Yes, Tom Paradiuzzo purchased the State a few years back (A California Corporation) , he has put a new roof on the theater and has removed all of the seats in the auditorium. They have cut a opening in the back wall of the auditorium looks like for a bar installation. Mr. Paradiuzzo has pretty much mothballed the theater at this point. It looks like funding is the issue that is why the theater is closed. There is money available to assist the restoration, but I think at this point Mr. Paradiuzzo’s team feels they are on schedule? Therefore the community is looking at years before the state ever reopens her door.
Yes Ron the loan program is availabe in all 50 states and your theatre location would be eligible for the program as outlined. If you currently do not meet the required criteria, PAC can assist you in meeting the requirment standards for eligibility. Just contact them through their web site at www.onstagein.com
You go importantthings, I see that you do not have time to address the important issues you speak about on here like homlessness, cancer ect… because you are to warpped up in what other peoples opinions are. Why don’t you take your head out of your azz and call someone who cares. Get on your precious cell phone and call the Center for Disease Control and bitch to them for not having a cure for cancer, then you can call your local food bank and find out when and where you can pick up a couple of bags of food to take to someone who is homeless, or better yet take your hypocritical azz down and pick up a couple of the homeless and give them shelter and a warm bed to sleep in.
Oh by the way, I am the one who said the prosecutor would not waste their time on prosecuting a theatre owner who blocked a cell call. If you ever took the time to educate yourself on the topic, you will note that I spoke about passive blocking, which is not illegal in the U.S. to do. So go rant somewhere else about subjects you know nothing about.
William what is your business model? Are you only interested in the presentation of film, or would you consider venues that can offer live entertainment to?
Thanks Ross for the update! All of us here, are really apprecitative of all the hard work that you and everyone on the staff, puts in on a daily basis in keeping this site current. I can only imagine the difficulties you have encountered in your efforts.
Wonderful, however I doubt your able to maintain academy standards in your theatrical presentations and that is the showmanship difference. A professional projectionist presentation skills, are like night and day, compaired to someone who laces a machine and presses the start button.
Good for you on your attendence figures and bucking the norm out there. That is a great accomplishment, there are theatres that can maintain or increase their attendence figures. Most of them are located in small towns and rual areas of the country, where there is no theatrical competitor, thereby having a captive audience market. Facts are however, box office is down nationally by seven percent. DVD’s sales are way up, up, up, and have out grossed their own theatrical releases. DVD’s release dates are getting shorter and shorter, due to their enormous increase in sales.
Change is always difficult to accept, and I do not belive all theatres will become a entertainment destination of the past, however not all of these theatres, can or will survive due to the way they are operated today.
Actually, exhibitors did have properly trained personal to maintain and provide excellent quality showmanship presentations to patrons and they abandoned that practice, of having a professional in the booth for greed. How do we know it is greed? Well, the true reason for automation, was not to replace the professional projectionist in the booth with low skilled high school workers. The purpose of theatre automation was to allow the skilled projectionist the ability to operate two, threee, six, ten, up to fourteen screens at once and maintain academy standards.
This gave the exhibitor the ability to expand their business and increase revenues dramaticlly at the same time. Exhibitors did not have to hire several more professional projectionist to operate their theatre complexes. This saved exhibitors hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However exhibitors became ravenous with greed, and their cost savings achieved, by automation allowing them to hire just one projectionist instead of several, was no longer acceptable.
So exhibitors blindly removed quality showmanship from their operations, as a trade off to pocket more revenues. The exhibitor thought they could have anyone with no skills whatsoever, operate the projection equipment and the audience would never know the difference. Well guess what, after setting in numerious theatres, seeing scratched prints, poor light and sound quality, horrible presentations over and over, the audience did notice. Fact is theatre automation can not change a and realign a xeon bulb to academy standards, can not time a projector shutter, exaime worn gate pads, sprockets, rollers, belts, pullies, clean and oil the projection equipment and film systems and check state of the art digital sound systems for peak academy performance.
With DVD’s the internet and home theatre systems, patrons have a choice now in how they are entertained. If they can not get value and showmanship, for their money at the exhibitors box office, they can get it in the comfort of their home, on these state of the art systems. It is nice to romanticise about how the theatre experience is a social and cultural event. The truth is however, entertainment history felt the same about vaudeville and radio to, but in the end they lost enormous amounts of their audiences, due to new technology. History again repeated it’s self when cable become popular in the 80’s and the major networks lost vast audiences to their new competitors. The same is now going on in the theatre industry, the barn doors are already open.
