Thanks Garth, I too pass by from time to time and have never seen anything going on. I wonder what the plans are for thr marquee which is in very bad shape.
MTota, that’s very sad news indeed, The same thing happened to the Paramount. When I saw the Paramount after years of neglect I was very depressed, I have worried the same fate might fall upon the Lane. Did you go up to the booth? if so what did you find there?
Actually someone did try to operate as a nightclub, I believe a stage was erected in front of the old screen. It was not successful and closed shortly and left to deteriate. I hope someone will come along and save her.
What a great post! I have wondered what the end result of the conversion was, it does not sound too bad. As you said, better than a retail space, at least it’s still an entertaimnment venue. Thanks again for keeping us posted.
I would have loved to have worked with/for Ben. Is he still around?
Regarding 70mm installations, while I was working in Hawaii
(1972-1982)I pleaded with management to make better use of the five 70mm theatres, They bauked about things like shipping costs of the large film cans to the islands, and did not want to pay the premium projectionist pay, many of them felt the audience does not know the difference. I was relentless however, and bugged the hell out of them. Finally when I was appointed chief projectionist, one of my jobs was to upgrade the projection booths in all of the theatres.
I got my hands on a 70mm reel of “Fame” and invited the bosses to the Cinerama for a demonstration of what I had planned for the theatres. I did not tell them they were going to see a 70mm film. When it was over, the CEO said it was the best thing he had seen and heard in quite a while, “are all the theatres going to look and sound like that” he asked, yes I said, as soon as you begin importing more 70mm prints. I had convinced them, and 70mm prints finally began arriving, at one point in early 1980s we had three prints playing at the same time. We had started installing Dolby in just about all the theatres by the time I left, we did not have Dolby in time for “E.T.”, however Universal struck a 70mm six track mag print without the Dolby encode just for us to play at the Waikiki #1. As for some of the management guys, like they say in the South Pacific song, “They have to be taught”.
I'mmmmmmmmmmmm going to let Rob Endres field that one.
I will say that management respected and trusted experts like Ben to guide them in matters pertaining to projection. How was that Rob,
am I a diplomat or what. I should have been a business agent.
Rob, I will be scraching my head over this one for a while. I remember being told in the early 70s, by other 306 operators, that RCMH had converted to xenon, obviously that was not the case. I also remember NO ONE challenged Ben. I can’t believe they tried that crazy half frame projection, I remember Universal trying to save costs on raw stock by reducing a six reel movie to three reels, talk about disturbing the booth operation. Let’s see, if the reel is heads up you have reel one and when it’s tails it’s reel 3. Yeah… what could possibly go wrong there? Thank God that died a quick death, I have a six inch sample to show my grand children. By the way were you aware that when the operators struck two new carbons you could hear, in the third mezz, the neg and pos carbons kissing in the 180 amp lamps? What a sweet sound that was. Thanks for all the technical info, I love to continue to learn. As for the 7,000 watt xenons I’ll look forward to seeing that, but I would not want to be in the booth if one of those explodes. The audience members will think the operator shot himself. For those of you who are unaware, sometimes a xenon bulb explodes inside the lamphouse, there is no danger to anyone but it makes a terrific bang.
Ok Rob, I am sure you are right, however I left for Hawaii in 1972 and did not return to NY until 1982. I could have sworn I saw xenon projection at RCMH prior to 1972, I remember thinking the light was dull by comparison to the carbon arc, although the focus had improved. This is an eye opener for me and it has left me a bit confused. Oh, and thanks Vincent for bringing this whole thing up, just another reminder of my old mind turning to mush, lol.
Vincent I will ask my friend Rob Endres to verify this, but I believe it was with the Easter 1970 showing of “Airport”, when RCMH installed the three 35/70 projectors. That would have been projectors #2-#3-#4. Perhaps Rob can tell us if the other two straight 35mm projectors, #1 and #5 get converted to xenon at the same time.
As for your comment about Becky, “you got that right”
Yes warren, it was in fact the first film to be shot in the three strip Techniclor process. Audiences, having only experienced two strip color,were blown away by the spectacular life like images.
In my humble opinion, with all of the advancements in color photography we have today, nothing compares to the splender of
three strip Techniclor print projected with a carbon arc lamp.
I remember when RCMH converted to Xenon lamps, the result in my opinion was dramatic, and not in a good way. Carbon arc is gone as is three strip, Progress? I say Humbug!
