Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Wilby-Kincey Research request

This is topic Wilby-Kincey Research request in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 06-05-2006, 11:01 AM:

A reasearcher doing a book on theatre architecture asked me about Wilby-Kincey. They were a little before my time, though their labels are all over the place here and around the south.
Does anybody know what company absorbed them, if any? Are there any contacts with oldtimers? Any useful history?

Posted by Jerry D. Cox (Member # 701) on 06-07-2006, 03:39 PM:

Hi Martin,My name is Jerry Cox back in the 50ths. Wilby Kincey
had Theatres in Birmingham, Down town First run Houses They were I belive out of Atlanta,Ga. I no that they had A lot of Theatres in the south you could check with A booker in Atlanta that has been around for a long time an he could help you out.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 06-07-2006, 05:01 PM:

During the mid 40's Wilby-Kincey Theatres were one of the subsidiaries of Paramount Pictures Inc., their theatre division. They operated theatres in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. In 1960 they were still one of the subsidiaries of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc., with theatres in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Also during that time there was the Wilby-Kincey Service Corp. (Kincey Division) out of Charlotte N.C.. With theatres in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. As of 1968 Wilby-Kincey Service Corp. was still part of American Broadcasting Companies. With theatres operating in the same states as above except West Virginia.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-11-2006, 07:15 PM:

The old ads used to show a "Wil-Kin" service engineer getting into a helicopter. [thumbsup]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-12-2006, 11:19 AM:

Projection engineer Glenn Berggren also worked for Wil-Kin during that era, and published an SMPTE paper on "Ultra-Vision" optimization of the projection system. There's a photo of Glenn (on page 25) and of the OptiVerter used (on page 8) in the old SMPTE Motion-Picture Projection and Theatre Presentation Manual.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 06-12-2006, 12:00 PM:

I remember driving 30 to 50 miles to the available Ultra-vison cinemas in the late 1960's to see the best available presentation at the time. Glenn is responsible for many lens designs, torus screens and other developments...he has a nice cranky personality...he must be related to Phil Hill [Smile]