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Author Topic: Cinerama Screenings
Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007


 - posted August 27, 2009 11:25 PM      Profile for Bill Brandenstein   Email Bill Brandenstein   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
For those of you who can be on the left coast of the USA in a couple of weeks, here are some rare true Cinerama screenings to be aware of (and thanks to Martin Hart's Widescreen website where I first heard about these):
"Septemberama" screenings.

[ September 11, 2009, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: Bill Brandenstein ]

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Dan Lail
Film God

Posts: 2110
From: Loganville, Georgia, USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted August 28, 2009 02:38 AM      Profile for Dan Lail   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Here is the link:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/

Great stuff, Bill.

[ August 29, 2009, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Dan Lail ]

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007


 - posted August 28, 2009 12:33 PM      Profile for Bill Brandenstein   Email Bill Brandenstein   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thank you for the link, Dan.

But what in the world happened to my post? The direct Arclight links are wreckage!

Here is the Arclight series page.

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Greg Marshall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 612
From: Nashville, TN USA
Registered: Sep 2008


 - posted August 29, 2009 02:17 PM      Profile for Greg Marshall     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Wow.... we have a semi-revival house here in Nashville, but they haven't brought anything in 70mm here yet. I'm not sure if they're equipped any longer to do so.

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007


 - posted September 11, 2009 01:40 PM      Profile for Bill Brandenstein   Email Bill Brandenstein   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hello friends, I had the opportunity Wednesday evening to see the debut Cinerama feature, This Is Cinerama, at the Cinerama Dome, now part of the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. The street view of the original dome entrance:
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...where the neighboring buildings now dwarf the dome, but otherwise has changed little since 1963. Arclight strives to be a first-rate venue, remining me of the days when going to a movie was an event. Here's a picture of the massive lobby, with apologies to Brad and your neck for this rotated picture -- turn your head to the left:
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It contains a giftshop, service counters, a restaurant, and out-of-view on the right, a massive staircase to the upper 7 screens (the venue contains 13 plus the original Dome).

The movie was surprisingly quaint and uneven, which is to say that parts of it are breathtaking and parts have aged greatly in a cultural sense. Contrivances, such as the always-late Southern Belle in the Cypress Gardens sequence, don't come off too well in my opinion. Imax has spoiled some of the other spectacle for us, like the unmoving wide-angle shots of the choir or bullfight, which are also impaired by other photographic limitations. And the ballet seen in the Aida temple scene is certainly not going to endear that art form to the uninitiated, even with the cast-of-thousands approach.

The movie opens much as a show might have in the 1930s-50s, as a newsreel matted to a 4:3 portion of the center panel. This replicates the smallish screen size that audiences of the day would have been accustomed to, and is helpful in getting us to imagine going back in time to what movie viewing was like before the days of wide screen processes. Lowell Thomas guides us on a tour of the history of pictorial entertainment, and it's good stuff. And then.... the curtain opens to reveal the spectacular 86-foot full width of the screen, as we're climbing up a roller coaster incline. When it clears the top and we hurtle down the other side, the knees tingle and the tummy tightens just as though you were really there. Also spectacular is the final flight-tour across the USA, and the naturalness and impact of the orchestral sound in the Cypress Gardens sequence.

It's hard to imagine what perceptive viewers experienced 57 years ago. They had never heard stereo prior to this, let alone surround sound; here, the sound eminates richly from just wherever it should (it's 5 screen channels plus stereo surrounds) as indicated by the picture activity. We're jaded by our familiarity with surround sound; so listening to a choir entering the church from behind, and seeing no singers for a very long minute, won't provide the intrigue any longer that the inital audiences had; they were hearing rear sound for the first time.

So while we can see and feel the limitations of the cumbersome process in much of what is presented, it's still the Imax of the 1950s, with an amazingly crisp massive picture and that unparalled field of view. It's good we can't get it on video: this one only makes sense on the big screen.

Afterwards, the projection booths were open for visitors. Here's Booth A ("Able") projectionist Dave Strohmaier, producer-director of the 2002 documentary Cinerama Adventure, explaining how the vibrating motion of the Jiggle-O ("gigolo") aperture helps the three picture panels to blend together.
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This is the C "Charley" projector, which I think may be a Century custom-modified for Cinerama back in the Fifties:
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Finally, you have to see a 12,000-foot reel to believe it (maximum running time of 80 minutes). The 7-channel mag sound for Cinerama has always been on an interlocked dubber, and here's a photo of it with the Act 2 reels, located at the backside of the Dome's B "Baker" booth:
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Those are new reels, by the way.

