Nov 10th, On this date in 1953 the second picture releaesd in CinemaScope opened simultaneouly at the State and Globe.
I belive HTMAM was actually the first movie filmed in Scope but Zanuck in his wisdom decided to release “The Robe” first to introduce the miracle you see without glasses.
Only one way to see that movie, in a movie palace on a big screen in 35mm presented with Emergo. I mean come on, how much fun was that when it was first released.
Hello Vince nice hearing from you. I still get chills thinking about that 50 cent day it was quite an experience. The people just kept coming and coming and…well you know. We ran out of everything in the stand impossible to have any sort of order on the lines of people waiting for the next show. But funny thing is as crazy as it was I had fun. I was just happy our employees showed up the next day after what they went thru the night before. I was not sure even the managers would come back, but happily everyone did.
The theatre has changed dramatically now under Regal some for the better and some for the worse.
Mike I don’t think Hollywood had anything to do with Hazlet not using union operators it was just a sign of the times with management taking over the booths. I do not approve of front of the house staff running the booth, but as with National it won’t be long before the booth is 100% digital which requires computer skills rather than projection.
But the good news is they now this week they have a new GM an excellent theatre man who will be very good for Hazlet.
I was chief of projection and sound for both Consolidated and Royal theatres during the eighties. When the movie “AC/DC Let There Be Rock†opened at the Cinerama in 1980 the studio arranged for a special sound system be installed. At the time we were still running the original Cinerama system which was an eight track channel system that did not provide the kind of power the studio wanted for the movie. My only complaint was that it was a mono system which surprised me but that is what they wanted. Opening night we received many complaints from our neighbors because the sound was so loud it could be heard all over King Street and was disturbing, we had to turn it down a notch. But my goodness did the Cinerama ever rock.
The Marina at the time had what I considered to be the best sound system on the Island, it originally had a very simple mono system but later we installed Dolby in both auditions with a sound system developed and designed by a fella by the name of Joe Schmidt. Joe was a very talented sound man who did one heck of a job at the Marina. New amps, speakers and Dolby processors were installed and the sound was magnificent. Later when we had a move over of “A Star is Born†from Waikiki #3 we installed a four track magnetic system for the engagement.
I have to mention that Oahu had many excellent sounding theatres thanks to the talents of Joe Schmidt and Wesley Inouye who were my sound techs, a couple of very talented sound people who knew their way around theater sound. Joe is retired now I believe Wesley still works for Consolidated. There were a few very dedicated people like Joe and Wesley along with another very talented projection technician by the name of Scott Bosch. Those three individuals made Hawaii theatres look and sound as well as any theatre could. I owe a lot of thanks for their help in making our theatres look and sound as good as they did during my time in Hawaii.
I found that story ridicules, for one thing, as mentioned here, their have been many threats to our industry from TV to pay for view bla bla bla. The bottom line is people need to get out of the house they will always go to theaters and not sit at home especially our biggest demographic of younger folks.
Film may be all but dead but movie theatres…never.
The same thing that happened in the 50s with 3-D two projector interlock and later in the 60s with split frame single projector 3-D The public got tired of it, and as it happened back then projection problems are taking it’s toll. In my day we had problems with
the 3-D interlocks and the 3-D glasses people hated to wear, but today it seems worse, with the digital 3-D many of the problems occur when the media is playing. The server will freeze up stopping the feature and it has to be rebooted. That takes from 5 to 20 minutes. Sometimes you have to reboot it 3-4 times. Of course this happens with 2-D movies as well and as you can imagine is very irritating to the patrons Ah progress, ya gotta love it.
rvd I just saw your post regarding Prudentional and the theatre’s neglect. It was, as you probably know, a fact that the company spent little to no money on those theatres. I was so happy when UA took many of them over and began fixing them up. The booths were one of the first thongs to get attention with upgraes and improvements in projection thanks of course to the one and only Joe Kelly.
Gotcha Bill, if only we could convince them to do that.
Would be nice to see the theatre run with all the bells and Whistles. See….I didn’t say curtains :)
I promise this is the last comment I will make about the curtains.
