I just read some of the Star Wars stuff up above, I saw the original Star Wars in 70mm at the Chinese way back when and thought I’d get someone else’s memory going! I seem to recall that they were running a 70mm copy of “Duck Dodgers” (remember that great Daffy Duck Cartoon!) along with the film, and someone told me that it was a request of George Lucas. I also remember Star Wars as having been one of the first films to use the full 20th Century Fox “CinemaScope Fanfare” in years, it was really a knock-out in 70MM Dolby!!! The Chinese is another one of those wonderful theatres where even a “crappy” movie some how looks and sounds great! Not living in or near LA I have only seen a few films there, but seeing Star Wars there was outstanding, unfortunately, when I got home I had to run the film in 35MM mono, we did get Dolby several weeks into the run but no 70mm.
My first experience with RCMH was back in the early or mid 60’s, whenever “Come Blow Your Horn” played there! My parents took a trip to NY City and took me along, saw all the regular tourist attractions but my fondest memory was that night at the Music Hall, it also began my life-long love affair with pipe organs. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I ever heard a theatre organ, (I was about 11 or 12) and in the years that followed I made it a point to always visit the Hall when I was in town. Over the years I met several of the staff organists, Ashley Miller & Jack Ward, who were kind enough to give me a personal tour of some of the pipe chambers and also gave me a short personal “concert” and best yet, LET ME PLAY THE THING! Unfortunately, these days, the organ isn’t heard all that often, at least in a concert setting, my understanding is that the cost to use the hall for an organ concert rivals the cost of a NASA space launch. That’s really too bad, it’s a wonderful treasure as part of a great historic theatre, maybe one day the hall management will figure that out.
I grew up in Racine and spent many happy hours in this theatre and also the Rialto, which was just several doors down the street, both were right across the street from Monument Square. At the end, Marcus Theatres ran this house for a number of years, and then some private operators tried to run it but wound up running X rated junk. Both the Venetian and Rialto were done in by the declining downtown area and like alot of other single screens, the newer suburban multi’s. Racine’s downtown has made a great comeback, the Venetian would have made a great centerpiece, too bad someone didn’t think about that before they tore it down! It really was a beautiful theatre, on a par with the best “big city” houses, I picked up a brick from the theatre during the demolition, a sad reminder of a long gone era.
Someone mentioned the vertical sign not beint lit, sorry, can’t just flip a switch! As much as it would be wonderful to light it up, the electrical system is long gone. It used to have bulbs and chasers all the way around it but they were removed many “moons ago”. There was an estimate made once upon a time to relamp the sign (I was a projectionist there years ago) and as I recall the cost was unbelievable!! Having worked in the building for awhile, I’m amazed it’s still open, there are no such things as “little problems” in an old building like this! And the “fixes” arn’t cheap either! For what it’s worth, the Kimball pipe organ that used to be here was removed by Marty Dohm years ago, he installed it in his home in the Madison area. After Marty sold his home the organ went into storage where he managed to keep it “sort of playable”, the organ is now installed in the Weill Center up in Sheboygan, WI where it sounds great! If you are a theatre organ buff, I highly recommend checking it out!
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that someone has this theatre in the Marcus chain, the current “Southgate” theatre is part of the Marcus chain, but the original single screen was a United Artist “UA” theatre, as was the Mayfair and originally the Ruby Isle as well. U.A. usually took pretty good care of this house and tried it’s best to keep it booked with good film, but alas, like virtually every other single screen house, the suburban multi’s killed it, including some of U.A.’s own newer cinemas.
This house had a deep Cinerama curved screen, never had 3 strip, only 70mm. The design was similar to several other now gone Milwaukee theatres, the Mayfair, Ruby Isle and also the Madison WI Hilldale. Southgate ran numerous 70mm films and would run old “chestnuts” from time to time like 2001 and other similar films. It was equipped with Century JJII 35/70 projectors with Ashcraft Cinex Special carbon arc lamps and a Ampex 6 channel sound system. There were some differences in the various theatres, Southgate had a balcony with the booth above it, Mayfair had a balcony with the booth on the main floor, (Mayfair had 70mm as well with Norelco AAll’s), Ruby Isle was set up the same way as Mayfair but no 70mm, and the Madison Hilldale (which is still open, but not for long) has no balcony and no 70mm. I worked as a relief projectionist at Southgate from time to time, a nice booth to work in!
