Warner Theatre

I don`t know why the hell they could not leave it a Theatre, just what we needed, another tower mall. The bank cinema was not doing all that well, so why the Warner? I was a projectionist at the Warner till the end (last movie was Flashdance) a special showing for the Mayor and City Officials, and guest. Then again Cinemete Corp. was not going to spend a dime on the place, even after the ceiling fell on the lady. This was their excuse to get out. Besides that there was a little shop connected to the lobby they wanted to get rid of, so one night it caught on fire. (Jewish Lightning)and that was the end. They also left the Fulton, the Bank, Chatam all go to hell. I really miss the Warner, I left Pittsburgh in 84 But there is not a day goes by I don`t think of the Warner. I have been a projectionist for 48 years, and the Warner by far is still my favorite Theatre.
Thanks
Dave Grau
(Mungo)

Part of the history of a theater is the films that played there. Listed below are the films that played at the Warner Theater from June 25, 1958 to December 31, 1977. Resarch was taken from microfilms of Variety and The Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
06/25/58 Gigi
09/10/58 Windjammer
11/12/58 The Old Man and the Sea
12/10/58 DARK
12/24/58 South Seas Adventure
05/13/59 Seven Wonders of the World
06/03/59 DARK
06/17/59 Sleeping Beauty
07/01/59 The Nun's Story
08/12/59 The Five Pennies
09/16/59 DARK
10/17/59 The Big Fisherman
12/23/59 Happy Anniversary
01/06/60 The Third Man on the Mountain
01/20/60 Ben-Hur
12/21/60 The Alamo
03/08/61 Exodus
06/28/61 Fanny
08/09/61 The Pleasure of His Company
09/13/61 The King and I
09/20/61 Carousel
09/27/61 Gigi
10/04/61 Never on Sunday
10/11/61 Rocco and His Brothers
10/18/61 The Young Lions/Anastasia
10/25/61 White Christmas
11/08/61 King of Kings
02/14/62 Judgement at Nuremberg
05/02/62 Oklahoma
06/20/62 DARK
06/27/62 The Counterfeit Traitor
07/18/62 My Geisha
08/01/62 DARK
08/08/62 The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
12/19/62 In Search of the Castaways
01/23/63 Sodom and Gomorrah
02/13/63 The Best of Cinerama
03/20/63 How the West Was Won
11/06/63 Fantasia
11/20/63 Take Her, She's Mine
12/18/64 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
07/01/64 Circus World
08/26/64 The Night of the Iguana
10/14/64 Three Penny Opera
10/21/64 Of Human Bondage
11/18/64 The Outrage
12/09/64 Peyton Place/Return to Peyton Place
12/16/64 The Hustler/The Stripper
12/23/64 The Americanization of Emily
01/20/65 The Pleasure Seekers
02/03/65 Dear Brigitte
02/17/65 Sylvia
02/24/65 Those Calloways
03/10/65 The Greatest Story Ever Told
07/21/65 The Hallelujah Trail
10/13/65 The Great Race
01/12/66 The Battle of the Bulge
04/27/66 Russian Adventure
06/08/66 A Big Hand for the Little Lady
06/22/66 Assault on a Queen
07/13/66 Khartoum
08/31/66 A Fine Madness
09/28/66 JFK: Years of Lightning, Days of Drums
10/19/66 The Bible
06/14/67 Grand Prix
10/25/67 Gone With the Wind
06/12/68 2001: A Space Odyssey
11/13/68 Ice Station Zebra
02/12/69 The Shoes of the Fisherman
05/21/69 War and Peace
06/04/69 Slaves
06/25/69 The Love Bug
08/06/69 Ben-Hur
10/08/69 Alfred the Great
10/22/69 deSade
11/19/69 Fanny Hill
12/17/69 Hello, Dolly!
07/01/70 The Sicilian Clan
07/08/70 Myra Breckinridge
08/12/70 2001: A Space Odyssey
09/23/70 The People Next Door
10/07/70 The Seducers
10/14/70 Diary of a Mad Housewife
11/25/70 WUSA
12/23/70 Love Story
05/26/71 The Andromeda Strain
07/14/71 The Anderson Tapes
09/01/71 The Red Tent
09/15/71 Gone With the Wind
10/13/71 Doctor Zhivago
11/17/71 T. R. Baskin
12/08/71 Carry on Camping
12/15/71 Around the World in 80 Days/West Side Story
12/22/71 Star-Spangled Girl
01/12/72 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
02/02/72 Such Good Friends
02/16/72 The Hot Rock
03/22/72 The Godfather
08/02/72 The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
08/16/72 The New Centurions
10/11/72 Doctor Zhivago
10/18/72 Ryan's Daughter
10/25/72 2001: A Space Odyssey
11/01/72 Gone With the Wind
11/08/72 Lady Sings the Blues
12/20/72 Pete 'n' Tillie
02/07/73 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
02/28/73 Sleuth
04/18/73 Class of '44
05/23/73 Hitler: The Last 10 Days
06/27/73 Jesus Christ Superstar
10/31/73 The Way We Were
12/26/73 The Exorcist
06/26/74 Go Ape: Five "Planet of the Apes" Pix
07/03/74 For Pete's Sake
08/21/74 California Split
09/25/74 2001: A Space Odyssey
11/13/74 Earthquake
03/12/75 Funny Lady
06/25/75 Once is Not Enough
07/23/75 Nashville
10/01/75 A Clockwork Orange/Deliverance
10/15/75 Rooster Cogburn
11/19/75 The Return of the Pink Panther/Love and Death
12/24/75 Hustle
02/18/76 The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
03/10/76 Man Friday
03/24/76 The Sunshine Boys
04/07/76 The Bad News Bears
06/23/76 Logan's Run
08/11/76 Drum
09/15/76 Mahogany/Lady Sings the Blues
10/13/76 Burnt Offerings
11/03/76 Fantastic Invasion
11/17/76 Carrie
12/22/76 Nickelodeon
02/07/77 The Cassandra Crossing
03/23/77 Airport '77
06/01/77 Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger
06/15/77 The Exorcist II: The Heretic
07/27/77 Breaking Training
08/24/77 The Other Side of Midnight
09/14/77 DARK
09/21/77 You Light Up My Life
10/12/77 Black Sunday
10/19/77 Barbarella
10/26/77 Bobby Deerfield
12/07/77 DARK
12/14/77 Close Encounters of the Third Kind

