Dayton Mall Cinemas

southernlandthief on August 6, 2006 at 8:24 pm

Memories of Dayton Mall Cinema I…

In 1978, Chakeres installed a state-of-the-art sound system, which cost them a small fortune, to prepare for the Friday arrival of the much anticipated “The Last Waltz”. On opening night, they were staffed with six concession personnel (imagine how crowded it was behind that small counter!) ready to make popcorn and serve cold drinks. Four doormen were ready to seat patrons in the 1048 seats (the projectionist, John Harvey, had taken out two seats and relocated them to the booth).
Only 12 people showed up for the 7:30 pm show.

In 1979, John Harvey invited myself and a friend to help put a 70mm film together at 1:00am. When we were done, we felt it necesaary to view our work, and since none of us knew what the film was about, it seemed like the right thing to do. The splicing complete, we started the movie at 3:00. Having improved the sound system the year before for the film mentioned earlier, the sound coming from that 70mm print was phenomenal.
For the first fifty minutes, we thought Chakeres had another stinker on their hands. But the atmosphere soon changed and by the end of the movie, we were all scared beyond belief and actually glad the darned thing was over. They may not be able to hear you scream in space, but I bet there were night watchmen in the Mall that heard us in that theater.
The movie was “Alien” and thanks to that particular viewing experience, it is still one of the most frightening films of all
time.

In 1980, the theater was slated to show “The Empire Strikes Back”. The contract to show the film was stiff – no box office receipts until the fifth week! At that point it went to a 90/10 split. So money had to be made at the concession stand. The contract also stated we had to start on Friday, May 23rd but not exactly when. So a special screening was arranged for 12:01am, Friday May 23rd to gain revenue. The only advertising for this special event was a hand written banner over the 40"x60" poster in the showcase placed two weeks prior.
By 11:55pm, volunteers were called on to seat the 955 patrons that showed up that night. They actually sold some popcorn too…