Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ron Howard at my theatre tonight...

This is topic Ron Howard at my theatre tonight... in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 03-13-2004, 11:21 PM:

I'm kneeling down talking to our District Secretary and her husband.. and my relief Mgr. walks up and states.. "Hey.. there's Ron Howard."

I'm thinking he's full of [bs]

but low and behold.. it was actually Ron Howard! Opie Taylor... Richie Cunningham.... Amazing. SO I debate on whether or not to allow my relief to approach him once his show is over to autograph two one sheets of 'A Beautiful Mind' that we still had on hand... I tried to dig up The Missing, but no luck.

At any rate, Todd approched him in the theatre after the credits fell whereby Mr. Howard said he'd be glad to sign them. They ahd a brief conversation about, you guessed it 'The Passion' as well as Mel Gibson & Kurt Russell. Very polite man who obliged without question...

The posters go to the frame shop Monday for matting/mounting/framing. Todd keeps one, I keep the other. A very cool night indeed. I also met Henry Winkler back in '94 while in Wilmington, NC. Also, a very polite person who sat in the lobby and talked to patrons for 15-20 minutes after the show was over.

Two actors from Happy Days I have met... very neat indeed. Also, a very cool feeling to know that I have met a man who was so inspired by the very heart of our industry that he made it his career...

[thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 03-14-2004, 12:20 AM:

And just think, he almost became a porno actor! Seriously. Phil, I bet you know about this!

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 03-14-2004, 01:22 AM:

did you ask him if he was seeing dots?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-14-2004, 02:34 AM:

Yeah! We need to get more public figures noticing CRAP Code. Then they will get pissed, and studios will wimper and hopefully think of something else.

Anyway sounds like you had fun, Jason. Did you screw up and run the Dolby Digital logo ass-backwards like I did for whatshisname.... the Twin Peaks guy..... can't remember his name, but it'll come to me.[av=c]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-14-2004, 02:35 AM:

[av=v]David Lynch!

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 03-14-2004, 03:30 PM:

Joe..

Didn't run any logos backwards, but I did shut the film off at the beginning of the credits.. and he STILL autographed the one sheets!

Really, we didn't interupt the credits.. we never do that. It was neat to see he and his family watching the credits...

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-14-2004, 04:52 PM:

I screened dailies for him on Backdraft and he was always friendly. I congratulated him when I learned his next film would be shot in 65mm. Too bad for various reasons it didn't live up to its promise to be an example of what movies should look like.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 03-14-2004, 06:30 PM:

Gosh Mike, why would you think I'd ever know something about the never completed "Opie Gets Laid" project? [Confused]

Besides that was just after "Happy Days" and before he hit it bigtime as a director. [Wink]

>>> Phil

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 03-14-2004, 09:23 PM:

Aren't you an expert Phil?? Hah. [Smile]

Posted by Erick Akers (Member # 875) on 03-14-2004, 11:25 PM:

Just Curious,

Did anyone happen to ask him about his current opinion on filming and releasing a new feature in DTS 70mm???,

as this has been a topic of question. [Big Grin]

I remember him being listed as on of the likely few who possibly could!!! [thumbsup]

Erick

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-15-2004, 12:00 AM:

I love 70mm just as anyone here but I would not hold my breadth on any new feature film shot in the large cinema fomat . When the last two 70mm features, "HAMLET" and "FAR & AWAY" was released many years ago, Honolulu had six 70mm theatres and now there is only one, Pacific's Kahala #1. I am sure Honolulu is not the only city with a demise of 70mm theatres.. This has happened everywhere except for cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Even there, a good percentage of the big 70mm houses are gone. I recall seeing 70mm features in San Francisco at the Northpoint, Alhambra, Regency #1 & 2, Royal and the Coronet but today all of those theatres have closed. With the demise of many 70mm houses , I doubt film producers would consider shooting in 65mm when there is a strong push for digital projection by people like George Lucas and others.

