Castro Theatre SF Re Opens Small Roll Down Screen New Organ

[Terry Monohan]

Here are some photos I took yesterday Sunday at the new remolded Castro Theatre in San Francisco CA for a sold out DCP showing of 'The Sound Of Music 'Singalong.

Some things I liked but the new roll down high position screen I did not like.

Seems the classic Castro won't be used for movies much anymore just high price stage music shows and drinks with no seats on the main floor. They will put in portable chairs for movies. The large loge /balcony area still keeps It's older seats.

Big delay for the matinee on Sunday as they were to open at 12 noon for a movie 1 PM show but they did not open till 12 35PM. The huge long line went 3 blocks to get in on a hot SF afternoon in March. Seems they had a live show with no seats downstairs Sat eve. They ran a delay in getting the chairs back in for the Sunday 1PM performance. Hope next time they plan ahead with more help. Many of the old people waiting in the hot sun long line almost passed out.

The movie was a new DCP of the Sing A Long SOM. The new roll down scope screen is not as wide as the former fixed CinemaScope screen was. If you sit up front your neck is going to hurt looking high up. At least if your seats are in the mid or back area you won't have anyone blocking your view of the new small screen. It may go up higher when they show a old 1.33 film print?

The new electric/pipe organ was played before the movie at 1 PM. David the house organist played it very light and soft, was not very loud?

I noticed on the side walls they have new small surround speakers. I heard no surround sound from this stereo movie . The stage speakers had very minimum separation as the LRC stage speakers are placed to close together. This surround sound system may just be set up for live music events and not for Dolby movies or maybe they did not have them set up for a 5.1 or 7.1 movie? They may be tied in to the organ also.

A big disappoint for me they did not open or close the new main stage drape curtains like they always did , It was not till after I complained to 6 different manager types in the lobby they did close them after the credits with no color stage light on the fabric. They just sat there in the dark. They spent all this money on the remodel and no stage foot lamps are in place on the stage for some color light on the curtains.

Same with the deco huge light fixture in the ceiling. I have been told and have seen new photos this giant deco lamp can show 16 different colors. Sunday they just had boring white lights on when you came in and kept dark during the movie. No showmanship with the new people that have taken over the Castro Theatre lease. At least please try to keep a dim blue/purple light on or some other color during a show. During the intermission they shined a blue light on the restored ceiling , The upstairs loge lights are red along with the under the balcony lights also are red. .I think they can change the color on these deco lamps.

Hope they can fix some of these things in the future as we are lucky the Castro Theatre is still standing. Could have been sold and turned into a gym, disco, mall stores or torn down for much needed parking.

Stop by and check out the place and give management some suggestions to bring It back Thanks Terry

[Frank Cox]

Looks like they're using less than half of the width of the room and only about 2/3 of the width of the stage for the screen. So you end up with a postage stamp on the wall where you could have had something really impressive.

[Ed Gordon]

new roll down high position screen I did not like

It is a beautiful theater, but I would not want to see a movie there. That does seem to be a rather small screen for an auditorium of that size. I did find a picture of the old screen to compare:

image.png

[Frank Angel]

Wait, they drag out portable seats in the orchestra? Is the orchestra floor leveled or do the portable seats sit on the original slopped floor? Sight lines must be a real compromise. What a shame when they do this to perfectly good MOVIE theatres. Obviously, cinema presentation was an afterthought. And then to show that "sing-a-long" bastardization of the classic just adds insult to injury. And the operators would come right back at me and say, "Yeah, well when was the last time YOU had a sold-out house for a half a century old movie?" I get the point, but as people realize the presentation is not what it was in the old Castro, they may be reluctant to line up like that to see movies there. Keep the fare to live entertainment in the well appointed theatre and leave presenting movies to the cinemas that know how to do it right.

[Mark Ogden]

I did find a picture of the old screen to compare:

image.png

It actually looks like roughly the same size screen, just higher up. Notice that the teaser has been raised in the "after" shot. The screen at the Castro was/is constant width, and any time i've ever been in there was a variable top-mask. It looks like it'll be a variable bottom mask now. My understanding is that they did this because during the renovation they flattened out the seat rake in the mezzanine to get the motorized seat platforms to withdraw properly, which would have resulted in terrible sight-lines for films with everybody's noggins in the way. They did something like this at the Paris Cinema in NYC a couple of years ago, raised the screen to improve sight-lines from a fairly shallow floor.

[Terry Monohan]

Thanks guys for your notes about the Castro Theatre. Looks like the new thick Castro Curtains don't open on the sides back enough of the pillars on each side like before, If they had opened more now this would give a few feet of added width to a scope image.

When I was talking to a few people in charge guys in the lobby about the main ceiling deco light and curtains one guy with a bunch of keys around his belt asked me outright If I wanted a job working for them to help with the lights & curtains plus presentations. If I was younger I may have taken him up on the offer. I'd probably have to work weekends and nights, My days of working in movie theatres and local SF Bay Area TV stations ended a few years ago. I enjoy my movie/TV retirement and enjoy my 16mm film collection at this time. . Pillars.jpg

[Ed Gordon]

...Looks like the new thick Castro Curtains don't open on the sides back enough of the pillars on each side like before, If they had opened more now this would give a few feet of added width to a scope image.
...

