Georgia Twin

When the Georgia was twinned Martin built a suite of offices in the back that served as their booking office well into the 80's. A friend of mine's dad was a VP with Martin and I can remember visiting their offices many times. (This was back in the Fuqua days before the Patricks bought them out)

The last time I was over there I think it is now a church of some sort. Before that a real estate company used it for an office and presentations.

Although the Georgia Cinerama never presented original three strip Cinerama to the best of my knowledge, I remember that they tended to specialize in 70mm films. Among the ones that I saw there were THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, GRAN PRIX, & PATTON. When they showed conventional 35mm films there, like REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE & THE STING, the deep curvature of the screen could create distortion effects that made the presentation much less effective. Fortunately, I never attended the theater after it was "twinned."

Here are a couple of recent photos of what remains of the former Georgia Cinerama. Amazing that this building is still standing. Maybe there is hope that it can one day be restored to its former glory. Note the slanted roof and thumb nail design. This building was designed for one purpose only: Cinerama.

Since Jack, Don, and Raymond have all posted comments on this theatre I suppose I should add my 2 cents worth and make it a clean sweep of Atlanta area Cinema Treasures readers.

During the 50's and 60's, the Martin chain was the dominant operator of movie theatres in small and midsized cities and counties throughout the Southeast. As I said in my post on the Campus Theatre in Milledgeville, many towns in this region had a theatre on the town square named "The Martin." In Atlanta, Martin did have the newly rebuilt Rialto downtown, but the rest of their presence was centered in Cobb County where they operated the Strand, on the square in Marietta, and the Belmont Hills in Smyrna. They also operated a few drive ins such as the Smyrna, on Atlanta Road, the Marlboro Twin, and another one located on Highway 41 across from the Big Chicken.

In about 1962, Martin took over the old Erlanger at 583 Peachtree Street and converted it into the Martin Cinerama. This was the only theatre in Atlanta to be built, or in this case rebuilt, for the three projector Cinerama process. (Up until this time all Cinerama showings had taken place at the Roxy which would install the needed equipment in temporary booths whenever they had a Cinerama showing booked.) During the conversion, it became clear that the 3 screen process would not survive. The Martin Cinerama opened just as the run of How The West Was Won was ending its run at the Roxy. Other that a revival series of the previous Cinerama releases plus a short run of a recut "best of Cinerama" type show titled World of Cinerama, I do not believe the 3 screen process was ever used here. The first big release to play at the rebuilt Martin Cinerama was also the first of the single strip 70MM Cinerama productions, It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. The point of all of this is to explain that while the Georgia Cinerama may have been envisioned as a big suburban Cinerama showplace, it was designed and built with only the single strip 70MM Cinerama process in place.

My family moved to Atlanta in 1967 and at that time the Georgia was playing a movie called Family Way which I think was the one notable only for the scene of Haley Mills wearing a see through nightgown. I have recently stumbled across my old movie log which I kept in those years when movies and theatres were fun and not a job. This log shows that Reflections In A Golden Eye ran from October 1967 until January 2, 1968. After that was The Penthouse and then The Fox, both for three months each. After that was the 6 hour version of War and Peace. That one was divided into two three hour showings with the halves scheduled at different times during the week. Patrons received two tickets, one for each half with the idea that they could see the movie at any two showings of their choice, such as Part 1 on Friday night and Part 2 on Sunday afternoon. I do not know what made anyone think this would work and it only ran for 6 weeks, and probably only that long in order to give everybody a chance to use their advance purchased tickets. (In August 1973 while working at the Martin Cinerama, by then operated by Walter Reade and renamed the Atlanta, we ran this epic as a midnight show with an intermission at 3 AM and ending at 6:30 AM. At that point everyone still awake was invited to the Howell House for breakfast, all included in the ticket. One of my more memorable movie theatre experiences.)

