I too enjoy seeing the old newspaper ads, and am in agreement regarding the inability to keep track of recent postings made to existing theater entries. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I emailed the site editors the suggestion of adding a “more comments” link underneath the ten theaters on display in the margin (New Theaters and Updated Theaters have this option, so why not the Recent Comments, especially since the Recent Comments is the most popular of those three categories). This way, a longer list can be viewed which is helpful to those of us who do not live on the site 24/7. One visit a day or even every now and then would provide an opportunity to see what recent comments have been made. The way it is set up now, once a theater’s latest comment becomes the eleventh most recent comment, you’re out of luck.
A couple ways of getting around this: (1) select the email option so that when someone replies you’ll know about it (this applies only to those threads in which you contributed), and (2) go to your own profile (or someone elses) and click the theaters listed in an attempt to see if any new posts have been made.
Re the newspaper ads… Between Bill Kallay and myself we have hundreds of these things, some simply for our collection and most because of some particular form of research. I find it better to make a photocopy rather than simply taking hand-written notes while the microfilm is loaded (though this method is more expensive and results in a space and filing issue). We have ads for every advertised 70mm release over the past 50 years for the New York and Los Angeles regions plus many ads from other special process and roadshow type films and lots of theater grand openings (and scattered ads from other regions).
Bill and I never figured on posting these things, but if there’s sufficient interest…
I’ve never seen “Mediterranean Holiday” but can provide the following that may help you in researching more about the title:
Country of origin: West Germany
Original title: “Traumreise Unter Weissen Segeln"
English-language alternate title: "Flying Clipper"
Original Photography: MCS Superpanorama 70
New York premiere: Dec. 16, 1964
Prior to the 70mm/Cinerama release, this was shown shown briefly in a New Jersey theater in a short-lived multi-panel format called Wonderama.
Generally promoted as a “Cinerama” presentation, though some engagements promoted something called “CineVision.” I do not know if this ever got a conventional 35mm release.
“Century twinned it and later when they were aquired by RKO, it was made into a quad. Later Cineplex Odeon made it an eight-plex” (RobertR, intro)
A couple of clarifications: During the early-to-mid 1980s, this theater was a triplex. RKO Century then turned it into a quad in ‘85 or '86. By '89 it was expanded again to an eightplex, at which time it was operated by Loews not Cineplex Odeon.
Vito,
I’m not trying to be difficult here, but I still think you’re misremembering when the expansion took place.
As I stated earlier, “Dune” played in 70mm at this theater during December 1984, and the newspaper ads had it listed as the Mid Plaza Cinema 6. “Starman” opened the same day and it too was being advertised as the Mid Plaza Cinema 6.
“The Right Stuff” appears to have been the last 70mm presentation at the theater while under the Twin North & South name. “Dune” and “Starman” look like they were the first to play under the new name. So from that, one can conclude that the changeover to six screens, a new owner and new name occured between October 1983 and December 1984.
Vito,
Are you sure about that year? The 1984 and ‘85 newspaper ads I have for “Dune” and “Silverado” show them playing at “Mid Plaza Cinema 6.” And could it have been “Starman” that played there in 70mm rather than a “Star Trek”?
OK, in adding up Spielberg’s movies, he has actually made more “flat” than “scope…but not by much and hardly worth claiming that "he has filmed very few in scope.” Most of his recent movies, in my opinion, have been disposable in the same way most contemporary movies seem to be. Whereas, when I think of Spielberg, I tend to think of his great movies from the 1970s and early ‘80s, most of which were scope: “Jaws,” “Close Encounters,” Raiders,“ etc.
I’m going to break one of my “rules of looking information up and instead will try this from memory. Chime in if any corrections are necessary.
The Sugarland Express (1974) flat
Jaws (1975) scope
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) scope
1941 (1979) scope
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) scope
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) flat
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984) scope
The Color Purple (1985) flat
Empire Of The Sun (1987) flat
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989) scope
Always (1989) flat
Hook (1991) scope
Jurassic Park (1993) flat
Schindler’s List (1993) flat
The Lost World (1997) flat
Amistad (1997) flat
Saving Private Ryan (1998) flat
A.I. (2001) flat
Minority Report (2002) scope (super-35 originated)
Catch Me If You Can (2002) flat
The Terminal (2004) flat
War Of The Worlds (2005) flat
List is theatrical films as director. I did not include TV stuff, his segment of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” (which was flat) or stuff he is “recognized” as having directed but is credited as a producer (“Poltergeist,” scope).
“GWTW was shown again at the Rivoli in 70mm in the 70’s.
I saw a late afternoon showing after seeing a matinee of Angela Lansbury in Gypsy at the Winter Garden in I believe ‘73 or '74.” (Vincent, Jul 6, 2005)
The engagement you’re recalling was probably the one that began Oct. 16, 1974. It returned again on Sep. 1, 1976.
“StereoVision was a new attempt at 3D which only required one camera and one projector. The left/right images were on a single 35mm frame, one above the other.” (vito, Jun 22, 2005)
Some StereoVision (and other similar) productions had 70mm prints struck, in which case the images were side-by-side rather than one on top of the other.