This is not really Avalon related, but Jim Rankin mentions the pipe organ in the Weill Center in Sheboygan, for what it’s worth, the organ is a Kimball that was originally installed in the Madison, WI Orpheum Theatre. Marty Dohm removed the organ many years ago and for a long time it was in his home in the Madison area. He then had it in storage after he sold his home, but sort of playable while in storage, it then made it’s way up to Sheboygan. Just thought you’d like to know, it sounds great in it’s new location too!
Gee whiz guys! When I said it was all about the money I wasn’t trying to imply that money was the only issue, it was an oversimplification. My point was, the modern economics of theatre operation do not allow for roadshow type presentations in this day and age, and the cost of making 70mm prints combined with booth equipment costs simply discourage the use of 70mm prints. This is unfortunate, the studios do not want to spend the dollars to make 70’s and the theatre owners do not want to spend the money on the equipment because there are no prints to run, kind of a nasty circle don’t you think? I do not have a solution, unless the theatre owners insist on making 70’s available the studios won’t make them, plain and simple problem. And yes I would agree that RCMH does herd people in like cattle, it’s a 6000 seat theatre for crying out loud! How else would they deal with it?
The Egyptian out in LA runs 70mm festivals from time to time, seems the Ziegfeld would be a wonderful venue for such a festival, judging from some of the postings, I’m not the only one that feels that way.
Whenever I visited New York, I always went to see a film here, the Ziegfeld even managed to make “crappy” movies look good, now, if I read some of the recent postings correctly, they manage to make good movies look “crappy”! Showmanship is rare these days, if there is a projectionist in the booth(s) he/she is likely running anywhere from 12 to 30 screens, having been there and done that, it’s almost impossible to keep an eagle eye on everything, it’s thread and start all day. And most of these theatres have managers or high school kids running the film. Even the union projectionists (I was one) that are working today probably have never done a manual start or close-in, have never done a changeover and wouldn’t know what a carbon arc lamp was if they tripped over it! I wish we could have some theatres that still did it the way we used to, but it ain’t gonna happen. It’s all about money, which is exactly why there are no 70mm releases anymore, they herd the masses in like cattle, subject them to minutes of on-screen ads and put on a lousy presentation and call it a day! As long as people are willing to put up with this abuse, it won’t change, and if the Ziegfeld has lowered itself to this level, the purists like me and you are in alot of trouble!
After I posted the above info, I started thinking about what I put in it and I’m not postive that the Towne had a curved screen, it may have been a flat one, too many years have passed!! If anyone else remembers please feel free to enlighten us! Most of the garbage I ran there wouldn’t have been made to look any better on a curved one anyway! The management had the booth run the arcs at the lowest amps that we could to save carbon, which caused an annoying flicker on the screen. Showmanship? Who cares!
I worked as a projectionist at the Towne for a short while, when 70mm was added they put a new booth on the mezzanine level, some of us referred to it as “the submarine booth” because after you got up there you had to go down some narrow stairs into the sunken booth! Although I never ran 70mm there, it did have Century JJ2’s with Strong carbon arcs, I saw Patton there in 70mm, no D150, just a regular curved screen. When I was there we were running 2nd run films only, and bad ones at that! Nice house in it’s day.
As a union projectionist I managed to weasel my way into the booth when it was a single screen. It had a pair of Cinemeccanica V8 35/70’s with Orcon Xenon Lamps, no automation. I saw Fiddler, Entertainment Pt1 & Return of A Man Called Horse all in 70mm. Horse was a terrible film, but in 70mm at this house even it had a WOW factor. The theatre had stadium seating way before that became a trendy idea. The sound system was outstanding, very crisp & clear, even bad movies sounded good! It was a crime when they tri-plexed it.
Back in the early 70’s, I was on loan from IATSE Local 251 in Madison to Local 164 in Milwaukee and worked at the Strand. It was equipped with a pair of Norelco AA11’s with Strong Carbon Arcs. By the time I got there it was pretty run down, running mostly junk film, we did run The Sound of Music in 70mm during one holiday season, a new print too! In it’s heyday it was THE roadshow house in Milwaukee, the 1st 70mm was Oklahoma and it ran virtually all the big ones after that. I saw Music there as a kid, fond memories indeed!