With all due respect to Al who has contributed so much to our forum and whose opinions I respect, the fact that they don’t use the curtains for fear of breakdowns is difficult to understand. In the 50+ years I spent in theatrical exhibition I worked in theatres with every possible type of curtain imaginable and NEVER heard of the kinds of things I read here about the problems they have at the Ziegfeld. I know enough about curtain riggings to know that the problem they are having are completely fixable. There is no excuse to not, other than their reluctance to spend the money, correct the situation. I also understand the need to leave the curtains open so that slides which generate revenue can be shown during intermission. However that should not keep them from doing a delux start by simply closing the curtains a minute before ShowTime and then starting the show properly. It would be nice to se the curtains close at the end of the movie as well and then during intermission reopen them to show the slides. A win win wouldn’t you say
The Ziegfeld has IATSE local 306 union projectionists, as to why management does not demand use of the curtains is a bit of a mystery to me as well. The theatre does have a history of having problems with the curtains malfunctioning, perhaps that is part of it. But why don’t they just get the darn things fixed. It’s a new world and people just are not all that interested in “putting on a show†as we did in our day, I have just resolved myself to accepting that. No more curtains no more showmanship and for that matter no more film. I know there are quite a few showmen still left in California who go the extra mile to present movies properly but here in New York, not so much. One of the folks who run the Ziegfeld, a heck of a nice guy does comment here from time to time and I think his heart is in the right place on theses matters but seems perhaps to have his hands tied at times.
Jon if you haven’t already, scroll up to read many posts on that subject. We have beat that horse to death here and many agree with your position on this. No one more than I
It is truly a lost art in the projecton of movies
Indeed that is a beautifully executed curtain falling with the music to ad to the joy of it. I am glad Simon reminded us and hope all you curtain lovers out there who have not done so do your self a favor and watch “The Great Ziegfeld” if for no other reason but to watch that wonderful curtain desend. I promise it will make you smile
Of the eight full time managers I had when I left Hazlet in 2002 only two remain.The LED signs outside the auditorium where intended to be installed by NA, they were removed from another theatre that had just closed.
Rave intends to have the both converted to 100% digital very soon, as for the digital slides they were installed by NA along with DVD projectors for classic movies.
You are right about the design being the same as Berlin; the only difference is in the sloped roof which in Berlin is flat allowing additional storage room in the second floor booth area which Hazlet does not have. As a matter of fact while we were building Hazlet I visited Berlin to have a look-see.
Serving Coke is actually a throw back because NA served Coke until the late 80s when a deal was struck with Pepsi.
The Multiplex sign had to be removed because NA owns the copy write to “Multiplex Cinemas†and “Showcase Cinemas†and can not be used by any other company except under special conditions
My biggest concern is in the maintenance, I had a full time maintenance man who kept the building looking like new, and Rave has eliminated that. I would expect you to find more torn and broken seats now and less attention paid to the grounds, landscape and paining.
Rave also plans, if they haven’t already, to have front of the house staff, (ushers etc) run the booth which concerns me as well, and hopefully they will be well trained.
I appeciate the update on both the ecreening rooms and “Sex in the City” screening.
I was surprised to learn that they have not installed red light readers in any of the projectors. I would have thought they would have updated the optical sound heads if for no other reason but to provide analogue backup to the digital track. THe Music Hall must have one of the very few projection rooms still using exciter lamps (do they still make those anymore?)
Of course it would be highly unlikely for both digital projectors and the digital sound on the 35mm to all go down leaving them to have had to cancel the show for lack of the red light readers.
Or would it, I mean seriously, can you imagine. :)
Thanks again guys I appreciate the feed back.
I have a question for REndres or any of the people currently connected to the Hall.
There were/are two screening rooms which were used during the movie/stage show era, are they still in use and in what capacity.
In fairness to the wonderful peole running the theatre now the decision to use DVD comes from the Festival organizers. In most of those types of festivals etc, DVD and Digital is the popular choice.
I believe there was some 35mm used at Tribecka and Sundance but most of the movies were not shown on film.
As to the booth at the St. George I wonder what has been going on up there. I left when the new owners took over and the booth was in faily good working condition, only some work on the #2 projector gear train needed work. Anyone know if the equipment is still intact?
Rob thanks so much for that, we can always count on you to articulate the facts and teach us so much. You are truly one of this sites greatest treasures
I understand what you are saying; times sure are a-changin. Things were a lot simpler in my time and I just think they have complicated things with Digital projection at Radio City.
I fully understand the industry wanting to make the switch to Digital, the cost savings are enormous. The initial expense for the new equipment pays for itself very quickly without the print costs, shipping and man hours required with film. Ad to that the fact that the new generation of film makers, and quite a few old timers as well, who look at the bottom line and the cost differential between film and digital. As time goes by more and more of the new folks who are unfamiliar with the wonders of film will think why would I want to use that? Like Vinyl records and video tape film is slowly disappearing, it’s just very hard for many of us to let go.
I would like to ask that Rob and the rest of you connected to the Music hall continue to inform us when ever film is used in any form or fashion. I for one would appreciate that very much.
Tinseltoes,I love your posts and anytime I have a corresponding original newspaper ad I will post it.
Pleae keep em coming
Well it is a bit early perhaps they could offer those shows in December. 3-D interlock working alright I guess?
I was thinking the same thing Bill,talk about gross exaggeration
Nov 10th, On this date in 1953 the second picture releaesd in CinemaScope opened simultaneouly at the State and Globe.
