Cooper Theatre

There was a Cooper 7 south of Columbine High School, near Coal MIne and Pierce. It has since been converted to a church but if anyone wants to drive over there, the circular roof is still visible, but it’s blue now.

I was lucky enough in the summer of ‘68 to have seen the 70mm Denver premier of Stanley Kubricks “2001” at the Cooper. It was unforgettable. I also saw “How the West was Won” and other Cinerama films there. What a shame it is gone. The inside lobby and the theater itself was also gorgeous. Much thanks to Cary (above) for sharing the link to the beautiful photographs. http://cinerama.topcities.com/ctcooper.htm
Thanks Cary! and thanks to owners and webmaster of this site.

Seating for this theater was 814.

Pictures of the Denver Cooper Cinerama can be found at the following link:

http://cinerama.topcities.com/ctcooper.htm

Have fun!

I remember seeing “Empire Strikes Back” on opening day at the Cooper, and winning a contest and t-shirt (as my ticket) to get to see “Return of the Jedi” on opening day. People camped out around the building, it was great.

I was the projectionist at the Colorado Plaza 6 that opened down the street in June of 1988. The Colorado 4 was still around then too. While the Colorado Plaza 6 + Colorado 4 added some competition to the area, the Cooper still got the “big” pictures because of the bigger house, and could run 70mm easier. We only ran one film at the Colorad Plaza 6 in 70mm, which was Backdraft and it didn’t draw any additional revenue because it was in 70mm. Most “70mm” pictures back then were acutally shot through an anamorphoc lens and then “blown up”. I remember hearing that “Blues Brothers” was the last real picture shot in 70mm, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, the addition of the Colorado Plaza 6 in 1988 and the Mann Cherry Creek 8 in 1990 lead to the demise of both the Cooper and the Century 21 (a real THX house that is now a Sountrack electronics store). They just couldn’t compete for bookings, and the land got too expensive.

Gone are the days of going to a movie at the Cooper, then walking down a block to Celebrity Sports Center to play some video games.

BTW, my favorite theatres in Denver were the Cooper and the Century 21. I remember seeing movies at the Century 21 in THX such as Gettysburg that sounded awesome. Never was a big fan of the Continental, the screen always seemed so far away.

What a treat to go to The Cooper. Humongous screen, magnificent sound, great sight-lines. My friend and I would go frequently just to watchtthe drapes move. My favorite experience there was watching “Thats Entertainment” playing to a full house and participating with the audience as we broke out into spontaneious applause during the film while watch scenes like Gene Kelly splashing around in “Singing in the Rain” etc. etc. I’m filled with gratitude for having had those moments. BobnDenver

The Denver Cooper was on Colorado Boulevard. I grew up with the Cooper and have 8x10 professional photos of it during construction. I would be happy to share them (scan them) with all the other Cooper fans if there is any interest.

Even unpretentious 35mm films often had a sense of presence at the Cooper. I can recall seeing Clint Eastwood’s “White Hunter, Black Heart” there in 1990 or so and some POV shots from an out-of-control an airplane managed to generate some oohs and ahhs.

An even better participatory sequence occurred when “The Empire Strikes Back” played at the Cooper in 1980. An over-the-shoulder POV from within a Rebel rescue ship produced dizzying results as the ship sped roller-coaster style down an undulating series of snow-capped hills.

Seeing Titanic at the D-150 was awesome, especially in the front row of the balcony, when the boat made it’s final plunge into the ocean, you felt like you were on board for the ride. I worked the theatre in 1977 during the “Coma” engagement. An ice storm which knocked out power on Long Island for several days left me snowbound at the nearby Syosset Theatre. When checking up on the Cinema 150 property, I entered the lobby and remember the promotinal cardboard corpse’s that were suspended from the ceiling. It was ice cold due to no heat and it was an eriee feeling to the place. I also saw the place being totally gutted except for the exterior walls which were punched with holes for the office building that will be occupying the theatre site. In this case, it is possible that the landlord did not want to extend the lease because of his developement plans for his property. I understand businesses in the industrial park where also asked to vacate. However, any chance of seeing Cinerama movies now that “How The West Was Won” was re-issued is completely lost in all New York. What a shame and tragedy this is.

