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Remembering Cinerama (Part 47: Phoenix)
posted by
Coate
on
January 21, 2010 at 9:55 am
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 47: Phoenix
The following is Part Forty-Seven 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 historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles 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 screenings 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
Part 8: San Diego
Part 9: Dallas
Part 10: Oklahoma City
Part 11: Syracuse
Part 12: Toronto
Part 13: Columbus
Part 14: Montreal
Part 15: Northern New Jersey
Part 16: Charlotte
Part 17: Vancouver
Part 18: Salt Lake City
Part 19: Boston
Part 20: Philadelphia
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
Part 30: Baltimore
Part 31: Long Island
Part 32: Kansas City
Part 33: Milwaukee
Part 34: Nanuet/Rockland County
Part 35: Denver
Part 36: Worcester
Part 37: Toledo
Part 38: St. Louis
Part 39: Tampa
Part 40: Calgary
Part 41: Hartford
Part 42: Albany
Part 43: New Haven
Part 44: Sacramento
Part 45: Las Vegas
Part 46: Seattle
And now…Part 47: Cinerama Presentations in Phoenix, Arizona!
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Theater: Kachina
Premiere Date: May 16, 1963
Engagement Duration: 13 weeks
Projection Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Promotional Hype: “For The First Time CINERAMA Comes To Arizona! For The First Time CINERAMA Tells A Story!”
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: August 15, 1963
Duration: 39 weeks
Format: Cinerama (3-strip)
Hype: “The Great Dramatic Motion Picture That Puts You In Every Scene!”
IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: May 15, 1964
Duration: 40 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “It’s The Biggest Entertainment Ever To Rock The CINERAMA Screen With Laughter!”
CIRCUS WORLD
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: February 18, 1965
Duration: 6 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA Puts You in the Middle of the Most Action-Filled Story You’ve Ever Seen!” “You have never seen CINERAMA until you’ve seen CINERAMA CIRCUS WORLD”
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: March 31, 1965
Duration: 21 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “Presented in CINERAMA” “A Rich, Rewarding Entertainment Experience For The Entire Family”
THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: August 25, 1965
Duration: 17 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA Sends You Roaring With Laughter And Adventure Down That Wide, Wonderful Fun-Trail!”
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: December 22, 1965
Duration: 12 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “At Last! The Super Action Show In SUPER CINERAMA”
KHARTOUM
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: December 25, 1966
Duration: 7 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “The Great CINERAMA Adventure!”
GRAND PRIX
Theater: Bethany
Premiere: February 21, 1967
Duration: 35 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “CINERAMA sweeps YOU into a drama of speed and spectacle!”
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: May 29, 1968
Duration: 25 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “An astounding entertainment experience, a dazzling trip to the planets and beyond the stars!”
ICE STATION ZEBRA
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: November 20, 1968
Duration: 14 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “Ice Station Zebra…remember the name, your life may depend on it!”
KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA
Theater: Bethany
Premiere: June 25, 1969
Duration: 9 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “The New CINERAMA Hurls You Into The Incredible Day That Shook The Earth To Its Core!”
THIS IS CINERAMA (Re-Issue)
Theater: Cine Capri
Premiere: June 1, 1973
Duration: 7 weeks
Format: Cinerama (70mm)
Hype: “THIS IS CINERAMA Is Back To Entertain A Whole New Generation”
VOLCANO (Re-titled re-issue of KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA)
Theater: Kachina
Premiere: October 31, 1975
Duration: 1 week
Format: Cinerama (70mm) & Feelarama
Hype: “The First Rumble Starts In The Distance… The Senses Tighten With Anticipation… The Volcano Explodes! And FEELARAMA Surrounds You With The Sensation Of A Lifetime”
NOT SHOWN IN CINERAMA IN THE PHOENIX MARKET:
THIS IS CINERAMA original 3-strip version
CINERAMA HOLIDAY
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD
SEARCH FOR PARADISE
WINDJAMMER
SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE
HOLIDAY IN SPAIN
THE BEST OF CINERAMA
MEDITERRANEAN HOLIDAY
RUSSIAN ADVENTURE
CUSTER OF THE WEST (general release)
NOTES & TRIVIA:
Phoenix was the 56th of 60 markets in the United States to present 3-panel Cinerama.
Phoenix was one of two U.S. markets with a theater equipped for 3-panel Cinerama presentation that failed to show any of the original 3-panel travelogue films.
The Kachina was located in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale.
The Bethany became the second Cinerama venue for the Phoenix area as a result of the Kachina’s lengthy, non-Cinerama roadshow run during 1966 of DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. (Note the absence of RUSSIAN ADVENTURE and delayed opening of KHARTOUM.)
Compiled by Michael Coate
Reference: The Arizona Republic
Comments (8)
Does anyone remember when the original Cine Capri played This Is Cinerama in 70mm on the D-150 screen they had? How did It look? Thanks so much Mike for the Cinerama news you have given us on all these roadshow Cinerama dates and cities. Now If we can get Pacific Theatres and some sponsors to restore a few more of the 3 panel films to play in England,Hollywood & Seattle. We hear they are cleaning up some of the prints for DVD release in SmileBox® for Blue Ray. At least Windjammer is being worked on at this time, but the things they have to work with are not that good. Lets hope the DVD print comes out good. When they tried to copy the new Cine Capri now in Arizona they missed the boat and did not curve the screen much. What were they afraid off.
Terry: have you heard anything about Smilebox Blu-Ray releases for the single-strip Cinerama films like “2001”? I asked a Warner Home Video executive about that on an online chat about a year ago, and he said there was a good possibility. The Smilebox edition of “How the West Was Won” was truly spectacular.
I have not heard of any other SmileBox® Blue Ray movies yet. But I bought a Blue Ray player just see the curved look on my LCD with How The West Was Won as many other people did. I think they will do a few more of the 3 panel Cinerama prints first and see how they sell then with some of the Super Cinerama 70mm movies. Now the Home Theatre people have three different types of huge curved screens for the Theatre in the home crowd. I have seen one and It looks great. So no need for SmileBox® for these lucky movie people. The curved home screens have moving masking and are very $$$$$$$. When I win the Lotto I’ll get one. Can’t wait for the Windjammer release with the curve look.
This must be one of the rare instances were “Grand Prix” played longer than “2001”.
JSA
Actually, Grand Prix was a stronger movie than one might think. According to Mike’s lists so far, it had an average run of 25 weeks compared to 2001’s average run of 30 weeks. Grand Prix’s run exceeded 2001’s in 13 of the 47 listed cities.
Terry: I don’t think the original Cine Capri ever had a D-150 (Dimension 150) screen. Have you got a way to check and see if it really did or didn’t have D-150?
“Ladies and Gentlemen, This is CINERAMA!” Lowell Thomas, September 20, 1952.
Wow! What the heck was FEELARAMA (re: the KRAKATOA rerelease)?
Feelarama was probably an attempt to copy Universal’s Sensurround gimmick, which audiences first heard (and felt) in “Earthquake” the year before.