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The Cinerama screen at the Plaza in Sydney was 76 ft curved x 35 ft. The original Cinerama process used three projectors to create a 146-degree-wide image on a large, curved screen. The aspect ratio of Cinerama was 2.59:1, which was nearly twice as wide as standard movies at the time

Reminiscing - fishy1fishy1 writes on January 31, 2014 at 7:28 pm -

I Worked at the Plaza 1968-70 as assistant to the chief operator. The plaza had the proscenium of its predecessor theatre, behind the cinerama screen. The theatre had very ornate ceilings that were hand painted with stars, moons and the like. The ceiling was not held up with poles. At the rear of the auditorium was the two entrances from the foyer.The main entry was from the north side of the foyer. the second was facing the street and was only used to empty the theatre at the conclusion of the program.

The original bio box was in the elevated rear wall of the auditorium.Above the entrance. When redeveloped for Cinerama, three bioboxes were added to the auditorium. Able, Baker and charlie.The old room became the sound booth for the system and was accessed from the ladder behind able booth on the north side of the theatre. It also served as the file room for Hoyts Ltd head office.

The Original Cinerama screen was patented and was in three parts to match the projector booths. The two side screens were multiple 1" slats that could be remotely re-aligned to eliminate cross reflection. The centre screen was a single square sheet.

In front of Baker booth (in the centre) was the chief operators console. From here the operator could monitor and adjust each projector, to ensure that they kept in step with each other.

When I started at the Plaza they Had already shifted to the new single lense Cinerama format. As such they shifted into 70mm, Cinemeccanica 10s and after about 18 months changed from carbon arcs to Zenon Arc Lamps as a light source. As the original Cinerama screen was patented, a new single sheet had to be installed and yes as you guessed to pull it around a curve created a belly in the middle of the sheet and thus a slight distortion of the image.

At this time Hoyts had a number of theatres in the city. The Regent, George Street. The Century, George Street. The Palace, Pitt Street. The Paris, Liverpool Street. The Town, Pitt Street. The Mayfair and The Embassy, Pitt Street.

All these theatres were replaced with the Hoyts Cinema Complex opposite the Plaza in George Street.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -