The 1973 reissue of “This is Cinerama” did indeed play in Denver at the Cooper. It opened during the week of October 10-16, 1973 and played there for 5 weeks, according to my research from Variety, The Denver Post, and The Rocky Mountain News.
I attended showings three times at the Cooper. The first was for “The Hunt For Red October”. Next it was the revival of “Ben-Hur” — talk about big screen splendor in full 65mm glory. Most every DVD cuts off about a hundred Roman soldiers spead to either edge in some scenes. I recall the curtains were lit from below, gold sections rising straight up alternating, I believe, with maroon, shimmering — they pulled heavily straight to left and right — very modern; no rise. There was a smoking area in an elevated section to house left, and I never smelled smoke because of the excellent environmental system. The chariot race blew me away on that size a screen, easily the best of all the many showings of “Ben-Hur” I attended over the years.
The third time was for the premier of a film I was Second Unit Director on — “Kill Line” with Bobby Kim — a Denver area Tae Kwon Do instructor of tremendous ability, completely wasted in this film. I felt a little sad to see it there — a magnificent theater completely wasted on such a poor movie. Shortly after that, the Cooper closed.
I attended showings three times at the Cooper. The first was for “The Hunt For Red October”. Next it was the revival of “Ben-Hur” — talk about big screen splendor in full 65mm glory. Most every DVD cuts off about a hundred Roman soldiers spead to either edge in some scenes. I recall the curtains were lit from below, gold sections rising straight up alternating, I believe, with maroon, shimmering — they pulled heavily straight to left and right — very modern; no rise. There was a smoking area in an elevated section to house left, and I never smelled smoke because of the excellent environmental system. The chariot race blew me away on that size a screen, easily the best of all the many showings of “Ben-Hur” I attended over the years.
The third time was for the premier of a film I was Second Unit Director on — “Kill Line” with Bobby Kim — a Denver area Tae Kwon Do instructor of tremendous ability, completely wasted in this film. I felt a little sad to see it there — a magnificent theater completely wasted on such a poor movie. Shortly after that, the Cooper closed.
I adored the Cooper Theater and this was a wonderful history. I was born the year before it was built and I wish I could have seen all the films listed here on that wonderful screen. The only thing I can offer is this, the Cooper in Denver, DID show the “THIS IS CINERAMA 1973 re-issue”. It was the first movie I ever saw there and I saw it at least three times. At the time I didn’t realize it was the last hurrah for that format, but to this day I recall it in great detail, especially the Cypress Garden section.
What a sad day when Denver decided to tear down the RKO International 70 Theater. For a parking lot! Yes, and not even a multi-layered parking lot either…just a flat lot. I worked as a cashier at the theater while going to high school in Denver. Great memories. There was a huge grand piano in the orchestra pit, along with a huge organ, which I never heard played. I wonder if these instruments were saved. Very sad to think that all of the enormous art deco mirrors and everything else was dumped.
1) The “Mountain States” area, in the context of this Cinerama series, consists of Colorado (Denver), Utah (Salt Lake City) and New Mexico (Albuquerque). If in the above Denver list there’s a “Mountain States Premiere” notation, that means that Denver had the earliest booking of that particular title among the three Cinerama markets in the Mountain States region. Likewise, if there’s no “Mountain States Premiere” notation on a particular entry, then that means the earliest booking of that particular film took place in either Salt Lake City or Albuquerque.
2) No. The Syosset Theater, which opened in 1956, was purpose-built for Todd-AO (70mm) presentations. It was retrofit in 1959 for Cinerama presentations.
I’m confused why only some of the entries say “Mountain States Premiere.” Denver is located in the Rocky Mountain States area, so why wouldn’t all of the entries include that claim?
You mention as a trivia item that the Cooper was the first “purpose built” Cinerama theatre, but wasn’t the Syosset Theatre on Long Island (and mentioned in Part 31 of this series) the first “purpose built” Cinerama theatre?
Thanks Bill. Great stuff! I enjoyed Astronaut Anders comment as well. But I think Bob Wright’s note captures best the spirit of those who loved the movie back in 1968.
The Cooper was the first Cinerama theater I was aware of outside of my home area (Northern NJ and NYC), because in the 1970 book “The Making of Kubrick’s 2001” there was a photo of four ticket stubs from the Cooper that had been returned by a Denver family. They were asking for a refund because the movie was so boring. I guess they were more “Transformers” kind of people. I wonder if they’d changed their minds about “2001” in the intervening years, like so many of its original detractors did.
The 1973 reissue of “This is Cinerama” did indeed play in Denver at the Cooper. It opened during the week of October 10-16, 1973 and played there for 5 weeks, according to my research from Variety, The Denver Post, and The Rocky Mountain News.