How well I remember those wonderful theatres, during the 50s I worked for 20th Century Fox on 50th, or was it 52nd, and 10th. When weather permitted I would get off the subway at 42nd st and walk to work from there. Sometimes I walked along 42nd down to 8th ave and looked at all those great times square theatre marquees. Other times I would take B'way or 7th, passing theatre after theatre. I can’t stand looking at it now.
That was a tough time, we had to increase security to handle crowd control which had gotten out of control, there were so many people that the lobby had filled up, so we formed additional holding areas outside the front doors. When we opened the doors the people stormed in breaking a few doors and windows. The next night we had police dogs in the lobby and added additional screens to handle the crowd. The Godfather shooting was caused by someone cutting in line at the concession stand, Imagine that? I am not sure how business there is now, although from what I understand it is still a popular theatre.
I haven’t been involved in the Long Island theatres since 1987
Any news about “The Producers” opening in December? Can’t think of any other theatre, except RCMH, that I would like to see it play.
I saw a rough cut at a test screening two weeks ago, let me tell you it is going to be HUGE. The audience reaction was tremendous, I have not seen an audience go so wild over a movie in a very long time.
Good question Vincent, just what the heck is going on with that theatre? What they are doing has to have a reason or a plan of some kind. Clearly they aren’t that stupid as to run the theatre the way they do. It’s really irritating.
I worked as a projectionist at Sunrise Feb 1984 thru Nov 1987. As Ed posted it was a very busy theatre then. We were mentioned in the trade magazine Boxoffice as the busiest theatre in the country. Some films were so popular, on weekends we would interlock (project the same print on two or more screens at the same time) on three screens for a total seating capacity of 1900 seats per show. Back then, five of the twelve auditoriums had 700 seats each. We expanded to fourteen screens while I was there. Three of the auditoriums have 70mm capability and during the 80s we often had two or three 70mm prints running. It was great reading the above posts, It was a great experience working there.
Bill, I can relate to your feelings about projection quality, it has been a passion of mine for over 50 years. I have had my share of battles with exibitors who showed little or no interest in what the picture on the screen looked like, I remember telling one theatre owner to get out of the business. I too was a crank, a trouble making pain in the butt to any one who dared not to take the fine art of projection seriously. I must tell you it warms my heart to know there were folks like you out there appreciating the kind of film presentation I took so much pride in. sometimes my complaints to theatre owners were ignorned with a comment like “don’t worry about it,no one will notice” Well, they were wrong, you noticed.
Now the whole thing is beginning to make more sense. I recall the MiracleMirror screens quite well but they were not necessary in very many theatres, I did not realise Vincent and Bill were writing about screens with horizontal seams, I was refering to the horizontal louvered screens which is what we used in Cinerama, forgive an old man. As for the panels in the screens, which we still have today, I would agree with REndres in that they are not very noticable. I should mention that in many of the theatres running digital projection, we are being encouraged to install seamless screens.
Bill, all through the 50s during the wide screen era, in the many theatres I have worked, I never saw what you have described, and I worked in some theatres with some rather large screens. I would love to hear from others out there on this subject, I am fasinated by what you have written. By the way, your not a crank, it has been a pleasure sharing information and stories with you.
Vincent, I am sure REndres will comment here, but the strips you described were never installed in any theatre other than for Cinerama. They were guided louvers each angled to the audience and the projector. It was designed that way to reduce cross reflection to a minimum. Does anyone know of any purpose for louvered screens other than Cinerama?
Brian, that only helps if you have visited the theatre page in the past. I often find new theatres of interest to me or locations I had forgoten about thru Recent Comments. All I am saying is, it was a great tool by which one could naviate the site and hope it returns.
However, if it has the potential of disrupting the site we will of course make do.
Ross and Patrick, how nice to see how popular the site has become. I believe I speak for all of us when I say how much pleasure the site brings to us every day. It is not only entertaining and informative, but many of us have made friends, we have become a Cinema Treasures family if you will. I would agree with Warren about the loss of Recent Comments, it’s a tool I like to use to find posts in my favorite locations as well as discovering new ones, I look forward to having it back.
Robert, the Lane served as a nightclub in the late 90’s. Perhaps someone remembers when the last movies were shown.
Thanks Garth, I too pass by from time to time and have never seen anything going on. I wonder what the plans are for thr marquee which is in very bad shape.