Major studios already see the new market systems emerging, and DVD’s are now out grossing theatrical film releases. Patrons see value and showmanship in these entertainment options, for their money and use DVD’s and home theatre systems, as a way to avoid going to theatres and fighting crowds, cell phone abuse, talking and poor film presentations. But hey what do I know about the entertainment industry, I have only worked in almost every position there is, over the last 25 years as an owner/operator and for the top ten exhibitors in the country. The sad truth is, every exhibitor is in denial, and refuses to remedy all of these problems they have controll over, thereby continually turning off their patron customer market base. Exhibitors have turned their backs on that old business philosphy of, give the customer what they want and they will keep coming back. Simple truth is, it was not broke, but exhibitors wanted to fix it anyway, for greed!
Showmanship could be brought back to the theatre, by bring back the skill in the booth, but greed is to strong of a motovation for these companies. The truth is, exhibitors do not save money in the booth with low skilled workers. I have personally witnessed three, four, five, six people doing the work of one professional projectionist. The exhibitor is paying them more in wages combined, then they did the skilled projectionist and getting no showmanship value for their money, just like the theatre patron. Exhibitors can’t afford not to pay $35,000 to $60,000 for a professional projectionist to run up to fourteen screens, if they want to survive. Exhibitors could rememdy all of the negitives a patron has to endure at their theatres, but they will not change because of their arrogence. So unfortunally, they will go the way of the professional projectionist and that is out the door and out of business.
Most of your exhibitors in a trade off for theatrical showmanship due to corporate greed, have removed the professioal projectionist from the theatres projection booth. What you have now are ushers or managers who have no training or skills in the art of projection, operating the projection equipment. They do not know what, worn gate pads, rollers, film guide rollers look like, let alone there function in the stabilaztion requirement, for film to pass through the gate and project a picture on the screen that is weave and flutter free.
The only reason for a film print to be scratched, is because the maintenance of the projector and platter system film guide rollers are not being maintained and cleaned. That is just lazy, and there is no excuse for it. This transcends into filthily equipment and scratched prints for the patron to view. The ushers and managers are not able to keep up with all the demands put upon them by their employers, and the majority of them are just incompetent.
A professional projectionist in the booth makes all the difference in your motion picture presentation. A good journeyman projectionist, does more then just lace the projector for the performance. They are constantly checking the film equipment for worn or malfuntioning parts and looking to keep up academy standards for your presentation enjoyment, with no film scratches. They can rebuild equipment right on site, run academy light scans, sound check levels on the digital sound systems to insure quality sound presentations are being meet, and do not cut out film because of platter wraps, so the patron sees the whole film as intended. They are well versed in the theroy of electricity and electronics, so they may make emergency repairs on site, so show loss is keep to a minium. You get a showmanship value for your eight dollar ticket price.
Now you know why, as a theatre patron your experiencing these problems at your local theatre. I have been so turned off by the poor film presentations, I hardly go to the theatre any longer. With the coming of home digital theatre systems and DVD’s, I can enjoy a professional presentation without all the distractions, and that is an acceptable trade off, in seeing the film with an audenace. After all if the exhibitor, dose not care about film presentation quality, then I can spend my eight dollars at home and enjoy the film to academy standars and get quality value for my money.
It is know as pasive blocking like the system I outlined in my earlier post. Passive blocking is not illegal in the U.S. The system passively blocks the cell phone from making or receiving calls in a controlled enviorment, it does allow the cell call to go to voice mail, so the patron may receive their message when they check their voice mail. There are also systems that would prevent the cell phone from ringing. Passive blocking is not cell phone jamming. Another way to passive block RF cell phone siganls from getting into the auditorium, is to line the perimeter with chicken wire, that can be attached to the drywall behind the sound fold. It must however be grounded, so the system has a shielding effect. The best ground would be the theatres water sprinkler system.
If there is no paging system in the auditorium, it goes back to paging 101, the usher goes in the auditorium and pages the patron. If you do not want your cell phone signal blocked, the policy is posted at the box office and in the lobby, you have the choice in buying a ticket to see the performance. As far as legality goes, I do not think a prosecutor would waste their time or resources on that one, they have better things to to with their day. The exhibitor has made a reasonalbe accomadation to the patron and has just limited the use of cell phones to certain areas, not prevented the patron from using it in the lobby or outside. The exhibitors position is, take us to court if you don’t like the policy, or go somewhere else.
There is a device that is in current operation in some theatres today. The device is attached just outside the projection port for maxium coverage of the auditorium. It blocks all cell calls inside the theatre auditorium. This prevents a cell phone user from receiving or making calls while inside the auditorium. Theatre management has posted outside of the box office, and in the lobby, a notice to patrons that state, So our patrons may enjoy their show, free from unwanted and distracting cell phone calls, your cell phone will not receive a signal in our auditoriums during the performance. If you wish to use your cell phone while attending a performance, you must return to our lobby or exit the theatre to do so. Thank you for your understanding, The Management.