Following War and Peace were three Walt Disney movies, Jungle Book, Snow White, and Gnomemobile, each for a one week run. This finished out the summer, and they were followed by Boom for 3 weeks, Salt and Pepper for 2 weeks, Rachel, Rachel, 6 weeks, and Hot Millions, 2 weeks. For Thanksgiving 1968, another one of the single strip Cinerama productions, Ice Station Zebra, arrived. I well remember the huge newspaper ads for this show which included a ticket form to be used to order your reserved seat tickets. This show was a big flop and only ran 7 weeks. After that came 3 In The Attic, 7 weeks, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (filler), 1 week, and South Pacific (reissue), 4 weeks. The summer movie, Sweet Charity, lasted only 5 weeks followed by Baby Love for 2 weeks. This was followed by the last of the big 70MM Cinerama productions, Krakatoa, East of Java, like Zebra, a flop which ran only 5 weeks. After this came Loves of Isadora, 4 weeks, 3 Into 2 Won't Go, 4 weeks, Madwoman Of Chaillot, 3 weeks, Wild Wheels, 1 week, and an odd choice for a Thanksgiving movie, DeSade, rated X. I never saw this one but remember it because my high school history teacher had the misfortune of attending it on the same showing as some of the guys in the class who had already turned 18 and could get in. He was teased ruthlessly about this for longer than the 6 week run of the movie.

The Christmas movie for 1969 was Topaz, followed by The Dunwich Horror. On March 4, 1970, the longest running and probably biggest hit for this site, PATTON, opened a reserved seat run that lasted 7 months. With this booking I finally attended a movie at the Georgia Cinerama. From that first viewing in June 1970, Patton has been one of my favorite movies, and I returned there to see it again with my family, and once more alone. This began a period of good times for the theatre. While Patton was followed by a 1 week run of Sunflower, next came Diary Of A Mad Housewife, 7 weeks of late 60's moviemaking, and then for Christmas, Tora, Tora, Tora, which I saw with a full house. TTT did very well here and ran 13 weeks followed by Andromeda Strain, for 10 weeks. I do not know if TTT was a 70MM run. I had not started working in theatres at that time and knew nothing about formats, but I do remember being disappointed with the look, (but not the movie), of Andromeda compared to Patton and TTT. An odd movie, Zeppelin was next for 2 weeks, followed by the Disney flop Scandalous John, 3 weeks, and Billy Jack for its 6 week first run engagement which did only fair in its pre cult movie hit days. Next was Murder In The Rue Morgue, 3 weeks, Hired Hand, 2 weeks, and Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, 4 weeks.

Prior to the opening of the Thanksgiving movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the theatre shut down for 4 days for the installation of a new screen. I always thought that the new one was smaller than the Cinerama screen first installed, but I have heard both opinions on this. The new one did have permanent "window box" type masking for the scope picture. After 10 weeks of children came Such Good Friends, 5 weeks, Carry On Camping, 2 weeks, Mary Queen Of Scotts, 4 weeks, and Puppet on A Chain (a lower profile but much better movie than the previous Alistair McLean novel to film, Ice Station Zebra), 4 weeks. Martin always had a strong Universal Pictures connection, and the summer of 1972 was dominated by 3 Universals, Groundstar Conspiracy, Frenzy, and Joe Kidd. More Universals, a reissue of Thoroughly Modern Milly (which had played its first run engagement years before at the Martin Cinerama, ran in October, and Pete and Tilly was the Christmas movie for 1972.

The big movie for Spring of 1973 was the reissue of Sound of Music which ran for 12 weeks of heavy attendance enjoying a fantastic looking 70MM presentation. 3 weeks later, Jesus Christ Superstar, another Universal, ran into the fall for a total of 14 weeks although this length was due more to the contracted for run and lack of product than popular demand. Christmas 1973 saw the last of this string of big Universal hits. The Sting ran for 4 months and it is here that my movie log ends. I never worked at this location but did know several of the managers. I recall in the spring of 1975, the question of who was going to get Jaws was a big topic of conversation. When the sneak preview ran at the Weis Cinema, the old Peachtree Art at 13th Street, it looked like the Capri had won out over the Georgia which is where many people expected it to play because it was a Universal. As things turned out, ABC put up the big bucks to get it for the Phipps. The big summer movie for the Georgia?: Reincarnation of Peter Proud. And that pretty much says it all about the pecking order of Atlanta theatres at that time.

I believe that it was in the summer of 1976 that the Georgia was twinned. Hard as it is to believe now, preventing crossovers was considered a big deal in those early twinning days. In addition to the new wall, Martin went to the expense of turning the area occupied by decorative fountains in the lobby into another set of restrooms so that the lobby could be divided in half. Just another of the many examples of how times have changed. In 1978 Georgia Theatre Company took control in another example of buying up a property that they really did not want just to keep the competition out. Since GTC was not about to compete with their own Lenox Square flagship, the Georgia Twin was sentenced to spend the rest of its life as a second run, and eventually dollar and draft house.

