This is topic RIP Edwards Theatres in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-31-2002, 01:07 PM:
Another obituary, though I don't know how long this link will work:
be clickin' here Marcella Sheldon is standing in front of the Edwards "Big Newport" flagship theatres. I have many very fond memories of that particular location.
Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-31-2002, 01:11 PM:
Thanks Dave, It's nice to see loyalty on a grand scale.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-31-2002, 01:24 PM:
70 years working for the same company & family owners! It's mind boggling.I was cleaning out a closet and found a letter from James Edwards Sr. along with a newspaper clipping of an ad Edwards ran when they installed CDS Cinema Digital Sound at their flagship theater. I recall writing to them inquiring about the pending installation of CDS, and this is the reply I got. [Disregard the flattering comments made by Mr. Edwards regarding my technical knowledge -- I didn't know squat back then. Today I have proudly advanced to squat-and-1/2.]
The letter was prepared by "ms", the Marcella Sheldon mentioned in the news link. She would have been a spry young 77 years old at that time!
Here's the display ad Edwards ran for "Dick Tracy" and CDS:
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 04-01-2002, 10:23 AM:
I had a friend who was an assistant manager at the Big Newport. I visited him a few times while he stayed late to do a full weekly inventory. That Big Newport is a wonderful theatre that truly shows the evolution of the theatre business. From it's original single screen, then the building they added next door for two, then the third building made three and then the fourth building with the stadium seated 3-screens.I was impressed that a company that size was operating out of offices built over a theatre. My friend took me up into their offices (I was impressed he had a key to the board room!) but we danced on the board room table and I snooped through upcoming projects that they were working on...
It's hard to believe that those offices will be empty, and some day there will be a manager who never knew a time where a corporate officer would stare down out of the upstairs windows to ensure that there were people cleaning constantly. On the flip side, for a location that has no real manager's office (just a desk in the lobby) I guess Regal employees will be very happy to have their choice of offices... (of course unless Regal puts an area office out there...)
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-01-2002, 11:12 AM:
Does Regal maintain regional offices? Since Edwards is their big entry into the Southern Calif. market, maybe they'll turn the old Edwards corporate offices into some kind of regional office for the southwest. Who knows.
Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 04-01-2002, 02:49 PM:
Regal has District Offices for the DMs, but mostly everything is out of Knoxville.
Posted by Rick McCluney (Member # 642) on 04-01-2002, 07:44 PM:
I have been told that the DMs will be working out of their homes instead of offices. The idea being to get them to spend more time in theatres and less in the office. This is from the UA perspective. I am not sure about Edward's.Rick McCluney
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-02-2002, 12:24 AM:
Today marked the first day of big changes at my Edwards (former edwards?) in (location removed). Their is a guy from Regal Corp. who will be staying at our theatre for a week to help us "Regalize". First thing? He put up comment card despensers near every loby exit door. Next? We were told the new employee movie privilages. Only ourselves plus one guest. (Compared to ourselves and 3 guests). This is the end of something great. Edwards has always been the pinicle of the exhibition industry in terms of cleanliness, on screen presentation, customer service, and overall classy-ness (is that a word?). I feel that this is yet another nail into the art of motion picture presentation. A few employees i talked to tonight are seriously contemplating quiting.Now, if you'll excuse me, i must go curl into a little ball in a dark corner and cry. (joking) ;-)
(Post modified 4-19-02 by Mike Olpin)
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-02-2002, 10:09 AM:
If there's one thing I learned working in the software dev. business (games), it's that things change all the time and sometimes the changes are not pleasant. Our corporate ownership changed several times where I last worked (8+ years), and each change of ownership brought a round of new corporate-imposed rules and procedures. Sometimes these seemed like nonsense designed to make our lives miserable. But people tend to acclimate to the changes and life & business carry on. Hang in there, see how things unfold, and don't do anything you'll regret later.
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-03-2002, 01:12 AM:
Perhaps that last post was a little to negative. I, personaly, have no intention of leaving (no matter how much i think Regal is the devil). Also, Regal/UA/Edwards (Now named "Regal Entertainment Group") will have a significant push on Hollywood now, since they controll so many screens.And now, more bad stuff.......