-Claude

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-15-2004, 12:30 AM:

quote:
I recall seeing 70mm features in San Francisco at the Northpoint, Alhambra, Regency #1 & 2, Royal and the Coronet

The Royal was 35mm only: They had a Century SAW on a Simplex SH1000 soundhead. All of the others did have 35/70 capability:

Northpoint: 2 Century JJ's
Reg I: Norelco AAII
Reg II: Norelco DP75
Alhambra: Norelco AAII
Coronet: 2 Norelco AAII's

The Coronet is also currently still open but scheduled to close in 2005.

and to keep this on-topic, 65mm originated 5/70 simply annihilates DLP in image quality! [Smile]

Vive le FILM! [Smile]

-Aaron

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-15-2004, 01:00 AM:

Got to meet Ron Howard (and Tom Cruise) very briefly when they popped into the booth for a second at Bally's during ShoWest '92. This was for Universal's luncheon screening of the 70mm promo reel for Far and Away. He struck me as being very well-centered, and I've heard he's a great guy to work for.

Was too zombied out by then to ask for an autograph. We'd been at it since 10pm the previous evening setting everything up for that lunchtime screening--2 interlocked JJ's with duplicate prints plus a 6-track dubber for additional sound backup, along with a massive screen and sound system, all supplied for that room by BL&S. The 20-minute show went off without a hitch, and we had it all struck and out of there by 7pm that night. Nice work when you can get it. [Smile]

[ 04-02-2004, 09:10 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 03-15-2004, 01:46 AM:

quote:
I'm kneeling down talking to our District Secretary and her husband

What the hell goes on in management?

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 03-15-2004, 01:51 AM:

About signed pics: The only one besides Soupy Sales I had a dedicated and autographed pic from was Jeff Stryker.

I've work with and know both of them. Jeff was very nice to have recently personally signed his naked “Muscle” pic with a "personal" message to the intended recipient.

I no longer have Stryker's pic as it was "dedicated" to someone other than me. That person now has it hopefully predominately and proudly displayed. [Wink]

>>> Phil

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-15-2004, 02:47 AM:

Aaron,

Are you very sure the Royal was 35mm only? I definitely remember seeing John Carpenter's "THE THING" in 70mm and I am positive it was at the Royal on Polk Street. The film was advertised in both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Examiner as being in 70mm. I know I saw the scope picture in that large format because the change over cue marks were round instead of a horizontal oval. The picture clarity and sound also had every indication of being in 70mm. I went out of my way to see the film at the Royal when I was traveling because "THE THING" played only in 35mm in Honolulu at Pacific's Kapiolani Theatre which by the way was a 70mm house.

-Claude

Posted by Bryan J Arseneau (Member # 1832) on 03-15-2004, 02:50 AM:

Did a screening here in Toronto, back in late January with Ron Howard of The Missing. It was a fund rairer and he was in Toronto scouting locations for his next feature, spent all of the feature in the booth with me amd called out the cue marks.
We had to take him out of the the building as he would not leave until all the patrons had a chance to talk to him and sigh posters, now this is a star.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 03-15-2004, 09:56 AM:

Paul Mayer wrote:

quote:
We'd been at it since 10pm the previous evening setting everything up for that lunchtime screening--2 interlocked JJ's with duplicate prints plus a 6-track dubber for additional sound backup, along with a massive screen and sound system, all supplied for that room by BL&S. The 20-minute show went off without a hitch, and we had it all struck and out of there by 7pm that night. Nice work when you can get it.

I still remember that screening (Kodak was a co-sponsor of the luncheon). Very impressive. Kudos to BL&S and their crew. [thumbsup]

Some may criticize "Far and Away" as not having used 65mm to best advantage, but IMHO, some segments (the land rush) rival the best ever shot in that format.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-15-2004, 12:31 PM:

Unless the Royal had 70mm in the past and changed it to 35-only later on, I personally removed a Century SAW and SH1000 soundhead from the booth there in 1999. No evidence in the booth that I could see of 70mm ever being there (trailers, empty 70mm reels, 70mm film scraps, 35/70 machine parts, etc), even the rewind benches (Neumade) were 35mm-only and non-convertible. The only thing that would have even possibly pointed to the Royal's ever having 70mm was the large sound rack with a CP100, but there was no MPU and from what I can remember no evidence that there was one that had been removed. I also believe that they had SRD in the final years there as well (last movie to play there was 'Boogie Nights').

