Continental 10

The Continental Theatre (please note that it originally used the “re” spelling and it was not part of the Commonwealth chain) was part of a three theater chain built by an Oklahoma oil man — the other two theaters in Tulsa and Oklahoma City (also called the “Continental Theatre”) were constructed from the exact same blueprints, so that each theater was identical. When this building was constructed in the 1960s, it featured the third largest screen in the world (for a contoured suspended screen) — the largest at that time having been in Japan. The building featured three projection booths (plus a separate sound booth) as it was originally designed to handle Cinerama shows, but during the final stage of constriction the Michael Todd’s D150 anamorphic 70MM process became available, so only the main center booth was used. (The left booth became storage, the right became the manager’s office… and as it had a large window for the missing projector, it also served as a screening box for celebrities who would attend premieres.) The projectionist union required two operators whenever 70MM prints were used, because of their weight to mount on the machines, and the lenses were specially made for the screen because it was not only large, but curved to 150-degrees — NOT a flat projection. Until 1970, all seating was sold as “hard tickets” (reserved seats) and the single refreshment stand sold only orange drink and Toblerone chocolates. Popcorn came later, and to save money, was often popped at off hours in Oklahoma, shipped to Denver in giant plastic bags, and re-heated before the doors opened. It was THE site for premieres of major productions (“The Bible”, “Funny Girl”, “Hello Dolly”, “Hawaii”, etc.) because it lended a very exclusive aire to the runs… and also because the Continental would agree to roadshow a film for an extended period. “Funny Girl” played there for 18 continuous months. The large theater chains in Denver stretched their muscles in the 70s and funneled the big releases towards their cracker boxes, so the Continental went through a period of “experimentation” for a while. We’d collect as many 70MM prints of films like “Sound Of Music”, “South Pacific”, “2001” etc. as could be found, then mix and match the prints until we could create one perfect assembly from the bunch… then re-premiere in 70MM 6-track surround. We’d play films no other theater would consider — like the 8-hour uncut “The Sorrow & The Pity”, or a Beatles marathon, a Tom Mix marathon, even “The Stewardesses in 3D”. Finally, Highland Theaters bought it up and brought it down a bit in class with their ability to keep fresh films flowing through. But there’s no comparison between seeing “2001” in 70MM and Burt Reynolds in “White Lightning” in 35MM… even if there are more people in the seats. Ah well….