Although the signs outside the building will say "Edwards" EVERYTHING inside will be branded Regal. We will get the roller coaster policy trailer, too. We have been forced to move our cue dots untill after the previews, so that all of the house lights remain lit untill the feature begins (lots of complaints over this).
Is that a regal policy?
Friday is the official date set for us to become Regal.
We are having a theatre wide meeting on saturday to go over everything - i'll keep posted.
Oh well......
At least the regal rep seems nice.
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update 4-19-02 - My understanding is that all stock will have all three logos. We have not yet recieved our poliy trailer or newly designed stock.
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update 7-2-02
We are using regal cinemas branded stock, including popcorn bags.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-03-2002, 10:37 AM:
I can only speak to 1 Regal theater's cues (Cinema World 8 in Eugene OR). The house lights dim slightly when the PSAs & commercials start. At Panic Room, they ran ads for Mello Yello (which looked absolutely terrible), Coke, Fandango, Foundation for a Better Life, and 1 or 2 others I can't remember. The lights dim further when the coming attractions start (and in my opinion they are running too many of those -- must have been 6 or 7 trailers at least). Then the lights go out completely when the roller coaster policy plays.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 04-03-2002, 12:14 PM:
Mike, Yes it is Regal policy to run house lights at 50% for ads and previews and then go all the way down (actuallly about 20%) when the policy starts.So I'm confused. The new Regal Entertainment Group logo incluldes the logos for Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theaters, and Edwards theaters. I would think that everything at a UA theater and an Edwards theater would stay the same as far as uniforms, logos, etc.... Why would they leave the marquess but make everything inside Regal?
Who is the guy from corporate?
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-03-2002, 01:29 PM:
The automation and lighting system sucks - it can only be on or off (no "50%" or anything) so the lights stay full (100%) untill the feature begins.I dont know the corperate guys name, i'll find out for you.
I sure hope we dont have to get regals popcorn containers - bags suck. We currently use buckets for all of our sizes.
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Update 7-2-02 Lights now run at around 15% through previews and feature.
Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 04-03-2002, 03:20 PM:
About the automation and lighting -- that does suck! Do the lights at least fade so that they don't blind you by coming full on right away at the end credits? I was at an AMC one time where the lights immediately came to full bright when the credits came on and it was so incredibly annoying!!Buckets probablly make for less leaky butter, but bags are probably cheaper. I have no idea if you will be gettin Regal stock or not.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-03-2002, 03:35 PM:
I hated the switch to bags at first, but I've gotten to like them now. Not sure why. Maybe because it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for the environment since bags probably use less space in the landfill.
Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 04-03-2002, 08:37 PM:
I have a few friends down in California helping out with the integration. From what I understand, all the signs will remain Edwards, UA, or Regal. They are developing cups/bags, etc with all three logos on them.
The new iTimes program we use for uploading showtimes to PDI has all three logos plus the Regal Entertainment Group Logo.
As for the movie passes, yourself and a guest, there is leeway on that. At my theatre, I sometimes offer for the employee and three guests to come in exchange for hard work, or something cool like that.
I also heard that they are developing a new policy trailer that will integrate all three logos.
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2 Time ICWF Champion
2 Time ICWF Hardcore Champion
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-04-2002, 02:03 AM:
That would be nice! Regals roller coaster has a very 80s ish feel to it. That brings up another question, which i will post in a new topic...About our lighting - the lights are verry dim, even at 100%. There is no way they will be "blinding" people. (except in screen 15, where our previous manager installed a replacement lighting system, which is very bright)
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-07-2002, 11:50 PM:
We had our meeting yesterday, and here our some of the changes: We will wear polo maroon shirts
No other family members can be employed at the same location
Regal policy trailer in the works
we cant talk with any member of the press (i hope this doesn't count)
The name of the regal rep. is Shane. Appearently he is a manager from a regal in Oregon. According to a conversation i had with him, we are also getting the MovieTunes service too.
Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 04-08-2002, 02:20 PM:
Shane? From Oregon. Wow! He's a good buddy of mine. He runs the theatre just down the street from my theatre.That's pretty cool.
