Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Military based theaters.

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Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 03-18-2004, 01:38 PM:

Besides my job at the theater, I am currently employed as a civilian employee on a military base. Its actually Naval Air Station Corpus Christi/Corpus Christi Army Depot. The base has an auditorium that used to be a movie theater, but I have not been able to go there and find info on it, such as equipment left there, expense records, and stuff like that. Do military based theaters do well? What I am asking is, would it be worth my time to try and open it again??

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-18-2004, 01:47 PM:

The Army and Air Force theatres are run by AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Service), which is the same organization which operates all of the on-base businesses (Base Exchange, shops, restaurants, etc.). I don't know how the Navy does things, but I think it's unlikely that you could run your own business on a base without going through miles of red tape (figuratively speaking).

I've run a few shows at the Hanscom AFB theatre (see the pic gallery) when they were understaffed. They usually run three shows per week (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night) and run each film only once. Programming is mostly mainstream/second-run fare. Prices are low and the audience seems to enjoy the programming. I suspect that the film program pays for itself, but isn't really a moneymaker. I'd be curious to hear if anyone else knows how this works at other bases.

Posted by Jim Alexander (Member # 226) on 03-18-2004, 02:54 PM:

The theatre I operate use to be a Canadian Military Theatre. About 10 years ago, NPF (Canada's version of AAFES), got out of the movie business. Venturous theatre operators petitioned to reopen some of them while others remain closed to this day. Mine, and one in Gagetown are the only ones that I know of that are civilian run that are left.

I have been operating this one for seven years now and it has been a equitable venture so far. The Military lets us do what we need and so long as we don't cause an uproar. We are not going to become rich off of it since it is mostly a second run theatre... joy of a single screen, but it pays the bills. We have even been able to share costs with the military for upgrades and what not. Thus far, it has worked quite well.

I'm not sure how it would work on American Military bases, but if it is brought across to them that it is a benifit to the quality of life of their personnel, and how it will benifit the community, they should be quite approachable.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 03-18-2004, 02:56 PM:

When I was in the Air Force I worked as a projectionist at a base theatre. It was my military assignment in addition to working as a radio announcer for AFRS.

Back then the bases usually got the films before they were released to the general public and profit was not even a consideration. It was run as a service to personnel stationed at the base. As far as I know base theatres are still owned and operated by the military. I've never heard of a civilian contractor running a base theatre. But then my info is based on experiences I had before most of you were born.

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 03-18-2004, 05:19 PM:

Did the US Army have such a thing as a "standard movie theatre" or were there great differences in the architecture?

Here in Frankfurt/Germany we have a former US Army theatre which was transformed into an arthouse theatre in 1994.

I like the room and screen size, seating was reduced from 350 to about 240. Since nothing of the original equipment remained when the Army gave it up, could anybody tell me what the usual equipment for such a theatre was (screen width was about 40 ft.) ?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-18-2004, 05:45 PM:

Having grown up on a number of Marine Corps bases (and a couple Navy ones too) I can say there isn't any "standard" military movie theater. Some are tiny and some are fairly large.

I don't have the seating count on the Sheridan Theater aboard Fort Sill, but I'm pretty sure its screening room has more seats than any of the commercial screens in Lawton. No digital sound though.

The Little Hall Theater in Quantico, VA (on the Marine Corps base there) is pretty large and has a balcony. I don't know if the balcony is still used. When I was in high school the managers would let us up there only once in awhile.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-18-2004, 06:54 PM:

From the pictures Scott has posted, the theater here at Nellis AFB looks a lot like the one at Hanscom AFB. So maybe the USAF had some sort of standard design back when these places were built (late '60's to early '70's I assume).

I've been in the Nellis one several times over the years for various briefings. It's a good old basic medium-sized sloped-floor theater, probably around 400 seats. I've never been in the booth, but I imagine it looks much like the pictures William Bunch has posted of his old AAFES theater in Japan.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-18-2004, 07:52 PM:

I believe it is not uncommon for there to be private businesses leasing space within a PX / BX complex. I know there are several between the BX and commissary (one large building) at Great Lakes NTC. I don't know if it's ever been done with the movie theatres but it's possible. Don't know who to ask though.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-18-2004, 09:09 PM:

With a few 'specialty-venue' exceptions, practically all AAFES theatres were based on the exact same floor plan and the dimensions were simply altered to adjust the physical size of the facility.

