywood, Fox and Vogue the best move-over 70mm was at the Vogue.
I never knew the Vogue had a make-over in the late 50's.

quote:

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As a matter of fact, of all major studio releases in June that year, only two Fox releases, including Megaforce, were in 35mm only.

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And if Megaforce hadn't turned out to be such a dog it too would have been released in 70mm. There was some press during its post-production and prior to release that it was scheduled to be released with 70mm prints.

Paul Linfesty wrote:

quote:

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I saw three other 70mm films that day, including E.T. at the Dome (with screen masking open all the way, even though it was an OAR 1.85 print)

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From the "Projectionist's Notes" for E.T. regarding the open masking preference:

Dear Projectionist,
A special audio and visual concept went into the design of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. I need your help to present this film with the maximum dramatic impact and highest quality sound and picture quality that your theater can offer.

The film is unusual in that it is a 1.85 flat visual presentation with a stereo (normally 2.35 widescreen) soundtrack. This means that special stereo sounds and music will emanate from the left and right loudspeakers behind the screen. Most likely these speakers will lie outside of the edges of the 1.85 projected image. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that the screen masking not be moved into the edges of the projected image because they will cover the outside speakers and absorb and muffle the sound.

The film frames themselves are printed with a 1.85:1 hard matte and should present the proper aspect ratio on the screen. Assuming the aperture plates in your projectors have the proper dimensions and are kept clean, the lack of screen masking tight on either side of the projected image should not be objectionable to the audience. I would rather have the presentation of full sound with an image with slightly gray edges on the right and left of the screen rather than an image with a uniform black border and a muffled track. Please examine the parameters in your own set-up and arrange the optimum method of presentation for your theater. I've included some notes from Dolby Labs about 1.85 flat presentation with stereo sound that give the details. It might also be helpful to show these notes to your operations manager.

I am relying on your cooperation and expertise in helping to make E.T. and entertaining and enjoyable experience for your audience.

Sincerely,
Steven Spielberg

There, aren't you glad I don't ever throw anything away?!

Loew's Village VI
Loew's 19th St. East 6
Sutton
Cinema 1 and 2
City Cinemas First & 62nd
UA 64th & 2nd (Gemeni)
Beekman
UA East 85th
Loew's Orpheum 7
Clearview Park & 86th St.
City Cinemas 86th St. East
Chelsea Cinema 9
Loews Astor Plaza
Ziegfeld
Paris
Loews 84th St. 6

However, out of that entire list, the only decent places to see 70mm would have been the Astor Plaza, the Ziegfeld and perhaps the Orpheum (the Orpheum was great when it was still a twin.)

"Deceased" theatres which had 70mm on at least one screen were:
Gramercy (which the Museum of Modern Art is going to use as its new temporary theatre until the museum reopens in several years)
Paramount / Columbus Circle
Loews Fine Arts
Baronet / Coronet
National Twin
Embassy I
Angelica 57
86th St. East Twin
Regency
34th St. Showplace
Embassy I, II, III
Guild 50th St.
Criterion 7
Encore Worldwide
Loews NY Twin
Murray Hill

These, New York Roadshow houses were the best.

Loew's Capital
Loew's State (not the one in the basement at the Virgin store)
UA Rivoli (before the twinning)
Moss's Criterion (before UA, damaged the house)

Bill, I agree about the Vogue theatre. It had a huge wide screen and was perfect for CinemaScope films. The exit doors are below the screen (although I think originally they were at the sides before the 59 remodel). I saw a screening there of ther AFI fest a few years ago and was pretty much horrified at what was done to the place. The red brick walls exposed, everything painted butcher red, etc. The Vogue, like the Fine Arts and Bruin, still have the round ceiling mount speakers visible (at least the grilles are still there). When I saw THE DEEP at the Vogue, they weren't using these overheads, though. They were using these very cheap looking scholroom type PA speakers on the sides (and maybe two on the back wall). The same exact looking speakers were also seen at the Fox (where I saw Close Encounters, SE in 70), the Hollywood (where I first saw Blue Lagoon (4-track MAG), Blade Runner (70mm), Deal of the Century (DOLBY SVA), Bruin (where I first saw Days of Heaven, and before they remodeled the theatre, removing the distinctive flourescent-glowing sconces), and the Mann Westwood I). I know eventually all these speakers were replaced with modern JBL's.

Those overhead round speakers seemed to be popular in the 60's. I've seen them at the National, Newport, Plitt Century Plaza 2 (where I heard them only once, for STAR WARS, before being replaced by side mounts, first, 6 big boxes, later, with the Klipch's). Also, the Northpoint in SF and the Ziegfeld in NYC (still up there when I was there this summer). Also, last but not least, the Loew's Cinema Valley Plaza here in Bakersfield, which used 8 of them. A beautiful late 60's theatre with 70mm (Norelco's) 1230 seats, TWO presentation curtains. Unfortunately, it only ended up with one roadshow, an 8 week run for Thoroughly Modern Millie (I think a 35mm release).

Bill, If the 8-track stereo ad of 2001 and Airport were typos, then they must have been deliberate. Both featured very large print and used the 8-track designation in ALL print AND directory ads, both large and small for the entire runs (Airport played many months. The reason I'm asking about all this 8-track stuff that in going back on microfilm in newspapers and the web, I have been coming up with quite a few references for 8-track stereo.
1) a 1969 article in the LA Times discusses the new D-150 system goinig into the Egyptian and Camelot, Palm Springs (still running, still featuring DP70's, now an overly equipped arthouse). According to this article, D-150 features 8-channel stereo. This has to be more than just a misprint, as it goes on to list channel assignment as 5 stage speakers and seperate surrounds for left, rear and right walls. The paragraph further states that recently, Todd-AO films have been using this configuration as well.

2) An 1963 AMPEX ad highlighting the opening of the Cinerama Dome and mentioning their system featuring the new 8-channel sound.

3) The mentioned Airport ads (all of them for the Pacific).

4) The 2001 ad at the Egyptian (and postings elsewhere that claimed this film was "8-Track"

5) An article on the Cinerama.top cities website refers to Scent of Mystery as being in 8-track sound and featuring 360 degree sound that pans around the room.

6) An article about the re-premiere of Playtime in which a perdson associated with the film said it originally had a narrower width than normal for 70mm because it had 8 tracks on the film instead of 6.

I thought at the time the theatre was just being sloppy! I'm glad to know they were just following instructions! (wouldnt be the first time. When I saw 2001 in 1977 there, the top masking was in the lowered position for 35mm, so a significant amount of image fell into black. And it was VERY noticable!)

I'm wondering if they used specially cut apeture plates at the Dome for ET. While the masking was open, there was no keystoning effect on the edges. And instead of black (even taking into account the Dome's contrast problems, at least at that time) all I remember seeing was very light blank screen, as though nothing was projected on it, even black.

Were these instructions generic, to be used for both 35mm and 70mm? There were certainly plenty of films by this point in time that were 35mm flat (and 70mm OAR, for that matter)that had stereo tracks.

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After thinking about it, I do remember part of the old sound system.
In the main house at the Pacific, had on it something about 8 channels. I will look to see if I have any pictures of the old
sound system and booth. That house had 5 Altecs backstage and 6 surrounds in the auditorium. Most of that system got moved over to the Pantages. When we re-equipped that booth.

Some of the EK 35mm prints that the Dome got were special. They were printed lighter.