Hi everyone. I will chime in here with a few corrections and answer any questions I can.
The projectionist team in the 90’s was Ron Beardmore, Jim Green and myself. Ron and I did all of the tech work and sound tuning ourselves. We also did a LOT of upgrades to the original sound system.
The shadowbox was painted with a flat black paint. There was no felt. There was also no masking for 1.85 “flat†films, but Northpark was generally booked with “event†movies and the majority of them were scope.
For the record, we ran Raiders a couple of years prior for a midnight show.
The final day of operation to the public was October 21, 1998. The movies shown were A Night at the Roxbury in Cinema II and Simon Birch in Cinema I. I was the projectionist that night.
Ron was the gentlemen who gave tours behind the screen that final night of the “private invite only†double features. I was busy disassembling the prints in the booth at that time.
Ron has since moved on to working with film archives and gave up on exhibition once the Northpark was closed. Jim got out of the business altogether and sadly I have not seen him since. I continued in the industry, formed Film-Tech in 1999 and continue to provide technical services to this day along with my crew.
The initial sound system design was by Tomlinson Holman. It was one of the only three he installed himself. As I stated above, Ron and I gave the system lots of upgrades from there. We also re-calibrated the sound system for each movie…literally every single one. That was our policy and is largely why this theater was so well known for its sound system.
The stage speakers, Dolby processor and THX crossover system from the Northpark Cinema I sound system ended up going into my private screening room in my Rockwall house. There are pictures of it on www.film-tech.com listed as Film-Tech Screening Room, and there are also pictures of the GCC Northpark on the site, including the projection booth. I have since moved from the Rockwall house, but the speakers, Dolby processor and THX crossover system are very much intact for a future buyer of that house (although it will most likely be converted to a blu-ray screening room by a future owner).
On the morning of October 22, 1998 we ran an advance screening of Meet Joe Black for the movie studio, which was for film buyers only. I am pretty sure it was Jim that ran that show, but it might have been Ron.
Later that night, the day after we closed to the public, we did indeed run a private double feature of Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark to the staff and close friends. I was the projectionist that night as well. Everyone at the Northpark couldn’t bear to have the final memory as Simon Birch / Roxbury, so we unanimously decided to delay the tear-down of the equipment one day so we could all have that one last final memory and went out with a bang. Words cannot describe how difficult it was for me to shut that douser for the last time though. I don’t recall seeing anyone get up when the credits started and I would guess it was also about 10 minutes before anyone finally got up out of their seat once the credits were over. Everyone just sat there in silence knowing that was it, forever.
On March 7, 2001 the demolition began on Cinema II. On March 9th, Cinema I was knocked to the ground.
Hi everyone. I will chime in here with a few corrections and answer any questions I can.
The projectionist team in the 90’s was Ron Beardmore, Jim Green and myself. Ron and I did all of the tech work and sound tuning ourselves. We also did a LOT of upgrades to the original sound system.
The shadowbox was painted with a flat black paint. There was no felt. There was also no masking for 1.85 “flat†films, but Northpark was generally booked with “event†movies and the majority of them were scope.
For the record, we ran Raiders a couple of years prior for a midnight show.
The final day of operation to the public was October 21, 1998. The movies shown were A Night at the Roxbury in Cinema II and Simon Birch in Cinema I. I was the projectionist that night.
Ron was the gentlemen who gave tours behind the screen that final night of the “private invite only†double features. I was busy disassembling the prints in the booth at that time.
Ron has since moved on to working with film archives and gave up on exhibition once the Northpark was closed. Jim got out of the business altogether and sadly I have not seen him since. I continued in the industry, formed Film-Tech in 1999 and continue to provide technical services to this day along with my crew.
The initial sound system design was by Tomlinson Holman. It was one of the only three he installed himself. As I stated above, Ron and I gave the system lots of upgrades from there. We also re-calibrated the sound system for each movie…literally every single one. That was our policy and is largely why this theater was so well known for its sound system.
The stage speakers, Dolby processor and THX crossover system from the Northpark Cinema I sound system ended up going into my private screening room in my Rockwall house. There are pictures of it on www.film-tech.com listed as Film-Tech Screening Room, and there are also pictures of the GCC Northpark on the site, including the projection booth. I have since moved from the Rockwall house, but the speakers, Dolby processor and THX crossover system are very much intact for a future buyer of that house (although it will most likely be converted to a blu-ray screening room by a future owner).
On the morning of October 22, 1998 we ran an advance screening of Meet Joe Black for the movie studio, which was for film buyers only. I am pretty sure it was Jim that ran that show, but it might have been Ron.
Later that night, the day after we closed to the public, we did indeed run a private double feature of Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark to the staff and close friends. I was the projectionist that night as well. Everyone at the Northpark couldn’t bear to have the final memory as Simon Birch / Roxbury, so we unanimously decided to delay the tear-down of the equipment one day so we could all have that one last final memory and went out with a bang. Words cannot describe how difficult it was for me to shut that douser for the last time though. I don’t recall seeing anyone get up when the credits started and I would guess it was also about 10 minutes before anyone finally got up out of their seat once the credits were over. Everyone just sat there in silence knowing that was it, forever.
On March 7, 2001 the demolition began on Cinema II. On March 9th, Cinema I was knocked to the ground.