All were equipped with 2 Simplex XL projectors on RCA soundheads set up for 2000' reel changeovers with 2000W LP & Associates or 1600W ORC lamphouses, had mono sound (some have upgraded to stereo or digital in the past 10 years) with JBL or Altec speakers and a curved screen.

Movies were usually shown on weeknights, the auditorium being available during the day for military assemblies and meetings, and on the weekends there was sometimes a full matinee/evening schedule. The auditorium is also used for performing arts activities such as talent contests and USAF 'Tops In Blue' shows ...

A typical film program at an AAFES facility consisted of the following:

National Anthem trailer (you are required to stand when the anthem plays in an on-base theatre)
3-4 preview trailers
AAFES policy trailer
Feature film

Double features are rare at base theatres.

AAFES theatres (and I would assume Navy theatres as well) were primarily sub-run venues, usually getting the product about a month after the first-run locations got it. If there are multiplex theatres in the area of the base, it would probably not be a great idea to reopen the base theatre as product availability would be an issue for certain...

-Aaron

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 03-21-2004, 12:24 AM:

Thanks for the info guys. Sorry it took so long for a response, been busy working. Anyways, I emailed the AAFES on Thursday, but have not gotten a response yet. If they have responded, then I will get it on Monday, since I called in sick Friday to do some work with the tech at the theater. I will post the response that they gave me, hopefully I can get somewhere with this. Thanks again.

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 03-21-2004, 03:19 PM:

The theatre at Whidbey NAS, Washington, frequently shows free showings of first-run movies with military themes before they are released to the general public. I have not been there, but I know they have recently upgraded their sound system to SRD, and seat about 500 people. Hot dogs and popcorn/soda are usually complimentary, or else, cost a dollar or two. This is a disaster for the local, independent cinema that I used to work for that simply tries to keep it's head above water. When half of the town goes to the movie for free on base, who would visit the independant a week later? Keep this in mind, when opening the base theatre, how it will affect the local theatre, if there is one. I thought the military couldn't do anything that would jeopardize local business, but I know the owner of the local company has been fighting this for years.

-Adam

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-21-2004, 05:38 PM:

The local Trident sub base has a theatre that's run by the Navy's Morale, Welfare, & Recreation department. They've got a pretty decent mix of recent sub-run to early-video selections. From what I hear, they do reasonably decent trade.

Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 03-24-2004, 09:26 PM:

I service the Navy base in Asgui Japan near Tokyo, loved going to the single screen theatre with bacony, Strong proj & sound heads, two proj operation, no automation, strong consoles, Dolby CP-500, QSC amps...it was across the street from McDonald's, Taco Bell, Popeye Chicken, ect...I was in haven eating American food, especially when only eating Japanese food for 3-4 months...I welcome site to go to [Razz]

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 03-26-2004, 05:27 PM:

Gad! Base theatres tweak my memory. I grew up as an Air Force service brat and base theatres are where I cut my teeth in movies. I saw "Giant" at the base theatre in Oberammergau, Germany, and "Vertigo" at the base theatre in Bagnoli (near Naples), Italy, in the late 50's. The base theatre at South Post at Fort Belvoir was my home on many a weekend evening during the late 50's and early 60's.

The shows overseas were five and ten cents, depending whether they were older film or new releases. Back in the states they were a quarter. So what I lost at the movies wasn't a fortune. I hear there are very few 35mm base theatres left as most screenings are tape or DVD on a TV screen. I'm still big, it's the pictures that have gotten small......

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 06-22-2009, 01:11 AM:

It has been 1913 days since the last post.

Posted by Trey Allensworth (Member # 1973) on 06-22-2009, 01:11 AM:

I went to an AAFES theater in GeiBen Germany. The B stands for double s. I just don't have the right character on my keyboard. Anyway I saw R.V. with Robyn Williams. It was a pretty good theater. It looked like it was an old gym. That it was set up in. They had the anthem at the start also. That was really cool. And I remember it having quite good prices.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-22-2009, 10:26 AM:

quote: Trey Allensworth
I went to an AAFES theater in GeiBen Germany. The B stands for double s. I just don't have the right character on my keyboard.