The patron has a choice if they wish to use their cell phone, one is go to the lobby and receive or make your call, or you may go outside and do the same. The theatre patrons inside the auditoruim do not have to listen, to an unwanted and distracting conversation, or ringing cell phone in the middle of a performance. This works great, since you do not have to confront a patron about the use of their phones, and it solves all the patron complaints to management about cell phone use in the auditoriums during a performance.
As far as emergencies go, theatre management can page anyone, anywhere in the theatre and request that they come to the office, they have done it for years! A cell phone user can go to the lobby and make their phone call quickly. The systems is set up to activate when the performance begins and deactivates once the performance is over. It also will not be active during a power outage either. This system has put an end to cell phone abuse.
The Embassy Theatre in Ft. Wayne, IN. has been restored and operates as a performing arts center. It was saved from the wrecking ball, buy a group of local citizens. The theatre has compleatly revitilized the downtown area, bringing in the Grand Wayne Convention Center, hotels and resturants. The web sit is www.embassycentre.org
Have you done any market research of the area at all. You should do a area market analysis of the county,regional and state patron market base. This will help you to do budget projections of potential patron counts and help with financial projections.
As for a small auditorium of 450 seats or less, you will be limited on the type of talent you can book at your venue. It would be best to acquire or build a venue of 1000 seats or more. This would allow you much more flexibility on the type of entertainment you could offer. Example, you could book Kelly Clarkson or Larry the cable guy, for two shows and sell them out, giving you more bang for your buck. With just a 450 seat theater, you would be hard press to book then at all. Just something to think about.
If you have not already, you should have a business plan prepared. A good sound plan can be used as a template to help guide you, through all of your different business phases you will need to address. In addition, you will need a business plan with financials, to present to a lender or investment group to sell your idea to.
Sometimes organizations limit themselves to just a small market area, you should think about serving a 100 mile radius of your theater location. Market research has shown that patrons will travel up to that distance to see quality entertainment.
Finally, if you locate a historical theater instead of building one, there are feasibility studies, community fundraisers and grants that you should consider. However getting access to some of theses federal, state and local funding depends on how you are structured? Will you be a non for profit or for profit ententes.
If you have any additional questions, you may contact me at www.onstagein.com and I would be happy to assist you further.
I worked for General Cinema during the 80’s as a projectionist. I would love to have the GCC logo in screen saver format, does anyone have this available in file format.
Film presentations are God awful, every major exhibitor has no projectionist tech in the booth. There is not one indivdual that can present a motion picture to acadamy standards, or even know what they are.
A Professional Projectionist is one that has done an apprenticeship of at least two years in the fields of motion picture presentations, in sound, mechanics of projection, electrical and electronic trouble shooting and presentation of SMPTE standards in the industry.
All these exhibitors have in there booths are high school kids that can only lace a machine and know nothing else. They could not rebuild a projector, or maintane its working parts. Nor could they trouble shoot any electrical or electronic problem that occurs. All that is done today is give out a pass and have the patron come back for another horrible screening of the film.
It cost no more to have a skilled projectionst operating up to 15 screens then it does to pay 3 or 4 kids to do the same job. You get an enhanced presentation of showmanship from the skilled projections for the same money.
Now you know why box office is down 7% from last year and expected to continue to decline. You can get a much better movie presentation on your DVD.
I worked at the Airline as a projectionist back in the early 80’s. At that time Mike Make the owner operated the Drive-In as a single screen. The Drive-In was built by Mike’s parents who retired and turned the drive-in over to their son.
Mr. Make operated the theater up in till the early 90’s when he sold the drive-in to a new owner. I do not know that owners name, but one interesting transformation that occured, was he planted X-mas trees on the outer are of the drive-in and sold X-mas trees there in the winter.
In the mid to late 90’s Teicher Theaters out of Troy, OH. bought the drive-in. Teicher twined the drive-in sometime in the 2002 season. His company currently operates the drive-in weekly with first run films and the community patronizes the drive-in very heavly.
Yes, there is a organization that helps to document, restore and reopen old historical theatres. You need to contact LHAT in Baltimore. They have many wonderful indivduals, companys and organizations, that work endless on behalf of communities, to help keep their historical theater heritage. Their address is www.lhat.org
Also their is a company based in Indiana that assist individuals, non-for profits and for profits in the restoration, marketing, business plans and management of historical theaters. You many find them at www.onstagein.com
I did the installation work at AMC’s Barrington, Ill. 30plex. The theatres are very spacious and all have statium seating. We installed all of the movie screens and sound systems throughout the complex. All of the sound systems in AMC’s megaplex are dolby or dolby digital.