My unoffical fact checker, Mike Durrett, has informed me that I am mistaken on at least one point here. "The Sting" was not the end of the Universal Pictures parade. The feature for Christmas 1974-75 was the Matthau / Lemmon remake of "Front Page". The next big Universal release was "The Great Waldo Pepper" in the spring of 1975. That one played at the Weis Cinema and did mark the end of Universal at the Georgia.

THis stilla church?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/525258856/

Dennis has blessed us with another shot from the past. This link will take you to a picture of the AJC movie ad section from November 1971. The Martin ladder is the second column from the right. At the top is the Georgia Cinerama ad which reflects the closing of the theatre I mentioned in my above post when they installed the new screen.

Next is the Rialto ad for Play Misty For Me. I think that this was the next to last Universal to play at the Rialto. It was followed by the last one, Sometimes A Great Notion which was the Christmas feature. Below that is a listing of Martins Cobb County drive ins.

ADMIT ONE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/532622015/

Stan:

In your post of May 15 you wrote that the "Martin Cinerama opened just as the run of How The West Was Won was ending its run at the Roxy."

During my research of the original roadshow bookings of How The West Was Won the information I found is that the MARTIN CINERAMA was in fact the venue in which "HTWWW" played. It was a 30-week run beginning March 15, 1963.

I guess this makes me your second unofficial fact checker. :-)

Michael, Be careful assuming this role as it can be a full time job as you found out during the Stonemont Dolby episode. I was not living in Atlanta during the time of HTWWW and had always assumed that it and the other 3 strips played at the Martin. A few years ago at one of our lunches I was talking to the long time projectionist of the Roxy and he told me that the Roxy was the Atlanta home of 3 strip until the Martin was converted. I thought that he said that he ran all of the three strip through HTWWW, but he probably meant UNTIL. I am happy to hear this news as it means that the beautiful 3 strip set up at the Martin did get some first run use.

I never saw 3 strip at the Martin and my only connection to it there was to make use of the A and C booths which had been converted to storage rooms by the time I worked there during its days as the Atlanta. One of the managers I worked for during those days was Bob Carr, who I think you know, or know of.

I saw HTWWW in 1963 at the Ritz Theatre in Birmingham. If you care to check that page on this site http://cinematreasures.org/theater/9396/ you will find my write up on that and some others I saw there. You will also find a link to an excellent website on Birmingham theatre history which has pictures of the Ritz during its conversion to Cinerama.

As for the Martin Cinerama, the first movie I saw there was 2001. I greatly enjoyed your write up on that one from your Script To DVD website. http://www.in70mm.com/news/2004/2001/release.htm Anyone who has not seen this should take the time to read it and enjoy its picture of the opening day ad from the AJC with the Martin Cinerama logo at the bottom.

Thanks for taking the time to make this correction. Anyone who can wade through all of the CT comments to root out these mistakes has my respect and sympathy.

I'm not sure from StanMalone's lengthy May 15, 2007 article which movie played where, but here's what I remember:
GEORGIA Cinerama: Mediterranean Holiday, Hallelujah Trail, Battle of the Bulge, Russian Adventure, Grand Prix, Krakatoa.
MARTIN'S Cinerama: 2001, Patton, This Is Cinerama (reissue). After it became the Atlanta, they presented a two-week sequence of 2001 & 2010, both projected on the Cinerama screen. Although 2010 was a 35mm print, it looked OK on the big screen.

A complete rundown of the Cinerama presentations in Atlanta can be found here.

I remember this when it was a SINGLE large theater. I also remember seeing the 1973 re-release of THE SOUND OF MUSIC there. It was a MOB scene. Totally sold out. Incredible experience. I also remember seeing the re-release of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE at the Georgia Cinerama. Another film I saw there was BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS.

In later years it became a draft house and was never the same. Last film I saw there was John Water's HAIRSPRAY. Not the best movie going experience I ever had but an interesting one. I was on a first date and ended up having great sex afterwards.

This theatre was not too far from the TOCO HILLS movie theatre. Someone once wrote that growing up in Atlanta was like watching your past being hauled away in a dump truck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWXjFHqc7gc&feature=channel_page