I have quite a few more booth pictures but will contact Brad to see if he'd rather they be posted as a booth tour.

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Paul Adsett
Film God

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From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted September 11, 2009 03:55 PM      Profile for Paul Adsett     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thank you for that great write up Bill. I wish I could get to the West coast to see Cinerama, must be really something to behold. Nice to see a photo of David Strohmaier who produced the superb Cinerama Adventure feature on the How The West Was Won DVD.

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Joe Caruso
Film God

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From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted September 12, 2009 03:36 PM      Profile for Joe Caruso     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Oh! Just like the Mayfair Theatre in Asbury - Where I saw Cinerama's greatest; HTWWW and Mad World - Glorious! - Shorty

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Michael De Angelis
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1261
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2003


 - posted September 12, 2009 05:53 PM      Profile for Michael De Angelis   Email Michael De Angelis   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I wish that I took the opportunity to go and see
the re-release of This is Cinerama back in the '70's.

From what I had read, there was a theatre in Ohio, that ran This is..., and HTWWW,
about ten years ago.

In addition to the projector and sound tour, people also were able to inspect the meticulous curved individual bands of screening material.

It was written that the image was superlative and when you
saw the back of Debbie Reynolds western outfit, the stitching in
the costume was visible.

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David Kilderry
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 963
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Feb 2006


 - posted September 13, 2009 07:30 AM      Profile for David Kilderry   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I love the Cinerama Dome and have spent many happy times there. It is a credit to Pacific that they have retained it within the Arclight and installed the 3 strip process, something that it was designed for but never equipped with!

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Joe Caruso
Film God

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From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted September 13, 2009 05:28 PM      Profile for Joe Caruso     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Mike, I have that information on the Ohio Theatre from Len Maltin - Will dig it up. Fraternally, Shorty

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Michael De Angelis
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1261
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2003


 - posted September 13, 2009 09:32 PM      Profile for Michael De Angelis   Email Michael De Angelis   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Shorty,

Excellent news.

Did you attend any screening?

--------------------
Isn't it great that we can all communicate about this great
hobby that we love!

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Joe Caruso
Film God

Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted September 14, 2009 05:54 AM      Profile for Joe Caruso     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Unhappily no, but my experience watching HTWWW upon release in Cinerama was breathtaking, even for a ten year-old - This was actually at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury, Mayfair I saw MAD WORLD, and others - I first discovered and learned something of film (on a huge scale), from a kindly projectionist who showed me the workings of these enormous reels and change-over. When I asked if I could take the film home after the show, he laughed and explained why this wasn't possible. Actually there were two men running the films - He was nice to give me a souvenir flyer for HTWWW - What great times, Shorty

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007


 - posted September 14, 2009 07:01 PM      Profile for Bill Brandenstein   Email Bill Brandenstein   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I have some information that will not only answer Michael's question, but would probably satiate the curiousity of the most rabid fan!

The theater in Ohio was the Neon, in the city of Dayton, and the man who brought Cinerama to that theater was John Harvey. Here is a wonderful link telling the story, but you'll need to scroll down to the eighth section to find it. Harvey actually began showing Cinerama in his house! Talk about home theater! Then it was moved to the theater. The Cinema Treasures page for the Neon Theater isn't very informative, but the user comments are. Thomas Hauerslev visited the New Neon in 1997 and posted this account of the experience at www.in70mm.com. A YouTube video of the New Neon and John Harvey is viewable here.

Sadly, the Neon's own web page no longer shows any trace of Cinerama, nor would I expect it to; according to this Ain't-It-Cool link, the Cinerama screenings stopped in 2000, as Harvey's health problems began mounting. I have since seen equipment, reels, ephemera, and even the New Neon's former Cinerama screen in 3/4" strips show up on eBay, so no doubt the capability is completely gone now, years ago.

Vanity Fair magazine ran an article in 2001 on Cinerama and is viewable at the Cinerama Adventure site. Page 4 speaks of John Harvey. Of course, other great reading is available at Martin Hart's Widescreen Museum website.

A most amazing and unusual achievment, and another Cinerama era gone by.

Eventually more photos from the Arclight screening will be posted.

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Joe Caruso
Film God

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From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted September 15, 2009 11:19 AM      Profile for Joe Caruso     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Someone must carry it on

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