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2 Time ICWF Champion
2 Time ICWF Hardcore Champion
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-08-2002, 07:07 PM:
Mike, I think you misspelled "MovieTunes disservice."(I haven't worked at AMC yet since the GCC deal was finalized...does AMC use Movie Tunes? I guess I'll find out soon enough.)
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-08-2002, 07:47 PM:
I went to AMC Mission Valley 20 a few months ago to see "Monsters Inc." in DLP. They were still using "MovieTunes Disservice™" at tht time.
Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 04-08-2002, 08:25 PM:
The Regal I am at just switched to the Movietunes.. reminds me of when I worked at UA a few years ago. While there are issues with it (like the bad Porky pig and Sylvester immitations saying "turn off your beepers and cell phones" ) it is still better than the TRN CD playing the Britney Spears Pepsi song every five minutes.Sometimes, when I am working in the booth I like to put up the booth monitors to break the silence between shows... but good old Britney was breaking me of that habit!
Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-11-2002, 11:56 PM:
I'm thankful Anshutz will keep from "Regalizing" the signs on Edwards locations. Being primarily a sign designer by day, I have to say some of the Edwards locations in the Los Angeles area were really really impressive. They really knew how to pile on the neon! I was very disappointed when Edwards backed out of building a 24-plex/IMAX-3D theater project in the Bricktown area of downtown Oklahoma City.
Posted by Jeff Akin (Member # 1198) on 04-19-2002, 01:13 AM:
It has been awhile now since all of the Edwards guys were 'Regalized.' So, how's things?Leaving for California next week to start with the integration of UA Theatres!
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2 Time ICWF Champion
2 Time ICWF Hardcore Champion
Posted by Michael Rourke (Member # 1142) on 04-19-2002, 12:09 PM:
The 4 plex I keep mentioning I "inherited" was an Edwards Cinemas. We're still in the transitional stage trying not to have their whole staff up and quit while slowly introducing our policies. I think we are past the rough stage as evidenced by employee swapping between the ex-Edwards and the 7 plex just 4 blocks away.The Edwards Cinemas employeed many good people and it's a shame that this industry has such severe ups and downs as to facilitate opening gigantic 30 plexes due to demand and then closing them just a few years later due to a glut of awful movies and patrons staying home in droves.
Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-20-2002, 01:16 AM:
I visited an Edwards Cinema tonight, and the ONLY noticable difference was the Regal comment cards next to the exit doors. Same edwards uniforms, same Edwards popcorn tubs (except for those Britney Spears bags..didnt this movie close a long time ago?). Also, no Regal policy film.
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-21-2002, 11:58 PM:
The uniforms, contaniners, trailers, etc. are still in the works. (It must be tough to create a uniform with THREE logos on it 
.) My understanding is that the uni's will be reddish maron polo style, with long sleeve and short sleeve versions.You should have noticed different lighting cues, though.
About the britney bags, many locations still have boxes and boxes of theese things left. I did a test comparring the realitive amont of popcorn it can hold, and although i'm not going to give the spacifics, its hands-down the best value, especially if you don't intend to refil the XL size. However, i still hate bags.
Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-22-2002, 09:46 AM:
No different lighting cues yet. The lights dimmed completely off before the previews hit (as always) and came on (along with VERY distracting screen flood lights) a few credits into the end of the film, as usual. I've ALWAYS hated this about this particu;ar theatre. I don't mind the side lights, but SCREEN lights? Especially since they don't have them on before the show. Also, the movie tunes haven't started yet.
Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-22-2002, 02:27 PM:
We havent recieved it yet. It will probably show up down the road.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-22-2002, 04:54 PM:
Paul said: "(along with VERY distracting screen flood lights) a few credits into the end of the film, as usual. I've ALWAYS hated this about this particu;ar theatre. I don't mind the side lights, but SCREEN lights? Especially since they don't have them on before the show." 
I agree. With "Film Done Right", lights should NEVER shine ON the screen while the movie or credits are running. Colored or decorative (cukaloris) lighting on a BLANK screen is an acceptable (but IMHO, very poor) replacement for curtains.
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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-22-2002, 06:09 PM:
That reminds me. With those new Regal cards, I can fill out that complaint (also to ask them to fix the AR problem in their first two auditoriums).