You have to hold down the "alt" key and type the numbers 0223 to get the "ß" character to display something like Geißen, Germany.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-22-2009, 10:58 AM:

Or get an international keyboard that'll actually have a key for it. [Wink]

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 06-22-2009, 02:43 PM:

We supplied AAFES a bunch of new equipment in the 80's: Kelmar mono amps, Kelmar reel arms, etc. to allow 60 minute reels. We covered every Ohio Valley Exchange theatre. . . quite a large area incl. the Air Force Academy and Minot ND. This was during the time when L>P> sold many new xenon lamphouses directly to AAFES. Louis

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 06-22-2009, 04:45 PM:

The booth in Theater No. 1 at Fort Benning, GA in 1968 when I was projectionist there. About 1000 seats, a full stage and dressing rooms underneath. "The Green Berets" had a screening there prior to its world premier. Interesting was that a dumb waiter was used to deliver film to the booth which was on the third floor. Theater demolished.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 06-22-2009, 11:07 PM:

Theatre at Fort Worden, Port Townsend, WA. That's where "Officer and a Gentleman" was filmed. It had E7s, RCA sound, Magnarcs and a Hertner genny, which also provided main field power to the stage speaker. Something like 300 seats in there.

During the years when the place was a juvenile detention center for boys, I ran films in the theatre twice a month. Very good gig, good pay, checks arrived like clockwork.

The fort is now a state park The theatre, now used for live performances is still there.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 07-04-2009, 12:35 PM:

My wife's grandfather, Jim Walker, was an Army projectionist during the Korean Conflict in San Diego (If I remember correctly). Either way, every time we would see each other he would always ask about the booths I was running. Over the years I came to realize his problems were my problems and his challenges were my challenges. Jim passed away in May, 2007.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 07-04-2009, 01:59 PM:

quote: Aaron Sisemore
With a few 'specialty-venue' exceptions, practically all AAFES theatres were based on the exact same floor plan and the dimensions were simply altered to adjust the physical size of the facility.

All were equipped with 2 Simplex XL projectors on RCA soundheads set up for 2000' reel changeovers with 2000W LP & Associates or 1600W ORC lamphouses, had mono sound (some have upgraded to stereo or digital in the past 10 years) with JBL or Altec speakers and a curved screen.

Movies were usually shown on weeknights, the auditorium being available during the day for military assemblies and meetings, and on the weekends there was sometimes a full matinee/evening schedule. The auditorium is also used for performing arts activities such as talent contests and USAF 'Tops In Blue' shows ...

A typical film program at an AAFES facility consisted of the following:

National Anthem trailer (you are required to stand when the anthem plays in an on-base theatre)
3-4 preview trailers
AAFES policy trailer
Feature film

Double features are rare at base theatres.

Aaron has it spot-on. At Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson we had the set up as he said, with some notable changes:

The original lamps were Peerless Magnarcs which had a 1kw Xenon conversion kit installed, powered by Strong Suitcase magnetic rectifiers. I helped to install the LP 2k lamps a few months before I left the base..the real fun was scavenging up the Federal Pacific circuit breakers to power the rectifiers since the original Strongs were single-phase.

Sound was Altec mono, with Crown D150 amp for all sound, with a relay that turned on two speakers in the proscenium arch for non-sync. After months of complaints about dialogue intelligibility I discovered that the relay was bypassed and all three speakers were playing during the film. Since the Altec cinema speaker was about 15 feet behind the arch, one can see (hear) what the problem was.

We had the Altec faders attached to each projector, with a "Film/Music" switch on each box. For music (and films when all three speakers were hot) we'd run the fader at 3-4. When I corrected the problem with the relay, we had to run films at 7. Hmmmmm, wonder where Dolby got the standard from now?

The reason the problem went on for so long was simple: In AAFES, the projectionist wasn't allowed to tamper with the equipment, other that cleaning and minor repairs. Once I figured out the relay issue I had to get permission from the regional Engineer to fix it.

After that fix and helping with the LP install, the engineer gave me carte blanche to do whatever I was able to do to make repairs.

We were also responsible for other maintenance of the theatre, including concession equipment. [Eek!]

I have to expand the show sequence, it went like this, (remember NO automation at all)

Start Natl. Anthem trailer (it started with a voiceover and black screen);
Open curtain to time out as just fully opened when image hits screen, while fading house (and foot) lights down;
End of N.A., close curtain and raise house lights to half;
Re-open curtain on corny "AAFES Previews Of Coming Attractions" snipe;
Play trailers;
Curtains closed at end of trailers;
Re-open curtain and drop house lights out for "Feature Presentation" snipe;
Continue opening curtain to full for any scope movie.

Most AAFES theatres had NO maskings, you used the grand drape as masking.

For the film "The Right Stuff" I had to rehearse a busy curtain call: 1.85 for the trailers and snipes, then 1.37 for the opening sequence of the movie, then scope at the explosion. It looked super cool!