AMC uses a seamless screen system, In which the screen has a vacum system that pull out all of the air behind the screen. This gives the screen it’s curvature and enhances cinemascope presentations. By having a seamless screen, in areas where the picture is bright, you get a smooth and appealing presentation that does not distract the eye.
One interesting item of interest, was that before the theatre opened, the state put in a toll booth at the Barringtion exit. They understood the increased traffic count at that exit once the theatre was opened.
Sundance is receiving assistance from Oaktree Capital, which is owned by Denver Billionaire Phillip Anschutz. As you may recall Anschutz is also the Majority owner in Regal Cinema Media Group the largest exhibitor in the US., owning 78% in that company. Some of Anschutz other companies are Quest Communications. As you may recall, Quest was indited by New York attorney general for SEC exchange violation and Anschutz himself had to repay $4.4 million dollars in fines for insider trading.
Quest Communications also had installed the first digital optic fiber cable, under ground that goes from the west coast to the east coast. It is belived that Quest will use this transmission line for digital delivery of digital formated movies when digital projection is rolled out to his Regal Cinema Group theaters, which comprise of Regal, United Artist and Edwards Theaters.
Regal does currently have a Art house format in their theater circut, it would be a natural fit for Regal to partner with Sundance to expand upon that market segment. Sundance is in some difficult financial trouble. Oaktee Capital seeks out that very type of company and buys up their bank debt and in doing so controls the company through it’s balance sheet. This is exactly what Anschutz did when he aquired Regal Cinemas, United Artist and Edward Theaters.
Now it looks as though he will controll Sundance as well.
I remember running my Strong Arc Lamps at the drive-in every summer holiday for dusk to dawns. Always five features, and we used marble carbons in our lamps.
I rebuilt the feed motors and put in new contacts, with ribbons and new translucent reflectors for heat dissipation. Man what a great color saturation I had on that big screen.
The booth was like an oven till about four in the morning, we had a old welders arc generator in the hallway that screamed. I put in rectifier’s and used the old generator as an emergency back up. The sound was deafening.
Is there an update on how the restoration of this theatre is proceeding? Does anyone have an idea on when it is to reopen to the public, and who are the indivduals involved in its renaissance?
One lesson that should be learned from this tragedy, is that communities must not wait to the last minute, to react and attempt to save these historical treasures of cultural opulence. There are numerous classical theater palaces all across this country that are unfortunately in peril of the same fate as the Tivoli. Communities must organize early, have a detailed plan for saving these structures of cultural significance and work to ensure that their elected officials understand under no uncertain terms, their administrations shall be held accountable for their blatant disregard for historical and cultural preservation.
The Gaiety in Boston faces the same fate as the Tivoli, and the community there has made the critical error of pining it’s hopes on a last minute law suite, by a local adult establishment to save the fate of this theater. If the community had only formed a non-profit organization, then they would have been able to communicate to their local elected officials in the only terms that they understand and that is the voice of big business. By forming a non-profit, it would have given the community the legal legitimacy needed to work with and nurture the local city administration and evolve a business plan to educate the cities elected officials on the important issues. Some examples of wonderful cooperation and education by non-profits may be found in the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anderson, Indiana, Muncie, Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Where those very cities worked hand in hand with non-profits, to save their historical downtown theaters and transform these cultural jewels, into economic recoveries of success for their inner cities.
The community of Mishawaka, did with the help of the Historical Landmarks Foundation Of Indiana, evolve into a parcial structure and retained a well know firm out of Cleveland, to perform a impact study on what a restoration of the Tivoli would mean on the economic renaissance of downtown Mishawaka, but it was to little to late. This city administrations decision had been made long ago, as to what their action would be and the fate of the Tivoli. One must understand that elected officials lay out their administrative agenda long before they ever take office and we must do the same, if these community landmarks are to survive. We must also understand that our elected officials no longer represent their constituents, but pander to businesses that contribute financially to their campaigns. We therefore must work under those very structures in order to be successful ourselves.
What can you do to make a difference?? Contact the Historical Landmarks Foundation located in Indianapolis, Indiana. There you will discover that there is an initiative for historic preservation of theaters in our state. Work with your state senators and house representatives , to help educate your officials about historic preservation. They might be surprised to know that the Department Of Natural Recourses in Washington, D.C, is actively involved in historic theater preservation.
Remember it all starts with just one person who has the tenacity, to not take no for an answer and the ability to reinvent ourselves for success.
Its a shame that no one contacted LAHAT as I suggested. To pin ones hope on a seady establihment was just like taking a rope and steping off the chair.