All dates listed are the Wedenesday of the opening week. Films from 1978 to 1983 when the Warner closed will be listed in a later post.

Ron3853 you are wonderful! I thought I was the only one interested in what movies played at Downtown Pittsburgh theatres. I commend you on you research. I cannot tell you have much pleasure it gives me to read what played at The Warner, Stanley and Fulton[site of my first job as an usher]. I would love some day to assist you in finishing the list for all 3 theatres and other in Pittsburgh such as the Gateway, Penn, Fiesta, Chatham Cinema, Nixon [Liberty Ave, site]. As part of my Pittsburgh movie theatre collection I have many original ad clippings from the newspaper etc. etc. I live in Murrysville, PA [outside of Monroeville]. Again THANK YOU!!!

Thanks. I do have the research completed for Pittsburgh from December 16, 1959 to December 31, 1977 for Pittsburgh first-run theaters. It's just a matter of time getting it all onto this site. I also have been compiling the same information for NYC, LA, CHIC, PHILA, DET, SF, DC, BOST, STL, DAL, BALT, CLEVE, HOUS, MPLS, ATL, SEAT, MILW, CINC, SD, BUFF, KC, MIAMI, DENV, IND, TAMPA,
NO, COL, PHNX, PORT, PROV, SA, CHAR & TOR - have 17 cities beside PGH finished from 1959-1975...it's a slow process getting microfilms of other cities newspapers Inter-Library Loaned to Carnegie Library in Oakland. I'd love to see your collection sometime - I have a huge collection of ads cut from pressbooks and newspaers myself. I live in Dormont - originally from Bethel Park. You can reach me at
rsmiller@reedsmith.com or Ron3853@aol.com

A little footnote to the Warner's Cinerama history. As part of the arrangement between S-Warner and the Dept. of Justice, SW did not have to ask permission to show non-Cinerama films in its Cinerama houses if the theatre had not been specifically acquired by SW to show Cinerama. This meant, in most cases, if the theatre originally was owned by SW. When the 4th Cinerama travelogue "Search For Paradise" quickly ran out of steam, and the 5th, "South Seas Adventure" wasn't anywhere near ready, a non-SW house like the Melba in Dallas simply closed down. On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Warner was able to switch to non-Cinerama fare with no legal hassles. In this case, Paramount's "The Ten Commandments" took over until there was Cinerama product to show again.

currently the former theatre/current shopping center has gone into sheriff's sale. just as recently as 1998 the mall had over a 98% occupancy rate, currently it is close to vacant. i know it was supposed to be torn down and made replaced with a parking structure in two of the failed attempts to revitalize downtown. the building still stands awaiting its next phase of life.