Although not advertised as a 70mm presentation in the Boston area newspaper ads at the time, Variety reported that a 70mm print of the X-rated 3-D flick “The Stewardesses” had been prepared for its Music Hall engagement. (The use of a 70mm print in a large screen situation is likely an attempt to recover some of the light loss that occurs during 3-D projection; perhaps this explains the lack of presentation format notations in the ads since its use wasn’t “prestige” or “excellent performance” oriented.)
It’s doubtful that the Rivoli’s engagement of “The Stewardesses” mentioned somewhere in this thread was 70mm since it began prior to the Boston run and the Variety article referenced mentioned x (no pun intended) number of 35mm prints struck plus the one special 70 for Boston.
“It’s probably worth pointing out that the Paris is one of the few remaining theaters in the city equipped for 70MM. ‘Howard’s End’ and Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet’ were both presented in 70MM at the Paris.” (ErikH, Mar 21, 2005)
During the time of the “Howards End” engagement, the theater was called the Fine Arts.
As one can tell by looking closely at the newspaper ad linked in the post above (or by visiting the “70mm in New York” listing, View link) this theater was operated by Mann for a period of time. Also, RKO Century in the early ‘80s.
The South screen was a Cinerama house (70mm version, not 3-strip). They ran “Grand Prix” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” promoted in Cinerama. Theater also ran 70mm presentations of “Cleopatra” and “Sweet Charity” and perhaps some others.
Did this become the Mid Plaza Cinema 6 by chopping up and/or adding screens, or was the Mid Plaza a different theater?
“This theater will always have a warm place in my heart. I would take the bus from the San Gabriel valley all the way out to the Century Plaza to see "Star Wars”. They ran it in 70mm for what seemed like eternity.“ (mattepntr, Oct 9, 2004)
The Century Plaza’s “Star Wars” engagement ran from 6 July 1977 – 12 Apr 1978 and 8 May 1978 – 7 Sep 1978. The theater interrupted their first-run showings during 13 Apr – 7 May 1978 so they could host the annual FILMEX festival.
The National was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
Coate
commented about
UA Galaxyon
Jun 30, 2005 at 6:23 am
The UA Galaxy was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
Hastings was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The UA Emery Bay was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The Cinema (as it was then known) was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The UA Sheepshead bay was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The MainPlace was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
I too enjoy seeing the old newspaper ads, and am in agreement regarding the inability to keep track of recent postings made to existing theater entries. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I emailed the site editors the suggestion of adding a “more comments” link underneath the ten theaters on display in the margin (New Theaters and Updated Theaters have this option, so why not the Recent Comments, especially since the Recent Comments is the most popular of those three categories). This way, a longer list can be viewed which is helpful to those of us who do not live on the site 24/7. One visit a day or even every now and then would provide an opportunity to see what recent comments have been made. The way it is set up now, once a theater’s latest comment becomes the eleventh most recent comment, you’re out of luck.
A couple ways of getting around this: (1) select the email option so that when someone replies you’ll know about it (this applies only to those threads in which you contributed), and (2) go to your own profile (or someone elses) and click the theaters listed in an attempt to see if any new posts have been made.
Re the newspaper ads… Between Bill Kallay and myself we have hundreds of these things, some simply for our collection and most because of some particular form of research. I find it better to make a photocopy rather than simply taking hand-written notes while the microfilm is loaded (though this method is more expensive and results in a space and filing issue). We have ads for every advertised 70mm release over the past 50 years for the New York and Los Angeles regions plus many ads from other special process and roadshow type films and lots of theater grand openings (and scattered ads from other regions).
Bill and I never figured on posting these things, but if there’s sufficient interest…
I’ve never seen “Mediterranean Holiday” but can provide the following that may help you in researching more about the title:
Country of origin: West Germany
Original title: “Traumreise Unter Weissen Segeln"
English-language alternate title: "Flying Clipper"
Original Photography: MCS Superpanorama 70
New York premiere: Dec. 16, 1964
Prior to the 70mm/Cinerama release, this was shown shown briefly in a New Jersey theater in a short-lived multi-panel format called Wonderama.
Generally promoted as a “Cinerama” presentation, though some engagements promoted something called “CineVision.” I do not know if this ever got a conventional 35mm release.
“Century twinned it and later when they were aquired by RKO, it was made into a quad. Later Cineplex Odeon made it an eight-plex” (RobertR, intro)
A couple of clarifications: During the early-to-mid 1980s, this theater was a triplex. RKO Century then turned it into a quad in ‘85 or '86. By '89 it was expanded again to an eightplex, at which time it was operated by Loews not Cineplex Odeon.
Was The Festival ever equipped for 70mm projection?
Vito,
I’m not trying to be difficult here, but I still think you’re misremembering when the expansion took place.
As I stated earlier, “Dune” played in 70mm at this theater during December 1984, and the newspaper ads had it listed as the Mid Plaza Cinema 6. “Starman” opened the same day and it too was being advertised as the Mid Plaza Cinema 6.
“The Right Stuff” appears to have been the last 70mm presentation at the theater while under the Twin North & South name. “Dune” and “Starman” look like they were the first to play under the new name. So from that, one can conclude that the changeover to six screens, a new owner and new name occured between October 1983 and December 1984.