Anyone know what is going on there now? last I heard the interior had been gutted.
MTota, that’s very sad news indeed, The same thing happened to the Paramount. When I saw the Paramount after years of neglect I was very depressed, I have worried the same fate might fall upon the Lane. Did you go up to the booth? if so what did you find there?
Actually someone did try to operate as a nightclub, I believe a stage was erected in front of the old screen. It was not successful and closed shortly and left to deteriate. I hope someone will come along and save her.
What a great post! I have wondered what the end result of the conversion was, it does not sound too bad. As you said, better than a retail space, at least it’s still an entertaimnment venue. Thanks again for keeping us posted.
I would have loved to have worked with/for Ben. Is he still around?
Regarding 70mm installations, while I was working in Hawaii
(1972-1982)I pleaded with management to make better use of the five 70mm theatres, They bauked about things like shipping costs of the large film cans to the islands, and did not want to pay the premium projectionist pay, many of them felt the audience does not know the difference. I was relentless however, and bugged the hell out of them. Finally when I was appointed chief projectionist, one of my jobs was to upgrade the projection booths in all of the theatres.
I got my hands on a 70mm reel of “Fame” and invited the bosses to the Cinerama for a demonstration of what I had planned for the theatres. I did not tell them they were going to see a 70mm film. When it was over, the CEO said it was the best thing he had seen and heard in quite a while, “are all the theatres going to look and sound like that” he asked, yes I said, as soon as you begin importing more 70mm prints. I had convinced them, and 70mm prints finally began arriving, at one point in early 1980s we had three prints playing at the same time. We had started installing Dolby in just about all the theatres by the time I left, we did not have Dolby in time for “E.T.”, however Universal struck a 70mm six track mag print without the Dolby encode just for us to play at the Waikiki #1. As for some of the management guys, like they say in the South Pacific song, “They have to be taught”.
I'mmmmmmmmmmmm going to let Rob Endres field that one.
I will say that management respected and trusted experts like Ben to guide them in matters pertaining to projection. How was that Rob,
am I a diplomat or what. I should have been a business agent.
Rob, I will be scraching my head over this one for a while. I remember being told in the early 70s, by other 306 operators, that RCMH had converted to xenon, obviously that was not the case. I also remember NO ONE challenged Ben. I can’t believe they tried that crazy half frame projection, I remember Universal trying to save costs on raw stock by reducing a six reel movie to three reels, talk about disturbing the booth operation. Let’s see, if the reel is heads up you have reel one and when it’s tails it’s reel 3. Yeah… what could possibly go wrong there? Thank God that died a quick death, I have a six inch sample to show my grand children. By the way were you aware that when the operators struck two new carbons you could hear, in the third mezz, the neg and pos carbons kissing in the 180 amp lamps? What a sweet sound that was. Thanks for all the technical info, I love to continue to learn. As for the 7,000 watt xenons I’ll look forward to seeing that, but I would not want to be in the booth if one of those explodes. The audience members will think the operator shot himself. For those of you who are unaware, sometimes a xenon bulb explodes inside the lamphouse, there is no danger to anyone but it makes a terrific bang.
Ok Rob, I am sure you are right, however I left for Hawaii in 1972 and did not return to NY until 1982. I could have sworn I saw xenon projection at RCMH prior to 1972, I remember thinking the light was dull by comparison to the carbon arc, although the focus had improved. This is an eye opener for me and it has left me a bit confused. Oh, and thanks Vincent for bringing this whole thing up, just another reminder of my old mind turning to mush, lol.
Vincent I will ask my friend Rob Endres to verify this, but I believe it was with the Easter 1970 showing of “Airport”, when RCMH installed the three 35/70 projectors. That would have been projectors #2-#3-#4. Perhaps Rob can tell us if the other two straight 35mm projectors, #1 and #5 get converted to xenon at the same time.
As for your comment about Becky, “you got that right”
Yes warren, it was in fact the first film to be shot in the three strip Techniclor process. Audiences, having only experienced two strip color,were blown away by the spectacular life like images.
In my humble opinion, with all of the advancements in color photography we have today, nothing compares to the splender of
three strip Techniclor print projected with a carbon arc lamp.
I remember when RCMH converted to Xenon lamps, the result in my opinion was dramatic, and not in a good way. Carbon arc is gone as is three strip, Progress? I say Humbug!