The Cinema 150 which took on the Syosset name after that fine RoadShow and Cinerama Theatre was triplexed and then closed and demolished. The Broadway Multiplex led to its' demise. The National Amusements Theatre chain (Redstone Theatres) have descimated the Main Street moviehouses in towns and villages on Long Island that were our neighborhood theatres. The seem to rule the Island now with their bland and non-descript multiplexes. Even their Cinema-du-Lux in Holbrook is a joke, Who goes to the movies where the focal point is the food court incorporated into the lobby concession stands. The director’s seat theatres are a little more money for what you should be getting for the regular admission price in the first place. I was glad to see their Brookhaven Multiplex fail and close. Brookhaven lost a few theatres when they opened that multiplex. Fighting crowds for movies playing in 250 seat theatres or less, parking delays and quickly sold out popular movies is not my idea of a night out at the movies.

The Denver Cooper Theater was the first “Super Cinerama” theater built that was especially designed for the Cinerama 3-strip process. Construction began on May 17, 1960, with an estimated construction cost of $750,000. The theater opened on March 9, 1961 and actually cost $1,000,000 to construct, furnish, and equip. The Cooper Theater was designed by Richard Crowther. Although Mel Glatz was retained by the Cooper Foundation as a design consultant for the project, his actual contribution to the design is unknown. The theater was constructed by the Berglund-Cherne Company.

The Denver Cooper Theater had the largest movie screen in the world, at the time that it was constructed. The movie screen measured 38-feet high by 105-feet wide, built in a 146 degree arc (curve). Seating capacity was 814 seats. At the time that it was built, there were only ten Cinerama theaters in the nation. The Coooper had a number of innovations (i.e., movie theater “firsts”). For example, seats were installed in a curve, so that each seat directly faced the curved movie screen; there were no doors at the entrance to the restrooms, so that patrons could get in and out faster (there were partitions that users walked around to get to the restrooms); and the entire auditorium had small holes in the ceiling that delivered heat and air conditioning air flow, which minimized noise coming from the HVAC system.

The Denver Cooper Theater played a number of travelogues starting in 1961, including “This Is Cinerama,” “Cinerama Holiday,” and “Seven Wonders of the World.” On July 14, 1962, the theater hosted the world premier of “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.” On March 7, 1963, “How the West Was Won” started and played for 88 weeks. During the period from 1961 to 1964, all presentations were in “roadshow” format; that is, reserved seating, one or two shows presented a day, and an intermission between Act 1 and Act 2. In the Fall of 1964, the theater was converted to display 70mm presentations. In 1967, the Cooper was reconverted back to the 3-strip Cinerama process to display “The Best of Cinerama.” Afterthat, the 3-strip process was never used at the Denver Cooper again.

What’s lost in all these historical facts is that the Cooper Theater was a Denver icon. Movie viewers sometimes traveled from all over the country, just to see the Cinerama process displayed at the Denver Cooper Theater. Travel agents in other states would purchase tickets for their customers, when booking travel arrangements for people coming to Denver (the Denver Cooper had 17 ticket offices in the Rocky Mountain region). Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances were almost always sold-out; performances during other days were either sold-out or close to being sold-out. The theater staff sat movie viewers in the aisles just to accomodate more people in the theater (until the Fire Marshall threatened to shut down the theater for this practice). The Denver Cooper garnered a reputation for being the “show piece” for the Cinerama process. It was indeed a special event to view Cinerama at the Denver Cooper Theater, and audiences knew it.

In 1994, the Denver Cooper was torned down because (1) the land that it was built on became more valuable than the theater itself, (2) movie viewers were more attracted to newer multi-screen “mega-theaters,” and (3) the building was over 30 years old and maintenance costs were increasing to the point that it was no longer profitable to keep the theater open. A large, retail book store now occupies the site. It was certainly Denver’s loss when the Cooper was razed.

I grew up a few blocks from the Cooper from ~1964 on and saw most movies there (the rest I saw at the Terrace). Saw “This is Cinerama” among many others. The big excitement came when they closed HiWay 12 (now I-394) in front of the theatre to land three planes as a publicity stunt for the premiere of Airport, which was filmed in Minneapolis. My favorite memories are of my Dad who would dissappear to the little smoking lounges that ringed the insides of the theatre. The Cameo was actually a second small screen stuck on the side of the building at a later date. It was a crime that the remarkable Cooper was razed and replaced by one of the ugliest strip mall/office buildings ever built.