Loew's Valencia Theatre

By “in their face”, I meant, in person, not trying to imply anything negative.

West Houston. I went up to the booth most recently to correct their screening of MAN IN THE DARK. You can call it “in their face” if you want, but I was trying to help them improve the quality of their presentation.

If you’d like to see just how good perfectly projected 3-D CAN look, I suggest you visit the Lafayette for KISS ME KATE tomorrow night. Plus, they’ll be running some rare 3-D shorts that you certainly won’t see at the Film Forum.

I don’t need to PKoch. I was there and have told the staff and management on several occasions. They even brought me up to the booth when their operator didn’t know how to frame the 3-D image into alignment. (They had started the show and it was way out of registration, resulting in severe eyestrain.) I pointed out the big black knob labeled “frame” on the projector, and explained to him that it is used to adjust the framing of the image. The professional projectionist didn’t know that.

They seemed to feel that the mere fact they were presenting 3-D was good enough. To go the extra mile to do it right didn’t seem to matter to them.

You may not have experienced eye strain, but just about every 3-D presentation I’ve seen at the Film Forum has been out of phase, which means the two shutters are slightly off register. This is different from being out of sync, which creates instant eye strain and headaches.

An out of phase 3-D image just doesn’t look right and, once you’ve seen it, it can be very annoying. I’ve had the opportunity to see many 3-D shows presented perfectly, and going to the Film Forum can be very frustrating.

By the way, film fans in the New York area can see KISS ME KATE in the miracle of perfected Polaroid 3-Dimension. It’s playing on Friday March 10 at the beautiful 1924 Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, New York. I’ve seen original dual-strip 3-D presented at dozens of venues over the past 25 years, and the presentation at the Lafayette is by far the best. Clear, bright and – most important of all for good 3-D – in sync AND in phase. There are no eyestrain or focus problems whatsoever. (Unlike the Film Forum which frequently presents 3-D out of phase, this will be a quality presentation.) Plus there will be some rare 3-D shorts as well, which will not be shown at any other theater on the East Coast.

If you’ve never seen real 3-D from the 1950’s (and I’m not talking about those terrible re-issues in the red/blue anaglyph system) you owe it to yourself to catch this show. And it’s in stereo sound as well!

Visit their website for all the details:
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When the Film Forum first screened this film in 3-D I believe they advertised it as being the first time this film was screened that way in NY. I guess they were wrong.

The following excerpt is from the “Kiss Me Kate” [http://imdb.com/title/tt0045963/trivia]trivia page[/url] on imdb.com:

“The movie was shot full frame (1.33:1, including soundtrack area) and then printed with optical soundtrack and interlocked with a magnetic, full-coated strip of film in the theater. While shot on Ansocolor film stock, the prints were by Technicolor, who optically centered the picture to fit the soundtrack on the film (unfortunately, new prints do not have this advantage and the left portion of the picture is cut off prematurely). The film was only shot in 3-D and except for the premiere (at Radio City), played at almost all major theaters across the USA in 3-D (according to trade ads). According to the director in a 1953 interview, the aspect ratio was intended to be 1.75:1, although it was protected for almost every ratio, due to the ever-changing standards of flat widescreen at the time.”

I can’t say how accurate this passage is, but I thought it relevant to this discussion. Perhaps that the premeir engagement at Radio City Music Hall was not presented in 3-D (if that is true) lies at the root of the current belief that the film was only ever released flat.

Warren, I saw the first Natural Vision 3-D movie at the Valencia, “Bwana Devil,” on a jam-packed Friday night in 1952. The short was Disney’s “The Alaskan Eskimo.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Valencia had 3 projectors, and needed an intermission halfway through the main feature for reel changes.

A&E are in the process of working on a segment on Marcus Loews' “Wonder Theatres” (the Valencia Theatre, Paradise Theatre, and Jersey Theatre) on their Breakfast with the Arts show. I was contacted because they wanted to use my photographs of the Valencia theater. As soon as I hear of a broadcast date from them I will post it here.

The Laurelton Theater is located between 227th and 228th streets on the south side of Merrick Blvd. It is still there in operation as a church. It was a cozy little nabe that usually played double features consisting of a major film on late run (I recall both “Jaws” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as lead pictures during 1975) paired with a low budget action flick (“Framed” with Joe Don Baker and “That Man Bolt” with Fred Williamson come to mind). They also often played a cartoon or Three Stooges short between features, when the program was more child-freindly). I think it had a balcony, but I can’t recall for sure.

English, the local theaters for me and my family were the St. Albans and the Laurelton. Going all the way in to Jamaica Ave. to the Valencia or the Merrick was an event. On some occasions we would have supper at a Chinese restaurant located, I seem to recall, in a building between 168th and the Valencia – upstairs.

That may have been the case as film distribution entered the wider “Showcase Theater” scheme in the 1960’s, english, but places like the Triboro, Valencia and Flushing Keith’s would often have early run bookings exclusive within the borough and probably pulled in patrons from all over Queens durings its first 30 or so years of operation. Even in the 70’s when the Valencia was exhibiting more “neighborhood theater” type of fare, I know many families from my neighborhood in Laurelton, Queens (which had its own small 2nd run house) would travel by bus to Jamaica to catch a flick at either the Valencia or RKO Alden. But, obviously, even local patronage wasn’t sufficient to save either theater from closing down years ago.