Edward Havens: which Cineplex did you work at? I had the dubious honor of doing much of the training of managers and assistant managers at the Marina, under the direcion of then District Manager Larry Oya, and Local 150 IATSE Business Manager Ralph Kemp. The 1992 contract between Cineplex and Local 150 was essentially a “phase out” contract: we got 5 years of security in exchange for losing about half of our union operator jobs, including Meredith Rhule’s at the Marina.
@Coate: sorry, I was agreeing with you and confirming according to the best of my recollection…thought you might like concurrance from someone who was actually there for the entire run.
The Picwood ran “E.T.” on a limited release after it left its exclusive engagement at The Cinerama Dome. We ran it until we opened “The Dark Crystal”. IMDB tells us the it opened on December 17, 1982. Anyone any good at math? If the dates are correct, Picwood ran “E.T.” for 22 weeks.
Does anyone remember the lines for The Empire Strikes Back when it opened at the Egyptian Memorial Day weekend, 1980? I seem to remember the LA Times reporting something close to 30,000 tickets being sold before the first show started on Wednesday night at midnight.
@William: were you there for the 70mm presentation of Star Trek VI this last summer? I was there on a vacation trip to LA. Are you still working as an operator?
@ChasSmith: if you were there in the first month I probably ran the show. The other projectionist was let go the day before it opened so I was working 14 hour days. Hope it was a good one.
William (aka Bill). That is correct. The booth was pretty much a mess when I got there. The first feature I ran there was Wolfen in 70mm Dolby. I was there until summer 1985. Clark stayed until the theater closed. I went over to Cineplex Brentwood Twin just a few months before the Pic was raised.
My father was one of the projectionists at this theater from the early 1960’s until it closed. I grew up in this theater, literally. It was also where I served most of my apprenticeship as a projectionist, as well as working on the floor as an usher. The first movie I remember seeing there was “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying machines”, the theaters first 70mm presentation after it was remodeled. Before it was owned by Loew’s, it was owned by a small LA circuit called Steinway ( I believe), who purchased the theater from Fox West Coast. Loew’s sold the theater to General Cinema. Notable pictures that were first run, “hard ticket” at the Bev were “Oliver”, “The Bible…in the beginning” and “Young Winston” along with Magnificent Men. it was also the site of the premiere of “That’s Entertainment”.
@Matt Spero: I was the regulat projectionist at the Pan for about two years before it went non-union. The shock you received was because the rectifiers they installed to replace the generator shared the same ground…whenever one or both rectifiers were on, you got shocked unless you opened the old table switch and broke the circuit. I have no photos of the interior, but I do have some old polaroids of the booth after it was automated.
@MarcS: we played The Dark Crystal right after “E.T.”. Both were 70mm Dolby presentations and we went back to 35mm for almost a year after Crystal closed. The only gospel film we ran was “Gospel”, which ran for about 2 months. Tom Campion was the manager at the time and Clark W and I ran the booth.
@William: you are a long way from home my friend. do you wish to exchange e-mail addresses?
Edward Havens: which Cineplex did you work at? I had the dubious honor of doing much of the training of managers and assistant managers at the Marina, under the direcion of then District Manager Larry Oya, and Local 150 IATSE Business Manager Ralph Kemp. The 1992 contract between Cineplex and Local 150 was essentially a “phase out” contract: we got 5 years of security in exchange for losing about half of our union operator jobs, including Meredith Rhule’s at the Marina.
@Coate: sorry, I was agreeing with you and confirming according to the best of my recollection…thought you might like concurrance from someone who was actually there for the entire run.
The Picwood ran “E.T.” on a limited release after it left its exclusive engagement at The Cinerama Dome. We ran it until we opened “The Dark Crystal”. IMDB tells us the it opened on December 17, 1982. Anyone any good at math? If the dates are correct, Picwood ran “E.T.” for 22 weeks.
sweet…that’s great to hear from someone after all these years
Does anyone remember the lines for The Empire Strikes Back when it opened at the Egyptian Memorial Day weekend, 1980? I seem to remember the LA Times reporting something close to 30,000 tickets being sold before the first show started on Wednesday night at midnight.
@William: were you there for the 70mm presentation of Star Trek VI this last summer? I was there on a vacation trip to LA. Are you still working as an operator?
@ChasSmith: if you were there in the first month I probably ran the show. The other projectionist was let go the day before it opened so I was working 14 hour days. Hope it was a good one.
William (aka Bill). That is correct. The booth was pretty much a mess when I got there. The first feature I ran there was Wolfen in 70mm Dolby. I was there until summer 1985. Clark stayed until the theater closed. I went over to Cineplex Brentwood Twin just a few months before the Pic was raised.
Thank you…
It’s very probable that he worked with Rubin also. He was the swing man for many years before taking the full time job after Heber went to the Avco.
Statewide sounds right. It was the Stein family. No, he worked with Heber Amstutz.
@William: The Paramount Hollywood was also equipped with Sidewinders for VistaVision (per Morry Lauterman, who ran the theater at the time).
My father was one of the projectionists at this theater from the early 1960’s until it closed. I grew up in this theater, literally. It was also where I served most of my apprenticeship as a projectionist, as well as working on the floor as an usher. The first movie I remember seeing there was “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying machines”, the theaters first 70mm presentation after it was remodeled. Before it was owned by Loew’s, it was owned by a small LA circuit called Steinway ( I believe), who purchased the theater from Fox West Coast. Loew’s sold the theater to General Cinema. Notable pictures that were first run, “hard ticket” at the Bev were “Oliver”, “The Bible…in the beginning” and “Young Winston” along with Magnificent Men. it was also the site of the premiere of “That’s Entertainment”.
@Matt Spero: I was the regulat projectionist at the Pan for about two years before it went non-union. The shock you received was because the rectifiers they installed to replace the generator shared the same ground…whenever one or both rectifiers were on, you got shocked unless you opened the old table switch and broke the circuit. I have no photos of the interior, but I do have some old polaroids of the booth after it was automated.
@MarcS: we played The Dark Crystal right after “E.T.”. Both were 70mm Dolby presentations and we went back to 35mm for almost a year after Crystal closed. The only gospel film we ran was “Gospel”, which ran for about 2 months. Tom Campion was the manager at the time and Clark W and I ran the booth.