Warner Centre was sold at Allegheny County's sheriff's sale yesterday (February 7, 2005) for $2,700,000. It was purchased by Allied Capital, a Washington DC-based investment company who was acting for LaSalle Bank. LaSalle Bank was owed $3.7 million by the building's owners and the property is assessed at $4.9 million. Allied says that it will seek to acquire new tenants for the retail, restaurant, and office areas of the building, in order to raise its market value.

When I was in high school in North Hills in the 1970s, my friends and I often drove "into the city" to see movies here. What a gorgeous, huge palace this place was, with a massive curved screen and an immense interior. I remember how incredibly loud the soundtrack was for "Jesus Christ Superstar" and how, on New Year's Day in 1974 I stood in the freezing cold to see "The Exorcist", during the screening a lady stood up in front of me and fainted into the aisle! I'll never forget that. I returned to see "The Way We Were" when I was in college in Boston, but then I never went back to Pittsburgh. What a wonderful theater the Warner was!

If anyone can contribute exterior and interior photos of the Warner, please do so. The Warner Theatre in Erie PA is beautiful and worth a visit as it has never closed since it first opened!

I wonder if this theatre had an organ in its heyday? It's a shame that the elaborate interior of a major movie theatre in Pittsburgh PA was gutted and turned into a 2 story shopping center thus the name Warner Center!

Cinematour.com provides a small photo that shows the vertical marquee.

On Feb 7th, according to the business journal that the Warner Center was sold.

February 7, 2005
Warner Center sold for $2.7M

Warner Centre, a 150,000-square-foot office building in Downtown Pittsburgh. was sold Monday at the Allegheny County sheriff's sale for $2.7 million to an investment company acting on behalf of the landmark building's lender, Chicago-based LaSalle Bank, the Pittsbugh Post-Gazette reported.

Patsy, I worked this theatre for years, and no one ever said anything about an organ, was and still is the very best theatre I ever worked. Will always be my favorite. I cried my eyes out when they tore it down. I could not go near fifth ave. for a long time after. I still tear up even reading this.
Norelco

At the end it was ran by Cinnemette Corp, who left it go to hell so they could dump it.
Norelco

The organ does indeed exist! It's on the second floor in the far side of the food court. The last store in the food court had to close on 2/28/06 so its possible that the food court may be closed soon. If you want to see it, you should hurry!

It a shame on readin on what happened to the former RKO Stanley Warner's Warner Theatre, with it becoming a shopping center. Out in Philadelphia, the former Cinerama theatre out there, the former RKO Stanley Warner's Boyd Theatre/Regal Entertainment Group's United Artists Sameric 4 Theatre, is being restored by LiveNation back to it's 1928 looks, and restoring the "Boyd" name.

The Boyd/Sameric 4 had a unique design, having been built by Alexander Boyd, as a "L shape" building, where the main theatre House #1, is the former Boyd Theatre's auditorium. Sameric's Screens 2 through 4 were built to the right of Screen 1, turning it from a "L Shape to a "[" shape.

The Chatham Cinema opened on October 25 1966 and was owned by Morris Finkle, owner of the Shadyside, Mt Oliver, Arcade and was his first run house. I was the opening Asst Mrg. The opening film was Paramounts "Alfie" starring Michael Caine. It played for six months to the day, followed by "Barefoot In The Park", Wait Until Dark, The Odd Couple, and Taming of the Shrew. This was a beautiful theater not exactly in the downtown and had plenty of parking and that great old Red Coach Grill upstairs. Then, you got it, Cinemmette got its hand on it and it was just ruined. I was so sorry to leave that place...it was great. The hanging changelier in the main lobby was imported from Italy and was georgeous. Lines would form every Friday and Saturday night to see the films, did not matter what they were. It was one of the greatest times in my life.

Why be so hard on CINEMETTE THEATRES (Notice the correct spelling?)
The era of the downtown movie house was ending from coast to coast.
If anything, Cinemette help to preserve the Pittsburgh downtown movie theatres more than just about any other major theatre circuit in any other major city.
When the Warner closed it was up against $10,000.00 monthly steam heating bills, a shrinking downtown population, the city wide 10 percent amusement tax, pressure from the film companies to match the grosses of the out of the city National Amusement multiplexes that did not pay the 10% tax.
HMMM, if the Chatham was such a wet dream of a theatre, Why didn't the film companies ever want to put major releases up there. It was STRUGGLING when Cinemette aquired it!

