Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sex For One in the theatre (you know, like Paul Reubens)

This is topic Sex For One in the theatre (you know, like Paul Reubens) in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-28-2003, 03:10 PM:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet (unless I missed it). [Big Grin]

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 07-28-2003, 07:26 PM:

We called him "jack".

It was the opening week of "Pretty Woman". I was an hourly manager at the Coralwood 6 in Cape Coral, Florida. A woman came out to the lobby during a matinee show. She said that a man was doing strange things in the theatre, in the same row as her and her daughter. I never had a clue of what I was about to witness. Without getting into too much detail: He was using his small popcorn tub for something other than it was supposed to be used for - and the butter topping - ugh! It was the first time that i chased a person out of a theatre with his pants down around his ankles.

Fast Forward to the opening of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. I recognized the old man when he came in, but I couldn't remember where I knew him from. Within a half hour, I was quickly reminded of who he was. Again I chased this guy out of my theatre. This time I called the police. I ran after this old man for a few miles and lost him. I could not believe that an old man could run that fast. Needless to say, he never came back to the theatre.

However..... I was shopping at a local Walmart about two months after the T2 incident. When lo and behold -who did I run into - "jack"! He was with his wife - and boy did I let him have it. I asked if he found a new theatre to get his jollies at. I told him that if ever showed up at my theatre again that he would be put in jail - before he ever got a chance to buckle his pants up.............

Another true story...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-28-2003, 07:37 PM:

The visual I get of you chasing him for miles swinging an electric guitar in the air is hilarious!

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 07-28-2003, 07:58 PM:

We had a similar situation as the one Dennis described. We has this guy which we had nicknamed "the movie masturbator". He would go into a theater and sit next to usually a preteen girl and start wacking it. The guy was pretty bold too where he wouldn't just try to find a girl sitting by herself, he would sit down next to a girl even if she was sitting next to her family. He just take the empty seat next to her. And it wasn't just our theater, according to the police this guy would visit every theater in the area (something like 4 different ones). And no matter how hard we or the police tried, we could never catch this guy. A couple of times we came close but the guy would dart out the exit door, run to his car which always seemed to be a different one and always parked near the exit door and take off (he never stayed for the entire movie and was usually gone before the incident was even reported. The police never got more than a general description from the girls (white male, 30's, dark hair, mustache). Every time a customerthat matched his description came in, we would keep an eye on that person but it would never pan out. It was pretty frustrating espically when he got bold enough to actually fondle the girl next to him one time (with her mother sitting only two seats away). Anyway I had heard that he was finally caught at another theater 45 minutes away but that was 2nd hand information and I never seen anything to conferm that like a newspaper article. But he never did strike again after that. So either he was caught or he moved on to something else.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 07-28-2003, 08:50 PM:

You run into the nicest people when you shop at Walmart.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-28-2003, 09:37 PM:

Would have been funny if he was the "greeter" at Wal-Mart. [Big Grin]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-28-2003, 11:05 PM:

Naturally, this was an everyday occurance at the porn theatre I used to work. But what are ya gonna do?

Some of the stories I could tell about that place...

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 07-28-2003, 11:18 PM:

Tell them! Heh.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 07-28-2003, 11:19 PM:

Tim,

I remember sometime back in the 80's an ad running in the paper stating that the Downtown Cinema (X-Theater) was closed temporarily while they installed their new seats. [Big Grin]

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-29-2003, 01:03 AM:

We had a man who would sit 3 or 4 seats away from a lone female and start masturbating. When the woman came out to give notice he would dash for the door. It took quite a few tries but one nite he did not leave but moved to another seat. This time when the police arrived, the cop and the gen. mgr. sneaked up behind him and caught him with the evidence in hand. He was arrested and charged appropriately. At his trial it was disclosed thate he was similarly charged 3 times in NYC and found guilty but received only suspended sentences. This time he got a year with all but 90 days suspended on condition that he receive counceling, and never go into a theater in the state of Va. again. To do so will cause the year to be reinstated and be served entirely. New York has also ben notified that he is in custody in case they want to find him in violation of the terms of his suspended sentences.

Posted by Don Bruechert (Member # 1538) on 07-29-2003, 08:52 AM:

LOL "2nd Hand Information".... You guys kill me!! [beer]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-29-2003, 12:39 PM:

Darryl, YES! I was there then. That ad got all kinds of comments, haha, which was the intention. The manager had that kind of a sense of humor.

