Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What platter is this?

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Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 03-30-2019, 05:50 PM:

A old movie theater in the area had an "open house" today. And they had some old pictures of the projection booth. One was of the platter. What's that look like, a Potts?

Please excuse the flash...I wanted to take them home and scan them properly... [Wink]

The same platter, later on. Looks like its rollers were changed out. Notice the second projector has snce been removed and the platter was moved to in its place.

Finally, a wide shot of the lamphouse and projector. Simplex XL projector, with an IPC soundhead.

A shot with the projector's doors closed. Fairly simple automation and sound system..

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-30-2019, 06:34 PM:

The first image is of a "Super" / "ORC orange" / "CFS" platter (although the one in the photo isn't branded.

The rest of the photos are of a basic Strong platter or carbon-copy knockoff (no branding).

It is absolutely not the same platter. Look at the ridiculous upside-down dished deck on the first unit.

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 03-30-2019, 06:42 PM:

So it appears the platter was swapped out for the Strong one later on.

The way I see the ORC/Super Platters are "loved" here, that may have been a good decision by Kerasotes (who previously operated this theatre)... [Wink]

BTW, back in the day what did Kerasotes pretty much favor, equipment wise? I know in their later days, before selling to AMC they seemed to fave Christie equipment, especially lamps.

Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 03-30-2019, 06:51 PM:

Kerasotes has come back from its sale with the Showcase Icon cinemas.

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 03-30-2019, 07:08 PM:

Another picture of platter #1. Would that Christie lamp be a 1KW or 2KW?

Also is that an ORC MUT I spy?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 04-01-2019, 09:59 AM:

Probably the first generation of the Potts platter which ORC and CFS copied

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 04-01-2019, 06:26 PM:

What kind of Christie lamphouse is in the last picture? Is that the older ones where the lamp is housed vertically? I like the splicer in the first picture. This was the type I used.

Mike

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 04-01-2019, 06:31 PM:

I believe a mid-70's era H-10 or 20, with the older style red knob dowser handles.

The screen in question it shot at. 300 seat auditorium, with at least a 120 foot throw.

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 07-14-2019, 06:47 PM:

After doing some poking around, here and elsewhere on the internet, it appears the platter in photo #1 is none other than a early model Potts. Potts also manufactured the orange ORC platters for a time, and also the Christie AW1 and AW2 platters. Hence the "tree" resembling an ORC. And I took even closer looks at the decks in the picture, and they appear to be flat as opposed to the "dished" ORC ones...

As for the platter in the other pictures, none other than a Potts Alpha, that Kerasotes favored in their older cinemas.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-15-2019, 11:11 AM:

In the pic of the aud, I'll never understand why they put the gold drapery so close to the edge of the picture leaving only like 2 inches of black masking. Then the janitor or usher disturbs the drapery and it starts dipping into the picture.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-15-2019, 12:38 PM:

So... how many theatres are we looking at here?

I see one booth with a pair of those awful, underlit Christie lamphouses, a radio and a CD player for non-synch and a Bogen PA amplifier for sound. Bet doing the X-curve was fun! :-)

Two different platters?

... and in the final picture, that doesn't look like the Christies in the OP's first post, but an old X-60.

Me confused.... [Confused]

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 07-15-2019, 05:05 PM:

Jack, it's the same projection booth/theatre, 18 years apart. This was at the Liberty Theater in Murphysboro, IL. Picture #1, the one in post #5, and the one of the screen were taken circa 1980. The rest were taken circa 1998, the year Kerasotes closed it down. So sometime in between, the older model Potts was replaced with a later model Alpha, in addition to the second projector/lamp being removed.

Yeah, in that backside pic of the Christie lamp I thought it was an X-60 at first glance too.

Worth noting the Xetron/Kelmar automation box on the wall.

Also somewhere along the line the pedestal for the projector was changed out too, with a Ballantyne Royal SoundMaster.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-06-2019, 01:11 AM:

FYI: That theatre circuit put up the money to get Bob Potts to make his first platter. DITMCO/Speco, ORC, AW1 and 2 and almost all the others including the the air-matic were also Potts.

Posted by John H. Crawford (Member # 3086) on 08-11-2019, 09:36 AM:

That's interesting. In my visits I noticed all the older Kerasotes outfits had Alphas, with older style Christie consoles/lamps and the much newer theaters around here(that they built) were equipped with the full Christie package. (SLCs, P35GPSs, AW3s).

Worth noting, one theater they acquired from AMC was equipped with ORC Optimax consoles, Alpha platters and P35GPS projectors. Wonder if the platters originally installed by AMC would have been the brown ORC "fat tree" platters?