I belive HTMAM was actually the first movie filmed in Scope but Zanuck in his wisdom decided to release “The Robe” first to introduce the miracle you see without glasses.
View link
Nothing has been written about the Christmas show which opened last week Anyone know of any changes from last year or any info on the show at all.
To go along with Tinseltoes post on “White Christmas” here is the original newspaper ad.
View link
Only one way to see that movie, in a movie palace on a big screen in 35mm presented with Emergo. I mean come on, how much fun was that when it was first released.
Hello Vince nice hearing from you. I still get chills thinking about that 50 cent day it was quite an experience. The people just kept coming and coming and…well you know. We ran out of everything in the stand impossible to have any sort of order on the lines of people waiting for the next show. But funny thing is as crazy as it was I had fun. I was just happy our employees showed up the next day after what they went thru the night before. I was not sure even the managers would come back, but happily everyone did.
The theatre has changed dramatically now under Regal some for the better and some for the worse.
Mike I don’t think Hollywood had anything to do with Hazlet not using union operators it was just a sign of the times with management taking over the booths. I do not approve of front of the house staff running the booth, but as with National it won’t be long before the booth is 100% digital which requires computer skills rather than projection.
But the good news is they now this week they have a new GM an excellent theatre man who will be very good for Hazlet.
I was chief of projection and sound for both Consolidated and Royal theatres during the eighties. When the movie “AC/DC Let There Be Rock†opened at the Cinerama in 1980 the studio arranged for a special sound system be installed. At the time we were still running the original Cinerama system which was an eight track channel system that did not provide the kind of power the studio wanted for the movie. My only complaint was that it was a mono system which surprised me but that is what they wanted. Opening night we received many complaints from our neighbors because the sound was so loud it could be heard all over King Street and was disturbing, we had to turn it down a notch. But my goodness did the Cinerama ever rock.
The Marina at the time had what I considered to be the best sound system on the Island, it originally had a very simple mono system but later we installed Dolby in both auditions with a sound system developed and designed by a fella by the name of Joe Schmidt. Joe was a very talented sound man who did one heck of a job at the Marina. New amps, speakers and Dolby processors were installed and the sound was magnificent. Later when we had a move over of “A Star is Born†from Waikiki #3 we installed a four track magnetic system for the engagement.
I have to mention that Oahu had many excellent sounding theatres thanks to the talents of Joe Schmidt and Wesley Inouye who were my sound techs, a couple of very talented sound people who knew their way around theater sound. Joe is retired now I believe Wesley still works for Consolidated. There were a few very dedicated people like Joe and Wesley along with another very talented projection technician by the name of Scott Bosch. Those three individuals made Hawaii theatres look and sound as well as any theatre could. I owe a lot of thanks for their help in making our theatres look and sound as good as they did during my time in Hawaii.
DVDs so I am not interested.
“Song Without End” played RCMH in four track magnetic sound
I found that story ridicules, for one thing, as mentioned here, their have been many threats to our industry from TV to pay for view bla bla bla. The bottom line is people need to get out of the house they will always go to theaters and not sit at home especially our biggest demographic of younger folks.
Film may be all but dead but movie theatres…never.
The same thing that happened in the 50s with 3-D two projector interlock and later in the 60s with split frame single projector 3-D The public got tired of it, and as it happened back then projection problems are taking it’s toll. In my day we had problems with
the 3-D interlocks and the 3-D glasses people hated to wear, but today it seems worse, with the digital 3-D many of the problems occur when the media is playing. The server will freeze up stopping the feature and it has to be rebooted. That takes from 5 to 20 minutes. Sometimes you have to reboot it 3-4 times. Of course this happens with 2-D movies as well and as you can imagine is very irritating to the patrons Ah progress, ya gotta love it.
rvd I just saw your post regarding Prudentional and the theatre’s neglect. It was, as you probably know, a fact that the company spent little to no money on those theatres. I was so happy when UA took many of them over and began fixing them up. The booths were one of the first thongs to get attention with upgraes and improvements in projection thanks of course to the one and only Joe Kelly.
Gotcha Bill, if only we could convince them to do that.
Would be nice to see the theatre run with all the bells and Whistles. See….I didn’t say curtains :)
I promise this is the last comment I will make about the curtains.
