So a profitable 12 screen theatre in a one-horse house is being pushed out of business by the incompetent beaurocrats who planned a new expensive never-to-be profitable 20-plex in a location where no one goes after dark.
Close the new white elephant, count your loses and never elect this clan of assholes again. Piracy is not a problem in Redwood. City planners are your pirates.
Dave-Bronx, CinemaRadio allowed people with hearing problems better access to the soundtrack by bringing earphones and a transistor radio and tuning in to a specific frequency. Modern cinemas have loops or infrared devices that do the same thing through multichannel hearing aids.
How about that little add for the mysterious Camelot Twin in the East Village? Did anyone ever confrim if it was indeed The Gate?
I believe the Dominion holds the world record for the longest film run ever with SOUTH PACIFIC. Not counting midnight shows such as ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW)
Can you please tell us what the problem is? You are both incredible contributors to this site and I think I speak for several CT members here who look forward to your every post.
Although on some level I do enjoy a bitchfest, what’s it all about?
LOST MEMORY first, I will play Oprah for you. Do you think we care about contributor’s personal lives?bTell me about it, honey? (hand folded, eyes glistening)
My single memory of Webster Hall consisted of a doorman questioning my rather clunky shoes (the transvestite before me got in with ten inch kinky boots)and a trapeze act over the dance floor. The upstairs was a retro SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER disco.
The place had a decidedly Midwest barnyard feel unworthy of Manhattan.
I think if we were to open any site to such venues we would have new boundaries to deal with. The Tunnel was a subway stop complete with urinals at the bar although I am sure many had an epiphany there and where would you place the Limelight?
I say we stick to the movies. Club USA was a pimple in the life of this venue anyway.
In May 1934 the Columbia was showing a move-over from the Mayfair of HITLER’S REIGN OF TERROR. Although it rarely showed films, they seems to have co-existed or there was another Columbia on 47th and Broadway.
Still here in London. I figured out who you are from your posts and told Steve, who sends his regards. If you write to me at I can give you an email address for Steve. Let me know if you ever found Kieth.
Just so this isn’t a strictly personal post, the Waverly marquee was used by a British movie website to promote itself two years ago. Imagine my shock at entering a London tube station to find a poster size photo of the Waverly marquee and the door to my previous “flat”. As they say here, “I was gobsmacked!”
LI, they took the little parking lot in the back and added to the building. They also took the stores next door and incorporated them and the upper floor loft apartment into a bar and a third screen. The end result is quiet good.
In a final testament to decency, the bar is still called the Waverly. Worth checking out!
Ed, Cineplex Odeon was concerned that their Chelsea nineplex was easily outgrossing the triple down the street. In an effort to equate the two in everyone’s eyes they decided to combine two of the screens at the triplex and make that location as good or better than the nineplex. They renamed it Chelsea West in the process and it has since hosted several films premieres including Woody Allen films.
The recommended industry sound level is FAR too loud for most multiplexes causing customer complaints and sound bleed to other screens. It is not uncommon for managers and projectionists to lower sound levels once the run gets going as a result. In some cases low dialogue scenes get lost in order to avoid clearing the house everytime the music swells to idiotic levels or something explodes on screen. A recent example of this bad mixing is SUPERMAN RETURNS, which goes back and forth for no apparent reason since the dramatic fluctuations cannot justify the dialogue spoken nor action scenes, though it does keep one awake when there is no real plot unfolding and no has anything interesting to say. The thing is better watched in mono. You may experience the same thing at home on DVD on some films where you keep having to raise and lower the sound.
A footnote on the now legendary BACKDRAFT story, reel change misses were daily events at the Ziegfeld. Only BACKDRAFT made international news because the wrong reel went on and Billy Baldwin had a fit in front of the press.
If you do a professional sound check, tie the curtain up, put in a new lamp and run a platter built-up show through on a dry run, chances are you will not get embarrassed by an incompetent projectionist or gremlins at a premiere. That (and my little story above) is how the Ziegfeld ended showing movies the way it does.
