Teatro Cinerama

The Cinerama opened on a week day with How The West… Films opened in San Juan on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Saturday openings were for Easter openings because in the 60’s, during Holy Week, most theaters showed reissues of religious films like The 10 Commandments.

Bob, as some contributor here know, I was in the film business in PR in the 60’s. ALL films in the English language were shown in English with Spanish subtitles, including Cinerama films of course. Maybe animated films for children alternated English and Spanish or used the Spanish version in “la isla”, but I am not sure because Commonwealth did not book many animated films. Disney’s Sword and the Stone was shown with subtitles at the Plaza 2. The cost of booking a film did not have anything to do with the language or if it had subtitles. It had to do with quality, star power, etc. Foreign films were in English most of the time if not all the time, because they were booked through their US distributors' offices in PR (MGM, Columbia, Fox, etc.). In the case of The Longest Day, the soundtrack was in English. French and German and had both Spanish and English subtitles. Originally the film had Spanish subtitles only but we requested Fox to add English subtitles for non Spanish speaking customers, at no extra cost for us. The only ones who had to pay for subtitling a film were independent distributors like World Films. Subtitling cost about $1,500 and did not affect the booking/rental cost. Subtitling was easy, print the titles on the negative and then print the copies of the film.

Please help me out, here in Illinois. I am trying to find my way around Santurce using the CINERAMA as a starting point. It would help to have the exact address of this theater so I can find the building on the satellite photo and see what it looks like from the air.

I think the cross street is Cll Bolivar and it would have an address something like 1647 Avenida Fernadez Juncos. If you type 1647 before the street on the map—-is that the theater on the northwest corner? If that’s the building it looks like it has ramps on the roof, did it have parking on the roof?

It would nice to find the exact address so it could be added to this site.

Bob,

Interesting topic!

“2001: A Space Odyssey” was shown in English at the Metro in Ponce De Leon Avenue.

I never saw a film in Puerto Rico with a Spanish soundtrack, unless it was from Latin America or Spain. All the English-speaking films I saw there (from the mid-60’s to mid 80’s) were sub-titled. That’s not saying it didn’t happen, I just did not see or remember any. However, some of the coming attraction trailers had a Spanish speaking narrator.

Someone told me that these days some theaters show movies dubbed in Spanish, particularly family friendly fare.

JSA

While on vacation at PR, this last weekend, I took a late night drive on the Fernandez Juncos Ave., and was shocked to see how much it has changed. The Cinerama is still somewhat recognizable from the outside, but it looks like it’s all boarded up and no longer functioning as a carpet store. Very depressing. And don’t get me going on the Metropolitan…

JSA

ALSO KNOW AS, CINERAMA

“How the West Was Won” in 3-sitrip CINERAMA, played from May 4, 1965 for 18 weeks.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, This is CINERAMA!” Lowell Thomas, September 30, 1952

Here is a photo. I think it’s the same one that LM posted and was later deleted:
http://tinyurl.com/2oxkn3

Hi JSA ,

Thanks for the info ! By the way I went tothe 2001 Space Odissey at the Metro during those years and it was a wonderful experience, it changed my life !Even though i am a professional musician my outlook of modern music was affected dramatically !!

Best !!

Hello Widescreenman,

The 3-strip Cinerama projection system had its 1952 debut in New York City with “This is Cinerama”. In addition to the three 35 mm projectors operating simultaneously, a separate 7-channel/35 mm magnetic soundtrack was run in synchronization with the projectors. A few other 3-strip films were made during the 50’s, these being “travelogues” such as “Seven Wonders of the World” and “South Seas Adventure”. Two films, “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and “How the West was Won” were the first and only 3-strip “regular" features made. They were released in 1962. “How the West was Won” was very successful commercially. However, the cost and logistics of shooting and screening 3-strip Cinerama doomed it, especially when compared to the other widescreen processes such as Todd-AO. All subsequent Cinerama productions were single lens Ultra-Panavision (“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World”, “Khartoum”) or Super Panavision (“Grand Prix”, “Ice Station Zebra”). One other film, George Stevens’ “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, began shooting in 3-strip Cinerama, but made the switch to Ultra-Panavision shortly after production began. The Ultra-Panavision Cinerama films were “optically” corrected to compensate for the theater screen curvature. Not all Ultra-Panavision films were single-strip Cinerama though. For example “The Fall of the Roman Empire” was a strictly Ultra-Panavision production, without the “optical” correction for single strip Cinerama.

Regarding the Cinerama in Puerto Rico, 3-strip projection had its run during the mid 60’s. Mr. Andres Roura, who is a frequent contributor to this site (see his Feb 11, 2005 posting above) will undoubtedly know the exact dates and particular details. Mr. Roura is the top authority when it comes to movies and the movie business in PR. My understanding is that “How the West Was Won”, “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm”, and “This is Cinerama” were the only 3-strip Cinerama features screened at PR. The Cinerama also screened many of the single-strip Cinerama features, but my favorite Super Panavision/Cinerama film, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, had its run at the Metro in 1968.

Last year, I had the opportunity to see “How the West Was Won”, screened in it original 3-strip format at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles. It was truly a remarkable cinematic experience. The Dome is a fantastic state-of-the-art theatre, with a spectacular giant curved screen and superb sound.

Sadly, today there are only two theaters in the USA capable of screening 3-Strip Cinerama: the Dome and the Martin Cinerama in Seattle. A third theatre with this capability is in England.

Regards,

JSA

Correction to my post from 9/21/06:
The sentence “In comparison, the Cinerama Dome at Los Angeles is 86 feet wide…” should read “In comparison, the Cinerama Dome’s screen at Los Angeles is 86 feet wide…”

The comedy “Murder by Death” played at the Cinerama too.

The Cinerama had a huge concave screen stretching to the sides and a draped auditorium. On its outside walls, facing Fernandez Juncos Ave., there were two murals of current attractions. During the 1970’s “Earthquake” in Sensurround played here to long lines around the block. “Vanishing Point” and “Mame” with Lucille Ball premiered here. Odd movies like the blaxploitation “Sugar Hill” and the exploitative “Cannibal Haulocaust” had their quick run here. “Rollercoaster” also in Sensurround, “The Return of The Pink Panther”, “What’s Up, Doc?” with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal, “The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox” with Glodie Hawn and George Segal, “Harry and Walter Go to New York” with James Caan and Elliott Gould, “Soft Beds, Hard Battles” with Peter Sellers, and “The Wiz” starring Diana Ross, all screened here. In the early 80’s, the last movies to play here were “All Night Long” with Barbra Streisand, “Ragtime” starring James Cagney and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.” After it closed, it remained dark for a few years until it was converted into a carpet store. The theatre’s lay out is still visible in the store.