I attended showings three times at the Cooper. The first was for “The Hunt For Red October”. Next it was the revival of “Ben-Hur” — talk about big screen splendor in full 65mm glory. Most every DVD cuts off about a hundred Roman soldiers spead to either edge in some scenes. I recall the curtains were lit from below, gold sections rising straight up alternating, I believe, with maroon, shimmering — they pulled heavily straight to left and right — very modern; no rise. There was a smoking area in an elevated section to house left, and I never smelled smoke because of the excellent environmental system. The chariot race blew me away on that size a screen, easily the best of all the many showings of “Ben-Hur” I attended over the years. The third time was for the premier of a film I was Second Unit Director on — “Kill Line” with Bobby Kim — a Denver area Tae Kwon Do instructor of tremendous ability, completely wasted in this film. I felt a little sad to see it there — a magnificent theater completely wasted on such a poor movie. Shortly after that, the Cooper closed.
I attended showings three times at the Cooper. The first was for “The Hunt For Red October”. Next it was the revival of “Ben-Hur” — talk about big screen splendor in full 65mm glory. Most every DVD cuts off about a hundred Roman soldiers spead to either edge in some scenes. I recall the curtains were lit from below, gold sections rising straight up alternating, I believe, with maroon, shimmering — they pulled heavily straight to left and right — very modern; no rise. There was a smoking area in an elevated section to house left, and I never smelled smoke because of the excellent environmental system. The chariot race blew me away on that size a screen, easily the best of all the many showings of “Ben-Hur” I attended over the years. The third time was for the premier of a film I was Second Unit Director on — “Kill Line” with Bobby Kim — a Denver area Tae Kwon Do instructor of tremendous ability, completely wasted in this film. I felt a little sad to see it there — a magnificent theater completely wasted on such a poor movie. Shortly after that, the Cooper closed.
I adored the Cooper Theater and this was a wonderful history. I was born the year before it was built and I wish I could have seen all the films listed here on that wonderful screen. The only thing I can offer is this, the Cooper in Denver, DID show the “THIS IS CINERAMA 1973 re-issue”. It was the first movie I ever saw there and I saw it at least three times. At the time I didn’t realize it was the last hurrah for that format, but to this day I recall it in great detail, especially the Cypress Garden section.
What a sad day when Denver decided to tear down the RKO International 70 Theater. For a parking lot! Yes, and not even a multi-layered parking lot either…just a flat lot. I worked as a cashier at the theater while going to high school in Denver. Great memories. There was a huge grand piano in the orchestra pit, along with a huge organ, which I never heard played. I wonder if these instruments were saved. Very sad to think that all of the enormous art deco mirrors and everything else was dumped.
1) The “Mountain States” area, in the context of this Cinerama series, consists of Colorado (Denver), Utah (Salt Lake City) and New Mexico (Albuquerque). If in the above Denver list there’s a “Mountain States Premiere” notation, that means that Denver had the earliest booking of that particular title among the three Cinerama markets in the Mountain States region. Likewise, if there’s no “Mountain States Premiere” notation on a particular entry, then that means the earliest booking of that particular film took place in either Salt Lake City or Albuquerque.
2) No. The Syosset Theater, which opened in 1956, was purpose-built for Todd-AO (70mm) presentations. It was retrofit in 1959 for Cinerama presentations.
I’m confused why only some of the entries say “Mountain States Premiere.” Denver is located in the Rocky Mountain States area, so why wouldn’t all of the entries include that claim?
You mention as a trivia item that the Cooper was the first “purpose built” Cinerama theatre, but wasn’t the Syosset Theatre on Long Island (and mentioned in Part 31 of this series) the first “purpose built” Cinerama theatre?
Thanks Bill. Great stuff! I enjoyed Astronaut Anders comment as well. But I think Bob Wright’s note captures best the spirit of those who loved the movie back in 1968.
JSA
JSA: on the next page of the book is another congratulatory telegram to Stanley, from Fellini himself:
View link
Was the Cooper’s Cinerama screen the largest ever built?
Bill: The telegram from Zeffirelli is a hoot! What a compliment from one master to another.
JSA
And here’s the page from the book:
View link
To any Attard family members: are you out there?
The Cooper was the first Cinerama theater I was aware of outside of my home area (Northern NJ and NYC), because in the 1970 book “The Making of Kubrick’s 2001” there was a photo of four ticket stubs from the Cooper that had been returned by a Denver family. They were asking for a refund because the movie was so boring. I guess they were more “Transformers” kind of people. I wonder if they’d changed their minds about “2001” in the intervening years, like so many of its original detractors did.