These seats are sold. I do however come across many theater items daily. If your looking, chances are I have it, or know where it is! So please feel free to contact me, by e-mail at,
Yes, Tom Paradiuzzo purchased the State a few years back (A California Corporation) , he has put a new roof on the theater and has removed all of the seats in the auditorium. They have cut a opening in the back wall of the auditorium looks like for a bar installation. Mr. Paradiuzzo has pretty much mothballed the theater at this point. It looks like funding is the issue that is why the theater is closed. There is money available to assist the restoration, but I think at this point Mr. Paradiuzzo’s team feels they are on schedule? Therefore the community is looking at years before the state ever reopens her door.
Yes Ron the loan program is availabe in all 50 states and your theatre location would be eligible for the program as outlined. If you currently do not meet the required criteria, PAC can assist you in meeting the requirment standards for eligibility. Just contact them through their web site at www.onstagein.com
You go importantthings, I see that you do not have time to address the important issues you speak about on here like homlessness, cancer ect… because you are to warpped up in what other peoples opinions are. Why don’t you take your head out of your azz and call someone who cares. Get on your precious cell phone and call the Center for Disease Control and bitch to them for not having a cure for cancer, then you can call your local food bank and find out when and where you can pick up a couple of bags of food to take to someone who is homeless, or better yet take your hypocritical azz down and pick up a couple of the homeless and give them shelter and a warm bed to sleep in.
Oh by the way, I am the one who said the prosecutor would not waste their time on prosecuting a theatre owner who blocked a cell call. If you ever took the time to educate yourself on the topic, you will note that I spoke about passive blocking, which is not illegal in the U.S. to do. So go rant somewhere else about subjects you know nothing about.
William what is your business model? Are you only interested in the presentation of film, or would you consider venues that can offer live entertainment to?
Thanks Ross for the update! All of us here, are really apprecitative of all the hard work that you and everyone on the staff, puts in on a daily basis in keeping this site current. I can only imagine the difficulties you have encountered in your efforts.
Wonderful, however I doubt your able to maintain academy standards in your theatrical presentations and that is the showmanship difference. A professional projectionist presentation skills, are like night and day, compaired to someone who laces a machine and presses the start button.
Good for you on your attendence figures and bucking the norm out there. That is a great accomplishment, there are theatres that can maintain or increase their attendence figures. Most of them are located in small towns and rual areas of the country, where there is no theatrical competitor, thereby having a captive audience market. Facts are however, box office is down nationally by seven percent. DVD’s sales are way up, up, up, and have out grossed their own theatrical releases. DVD’s release dates are getting shorter and shorter, due to their enormous increase in sales.
Change is always difficult to accept, and I do not belive all theatres will become a entertainment destination of the past, however not all of these theatres, can or will survive due to the way they are operated today.
Actually, exhibitors did have properly trained personal to maintain and provide excellent quality showmanship presentations to patrons and they abandoned that practice, of having a professional in the booth for greed. How do we know it is greed? Well, the true reason for automation, was not to replace the professional projectionist in the booth with low skilled high school workers. The purpose of theatre automation was to allow the skilled projectionist the ability to operate two, threee, six, ten, up to fourteen screens at once and maintain academy standards.
This gave the exhibitor the ability to expand their business and increase revenues dramaticlly at the same time. Exhibitors did not have to hire several more professional projectionist to operate their theatre complexes. This saved exhibitors hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However exhibitors became ravenous with greed, and their cost savings achieved, by automation allowing them to hire just one projectionist instead of several, was no longer acceptable.
So exhibitors blindly removed quality showmanship from their operations, as a trade off to pocket more revenues. The exhibitor thought they could have anyone with no skills whatsoever, operate the projection equipment and the audience would never know the difference. Well guess what, after setting in numerious theatres, seeing scratched prints, poor light and sound quality, horrible presentations over and over, the audience did notice. Fact is theatre automation can not change a and realign a xeon bulb to academy standards, can not time a projector shutter, exaime worn gate pads, sprockets, rollers, belts, pullies, clean and oil the projection equipment and film systems and check state of the art digital sound systems for peak academy performance.
With DVD’s the internet and home theatre systems, patrons have a choice now in how they are entertained. If they can not get value and showmanship, for their money at the exhibitors box office, they can get it in the comfort of their home, on these state of the art systems. It is nice to romanticise about how the theatre experience is a social and cultural event. The truth is however, entertainment history felt the same about vaudeville and radio to, but in the end they lost enormous amounts of their audiences, due to new technology. History again repeated it’s self when cable become popular in the 80’s and the major networks lost vast audiences to their new competitors. The same is now going on in the theatre industry, the barn doors are already open.