I just read some of the Star Wars stuff up above, I saw the original Star Wars in 70mm at the Chinese way back when and thought I’d get someone else’s memory going! I seem to recall that they were running a 70mm copy of “Duck Dodgers” (remember that great Daffy Duck Cartoon!) along with the film, and someone told me that it was a request of George Lucas. I also remember Star Wars as having been one of the first films to use the full 20th Century Fox “CinemaScope Fanfare” in years, it was really a knock-out in 70MM Dolby!!! The Chinese is another one of those wonderful theatres where even a “crappy” movie some how looks and sounds great! Not living in or near LA I have only seen a few films there, but seeing Star Wars there was outstanding, unfortunately, when I got home I had to run the film in 35MM mono, we did get Dolby several weeks into the run but no 70mm.
My first experience with RCMH was back in the early or mid 60’s, whenever “Come Blow Your Horn” played there! My parents took a trip to NY City and took me along, saw all the regular tourist attractions but my fondest memory was that night at the Music Hall, it also began my life-long love affair with pipe organs. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I ever heard a theatre organ, (I was about 11 or 12) and in the years that followed I made it a point to always visit the Hall when I was in town. Over the years I met several of the staff organists, Ashley Miller & Jack Ward, who were kind enough to give me a personal tour of some of the pipe chambers and also gave me a short personal “concert” and best yet, LET ME PLAY THE THING! Unfortunately, these days, the organ isn’t heard all that often, at least in a concert setting, my understanding is that the cost to use the hall for an organ concert rivals the cost of a NASA space launch. That’s really too bad, it’s a wonderful treasure as part of a great historic theatre, maybe one day the hall management will figure that out.
I grew up in Racine and spent many happy hours in this theatre and also the Rialto, which was just several doors down the street, both were right across the street from Monument Square. At the end, Marcus Theatres ran this house for a number of years, and then some private operators tried to run it but wound up running X rated junk. Both the Venetian and Rialto were done in by the declining downtown area and like alot of other single screens, the newer suburban multi’s. Racine’s downtown has made a great comeback, the Venetian would have made a great centerpiece, too bad someone didn’t think about that before they tore it down! It really was a beautiful theatre, on a par with the best “big city” houses, I picked up a brick from the theatre during the demolition, a sad reminder of a long gone era.
Someone mentioned the vertical sign not beint lit, sorry, can’t just flip a switch! As much as it would be wonderful to light it up, the electrical system is long gone. It used to have bulbs and chasers all the way around it but they were removed many “moons ago”. There was an estimate made once upon a time to relamp the sign (I was a projectionist there years ago) and as I recall the cost was unbelievable!! Having worked in the building for awhile, I’m amazed it’s still open, there are no such things as “little problems” in an old building like this! And the “fixes” arn’t cheap either! For what it’s worth, the Kimball pipe organ that used to be here was removed by Marty Dohm years ago, he installed it in his home in the Madison area. After Marty sold his home the organ went into storage where he managed to keep it “sort of playable”, the organ is now installed in the Weill Center up in Sheboygan, WI where it sounds great! If you are a theatre organ buff, I highly recommend checking it out!
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that someone has this theatre in the Marcus chain, the current “Southgate” theatre is part of the Marcus chain, but the original single screen was a United Artist “UA” theatre, as was the Mayfair and originally the Ruby Isle as well. U.A. usually took pretty good care of this house and tried it’s best to keep it booked with good film, but alas, like virtually every other single screen house, the suburban multi’s killed it, including some of U.A.’s own newer cinemas.
This house had a deep Cinerama curved screen, never had 3 strip, only 70mm. The design was similar to several other now gone Milwaukee theatres, the Mayfair, Ruby Isle and also the Madison WI Hilldale. Southgate ran numerous 70mm films and would run old “chestnuts” from time to time like 2001 and other similar films. It was equipped with Century JJII 35/70 projectors with Ashcraft Cinex Special carbon arc lamps and a Ampex 6 channel sound system. There were some differences in the various theatres, Southgate had a balcony with the booth above it, Mayfair had a balcony with the booth on the main floor, (Mayfair had 70mm as well with Norelco AAll’s), Ruby Isle was set up the same way as Mayfair but no 70mm, and the Madison Hilldale (which is still open, but not for long) has no balcony and no 70mm. I worked as a relief projectionist at Southgate from time to time, a nice booth to work in!