One upon a time there was a rare and lonely female projectionist at an imaginary Manhattan cinema with a bad back. She had trouble lifting the reels and demanded that the cinema install a platter so she could build the film up once and never ever have to pick up a reel again.
The boys at home office cried “poppy cock”!. The boys at the Union said “nonsence and stuff!”.
The rare and lonely female projectionist went to her lawyer and made sure that “reel to reel” was banished from the land forever and that the bad boys never again made it impossible to earn a living as long as technology was available and disability laws were there to protect her job.
The Waverly closed for twinning in mid September 1981 after HEAVY METAL and re-opened on October 30, 1981 with BODY HEAT and MOMMIE DEAREST plus a weekend midnight show of ERASERHEAD plus ASPARAGUS.
Louis, Wometco was careful to only screen soft porn at the Boulevard Drive-In and Town (downtown) as their company charter did not allow any other. The films the Boulevard Drive-In showed in its last days would be rated R today and in some cases PG. They often promised more than they delivered. (Think Russ Meyer and nudist camp nudies). The theatres attracted straight couples, not lone males as XXX did.
The Boulevard screen faced the Interama swamp land so exposure to Biscayne Boulevard was not a problem. Other drive-ins had to install special screens where the inage faded with distance so as not to cause accidents on the expressways.
The handi-wipe, alas, was not urban legend. I remember how funny we thought it was when we got one, for the buttered popcorn, I presume.
The Paramount I remember had a huge screen and no columns in the auditorium so if that photo above is the same theatre it must have been extensively remodelled by the sixties.
Considering TALLADEGA NIGHTS is one of the biggest hits of the year I am sure Pacific is not even considering resorting to “classics” yet. I wish the Ziegfeld did not have to resort to bringing back TRON, but bless them for trying something.
So a profitable 12 screen theatre in a one-horse house is being pushed out of business by the incompetent beaurocrats who planned a new expensive never-to-be profitable 20-plex in a location where no one goes after dark.
Close the new white elephant, count your loses and never elect this clan of assholes again. Piracy is not a problem in Redwood. City planners are your pirates.
Dave-Bronx, CinemaRadio allowed people with hearing problems better access to the soundtrack by bringing earphones and a transistor radio and tuning in to a specific frequency. Modern cinemas have loops or infrared devices that do the same thing through multichannel hearing aids.
How about that little add for the mysterious Camelot Twin in the East Village? Did anyone ever confrim if it was indeed The Gate?
pierdaawg, are you thinking of the Miracle?
Check out this site…
View link
That beats any New York run. I was told they only used two prints of SOUTH PACIFIC during that whole run!
I believe the Dominion holds the world record for the longest film run ever with SOUTH PACIFIC. Not counting midnight shows such as ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW)
An open letter to LOST MEMORY and WARREN.
Can you please tell us what the problem is? You are both incredible contributors to this site and I think I speak for several CT members here who look forward to your every post.
Although on some level I do enjoy a bitchfest, what’s it all about?
LOST MEMORY first, I will play Oprah for you. Do you think we care about contributor’s personal lives?bTell me about it, honey? (hand folded, eyes glistening)
Al
My single memory of Webster Hall consisted of a doorman questioning my rather clunky shoes (the transvestite before me got in with ten inch kinky boots)and a trapeze act over the dance floor. The upstairs was a retro SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER disco.
The place had a decidedly Midwest barnyard feel unworthy of Manhattan.
I think if we were to open any site to such venues we would have new boundaries to deal with. The Tunnel was a subway stop complete with urinals at the bar although I am sure many had an epiphany there and where would you place the Limelight?
I say we stick to the movies. Club USA was a pimple in the life of this venue anyway.
Absolutely beautiful shot. Best of luck on this labor of love!
Thanks guys. That makes perfect sense.
In May 1934 the Columbia was showing a move-over from the Mayfair of HITLER’S REIGN OF TERROR. Although it rarely showed films, they seems to have co-existed or there was another Columbia on 47th and Broadway.
???
Still here in London. I figured out who you are from your posts and told Steve, who sends his regards. If you write to me at I can give you an email address for Steve. Let me know if you ever found Kieth.