The new seats were actually very nice and came out of the old UA Theatre in Louisville. Very plush, so the customers could treat themselves right. [Embarrassed]

The thing that really got me about working downtown, was the gay bar next door. Not that in itself, but there was a sign on the front door that said, "Deliveries in Rear". True.
[Razz]

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 07-29-2003, 01:45 PM:

One place I worked at was across the street from a hotel, and one time in box office we saw a "jacker" in one of the upstairs rooms who was playing with himself while holding a curtain in front, then every once in awhile he'd pull the curtain away.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 07-29-2003, 04:36 PM:

I haven't seen this in our theater yet, but I've heard it's happened. It's funny you should mention the Paul Reubens situation. When I used to play hockey in Sarasota, FL we'd stop by this 7-Eleven to get stuff afterwards, and I was joking about it one day when the guy told me we were right across the street from the theater where it happen. The place is since torn-down...

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-29-2003, 08:40 PM:

I have a 35mm 'courtesy' trailer that says, and I quote: "Loud talking and all sexual activities, including 'Masturbation' are prohibited in this theatre. People caught engaging in sexual activity will be reported to local Law Enforcement authorities. Thank You, The Management."

The temptation to cut 'cells' out of it and slip them into the slide projectors at the theatres can be overwhelming, to say the heast [evil]

-Aaron

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-29-2003, 10:50 PM:

This thread has given me serious doubts about ever again shaking hands with strangers. [Eek!]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-30-2003, 02:08 AM:

Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Guy sits down about two seats away from me and a friend. She tells me she thinks the guy is masturbating. She was right.

We reported the incident to the manager but the guy was gone when we returned to the scene of the crime.

The movie was MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. I caught the ending on home-video.

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 07-30-2003, 07:49 AM:

When I was starting out in this business we had an individual who proceded to pull his pants down and, according to his account, just scratch and itch he had in that areea of his body. All in front of a mother and her daughter who were there to watch the first showing of some kiddie show. Needless to say we escorted the gentleman to the lobby where he was greeted by the Mall security and later the local police. He was arrested for indicent exposure.

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 07-30-2003, 09:08 AM:

Aaron,

is that trailer from a x-rated theater?

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-30-2003, 10:35 AM:

quote:
is that trailer from a x-rated theater?

It was attached (left on by a previous handler, not part of the actual print) to the head of a porno print I had handled at one time, I can't remember if it was at the aforementioned drive-in (which by then was playing XXX films) or from the days when I ran 'the best of the new erotic films' on Thursdays when the Phoenix was a rep house.

-Aaron

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 07-30-2003, 01:50 PM:

I know someone [Big Grin]

who, as a joke, made a homemade trailer, editing several parts of other trailers together. Needless to say, the sausage sceene from Tom Greene's "Fredy Got Fingered" was used extensively! [Big Grin]

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 07-30-2003, 05:24 PM:

I run into this problem occasionally....everytime I screen the new J'lo movies. Ha [Big Grin]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 07-30-2003, 09:46 PM:

Why would they care? I mean at porno theatres.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 07-30-2003, 10:19 PM:

I may be ignorant but isn't it expected at porno theaters? I mean, why else would people go?

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-31-2003, 12:25 AM:

A former collegue worked a porn house in Florida that had paper towel dispensers on the walls in the auditorium.

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 07-31-2003, 03:25 AM:

Aaron, I have to find one of those trailers! That sounds cool! [thumbsup]

I wish the company that reprints the old drive-in clocks and adverts would reprint that one!

I'm with the above posters on this. If someone goes to watch a porno, why would it be illegal to do what people do when they watch one?

Danny

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-31-2003, 03:58 AM:

By that logic, if I go to watch an action movie where people are being shot, does that mean I can shoot someone in the auditorium? Hey, the characters on the screen are! I smell a double standard here. [Razz]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-31-2003, 09:36 AM:

quote:
I wish the company that reprints the old drive-in clocks and adverts would reprint that one!

We could easily remake that one, but don't count on it. Unless someone wants to subsidize it themselves. We just spent a great deal of time, money, and effort to research and digitally-remaster a catalog of old drive-in trailers that everyone said they couldn't live without.
Screen Attractions

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 07-31-2003, 10:06 AM:

quote:
By that logic, if I go to watch an action movie where people are being shot, does that mean I can shoot someone in the auditorium? Hey, the characters on the screen are! I smell a double standard here.

Well Brad its illegal to shoot someone but not to masturbate (at least in some states!). [Big Grin]

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 07-31-2003, 10:07 AM:

There's a french film coming out later this year called "Porn Theatre". John Waters has called it 'The best film of the year'. I had a chance to view it at a film festival. A real funny, well-made film. Check it out. (Will most likely be released very limited though due to the content.)

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 07-31-2003, 10:36 AM:

Hey, Tim, are they high-magenta?

