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Remembering Cinerama (Part 30: Baltimore)
posted by
Coate
on
May 8, 2009 at 4:05 pm
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 30: Baltimore
The following is Part Thirty in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market, film-by-film, historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles also serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable events took place.
Part 1: New York City
Part 2: Chicago
Part 3: San Francisco
Part 4: Houston
Part 5: Washington, DC
Part 6: Los Angeles
Part 7: Atlanta UPDATED
Part 8: San Diego
Part 9: Dallas
Part 10: Oklahoma City
Part 11: Syracuse
Part 12: Toronto UPDATED
Part 13: Columbus
Part 14: Montreal
Part 15: Northern New Jersey
Part 16: Charlotte UPDATED
Part 17: Vancouver
Part 18: Salt Lake City UPDATED
Part 19: Boston
Part 20: Philadelphia UPDATED
Part 21: Fresno
Part 22: Detroit
Part 23: Minneapolis
Part 24: Albuquerque
Part 25: El Paso
Part 26: Des Moines
Part 27: Miami
Part 28: Orange County
Part 29: Pittsburgh
And now… Part 30: Cinerama Presentations in Baltimore, Maryland!
THIS IS CINERAMA
Theater: Town
Premiere Date: August 28, 1957
Engagement Duration: 16 weeks
Projection Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Promotional Hype: “The Only Really New Wonder Of The Motion Picture World!”
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD
Theater: Town
Premiere: December 19, 1957
Duration: 15 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “You see motion pictures…but you’re there in CINERAMA!”
CINERAMA HOLIDAY
Theater: Town
Premiere: April 2, 1958
Duration: 3 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “It’s Every Holiday You Ever Dreamed Of…Come True!”
SEARCH FOR PARADISE
Theater: Town
Premiere: April 23, 1958
Duration: 3 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “CINERAMA turns your most fabulous dreams into the mightiest of all adventure entertainments.”
WINDJAMMER
Theater: Mayfair
Premiere: February 19, 1960
Duration: 12 weeks
Format: CineMiracle
Hype: “There has never been anything to match the miracle of CINEMIRACLE!”
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
Theater: Town
Premiere: April 11, 1963
Duration: 21 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “The Great Dramatic Motion Picture That Puts You In Every Scene!”
THE BEST OF CINERAMA
Theater: Town
Premiere: September 4, 1963
Duration: 2 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “CINERAMA’s greatest all-time thrills presented for the first time in one exciting CINERAMA production!”
IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD
Theater: Town
Premiere: February 20, 1964
Duration: 18 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “The Biggest Entertainment Ever To Rock The CINERAMA Screen With Laughter!”
CIRCUS WORLD
Theater: Town
Premiere: November 6, 1964
Duration: 4 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA puts you in the middle of the most action-filled story you’ve ever seen!”
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Theater: Town
Premiere: April 14, 1965
Duration: 14 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “Only once in a lifetime… an entertainment so rich… an experience so rewarding”
THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL
Theater: Town
Premiere: July 21, 1965
Duration: 9 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA Sends You Roaring With Laughter And Adventure Down That Wide, Wonderful, Fun-Trail!”
KHARTOUM
Theater: Town
Premiere: June 30, 1966
Duration: 5 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “Where The Nile Divides, The Great CINERAMA Adventure Begins!”
GRAND PRIX
Theater: Town
Premiere: May 25, 1967
Duration: 13 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA sweeps YOU into a drama of speed and spectacle!”
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Theater: Town
Premiere: May 29, 1968
Duration: 22 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “An epic drama of adventure and exploration!”
ICE STATION ZEBRA
Theater: Town
Premiere: February 7, 1969
Duration: 7 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “Ice Station Zebra…remember the name, your life may depend on it!”
NOT SHOWN IN CINERAMA IN THE BALTIMORE MARKET:
SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE
HOLIDAY IN SPAIN
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (35mm engagement at New)
MEDITERRANEAN HOLIDAY (70mm engagement at Mayfair)
BATTLE OF THE BULGE (35mm engagement at Hippodrome)
RUSSIAN ADVENTURE
CUSTER OF THE WEST
KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA (70mm engagement at New)
THIS IS CINERAMA 1973 re-issue
TRIVIA:
Baltimore was the 21st U.S. market and 30th worldwide market to equip for Cinerama presentations.
Compiled by Vince Young & Michael Coate
References: Boxoffice, The (Baltimore) Sun, Variety
Comments (12)
Hey…how come SONG OF NORWAY is never mentioned in this series? Wasn’t that a Cinerama movie?
Why hasn’t “Song Of Norway” been included in this series? Simple: it doesn’t belong.
