Local 306 Projectionist Fred Hadley worked the Meadows from early '80s until 2003
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Uploaded on: July 18, 2015
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This picture was taken around 2000 after Cineplex made a seven-plex. There were six 35MM Simplex X-L projectors and one 35/70 X-L. All seven projectors were served by Potts platters. We ran 70 MM just twice: Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom and Far and Away.
It took 25 minutes to convert format from 35 to 70 MM and involved changing the gate and trap of the head and inserting a 70 MM “brain,” or speed control plate into the platter hubs. The sprockets had both 70 and 35 MM teeth and the idlers had sliding rollers to widen their grip. A separate “flat” or spherical lens was inserted to project a gorgeous image onto Theatre 4’s mammoth screen that closely paralleled the position of the original 1952 single, building-wide Cinemascope screen.
Unfortunately, 70 MM died out and the 35 MM image on the big screen was dark and unsharp because of the short throw and inefficient wide angle lens, especially when showing 1.85 flat.
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Fred, you hit it right on the head: “Unfortunately, 35 MM image on the big screen was dark and unsharp because of the short throw and inefficient wide angle lens, especially when showing 1.85 flat.” A real shame indeed. And it is because in the construction of the multiple “cinemas,” the goal was never to have the room architecturally designed for the best possible picture and sound, but just to cram as many screens as possible in the building. I am surprised they didn’t cut the large rest rooms in half and make each of THEM into a “cinema.” It is one thing to actually DESIGN a space for multiple screens; it is another to torture an existing space into as many screens as possible, regardless of how that compromizes screen size, image and sound. It is the curse of almost all single screens that were “converted” to multiplex operations in the 80s.