With all due respect to Al who has contributed so much to our forum and whose opinions I respect, the fact that they don’t use the curtains for fear of breakdowns is difficult to understand. In the 50+ years I spent in theatrical exhibition I worked in theatres with every possible type of curtain imaginable and NEVER heard of the kinds of things I read here about the problems they have at the Ziegfeld. I know enough about curtain riggings to know that the problem they are having are completely fixable. There is no excuse to not, other than their reluctance to spend the money, correct the situation. I also understand the need to leave the curtains open so that slides which generate revenue can be shown during intermission. However that should not keep them from doing a delux start by simply closing the curtains a minute before ShowTime and then starting the show properly. It would be nice to se the curtains close at the end of the movie as well and then during intermission reopen them to show the slides. A win win wouldn’t you say
The Ziegfeld has IATSE local 306 union projectionists, as to why management does not demand use of the curtains is a bit of a mystery to me as well. The theatre does have a history of having problems with the curtains malfunctioning, perhaps that is part of it. But why don’t they just get the darn things fixed. It’s a new world and people just are not all that interested in “putting on a show†as we did in our day, I have just resolved myself to accepting that. No more curtains no more showmanship and for that matter no more film. I know there are quite a few showmen still left in California who go the extra mile to present movies properly but here in New York, not so much. One of the folks who run the Ziegfeld, a heck of a nice guy does comment here from time to time and I think his heart is in the right place on theses matters but seems perhaps to have his hands tied at times.
Jon if you haven’t already, scroll up to read many posts on that subject. We have beat that horse to death here and many agree with your position on this. No one more than I
It is truly a lost art in the projecton of movies
Indeed that is a beautifully executed curtain falling with the music to ad to the joy of it. I am glad Simon reminded us and hope all you curtain lovers out there who have not done so do your self a favor and watch “The Great Ziegfeld” if for no other reason but to watch that wonderful curtain desend. I promise it will make you smile
Of the eight full time managers I had when I left Hazlet in 2002 only two remain.The LED signs outside the auditorium where intended to be installed by NA, they were removed from another theatre that had just closed.
Rave intends to have the both converted to 100% digital very soon, as for the digital slides they were installed by NA along with DVD projectors for classic movies.
You are right about the design being the same as Berlin; the only difference is in the sloped roof which in Berlin is flat allowing additional storage room in the second floor booth area which Hazlet does not have. As a matter of fact while we were building Hazlet I visited Berlin to have a look-see.
Serving Coke is actually a throw back because NA served Coke until the late 80s when a deal was struck with Pepsi.
The Multiplex sign had to be removed because NA owns the copy write to “Multiplex Cinemas†and “Showcase Cinemas†and can not be used by any other company except under special conditions
My biggest concern is in the maintenance, I had a full time maintenance man who kept the building looking like new, and Rave has eliminated that. I would expect you to find more torn and broken seats now and less attention paid to the grounds, landscape and paining.
Rave also plans, if they haven’t already, to have front of the house staff, (ushers etc) run the booth which concerns me as well, and hopefully they will be well trained.
I appeciate the update on both the ecreening rooms and “Sex in the City” screening.
I was surprised to learn that they have not installed red light readers in any of the projectors. I would have thought they would have updated the optical sound heads if for no other reason but to provide analogue backup to the digital track. THe Music Hall must have one of the very few projection rooms still using exciter lamps (do they still make those anymore?)
Of course it would be highly unlikely for both digital projectors and the digital sound on the 35mm to all go down leaving them to have had to cancel the show for lack of the red light readers.
Or would it, I mean seriously, can you imagine. :)
Thanks again guys I appreciate the feed back.
William, I read that back then but that was 5 years ago and I wondered what the satis of the rooms are today.
I have a question for REndres or any of the people currently connected to the Hall.
There were/are two screening rooms which were used during the movie/stage show era, are they still in use and in what capacity.
In fairness to the wonderful peole running the theatre now the decision to use DVD comes from the Festival organizers. In most of those types of festivals etc, DVD and Digital is the popular choice.
I believe there was some 35mm used at Tribecka and Sundance but most of the movies were not shown on film.
As to the booth at the St. George I wonder what has been going on up there. I left when the new owners took over and the booth was in faily good working condition, only some work on the #2 projector gear train needed work. Anyone know if the equipment is still intact?
Rob thanks so much for that, we can always count on you to articulate the facts and teach us so much. You are truly one of this sites greatest treasures
I understand what you are saying; times sure are a-changin. Things were a lot simpler in my time and I just think they have complicated things with Digital projection at Radio City.
I fully understand the industry wanting to make the switch to Digital, the cost savings are enormous. The initial expense for the new equipment pays for itself very quickly without the print costs, shipping and man hours required with film. Ad to that the fact that the new generation of film makers, and quite a few old timers as well, who look at the bottom line and the cost differential between film and digital. As time goes by more and more of the new folks who are unfamiliar with the wonders of film will think why would I want to use that? Like Vinyl records and video tape film is slowly disappearing, it’s just very hard for many of us to let go.
I would like to ask that Rob and the rest of you connected to the Music hall continue to inform us when ever film is used in any form or fashion. I for one would appreciate that very much.