Comments from Jon Lidolt

Showing 151 - 168 of 168 comments

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Mar 8, 2008 at 8:00 am

An annual WIDESCREEN FESTIVAL at the Cinerama Dome sounds like a terrific idea. I’m surprised that no one’s thought of it before. The only worry I would have about this is the fact that the people who own the Dome don’t seem to understand how to run it. I’ve been to the Cinerama theatre in Bradford England and the people there love, understand and respect widescreen cinema. They know what to show on the huge deeply curved screen and also what to present in a smaller format. Standard 35mm prints were never meant to be blownup to Cineramic dimensions. You can stay at home and watch grainy, distored feature films on any old second hand run-down TV.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Cataract Theatre on Feb 26, 2008 at 6:29 am

I lived in the Niagara Peninsula across the border from Niagara Falls NY and saw a few films at the Cataract. Probably the most memorable was C. B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. I wasn’t very old at the time, but I do remember that the projection was excellent, the seats were very comfortable and the surroundings were definitely a cut above any of the theatres on the Canadian side. It’s really a crime that this theatre and most of the buildings around it were torn down. And what took it’s place is not an improvement.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Regent Gala Theatre on Nov 12, 2007 at 2:59 pm

Richard G: I second your comments about this theatre. After watching Blade Runner: the Final Cut at the Regent recently I can confirm that this cinema is by far the best movie house in the city of Toronto. The projection was perfect with the picture in true focus from one side of the screen to the other. And the multi-channel sound reproduction was a revelation. This theatre has a quality of presentation that I tried to achieve when I operated the Roxy rep cinema in Toronto in the mid 70’s to 80’s. I had a limited budget to work with – but I came close.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Scotiabank Theatre Toronto on Nov 8, 2007 at 9:21 am

Except for the occasional Imax presentation, I avoid this noisy, tacky looking mulitplex at all costs. To make matters worse, there’s usually something wrong with either the projection or the sound. You can almost always depend on a sloppy and unprofessional presentation at the Scotiabank.

If this is the future of movie exhibition in Toronto, all I can say is LONG LIVE DVD.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Granada Theatre on Sep 7, 2007 at 2:36 pm

I travelled across the border from Canada to see El-Cid presented at the Granada in
70mm Super Technirama. I don’t know about it having the best 70mm projection in the world, but I do remember that it was outstanding.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Classic Movies in Theaters? on Jul 29, 2007 at 7:57 am

It is basically a good idea, however, there are problems that we have in Canada regarding print availability. Very few classic movies are still in stock in this country and the ones that are, are often unplayable. I used to run a rep house in Toronto from the mid 70’s to the mid 80’s and screened everything from classic films to recent releases. I can hardly begin to describe the rotten condition of the older films. This included bad scratches, missing frames, splices everywhere and in a worst case scenario – badly faded color movies that looked like B&W film projected through a pink filter. Audiences were often enraged and I had to hand out passes for future use. The film exchanges never apologized or lowered the rent for these fiascos. Then there was the time that I had a school group rent the cinema for a showing of Ben-Hur. I asked for the complete version and a Technicolor dye transfer print with magnetic stereo tracks. The distributor insisted that they didn’t have a short version and not to worry. Well, the film that arriced was much shorter than the original, and the slightly faded Eastman color print wasn’t up to standard. On the other hand, it was in stereo sound. The school was furious. Did the distrib care? No. Beware, that’s all I have to say. And do your homework before you plunge into anything.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about University Theatre on Jun 28, 2007 at 6:04 am

Of the above list of films that screened at the University, all were presented in 70mm with the exception of: Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie and, oddly enough, Patton.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Cinestage Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 9:30 am

The strip screen mentioned above was actually a Cinerama screen (not Todd-AO) that was installed for the roadshow engagement of Kubrick’s 2001 a Space Odyssey.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Michael Todd Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 9:23 am

This theatre was one of the few in N. America that was able to show MGM Camera 65 and Ultra-Panavision 70 movies correctly. These two 70mm systems produced an unusually wide picture (almost 3 times as wide as it was high) and most theatres had to crop the sides somewhat.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Danforth Music Hall Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 8:36 am

I ran Toronto’s Roxy theatre in the70’s and early 80 for the same group that owned what was then known as the Titania, essentially a venue for Greek films. Realizing that the building actually had a stagehouse and dressing rooms, I talked the owners into renaming it the Music Hall. The place was partly renovated and one of the first programs was a Tim Curry (Frankenfurter in Rocky Horror) concert. Unfortunately, the owners didn’t complete the work. The dressing rooms were a mess, the stage equipment needed upgrading, and the air-conditioning system was non-functional. Over the years the owners allowed the place to deteriorate even further, and it languished in disrepair until a recent management completed the necessary improvements and are operating it as a succesful concert venue.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Teck Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 8:02 am