Ah Warren, the Andrews Sisters at the Roxy, now that was “Apple Blossom Time”
How well I remember those wonderful theatres, during the 50s I worked for 20th Century Fox on 50th, or was it 52nd, and 10th. When weather permitted I would get off the subway at 42nd st and walk to work from there. Sometimes I walked along 42nd down to 8th ave and looked at all those great times square theatre marquees. Other times I would take B'way or 7th, passing theatre after theatre. I can’t stand looking at it now.
That was a tough time, we had to increase security to handle crowd control which had gotten out of control, there were so many people that the lobby had filled up, so we formed additional holding areas outside the front doors. When we opened the doors the people stormed in breaking a few doors and windows. The next night we had police dogs in the lobby and added additional screens to handle the crowd. The Godfather shooting was caused by someone cutting in line at the concession stand, Imagine that? I am not sure how business there is now, although from what I understand it is still a popular theatre.
I haven’t been involved in the Long Island theatres since 1987
Any news about “The Producers” opening in December? Can’t think of any other theatre, except RCMH, that I would like to see it play.
I saw a rough cut at a test screening two weeks ago, let me tell you it is going to be HUGE. The audience reaction was tremendous, I have not seen an audience go so wild over a movie in a very long time.
It’s closed at the moment. They have at least for now put it out of it’s misery
Good question Vincent, just what the heck is going on with that theatre? What they are doing has to have a reason or a plan of some kind. Clearly they aren’t that stupid as to run the theatre the way they do. It’s really irritating.
I worked as a projectionist at Sunrise Feb 1984 thru Nov 1987. As Ed posted it was a very busy theatre then. We were mentioned in the trade magazine Boxoffice as the busiest theatre in the country. Some films were so popular, on weekends we would interlock (project the same print on two or more screens at the same time) on three screens for a total seating capacity of 1900 seats per show. Back then, five of the twelve auditoriums had 700 seats each. We expanded to fourteen screens while I was there. Three of the auditoriums have 70mm capability and during the 80s we often had two or three 70mm prints running. It was great reading the above posts, It was a great experience working there.
Bill, I can relate to your feelings about projection quality, it has been a passion of mine for over 50 years. I have had my share of battles with exibitors who showed little or no interest in what the picture on the screen looked like, I remember telling one theatre owner to get out of the business. I too was a crank, a trouble making pain in the butt to any one who dared not to take the fine art of projection seriously. I must tell you it warms my heart to know there were folks like you out there appreciating the kind of film presentation I took so much pride in. sometimes my complaints to theatre owners were ignorned with a comment like “don’t worry about it,no one will notice” Well, they were wrong, you noticed.
Now the whole thing is beginning to make more sense. I recall the MiracleMirror screens quite well but they were not necessary in very many theatres, I did not realise Vincent and Bill were writing about screens with horizontal seams, I was refering to the horizontal louvered screens which is what we used in Cinerama, forgive an old man. As for the panels in the screens, which we still have today, I would agree with REndres in that they are not very noticable. I should mention that in many of the theatres running digital projection, we are being encouraged to install seamless screens.
Bill, all through the 50s during the wide screen era, in the many theatres I have worked, I never saw what you have described, and I worked in some theatres with some rather large screens. I would love to hear from others out there on this subject, I am fasinated by what you have written. By the way, your not a crank, it has been a pleasure sharing information and stories with you.
Vincent, I am sure REndres will comment here, but the strips you described were never installed in any theatre other than for Cinerama. They were guided louvers each angled to the audience and the projector. It was designed that way to reduce cross reflection to a minimum. Does anyone know of any purpose for louvered screens other than Cinerama?
The Recent Comments link hads returned. My thanks to Ross and Patrick for working things out. Thanks guys!
Brian, that only helps if you have visited the theatre page in the past. I often find new theatres of interest to me or locations I had forgoten about thru Recent Comments. All I am saying is, it was a great tool by which one could naviate the site and hope it returns.
However, if it has the potential of disrupting the site we will of course make do.
Ross and Patrick, how nice to see how popular the site has become. I believe I speak for all of us when I say how much pleasure the site brings to us every day. It is not only entertaining and informative, but many of us have made friends, we have become a Cinema Treasures family if you will. I would agree with Warren about the loss of Recent Comments, it’s a tool I like to use to find posts in my favorite locations as well as discovering new ones, I look forward to having it back.