This is not really Avalon related, but Jim Rankin mentions the pipe organ in the Weill Center in Sheboygan, for what it’s worth, the organ is a Kimball that was originally installed in the Madison, WI Orpheum Theatre. Marty Dohm removed the organ many years ago and for a long time it was in his home in the Madison area. He then had it in storage after he sold his home, but sort of playable while in storage, it then made it’s way up to Sheboygan. Just thought you’d like to know, it sounds great in it’s new location too!
Gee whiz guys! When I said it was all about the money I wasn’t trying to imply that money was the only issue, it was an oversimplification. My point was, the modern economics of theatre operation do not allow for roadshow type presentations in this day and age, and the cost of making 70mm prints combined with booth equipment costs simply discourage the use of 70mm prints. This is unfortunate, the studios do not want to spend the dollars to make 70’s and the theatre owners do not want to spend the money on the equipment because there are no prints to run, kind of a nasty circle don’t you think? I do not have a solution, unless the theatre owners insist on making 70’s available the studios won’t make them, plain and simple problem. And yes I would agree that RCMH does herd people in like cattle, it’s a 6000 seat theatre for crying out loud! How else would they deal with it?
The Egyptian out in LA runs 70mm festivals from time to time, seems the Ziegfeld would be a wonderful venue for such a festival, judging from some of the postings, I’m not the only one that feels that way.
Whenever I visited New York, I always went to see a film here, the Ziegfeld even managed to make “crappy” movies look good, now, if I read some of the recent postings correctly, they manage to make good movies look “crappy”! Showmanship is rare these days, if there is a projectionist in the booth(s) he/she is likely running anywhere from 12 to 30 screens, having been there and done that, it’s almost impossible to keep an eagle eye on everything, it’s thread and start all day. And most of these theatres have managers or high school kids running the film. Even the union projectionists (I was one) that are working today probably have never done a manual start or close-in, have never done a changeover and wouldn’t know what a carbon arc lamp was if they tripped over it! I wish we could have some theatres that still did it the way we used to, but it ain’t gonna happen. It’s all about money, which is exactly why there are no 70mm releases anymore, they herd the masses in like cattle, subject them to minutes of on-screen ads and put on a lousy presentation and call it a day! As long as people are willing to put up with this abuse, it won’t change, and if the Ziegfeld has lowered itself to this level, the purists like me and you are in alot of trouble!
After I posted the above info, I started thinking about what I put in it and I’m not postive that the Towne had a curved screen, it may have been a flat one, too many years have passed!! If anyone else remembers please feel free to enlighten us! Most of the garbage I ran there wouldn’t have been made to look any better on a curved one anyway! The management had the booth run the arcs at the lowest amps that we could to save carbon, which caused an annoying flicker on the screen. Showmanship? Who cares!
I worked as a projectionist at the Towne for a short while, when 70mm was added they put a new booth on the mezzanine level, some of us referred to it as “the submarine booth” because after you got up there you had to go down some narrow stairs into the sunken booth! Although I never ran 70mm there, it did have Century JJ2’s with Strong carbon arcs, I saw Patton there in 70mm, no D150, just a regular curved screen. When I was there we were running 2nd run films only, and bad ones at that! Nice house in it’s day.
As a union projectionist I managed to weasel my way into the booth when it was a single screen. It had a pair of Cinemeccanica V8 35/70’s with Orcon Xenon Lamps, no automation. I saw Fiddler, Entertainment Pt1 & Return of A Man Called Horse all in 70mm. Horse was a terrible film, but in 70mm at this house even it had a WOW factor. The theatre had stadium seating way before that became a trendy idea. The sound system was outstanding, very crisp & clear, even bad movies sounded good! It was a crime when they tri-plexed it.
Back in the early 70’s, I was on loan from IATSE Local 251 in Madison to Local 164 in Milwaukee and worked at the Strand. It was equipped with a pair of Norelco AA11’s with Strong Carbon Arcs. By the time I got there it was pretty run down, running mostly junk film, we did run The Sound of Music in 70mm during one holiday season, a new print too! In it’s heyday it was THE roadshow house in Milwaukee, the 1st 70mm was Oklahoma and it ran virtually all the big ones after that. I saw Music there as a kid, fond memories indeed!