Maybe one of the old ex-Blumenfeld projectionists or techs might have a more definitive answer for us.

-Aaron

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-15-2004, 12:58 PM:

quote:
Some may criticize "Far and Away" as not having used 65mm to best advantage, but IMHO, some segments (the land rush) rival the best ever shot in that format.

John - that's got nothing to do with the format, it is great because of the awesome Montana location! (It was shot 65 miles west of here) [Wink]

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 03-15-2004, 01:11 PM:

Mike,

I'm celebrating 25 years on this planet. Born March 12th, 1979.

[Big Grin]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-15-2004, 01:24 PM:

Hey Josh... what does that have to do with... well... anything? [Smile]

[av=l]

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 03-15-2004, 01:50 PM:

quote:
The Royal was 35mm only

quote:
I definitely remember seeing John Carpenter's "THE THING" in 70mm and I am positive it was at the Royal on Polk Street.

quote:
Unless the Royal had 70mm in the past and it changed to 35-only later on...

Claude is correct, the Royal was indeed a 70mm-equipped house at one time. According to the manager of the Castro Theatre, the Royal's 70mm projectors were transferred to the Castro in the mid-1990s.

From the following document on San Francisco Bay Area 70mm theatres and presentations:
http://www.in70mm.com/lists/various/70mm_cinemas_sf.htm

San Francisco theatres equipped with 70mm projection at one time or another between 1956 and the present:
Alexandria
Alhambra
Castro
Cinema 21
Coronet
Empire
Fox Parkside / Parkside
Galaxy
Golden Gate Cinerama / Golden Gate 1
Golden Gate Penthouse / Golden Gate 2
Kabuki 8
Metro
UA Movies
Northpoint
Orpheum Cinerama / Orpheum
Presidio
Regency I
Regency II
Regency III
Royal
St. Francis
United Artists
Warfield

Some of the 70mm presentations at the Royal included:
The Wind And The Lion (1975)
Superman (1979; moveover)
The Thing (1982)
The Road Warrior (1982)
Let's Spend The Night Together (1983)
E.T. (1985 re-issue)

EDIT: edited to correct a misspelling

[ 03-15-2004, 06:33 PM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 03-15-2004, 02:03 PM:

Hey Joe

[Razz]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-15-2004, 02:11 PM:

Aaron,

Yes, it is very puzzling about the Royal' 70mm film presentations. After I had written that last post, I also recall seeing a special double feature consisting of " MAN OF LA MANCHA and "THE WIND & THE LION" in 70mm at the Royal. John Carpenter's "THE THING" was released in 1983 and that was when I saw it in 70mm there. "MAN OF LA MANCHA" came out in 1972 and "THE WIND AND THE LION was released in 1975 so I must have seen the double feature at the Royal about 1976 or '77. Because 70mm presentations were very important to me, I have gone out of my way to see them and I have a very good memory of what I saw and where I have seen them. Do you suppose the Royal had a pair of 35/70 projectors using a change over system and replaced them with a single 35mm machine when they started to use a platter system?

To make sure I am referring to the right theatre, the Royal was on the left hand side if I am driving up Polk from Gearry and the Alhambra was a little further up the street on the right. Is that correct?

NOTE: this post was written before I had an opportunity to read Mike's post confirming the Royal was indeed a 70mm house. Thank you, Michael.

-Claude

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 03-15-2004, 02:21 PM:

EDIT; Post no longer necessary since Claude revised his previous posting.

[ 04-09-2004, 01:22 AM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-15-2004, 04:04 PM:

Although Ron Howard is well known as being "One of the Good Guys" in the movie business, I do wonder if many theaters have a V.I.P. Policy to avoid hassling stars when they appear in public.