Major studios already see the new market systems emerging, and DVD’s are now out grossing theatrical film releases. Patrons see value and showmanship in these entertainment options, for their money and use DVD’s and home theatre systems, as a way to avoid going to theatres and fighting crowds, cell phone abuse, talking and poor film presentations. But hey what do I know about the entertainment industry, I have only worked in almost every position there is, over the last 25 years as an owner/operator and for the top ten exhibitors in the country. The sad truth is, every exhibitor is in denial, and refuses to remedy all of these problems they have controll over, thereby continually turning off their patron customer market base. Exhibitors have turned their backs on that old business philosphy of, give the customer what they want and they will keep coming back. Simple truth is, it was not broke, but exhibitors wanted to fix it anyway, for greed!
Showmanship could be brought back to the theatre, by bring back the skill in the booth, but greed is to strong of a motovation for these companies. The truth is, exhibitors do not save money in the booth with low skilled workers. I have personally witnessed three, four, five, six people doing the work of one professional projectionist. The exhibitor is paying them more in wages combined, then they did the skilled projectionist and getting no showmanship value for their money, just like the theatre patron. Exhibitors can’t afford not to pay $35,000 to $60,000 for a professional projectionist to run up to fourteen screens, if they want to survive. Exhibitors could rememdy all of the negitives a patron has to endure at their theatres, but they will not change because of their arrogence. So unfortunally, they will go the way of the professional projectionist and that is out the door and out of business.
Most of your exhibitors in a trade off for theatrical showmanship due to corporate greed, have removed the professioal projectionist from the theatres projection booth. What you have now are ushers or managers who have no training or skills in the art of projection, operating the projection equipment. They do not know what, worn gate pads, rollers, film guide rollers look like, let alone there function in the stabilaztion requirement, for film to pass through the gate and project a picture on the screen that is weave and flutter free.
The only reason for a film print to be scratched, is because the maintenance of the projector and platter system film guide rollers are not being maintained and cleaned. That is just lazy, and there is no excuse for it. This transcends into filthily equipment and scratched prints for the patron to view. The ushers and managers are not able to keep up with all the demands put upon them by their employers, and the majority of them are just incompetent.
A professional projectionist in the booth makes all the difference in your motion picture presentation. A good journeyman projectionist, does more then just lace the projector for the performance. They are constantly checking the film equipment for worn or malfuntioning parts and looking to keep up academy standards for your presentation enjoyment, with no film scratches. They can rebuild equipment right on site, run academy light scans, sound check levels on the digital sound systems to insure quality sound presentations are being meet, and do not cut out film because of platter wraps, so the patron sees the whole film as intended. They are well versed in the theroy of electricity and electronics, so they may make emergency repairs on site, so show loss is keep to a minium. You get a showmanship value for your eight dollar ticket price.
Now you know why, as a theatre patron your experiencing these problems at your local theatre. I have been so turned off by the poor film presentations, I hardly go to the theatre any longer. With the coming of home digital theatre systems and DVD’s, I can enjoy a professional presentation without all the distractions, and that is an acceptable trade off, in seeing the film with an audenace. After all if the exhibitor, dose not care about film presentation quality, then I can spend my eight dollars at home and enjoy the film to academy standars and get quality value for my money.
It is know as pasive blocking like the system I outlined in my earlier post. Passive blocking is not illegal in the U.S. The system passively blocks the cell phone from making or receiving calls in a controlled enviorment, it does allow the cell call to go to voice mail, so the patron may receive their message when they check their voice mail. There are also systems that would prevent the cell phone from ringing. Passive blocking is not cell phone jamming. Another way to passive block RF cell phone siganls from getting into the auditorium, is to line the perimeter with chicken wire, that can be attached to the drywall behind the sound fold. It must however be grounded, so the system has a shielding effect. The best ground would be the theatres water sprinkler system.
If there is no paging system in the auditorium, it goes back to paging 101, the usher goes in the auditorium and pages the patron. If you do not want your cell phone signal blocked, the policy is posted at the box office and in the lobby, you have the choice in buying a ticket to see the performance. As far as legality goes, I do not think a prosecutor would waste their time or resources on that one, they have better things to to with their day. The exhibitor has made a reasonalbe accomadation to the patron and has just limited the use of cell phones to certain areas, not prevented the patron from using it in the lobby or outside. The exhibitors position is, take us to court if you don’t like the policy, or go somewhere else.
There is a device that is in current operation in some theatres today. The device is attached just outside the projection port for maxium coverage of the auditorium. It blocks all cell calls inside the theatre auditorium. This prevents a cell phone user from receiving or making calls while inside the auditorium. Theatre management has posted outside of the box office, and in the lobby, a notice to patrons that state, So our patrons may enjoy their show, free from unwanted and distracting cell phone calls, your cell phone will not receive a signal in our auditoriums during the performance. If you wish to use your cell phone while attending a performance, you must return to our lobby or exit the theatre to do so. Thank you for your understanding, The Management.