The organ in the Warner was a small, old Wurlitzer 2-manual. What was left of it was salvaged many yaers ago by the Pittsburgh Area Theatre Organ Society. Several years back we purchased all leftover parts of it from them. It's been out of the building for quite a long time.

You mention downtown population. Hopefully that may return. The mayor of Pittsburgh wants to bring business as well as living back to downtown (especially along Fifth and Forbes). Plus many of downtown's universities and colleges are opening new dornitories in the golden Triangle as well. I hope that maybe they can ressurect the Warner back into a theater if all is successful.

I hearrd a very, very nice rumor (and possibly very welcome rumor) about what will happen to the Warner. I was told that this may become a theater once again!!!!! :)

Here is an article out of the Tribune Review that helps back this up.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/mostread/s_455016.html

lainnman,

I would like to hear more of your memories on the Chatham Cinema. I have the original Pittsburgh Press newspaper articles, clippings, ads [for ALFIE] from opening day. I also have pics of what the exterior of the theatre looks like today and plan to take pics [if it still exists] of the parking garage entrance.

Jim Kastner
Murrysville, PA jwkastner@adelphia.net

Oh Krypton Cowboy are you one of the Cinemette crowd of supporters? Thank you for correcting my spelling, that is what I would expect. Cinemette was nothing but blood sucking evil men who drained everything they got their hands on and then left a tiotal wasted mess that could only reach a bulldozer. The theater was not good for anything. As to who they are, they were part of the Associated Theaters Chain of management and owners that went out and Formed this mess. They should all be put in jail for their goings on in Pittsburgh. As to the film companies supporting the Chatham, where are the film companies any way. They are long gone from film rown on the Blvd of the Allies now arn't they. The theaters are not to blame for not wanting to go downtown. What about the department stroes leaving, and now Saks wants out, not to mention the headquarters for Mellon Bank. Pittsburgh is a mess, it will always be and as a former Pittsburger I know from experience. There is absolutely nor reason to go downtown or even live in this poor city.

Ouch!!!

I wish better for Pittsburgh than lainnman. I visited last summer ('05) for the first time and was surprised at how desolate the downtown area was. I had heard that Pittsburg had made great strides in recovering from the steel economy and I believe that it has, but I was expecting a greater vibrancy. My friends and I saw "Tommy" at a beautifully resored theater (I feel terrible that I don't remember its name). The immediate two block area around the theater had a great buzz before the curtain with many patrons eating at the surrounding restaurants, but a short walk in any direction put you in a no man's land.

What makes it sadder is that it looks like Pittsburg was quite prosperous at one time. I'm amazed that all of the department stores are gone! The key, of course, is to bring people back downtown to live and play. Theater restorations play an important role. I wish the new mayor well. He's got a big job ahead of him.

p.s. I loved Kennywood and The Andy Warhol Museum!

Oh My LuisV....I am glad you enjoyed your visit to Pittsburgh. You are right it was once a great city to live in but no longe. No one has a reason to go downtown anymore. At one time there was kaufmanns, Pittsburgh's oldest store now Macy's, Gimbels, and Joseph Horn comapany. Great clothiers and jewelry shops as well, but now nothing. Worst of all at one point it had 7 movie theaters within a three block radius where you saw your show which by the way was at the former Stanley Warner theater, the Stanley, now called something else. The only real theater that survived it all is Heinz hall formally the Penn Theater. It is beautiful. They love to put new restaurants downtown and now build lofts at high prices but no reason for people to go there as it is nothing but a getto. You are right out of the theater and no mans land. The Mayor has a big challenge ahead of him, but he is fighting a losing battle as the mob boys and unions control that city and they are not about to lose one cent from what is going on now, which is nothing. Yes Kennywood is one great park, and a national landmark as well. Keep well.

I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatch about downtown. 5th and Forbes is the worst, right now. Hopefully something good will come out of the project. I was on Liberty Ave. last night and it has improved, yet kind of deserted. But it is far from the red light district it has been.

BTW, Kennywood is OK (not great.)

Hopefully the (possible) reopening and proper usage of the Warner will be a good thing.

Hopefully downtown can get back into the swing of things and clean up.