I saw This is Cinerama at the Teck when I was eleven years old. The rollercoaster ride obviously caused a lot of excitement in the theatre, but so did the scent of flowers during the Cypress Gardens sequence. This is something that I never experiened in a cinema again until I saw Scent of Mystery in Smell-O-Vision at the Cinestage in Chicago.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about University Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 7:56 am

The University was also Toronto’s only cinema equipped to project 3-strip Cinerama films on a genuine, louvered Cinerama screen curved in a 146 degree arc.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Eglinton Theatre on Jun 17, 2007 at 7:26 am

The 3-strip Cinerama films shown at the Eglinton were projected onto a large, but only very slightly curved, Cinemiracle screen. The only thing Cinerama about the Eglinton was the Cinerama logo that appeared in newspaper ads for How the West Was Won and Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Other than this minor beef, the theatre was one of Toronto’s best.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Glendale Theatre on May 13, 2007 at 5:36 am

I agree with Mr. Elliott. The Glendale was a great place to see a film and should never have been torn down. I was the art director for 20th Century theatres who operated it as a Cinerama venue. Famous Players eventually bought 20th and are the culprits who destroyed this cinema treasure.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Cinecity on May 13, 2007 at 4:59 am

I worked as the art director for the filmcanada corp. that ran this cinema for many years. We screened mainly foreign films and offbeat American productions. One thing’s for sure, the design of the auditorium was not Italian renaisssance. If anything, it had a plain, yet functional interior that was considered to be quite smart looking by 60’s standards. It had a very large screen for the size of its auditorium and was one of the few cinemas in the city at the time to be equipped with 4-channel magnetic stereophonic sound.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Capitol Theatre on May 13, 2007 at 4:34 am

I was only in this theatre once. I saw the Deborah Kerr film “The Innocents” there during its first run. The building reminded me of the Music Hall theatre in Toronto Canada, and neither one could be described as being an art deco structure. Incidentally, the Music Hall was originally know as the Allen Danforth.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Uptown Theatre on May 3, 2007 at 11:44 am

The movie palace that played How the West Was Won in Cinerama was the demolished McVickers. The actual Palace theater still exists and is now a functioning legitimate house. It was the original Chicago home of 3-projector Cinerama.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt commented about Seeking Info on the Capitol Theatre in Welland Ontario on Apr 15, 2005 at 2:24 pm

My mother loved the movies and I remember being taken to the Capitol at around 4 years of age to see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” We were sitting in the balcony, a location my mother preferred because you never had a head in front of you to block the view. Not to mention that the theatre looked spectacular from that vantage point.

The color scheme then consisted of various shades of pastel blues with ivory accents on the ornamental plaster work. This changed in 1955 when the theatre underwent an extensive renovation. The revised color scheme emphasized the warmer end of the spectrum and again with ivory accents. The new seats in the downstairs section were the pushback type so that when someone wanted to get past you, you didn’t have to get up.

There was a new chadelier in the balcony, an up-to-date candy counter was installed on the ground floor, the entire theatre was re-carpeted, a new marquee was erected, new stage curtains were put in and the place was finally air-conditioned. Although this feature didn’t work when the theatre had its grand re-opening – the place was packed and it was really uncomfortable inside.

The Capitol had been equipped with 4-track magnetic stereophonic sound when the wide-screen CinemaScope process was installed in the winter of 1954. The Capitol was always the first with every new innovation. In 1953 the theatre hosted Welland’s first showing of a 3-D film. And contrary to what most of you may have heard, no one in the early 50’s watched 3-D films through red and blue glasses.

The 3-D system in the 50’s used two projectors to show the left and right eye views and the images were projected onto a screen with a silver surface. Polaroid lenses were used to separate the left and right eye views. I remember seeing Welland’s first 3-D movie “House of Wax” the day the Queen was crowned. The matinee that day was jammed with every kid in the city. And you should have heard the screams when one of the actors threw a chair and it flew right out of the screen at us.

The longest running movie ever shown at the Capitol was “The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston in 1956. It played for 3 full weeks. Most films only ran 3 days then and there were no Sunday movies. On the opening night of “Ten Commandments,” the 1200 theatre was sold out a half hour before showtime.

On thing I forgot to mention is that the Capitol was a combo vaudeville and movie theatre. It had a stage, a stage house for scenery and an orchestra pit. And being located in the middle of the Niagara Peninsula, it would have made a great performing arts centre.