Vito,
Are you sure about that year? The 1984 and ‘85 newspaper ads I have for “Dune” and “Silverado” show them playing at “Mid Plaza Cinema 6.” And could it have been “Starman” that played there in 70mm rather than a “Star Trek”?
“23 films
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) – FLAT” (PeterApruzzese)
22 ¼ :)
OK, in adding up Spielberg’s movies, he has actually made more “flat” than “scope…but not by much and hardly worth claiming that "he has filmed very few in scope.” Most of his recent movies, in my opinion, have been disposable in the same way most contemporary movies seem to be. Whereas, when I think of Spielberg, I tend to think of his great movies from the 1970s and early ‘80s, most of which were scope: “Jaws,” “Close Encounters,” Raiders,“ etc.
I’m going to break one of my “rules of looking information up and instead will try this from memory. Chime in if any corrections are necessary.
The Sugarland Express (1974) flat
Jaws (1975) scope
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) scope
1941 (1979) scope
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) scope
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) flat
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984) scope
The Color Purple (1985) flat
Empire Of The Sun (1987) flat
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989) scope
Always (1989) flat
Hook (1991) scope
Jurassic Park (1993) flat
Schindler’s List (1993) flat
The Lost World (1997) flat
Amistad (1997) flat
Saving Private Ryan (1998) flat
A.I. (2001) flat
Minority Report (2002) scope (super-35 originated)
Catch Me If You Can (2002) flat
The Terminal (2004) flat
War Of The Worlds (2005) flat
List is theatrical films as director. I did not include TV stuff, his segment of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” (which was flat) or stuff he is “recognized” as having directed but is credited as a producer (“Poltergeist,” scope).
Summary
Scope: 9
Flat: 13
“GWTW was shown again at the Rivoli in 70mm in the 70’s.
I saw a late afternoon showing after seeing a matinee of Angela Lansbury in Gypsy at the Winter Garden in I believe ‘73 or '74.” (Vincent, Jul 6, 2005)
The engagement you’re recalling was probably the one that began Oct. 16, 1974. It returned again on Sep. 1, 1976.
Huh? Most of Spielberg’s (note the correct spelling) movies have been scope. It’s just that most of his recent movies have been flat.
“StereoVision was a new attempt at 3D which only required one camera and one projector. The left/right images were on a single 35mm frame, one above the other.” (vito, Jun 22, 2005)
Some StereoVision (and other similar) productions had 70mm prints struck, in which case the images were side-by-side rather than one on top of the other.
Although not advertised as a 70mm presentation in the Boston area newspaper ads at the time, Variety reported that a 70mm print of the X-rated 3-D flick “The Stewardesses” had been prepared for its Music Hall engagement. (The use of a 70mm print in a large screen situation is likely an attempt to recover some of the light loss that occurs during 3-D projection; perhaps this explains the lack of presentation format notations in the ads since its use wasn’t “prestige” or “excellent performance” oriented.)
It’s doubtful that the Rivoli’s engagement of “The Stewardesses” mentioned somewhere in this thread was 70mm since it began prior to the Boston run and the Variety article referenced mentioned x (no pun intended) number of 35mm prints struck plus the one special 70 for Boston.
“It’s probably worth pointing out that the Paris is one of the few remaining theaters in the city equipped for 70MM. ‘Howard’s End’ and Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet’ were both presented in 70MM at the Paris.” (ErikH, Mar 21, 2005)
During the time of the “Howards End” engagement, the theater was called the Fine Arts.
Shade, you sound bitter.
As one can tell by looking closely at the newspaper ad linked in the post above (or by visiting the “70mm in New York” listing, View link) this theater was operated by Mann for a period of time. Also, RKO Century in the early ‘80s.
The South screen was a Cinerama house (70mm version, not 3-strip). They ran “Grand Prix” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” promoted in Cinerama. Theater also ran 70mm presentations of “Cleopatra” and “Sweet Charity” and perhaps some others.
Did this become the Mid Plaza Cinema 6 by chopping up and/or adding screens, or was the Mid Plaza a different theater?
Sorry, typo… I meant to type 29 weeks.
Yes, a far cry from the 25-week River Oaks run of the original “Star Wars.”
“I remember seeing "The Towering Inferno” here in 70mm.“ (RobertR, intro)
Do you recall when this was? After the Manhattan run ended? Re-issue?
“This theater will always have a warm place in my heart. I would take the bus from the San Gabriel valley all the way out to the Century Plaza to see "Star Wars”. They ran it in 70mm for what seemed like eternity.“ (mattepntr, Oct 9, 2004)
The Century Plaza’s “Star Wars” engagement ran from 6 July 1977 – 12 Apr 1978 and 8 May 1978 – 7 Sep 1978. The theater interrupted their first-run showings during 13 Apr – 7 May 1978 so they could host the annual FILMEX festival.
The National was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The UA Galaxy was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
Hastings was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The UA Emery Bay was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The Cinema (as it was then known) was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The UA Sheepshead bay was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.
The MainPlace was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.