A place I used to work at had a policy that said, "If you see a V.I.P. you are (A) NOT to approach him/her unless it's in the normal course of business that you'd do for any other customer and (B) You are supposed to call the manager on duty and tell them who is in the building. At that point, the manager will approach the V.I.P. and say something like, "Hello, Mr. Howard. My name is Randy Stankey. I am the theater manager. Is there anything we can do for you today?" Once the V.I.P. has been greeted and he/she is satisfied with the service they are receiving, the policy strictly states that all employees and managers should BACK OFF unless the V.I.P. asks for something.

If the situation warrants, the manager might assign a trusted employee to take a post in the general area where the V.I.P. is sitting to make sure he/she stays satisfied for their entire visit and to be on the lookout in case the V.I.P. starts getting mobbed. Asking for autographs is strictly off limits unless the person WANTS to give them. Even then, employees are not to ask for them directly. Let's say we're talking about a big movie star that a certain employee idolizes. The MANAGER should approach the star and ask if it's OK first. However, I would still be wary of letting an individual employee ask for a personal autograph. My belief is that you should ask for an autograph on a movie poster or something that would be put up in a place of honor so that ALL could see it.

I have met a few V.I.P.s who like to give autographs and receive attention. In fact, some even seem to "get off" on it. I met a few of the "Cheers" cast members who visited my store in Boston during their annual Season Opener episode. They seemed to genuinely enjoy "playing up" to the public. On the other hand, I have met a couple (John Larroquette & Roger Clemens) who just didn't seem to like to even be near us "Groundlings". The manager of my store would greet the V.I.P.s and find out if they were in a social mood or not. She'd casually walk by and give us a subtile "thumbs-up" signal if they were friendly and a "slash across the throat" signal if they weren't friendly. That way, we'd know if it was safe to approach or not.

Now, if a guy like Ron Howard came to my theater and wanted to come up to the booth and make changeovers I wouldn't even think twice about it! I'm pretty certain that he would respect the equipment and know how things run. Some guys like to be where the action is. That's cool! I might think about saying something to the effect that he doesn't have to "work" unless he really wants to, though.

Last year, Emanuel Ax played at my theater. After his performance I asked him to autograph our Steinway piano. He is probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet! He was happy to give the autograph. This year we are having Vladmir Feltzman. I'm considering whether to ask him to autograph the piano. I hear Feltzman can be a real pain, sometimes. If he isn't in a social mood I'll almost certainly back off. However, if I can somehow get him to "notice" Ax's autograph inside the piano I wonder if his ego will make him say something like, "What? You have HIS autograph on your piano and not MINE?! At that point, I'd tell one of our stagehands to run in my office to get a Sharpie and hand it to him, saying, "Sir, it would be an honor!" [Big Grin]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 03-15-2004, 08:09 PM:

Then he grunts a "thanks" and uses the Sharpie to cross out Ax's autograph, slams the pen down, and walks away.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 03-15-2004, 08:30 PM:

When Mark Rususel, PBS Political satarist, appeared at the Temple Theatre here, we asked him to sign the dressing room wall. His response, "I don't deface other people's property!"

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-15-2004, 10:43 PM:

quote:
John Carpenter's "THE THING" was released in 1983 and that was when I saw it in 70mm there.

Claude I was getting ready to praise your memory until you stated that The Thing was released in 1983. [Smile]

It was released in the summer of 1982.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-15-2004, 11:12 PM:

Darryl,

You can still praise my memory. It was a mistype. I thought I typed 1982 but my finger must have hit the #3 key by mistake. [Smile]

Sorry about that!

-Claude

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-09-2004, 04:40 AM:

I remember the Royal Theatre being closed on Monday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 17, 1975 for installation of 70mm projection equipment, in time for the June 25 opening of THE WIND AND THE LION. I saw it first, by itself, and a couple of weeks later with MAN OF LA MANCHA, both shown in 70mm, just as Claude stated (although it was in 1975 [Smile]

).

[ 04-09-2004, 10:49 AM: Message edited by: Paul Linfesty ]