The U.S. and Canadian roadshow bookings of “Song Of Norway” were not promoted as being presented “in Cinerama.” Any confusion with this title probably stems from it having been produced by and distributed by Cinerama, Inc. and getting many bookings in Cinerama theaters.
When some international markets start being featured in the series, “Song Of Norway” (and a few other titles not yet mentioned) may appear on some of them because that title was handled differently overseas.
I’ve always felt that the last “real” 70mm CINERAMA film was “Krakatoa: East of Java”. “Song Of Norway”, “The Great Waltz” and “Run Run Joe” which just played in the UK as “CINERAMA” just never seemed to me to be officialy CINERAMA.
I did see “Song Of Norway” on a DIMENSION 150 screen in Oak Brook, Illinois and that was about as good as CINERAMA! I hope that isn’t blasphemy.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, This is CINERAMA!” Lowell Thomas, September 30, 1952
I don’t get it. If SONG OF NORWAY was produced & distributed by Cinerama, then how is it not a Cinerama movie?
Production Companies ABC Pictures/American Broadcasting Company(ABC) get the credit for “Song of Norway”. CINERAMA Releasing Corporation released “Song of Norway” along with lots of other movies that did not end up in CINERAMA, for example “Charly”, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, those rat movies “Willard” and “Ben” and I think “Cabaret” and many, many others. Care to add anything Michael?
The only thing I’d like to add is to ask why no one from Baltimore has chimed in and offered any comments, questions or nostalgic recollections of Baltimore’s Cinerama era? After all, Baltimore is the subject here. This page has been posted for nearly a week now and no one has posted any comments that actually have anything to do with Baltimore’s Cinerama history.
It doesn’t surprise me that these semi-related questions come up (e.g. the “Song Of Norway” question), but I find it odd (and disappointing) that no one who currently resides in or formerly resided in the Baltimore area has commented, especially since in earlier chapters of this series a couple of people asked if and when Baltimore would get a turn and since this website thrives on memories of the past.
I’m considering bringing the series to a close since I’m questioning how much interest there really is.
AUGH!!!!!! Michael, I read your comment, panicked, went back and checked to see how many views your CINERAMA posts have had, went to make this comment and my internet service went down for three days. Now that it’s back here’s the number of views your CINERAMA series has had as of three days ago and Baltimore as of this morning:
3,637 New York City
1,775 San Francisco
1,414 Houston
978 Dallas
634 Los Angeles
412 Northern New Jersey
385 Chicago
346 Toronto
346 Columbus
309 Boston
309 Oklahoma City
282 Salt Lake City
276 Syracuse
275 San Diego
268 Philadelphia
255 Montreal
254 Charlotte
244 Washington DC
244 Atlanta
195 Albuquerque
191 Miami
174 Fresno
163 Pittsburg
162 Minneapolis
130 Orange County
125 Baltimore
118 Detroit
115 El Paso
114 Vancouver
74 Des Moines
14,204 TOTAL
Anyway I think your CINERANA Series has set some kind of CT record for the number of views even if not a lot of comments are not always made. I know it’s a lot of work, but the views show the intrest. Please don’t stop. Besides so far you have only listed half of the cites I have seen CINERAMA in.
And you never know where the interst in CINERAMA will show up. I thought it was interesting that so many views came from Texas and I would have thought a lot more views for Los Angeles instead of San Francisco???
I don’t think ‘twopointthreefivetoone’ knows what the difference between CINERAMA and Cinerama Releasing really was.
TWOPOINT, it was the difference between really big screen 3D IMAX and your home HDTV.
I judge the success of this series on the number of comments, not the number of page views.
I saw Exodus at the Mayfair in Baltimore in 70mm, Very bad projection. Everytime the projectionist would switch projectors, a large pop would come out of the speakers making it sound like you had just been shot. The picture was fuzzy most of the time and the theatre was dirty.
Thanks for the information on Cinerama—you do geaet work/research. When I was about 10 years old growing up in Hagerstown, Maryland, I went on a business trip with my father to Rochester, NY. One day we went to the Monroe Theatre and saw “Search for Paradise” in Cinerama. My father had been a projectionist in Philadelphia in the 30’s and 40’s, and had kept his IATSE union membership current. He knocked on the door of the proj. booth, showed the man his card, and proceededed to give my father and me a complete tour of the three projector process. It was thrilling for 10 year old interest in movies, and a thrill for my late father as well! Glenn Morrison Washington, DC
Why were the engagements of Cinerama in Baltimore so short compared to other major cities? Was it because Baltimore was nestled between Wash & Philadelphia and had been running Cinerama for t least 4 yrs before it came to the Town Theatre?