The patron has a choice if they wish to use their cell phone, one is go to the lobby and receive or make your call, or you may go outside and do the same. The theatre patrons inside the auditoruim do not have to listen, to an unwanted and distracting conversation, or ringing cell phone in the middle of a performance. This works great, since you do not have to confront a patron about the use of their phones, and it solves all the patron complaints to management about cell phone use in the auditoriums during a performance.
As far as emergencies go, theatre management can page anyone, anywhere in the theatre and request that they come to the office, they have done it for years! A cell phone user can go to the lobby and make their phone call quickly. The systems is set up to activate when the performance begins and deactivates once the performance is over. It also will not be active during a power outage either. This system has put an end to cell phone abuse.
The Embassy Theatre in Ft. Wayne, IN. has been restored and operates as a performing arts center. It was saved from the wrecking ball, buy a group of local citizens. The theatre has compleatly revitilized the downtown area, bringing in the Grand Wayne Convention Center, hotels and resturants. The web sit is www.embassycentre.org
Steve;
Have you done any market research of the area at all. You should do a area market analysis of the county,regional and state patron market base. This will help you to do budget projections of potential patron counts and help with financial projections.
As for a small auditorium of 450 seats or less, you will be limited on the type of talent you can book at your venue. It would be best to acquire or build a venue of 1000 seats or more. This would allow you much more flexibility on the type of entertainment you could offer. Example, you could book Kelly Clarkson or Larry the cable guy, for two shows and sell them out, giving you more bang for your buck. With just a 450 seat theater, you would be hard press to book then at all. Just something to think about.
If you have not already, you should have a business plan prepared. A good sound plan can be used as a template to help guide you, through all of your different business phases you will need to address. In addition, you will need a business plan with financials, to present to a lender or investment group to sell your idea to.
Sometimes organizations limit themselves to just a small market area, you should think about serving a 100 mile radius of your theater location. Market research has shown that patrons will travel up to that distance to see quality entertainment.
Finally, if you locate a historical theater instead of building one, there are feasibility studies, community fundraisers and grants that you should consider. However getting access to some of theses federal, state and local funding depends on how you are structured? Will you be a non for profit or for profit ententes.
If you have any additional questions, you may contact me at www.onstagein.com and I would be happy to assist you further.
I worked for General Cinema during the 80’s as a projectionist. I would love to have the GCC logo in screen saver format, does anyone have this available in file format.
Film presentations are God awful, every major exhibitor has no projectionist tech in the booth. There is not one indivdual that can present a motion picture to acadamy standards, or even know what they are.
A Professional Projectionist is one that has done an apprenticeship of at least two years in the fields of motion picture presentations, in sound, mechanics of projection, electrical and electronic trouble shooting and presentation of SMPTE standards in the industry.
All these exhibitors have in there booths are high school kids that can only lace a machine and know nothing else. They could not rebuild a projector, or maintane its working parts. Nor could they trouble shoot any electrical or electronic problem that occurs. All that is done today is give out a pass and have the patron come back for another horrible screening of the film.
It cost no more to have a skilled projectionst operating up to 15 screens then it does to pay 3 or 4 kids to do the same job. You get an enhanced presentation of showmanship from the skilled projections for the same money.
Now you know why box office is down 7% from last year and expected to continue to decline. You can get a much better movie presentation on your DVD.
I worked at the Airline as a projectionist back in the early 80’s. At that time Mike Make the owner operated the Drive-In as a single screen. The Drive-In was built by Mike’s parents who retired and turned the drive-in over to their son.
Mr. Make operated the theater up in till the early 90’s when he sold the drive-in to a new owner. I do not know that owners name, but one interesting transformation that occured, was he planted X-mas trees on the outer are of the drive-in and sold X-mas trees there in the winter.
In the mid to late 90’s Teicher Theaters out of Troy, OH. bought the drive-in. Teicher twined the drive-in sometime in the 2002 season. His company currently operates the drive-in weekly with first run films and the community patronizes the drive-in very heavly.
Yes, there is a organization that helps to document, restore and reopen old historical theatres. You need to contact LHAT in Baltimore. They have many wonderful indivduals, companys and organizations, that work endless on behalf of communities, to help keep their historical theater heritage. Their address is www.lhat.org
Also their is a company based in Indiana that assist individuals, non-for profits and for profits in the restoration, marketing, business plans and management of historical theaters. You many find them at www.onstagein.com
Good Luck!
I did the installation work at AMC’s Barrington, Ill. 30plex. The theatres are very spacious and all have statium seating. We installed all of the movie screens and sound systems throughout the complex. All of the sound systems in AMC’s megaplex are dolby or dolby digital.
AMC uses a seamless screen system, In which the screen has a vacum system that pull out all of the air behind the screen. This gives the screen it’s curvature and enhances cinemascope presentations. By having a seamless screen, in areas where the picture is bright, you get a smooth and appealing presentation that does not distract the eye.