Right now a Washington, PA outfit owned by Jack Piatt called Millcraft is renovating the former Lazarus Department Store into Piatt Place with condominiums and shops. They currently have the inside track to developing more of the Fifth Avenue and Wood Street areas that have become such a blight. They have expressed an interest in acquring the Warner property and making it into an entertainment center with a multiplex cinema, music clubs, and other things. We can only hope that this comes into being. All this, of course, was discussed under the rule of the late mayor Bob O'Connor. Now it is up to Luke Ravenstahl to continue the downtown redevelopment.

This is a recent photo of the Warner Center and Here is a close-up of the vertical sign.

does anyone remember the opening of the godfather movie in pittsburgh? a post above says it opened at the warner theater on 3/22/72. i was at the opening, and in the middle of the movie, the movie was interrupted, a singer came out on stage and sang the love theme from the godfather. when he was finished, and we were done applauding, the movie was resumed. does anyone remember who the singer was? al martino? tony bennett? vic damone? jerry vale? it definitely was not frank sinatra, and i do not think it was dean martin. any help? please! thanks.

The first impression as a 14 year old going to the Warner for the first time to see Earthquake (1974) was that the theater was very ornately decorated and that this was going to be a living history lesson of theaters of the past. The architecture was beautiful even if it did show it’s age. I loved it. The balcony was closed for this Sensurround engagement, probably for safety purposes. The next striking thing was that the screen was very different from any screen that I had ever seen. It was not only curved, but very deeply curved. If I remember correctly, it was almost 180 degrees cylinder which meant that the seats started a fair distance back from the center of the screen with a large stage under the footprint of the screen. Further, an octagonal projection booth with three windows was smack in the middle of the audience. My dad would tell me that the three Cinerama projectors would be housed in there, but it had since been retrofitted with a single projector with a special lens to bend the image to project onto the screen. Sorry to say, the lens/screen combination really distorted the image at the corners but you accepted this after a while just because of the shear size of the screen.

Waiting in the hallway off the lobby leading to the theater for the previous showing to be over presented it’s own anticipation as the Sensurround vibrations from the dam-bursting scene came through to rattle the old plaster of the walls. This was going to be fun! Entering the theater I saw the big horn speakers hanging high in the air on both sides of the screen plus some big horn speakers way in the back. The Sensurround effects really shook the balcony adding creaks and moans to the recorded sounds. Though I really didn’t think that Sensurround really shook the seats or added anything more than a little vibration to the air in your lungs, it sure made the theater creak in ways that were terrifying making you look back to see if you were far enough away from the balcony in case it fell in. Were the cracks in the plaster there before Earthquake or because of Earthquake?

Long live the Warner, in our memories.

Sydneybird, thanks, you have actually answered a question that many Cinerama historians have been debating for years....which USA Cinerama houses maintained their installation into the 1970's. And the Pittsburgh Warner was a mystery. Would you happen to know if the screen/curtain setup was retained until the theatre's final closing as a theatre? Thanks.

I am so glad that my ramblings actually provided useful information. I left Pittsburgh in 1982 and upon reviewing the list of movies above, I can't be sure that I actually saw a movie there since Earthquake (December 1974). I would have sworn that I saw Midway (June 18, 1976) with Sensurround there but I don't see it on the list and apparently Logan's Run was playing that same week so that can't be correct. So, I can only verify up to Dec. 1974.

The Warner could have been divided into two to three screens in the late 70's early 80's like some of the other downtown Pittsburgh theaters did by walling off their balcony and installing two small screens up there; or was it one small screen up top and two on the bottom? Somehow I think this happened but I can't be sure. No one left alive in my family that would have remembered. I hope someone reads this and recalls whether the Warner was divided or not.

Thanks, sydneybird.

I emailed some friends left in Pittsburg to see what they know about the Warner.

To the best of my knowledge, "Midway" played at the Gateway Theater in downtown Pittsburgh in the summer of 1976.

"Midway" definitely played at the Gateway Theater during the summer of '76 (in Sensurround). I'm pretty sure the Gateway closed in June, 1980 with "Friday the 13th."

Ad for the premiere of Cinerama at the New Google archive at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mR4NAAAAIBAJ&dq=cinerama&sjid=mGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4996%2C2172959

Hello all! Thought you may be interested in this. According to a large original poster that I have in my Indy collection: The Stanley(I'm assuming the Warner was known as the Stanley at this time?) & Gateway Theatres, Downtown, PGH, hosted a Live Closed-circuit telecast of the Indy 500 on Memorial Day, May 30th, 1968.
Indy 1968 Poster

1978:

01/01 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
03/15 The Fury
04/26 Pretty Baby
05/26 American Graffiti
06/16 Grease
10/06 The Big Fix
11/03 The Manitou
11/10 Paradise Alley
12/01 The Melon Affair
12/18 DARK
12/22 The Wiz

1979:

01/01 The Wiz
02/07 Halloween
02/23 The Deer Hunter
05/25 Alien
08/03 North Dallas Forty
09/21 Mr. Mike's Mondo Video
09/28 The Stud
10/10 Apocalypse Now
12/21 The Black Hole

1980:

01/01 The Black Hole
02/01 The Runner Stumbles
02/08 "10"
02/15 Saturn 3
02/29 The Godsend
03/07 Coal Miner's Daughter
04/11 The Visitor
04/18 Foxes
04/25 Last Rites; The Godsend
05/02 Norma Rae
05/09 Norma Rae/The Rose
05/21 The Empire Strikes Back
09/10 Schizoid
09/17 The Boogey Man
09/26 He Knows You're Alone
10/03 Caligula
10/10 Private Benjamin
11/14 Fantasia
12/15 - 12/18 DARK
12/19 The Jazz Singer

Renewing link.

Jan. - Oct. 1981 will be provided at a later date.

Nov.-Dec. 1981:

11/01 Prince of the City
11/13 Chinese Connection/Fist of Fury
11/25 An Eye for an Eye/Escape from New York
12/04 Reds

Pittsburgh's Cinerama history posted here.

1976 Photo

1982 Photo

I was the last projectionist to have the honor of working this beauty on it's last showing. No it was not divided it closed as a single screen theatre balcony and all was intact.God how I miss this place. Many wonderfull years there.

What was the last film to play at the Warner?

The last movie ever to play at the Warner was a special showing of Flashdance. Two weeks later it was gone. I had the honor of running the last movie there.

Officer Vic Cianca, who has a cameo in "Flashdance," attended that premiere. Blessedly he is still with us.

The last regular program to play for 6 1/2 days at the Warner was an ignominious double bill of "Bruce and Shao Lin Kung Fu" and a holdover of "Bruce vs. Bill." They did no business at all. Hardly a suitable ending for the theater that introduced Pittsburgh to "The Ten Commandments," "Gigi," "Ben-Hur," "The Nun's Story" and so many others.

That "Flashdance" premiere was April 14, 1983.

The gutting of the Warner began on or about Aug. 5, 1983. For a few days after that, you could stand on the Forbes Street side and, with that side of the theater ripped open, see from the outside the balcony overhanging the orchestra.

Flahdance was the last one, we started to take out the projectors a few days later,m the projectors ended up in the new cinema world.

To clarify, the "Flashdance" premiere April 14, 1983, was a week after the martial arts double bill, which was the final regular full-schedule engagement.

Sorry I could'nt remember but I do know Jan's assistant manager ran away with all the money on the last night, then came flashdance and then the end, still hurts alot.

Wow it was 10 years to the day, that I had a heart attack while running movies at the Jennifer theatre in DC. I just got hit with that thought April 14,1993. I told all my union pals I was trying to get out of paying taxes.

There was 3 projection booths downstairs at the back of the auditorium. One on each side and the one in the middle. That is how we ran cinerama all 3 projectors hit the screen at the same time.Yes the curtain was still working till the very end.

Were those three Cinerama projection booths still there at the end? I guess I had forgotten. Either they were less obtrusive by then, or we just got used to them being there after 41 years.

Al Martino, who died recently, made an appearance at the Warner during the an early afternoon performance of "The Godfather." He was in town for something else, probably a week's engagement at the Holiday House, and agreed to make an unadvertised appearance at the Warner.

The media was notified about what would be happening. Immediately after the scene in which his character Johnny Fontane sang at the wedding, the film was stopped, and the huge audience groaned. Someone - possibly Mike Cardone - walked out on stage and introduced the delighted audience to Martino.

The only booth left was the center one wich we used till the end. The other 2 on the left and right rear were removed but you could see where they plastered over the holes for the booth exhaust pipes. Once they closed the upstairs booth we moved everything down to the center booth and used that one till the final day.The 2 Norelco AA2 projectors upstairs were removed about a year before the theatre closed. We used the century JJ'S downstairs till the end.