--jhawk

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 07-31-2003, 10:45 AM:

Tim said,

quote:
We could easily remake that one, but don't count on it. Unless someone wants to subsidize it themselves. We just spent a great deal of time, money, and effort to research and digitally-remaster a catalog of old drive-in trailers that everyone said they couldn't live without.
Screen Attractions

That Perspective Coming Soon trailer is one I have been looking for. Looks like I need to make an order.
[thumbsup]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-31-2003, 12:45 PM:

John, they are good ol' fashioned, "environment-destroying", curve-your-spine SILVER tracks! And they're Dolby SR... sound great!
[Big Grin]

Sam, thanks. Please do, I appreciate it! Everything's ready and waiting for good homes.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-31-2003, 01:31 PM:

Tim Reed wrote:

quote:
John, they are good ol' fashioned, "environment-destroying", curve-your-spine SILVER tracks! And they're Dolby SR... sound great!

"High Magenta" tracks DO have the silver redeveloped. They are more compatible when there is a MIX of tunsten and red LED readers, as there is today. If you had your prints made with the old cyan+magenta+silver, which readers did you optimize the cross-modulation distortion for? Did you make separate inventories of prints for each type of reader?

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-31-2003, 03:37 PM:

If they were high magenta, I would have answered "yes".

I will tell you which readers the prints are set up for, when you place an order. Otherwise, you'll have to contact NT Audio, and/or Technicolor, if you really want cross-mod results.
[Roll Eyes]

We've played the prints in both exciter and red-reader SR auditoriums and everyone is in agreement that they sound fabulous.

[ 07-31-2003, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: Tim Reed ]

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 07-31-2003, 05:14 PM:

I know that this is slightly off topic but how exactly does a drive-in theater get away with show X-rated movies? I mean unless the theater is located out in the middle of nowhere, how does one prevent people (children) from being exposed to the content on the screen if they just happen to be just driving by? I know that the drive-in that was located by where I lived (long since closed down), the screen(s) could be seen by passerbys (you just couldn't here what was on the screen).

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 08-01-2003, 02:39 AM:

quote:
how exactly does a drive-in theater get away with show X-rated movies? I mean unless the theater is located out in the middle of nowhere, how does one prevent people (children) from being exposed to the content on the screen if they just happen to be just driving by?

3 words: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! [Smile]

At the Sonomarin D/I there was a freeway going right by the theatre (U.S. 101), but the screen was situated at a reeally odd angle- you could see an 'image' from the road, but it was so 'thin' and 'skewed' due to the geometry of the situation that it was difficult to make out too much. People used to drive along the access road and park and attempt to view the show thru the chain link fence, (we had AM radio sound at that time) but we usually sent someone to chase them off. Eventually the people that lived on the hill above the D/I lot decided to cut down the grove of trees that used to block the screen from beingseen from their property, and began to complain about the XXX movies that were being shown (nothing ever happened to shut the place down because of that stunt, the shows continued until the place was sold to the state for use as a flood control reservoir in 1989).

-Aaron

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-01-2003, 08:08 AM:

The Technology Council of the Motion Picture and Television Industry developed a high-gain "containment screen" that not only allowed a brighter picture, but limited viewing from anyone outside the drive-in. AFAIK the higher cost and maintenance issues limited its use:

http://www.driveinworkshop.com/answerman/boothqa.htm

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-01-2003, 08:51 AM:

quote:
how exactly does a drive-in theater get away with show X-rated movies?

At our place it's not possible. We have a running land covenant that says "as long as the property will be used for an outdoor motion picture theatre, no films with an MPAA rating of NC-17 or X will be allowed to be shown to the public, regardless of whether the screen may be seen from any other property."

I didn't really mind that restriction. We didn't have that intension when we built the place.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-01-2003, 11:04 AM:

How does a land convenent work? Who would enforce it? It certainly cannot be a matter of law--you can't give the MPAA the power of law. Does your covenent only address MPAA ratings or self-applied ones, too? Okay, the vast majority of porn movies were never rated by the MPAA. Not that you would ever have any interest in running them but depending on how the covenent is worded many things could slip by. How about when the self-applied rating is not X but XXX? Or if the MPAA ever decided to come out with an "A" rating for serious adult fare. I think a covenent like this is stupid.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-01-2003, 06:51 PM:

It's the "spirit" of the covenant that matters, not the "letter". [Wink]

Don't many theatre leases have similar restrictions in them (by way of the landlord)? Likewise, if your theatre is in a mall, I bet the mall's contract has something to say about this issue. This isn't exactly new...

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 08-01-2003, 10:45 PM:

The Westlane Drive-in in Davis on I-80, which was all-porn during its last years, lost a lot of its business to people parking on a back road where the screen could be seen without paying. You couldn't see the screen from the main freeway though. The Sacramento Six Drive-In on Highway 50 ran the NC-17 "Showgirls" though, and most of their screens can be seen from the freeway.
There was a drive-in running porn til 1989? Were they still putting out 35mm XXX movies that late?

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-01-2003, 11:59 PM:

I'm not an attorney but I don't think a court is going to try to discern intent unless there is an ambiguity to settle. If someone has a covenent or lease that says "thou shalt not exhibit films that have been rated X or NC-17 by CARA/MPAA" and one runs a film of that nature that was not rated X or NC-17 by CARA/MPAA I doubt a court (who is always going to be the ultimate arbiter of these things) is going to say "oh that's what they meant." More likely they would say that if the drafter of the clause had intended it to mean all explicit depictions of sex they could easily have worded it that way. Case dismissed.

I would therefore presume that most of these clauses are, in fact, worded to cover the sort of loophole I am discussing.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 08-02-2003, 02:57 AM:

quote:
There was a drive-in running porn til 1989? Were they still putting out 35mm XXX movies that late?

Yes, and yes.

I would assume that the majority of the 35mm prints were blown up from 16mm negs or video.

-Aaron

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 08-02-2003, 01:28 PM:

I'm still trying to find out what the very last porno movie released on 35mm was. There were a few released in Dolby Stereo, including Stiff Competition, If My Mother Only Knew, and I Like To Watch (the latter being available only in mono on laserdisc.)

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 08-03-2003, 11:20 AM:

Pee Wee at THE MATRIX

Pee Wee at The Matrix

Punch occasionally likes to get in touch with his inner geek. Punch also believes that the actual "work" part of holding a job is a major nuisance. So last week Punch decided to blow off said job for an afternoon showing of The Matrix: Reloaded at Tower City.

A bespectacled, pimply kid plopped himself down two seats away. Strange, considering the theater was nearly empty.

Stranger yet was the rustling sound coming from the kid's seat. It started during the sex scene between Neo and Trinity. Any Pee Wee Herman suspicions faded, however, when the sound continued through completely sexless action sequences. Surely the boy had nothing more than a bad itch.

But as soon as Italian model/actress Monica Bellucci sauntered onto the screen in a skintight cocktail dress, the sound intensified. Peripherally, it was impossible to locate the kid's hand . . . until . . . oh, dear God! . . . Punch's worst fears were confirmed.

The whole episode made Punch nostalgic for the sci-fi dorks of yesteryear. Hell, Shatner got tons of alien ass, but you never saw Trekkies whipping out their wands during the matinee.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-06-2003, 08:41 PM:

Reading across these threads an interesting theme emerges. The sex-for-one folks are labeled as perverts and the police are called etc. The couples doing it are viewed more with amusement and a "cut it out or take it to a motel" attitude. Why does one evoke derision and the other bemusement? Obviously the guy sitting next to little girls deserved to be locked away. That aside should we not be horrified the same for all? (If we should be at all.) Do you call cops quicker for the wanker than the couple? If so why?

(And I'm not sure what crime the orgy people were committing that the police were called. But that's a discussion for that thread.)

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-07-2003, 05:20 PM:

I hesitate to share this piece of information, but what the hell. [Wink]

A couple months ago I was at a mall and there was a kid, maybe 18, wearing a T-shirt that said "Masturbation Is Not A Crime!". It had a web page url on it. Well, curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out. How can I put this, except to just say the site is like an online encyclopedia of wanking. Heck, it's even been endorsed by Jocelyn Elders, the former Surgeon General who had to resign after she publicly advocated teaching *about* masturbation in schools.

For your amusement and amazement, I give you JackinWorld [Eek!]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-07-2003, 09:45 PM:

Going to Amazon, selecting "books" and searching for "masturbation" brings up 48 hits, among them such titles as Sex For One, Singular Pleasures, Tickle Your Fancy, and The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World at Your Fingertips. There are a few that seem to be more about the whole cultural ethos of the topic such as Masturbation: The History of a Great Terror.

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 08-07-2003, 11:17 PM:

There's certainly nothing wrong with masturbation, but there is something wrong with masturbating publicly. I hope people were kidding when they didn't make that distinction.

As for the seats, after the Trans-Lux East in NYC played an extended run of Caligula (I think it played for well over a year), they ripped the seats out and changed the name of the theatre to the Gotham.

The restrictions in leases for films rated NC-17 are ridiculous. Films that are strictly porno are generally not submitted to the MPAA, so they don't have an NC-17 or X rating (and the MPAA has used NC-17, not X, for many years precisely because they never copyrighted the "X" rating and the porn industry adopted it by using XXX.) I can understand a restriction on placing an explicit poster for an NC-17 film in a public area of the mall, but not on restricting what people pay to see in a theatre.

There have been serious, well-made films that do have explicit sex and have either been rated NC-17 or not rated, such as the recent "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Sex with Lucia".

Why are we so afraid of sex but we couldn't care less about violence? A film can show hundreds of people being murdered in the most violent fashion and no one bats an eye and many bring their kids, but if a penis or vagina is shown, everyone freaks out.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-08-2003, 03:29 PM:

I wasn't advocating public anything, just questioning why the reactions to each scenario seemed different.