One interesting item of interest, was that before the theatre opened, the state put in a toll booth at the Barringtion exit. They understood the increased traffic count at that exit once the theatre was opened.
Hmmm Sundance or Regal Cinemas?
Sundance is receiving assistance from Oaktree Capital, which is owned by Denver Billionaire Phillip Anschutz. As you may recall Anschutz is also the Majority owner in Regal Cinema Media Group the largest exhibitor in the US., owning 78% in that company. Some of Anschutz other companies are Quest Communications. As you may recall, Quest was indited by New York attorney general for SEC exchange violation and Anschutz himself had to repay $4.4 million dollars in fines for insider trading.
Quest Communications also had installed the first digital optic fiber cable, under ground that goes from the west coast to the east coast. It is belived that Quest will use this transmission line for digital delivery of digital formated movies when digital projection is rolled out to his Regal Cinema Group theaters, which comprise of Regal, United Artist and Edwards Theaters.
Regal does currently have a Art house format in their theater circut, it would be a natural fit for Regal to partner with Sundance to expand upon that market segment. Sundance is in some difficult financial trouble. Oaktee Capital seeks out that very type of company and buys up their bank debt and in doing so controls the company through it’s balance sheet. This is exactly what Anschutz did when he aquired Regal Cinemas, United Artist and Edward Theaters.
Now it looks as though he will controll Sundance as well.
Dave,
I remember running my Strong Arc Lamps at the drive-in every summer holiday for dusk to dawns. Always five features, and we used marble carbons in our lamps.
I rebuilt the feed motors and put in new contacts, with ribbons and new translucent reflectors for heat dissipation. Man what a great color saturation I had on that big screen.
The booth was like an oven till about four in the morning, we had a old welders arc generator in the hallway that screamed. I put in rectifier’s and used the old generator as an emergency back up. The sound was deafening.
Is there an update on how the restoration of this theatre is proceeding? Does anyone have an idea on when it is to reopen to the public, and who are the indivduals involved in its renaissance?
This theater has been sold to an investment group out of California. They intend to remodel it and operate it as a cinema and live venue .
One lesson that should be learned from this tragedy, is that communities must not wait to the last minute, to react and attempt to save these historical treasures of cultural opulence. There are numerous classical theater palaces all across this country that are unfortunately in peril of the same fate as the Tivoli. Communities must organize early, have a detailed plan for saving these structures of cultural significance and work to ensure that their elected officials understand under no uncertain terms, their administrations shall be held accountable for their blatant disregard for historical and cultural preservation.
The Gaiety in Boston faces the same fate as the Tivoli, and the community there has made the critical error of pining it’s hopes on a last minute law suite, by a local adult establishment to save the fate of this theater. If the community had only formed a non-profit organization, then they would have been able to communicate to their local elected officials in the only terms that they understand and that is the voice of big business. By forming a non-profit, it would have given the community the legal legitimacy needed to work with and nurture the local city administration and evolve a business plan to educate the cities elected officials on the important issues. Some examples of wonderful cooperation and education by non-profits may be found in the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anderson, Indiana, Muncie, Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Where those very cities worked hand in hand with non-profits, to save their historical downtown theaters and transform these cultural jewels, into economic recoveries of success for their inner cities.
The community of Mishawaka, did with the help of the Historical Landmarks Foundation Of Indiana, evolve into a parcial structure and retained a well know firm out of Cleveland, to perform a impact study on what a restoration of the Tivoli would mean on the economic renaissance of downtown Mishawaka, but it was to little to late. This city administrations decision had been made long ago, as to what their action would be and the fate of the Tivoli. One must understand that elected officials lay out their administrative agenda long before they ever take office and we must do the same, if these community landmarks are to survive. We must also understand that our elected officials no longer represent their constituents, but pander to businesses that contribute financially to their campaigns. We therefore must work under those very structures in order to be successful ourselves.
What can you do to make a difference?? Contact the Historical Landmarks Foundation located in Indianapolis, Indiana. There you will discover that there is an initiative for historic preservation of theaters in our state. Work with your state senators and house representatives , to help educate your officials about historic preservation. They might be surprised to know that the Department Of Natural Recourses in Washington, D.C, is actively involved in historic theater preservation.
Remember it all starts with just one person who has the tenacity, to not take no for an answer and the ability to reinvent ourselves for success.
Its a shame that no one contacted LAHAT as I suggested. To pin ones hope on a seady establihment was just like taking a rope and steping off the chair.
These seats are sold. I do however come across many theater items daily. If your looking, chances are I have it, or know where it is! So please feel free to contact me, by e-mail at,
Thank you,