Just so this isn’t a strictly personal post, the Waverly marquee was used by a British movie website to promote itself two years ago. Imagine my shock at entering a London tube station to find a poster size photo of the Waverly marquee and the door to my previous “flat”. As they say here, “I was gobsmacked!”
Tell me about it. It was my home for seven years.
It’s thosee damn talkies. I told you they would never catch on!
LI, they took the little parking lot in the back and added to the building. They also took the stores next door and incorporated them and the upper floor loft apartment into a bar and a third screen. The end result is quiet good.
In a final testament to decency, the bar is still called the Waverly. Worth checking out!
Ed, Cineplex Odeon was concerned that their Chelsea nineplex was easily outgrossing the triple down the street. In an effort to equate the two in everyone’s eyes they decided to combine two of the screens at the triplex and make that location as good or better than the nineplex. They renamed it Chelsea West in the process and it has since hosted several films premieres including Woody Allen films.
The recommended industry sound level is FAR too loud for most multiplexes causing customer complaints and sound bleed to other screens. It is not uncommon for managers and projectionists to lower sound levels once the run gets going as a result. In some cases low dialogue scenes get lost in order to avoid clearing the house everytime the music swells to idiotic levels or something explodes on screen. A recent example of this bad mixing is SUPERMAN RETURNS, which goes back and forth for no apparent reason since the dramatic fluctuations cannot justify the dialogue spoken nor action scenes, though it does keep one awake when there is no real plot unfolding and no has anything interesting to say. The thing is better watched in mono. You may experience the same thing at home on DVD on some films where you keep having to raise and lower the sound.
A footnote on the now legendary BACKDRAFT story, reel change misses were daily events at the Ziegfeld. Only BACKDRAFT made international news because the wrong reel went on and Billy Baldwin had a fit in front of the press.
If you do a professional sound check, tie the curtain up, put in a new lamp and run a platter built-up show through on a dry run, chances are you will not get embarrassed by an incompetent projectionist or gremlins at a premiere. That (and my little story above) is how the Ziegfeld ended showing movies the way it does.
One upon a time there was a rare and lonely female projectionist at an imaginary Manhattan cinema with a bad back. She had trouble lifting the reels and demanded that the cinema install a platter so she could build the film up once and never ever have to pick up a reel again.
The boys at home office cried “poppy cock”!. The boys at the Union said “nonsence and stuff!”.
The rare and lonely female projectionist went to her lawyer and made sure that “reel to reel” was banished from the land forever and that the bad boys never again made it impossible to earn a living as long as technology was available and disability laws were there to protect her job.
The Waverly closed for twinning in mid September 1981 after HEAVY METAL and re-opened on October 30, 1981 with BODY HEAT and MOMMIE DEAREST plus a weekend midnight show of ERASERHEAD plus ASPARAGUS.
I would be Trainspotting if I didn’t have a job.
Ed, they had the 34th St East and, of course, the Baronet.
Ed, I show the Criterion was closed for about three weeks between the two runs.
Ed, I show the Criterion was closed for about three weeks between the two runs.
Louis, Wometco was careful to only screen soft porn at the Boulevard Drive-In and Town (downtown) as their company charter did not allow any other. The films the Boulevard Drive-In showed in its last days would be rated R today and in some cases PG. They often promised more than they delivered. (Think Russ Meyer and nudist camp nudies). The theatres attracted straight couples, not lone males as XXX did.
The Boulevard screen faced the Interama swamp land so exposure to Biscayne Boulevard was not a problem. Other drive-ins had to install special screens where the inage faded with distance so as not to cause accidents on the expressways.
The handi-wipe, alas, was not urban legend. I remember how funny we thought it was when we got one, for the buttered popcorn, I presume.
The Paramount I remember had a huge screen and no columns in the auditorium so if that photo above is the same theatre it must have been extensively remodelled by the sixties.
Hmmm. Hello, Tom.
You have a good heart.
Considering TALLADEGA NIGHTS is one of the biggest hits of the year I am sure Pacific is not even considering resorting to “classics” yet. I wish the Ziegfeld did not have to resort to bringing back TRON, but bless them for trying something.