A few more feet would certainly be an improvement. They seemed to have concentrated on live stage presentations rather than movies. Back in 50's many of the movie palaces did major remodels to increase the size of the screen to support Cinemascope. The remodel might hide or remove the ornate proscenium. We forget that when the movie palaces were built, the screens were relatively small.

Other important practical considerations in a Movie Palace included the screen type (mirror, flat white plaster, aluminum based powdered plaster) and its frame which was usually of black, blue or grey velvet to help the 15’ X 20’ image stand out in the large theater interior.

Source: https://www.davidandnoelle.net/moviehistory.htm

Two movie palaces in Seattle got this treatment. The first theater built in Seattle specifically to show movies, the Colosseum, was remodeled in the 1950's install an immersive scope screen. The building's architect was horrified by the remodel. However, the Colosseum was the best place to see a movie after the remodel. Later, the Orpheum theater had a wall-to-wall screen that rivaled Cinerama.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I kinda hope they did both, or at least allowed for different trim heights on their screen pictured. The photos seem to be very appropriate for a screening with a bunch of sing-along cast on stage, screen trimmmed above their heads. But I hope they have a version more suitable to just watching a film that fills the opening better. There may be sight line issues they were considering too, trying to make sure more seats are not obstructed view etc. And clearing their organist (not everyone has one of those anymore).

As much as I understand the need in a mixed live house, I still hate it when we opt to hang a bunch of permanent truss for lighting positions that completely destroy the original look of the prosc arch, unless you happen to be in the very most expensive seats in the orchestra. In our remodel we are looking to remove/relocate such eye-sores, rather than add more of them.

Architecturally the remodel looks great, and I like the accent lighting that highlights it. It would be nice if the main rag could open all the way to a hidden mode, and afford a wider screen, but the curtain opening seems to match their old situation. But I'd guess this screen is intended to be multi-use and going much bigger would have made it somewhat inappropriate for all non-film events.

This is a venue with a full fly house yes? If it's really a roll up that is a very curious choice. Maybe there was a desire for the screen channels plus screen to be on a single flyable or strike able unit/truss.

We could be considered a sister type venue, but we have two screens: huge film one and talking heads smaller one. And commonly rent in other odd sizes as needed. If they spent big money on the rest of the film system, that screen does appear to be the weak link. Hoping another one is hiding and that was just what this event required.

[Paul Finn]

Is the roll-down screen perforated for sound transmission? Where are the screen channel speakers located? The SOM sing-along version dcp is 5.1. Where was the surround sound?

Thanks, Paul Finn

[Mark Ogden]

There's no fly loft at the Castro.

The thing I wonder about the roll-up screen is how it is anchored and kept taught. Obviously it is not laced. I wonder what happens if somebody causes a negative air pressure thing while it's down, opens a stage door or something. Does it ripple or move?

[Marcel Birgelen]

I guess one of the biggest roll-up screens in the world is at Le Grand Rex in Paris. That one stays there entirely by gravity. Seeing this monster of a screen rolled out in front of you, together with the general "ambiance" in the theater is quite something. I couldn't find a better video, but as you can see, the screen is not backed by anything. I've not seen any ripples during the presentation though.

[Jim Cassedy]

I've only worked in two 'mixed use' venues that had trusses over the seating section
of the house. Resonance/vibration of the lighting fixtures was a big problem at one
of them any time a movie with 'big sound' (ie- an action movie like a James Bond or
Mission Impossible flick) was played. For you guys who work in that type of venue,
is this a common issue/problem?

[Paul Finn]

Often, an additional much bigger worry in the movie palaces was the loud sound effects on the auditorium plaster. I have also seen lighting instrument filament failures

Paul Finn

[Ryan Gallagher]

There's no fly loft at the Castro.

The thing I wonder about the roll-up screen is how it is anchored and kept taught. Obviously it is not laced. I wonder what happens if somebody causes a negative air pressure thing while it's down, opens a stage door or something. Does it ripple or move?

Ahh that explains the roll down for sure Thanks for clarifying.

Our smaller space has a roll down, there are very few ripple/movement issues. Ours is not perforated but you can get them that way. Gravity plus a clever edge design handle the taughtness. The downside is if they ever start to develop rolling issues, it will just get worse and worse and put permanent wrinkles along an edge. Ours has not done that but a nearly impossible to access part has started squeaking loudly. It is going away soon, we just switched to only using it when it can be present the whole show... no more internal cues like that crazy Le Grand Rex screen reveal video.

I think it's fun that they have taken the act of deploying it and turned it into a presentation/audience participation type thing. You'd think people would get bored waiting for that long roll down, but not if you make it FUN! I couldn't tell, were those all trailers? Or do they have a roll down stinger they use every time? The audience reactions were great, that is what going to a big movie "should" feel like. We are big enough to enjoy some of that fun vibe here too, but usually only specific titles that draw out those kind of people.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I've only worked in two 'mixed use' venues that had trusses over the seating section
of the house. Resonance/vibration of the lighting fixtures was a big problem at one
of them any time a movie with 'big sound' (ie- an action movie like a James Bond or
Mission Impossible flick) was played. For you guys who work in that type of venue,
is this a common issue/problem?

I've not heard such complaints here, but I also haven't tried sitting close to the towers or mezz rail during a film. Highly gonna depend on the fixture type and quality I expect.