Cinema

The K-B CINEMA was showing “THE EXORCIST” on Wednesday Feb.6 1974. it showed daily at 1:00 3:05 5:15 7:30 and 9;45 with Midnight shows on Friday and Saturday, There was a policy that they cleared the theatre after each show,In those days most moviegoers once they bought a ticket they could watch the movie again and again, The K-B Cinema stopped thar. even with the R rating {management stated persons under 17 are not admitted} So much for a rating system. This film played day and date at the K-B Silver Theatre {couldn’t find it on CT}

how ironic. Even at the theatre’s end of run, the theatre and it’s presentations were always the best in picture and sound ‘Chicago’ ‘Finding Nemo’ ‘Saving Private Ryan’

The real memory though was being interviewed by Channel 5, which is right across the street from the theatre on opening day of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ my friends and I were near the beginning of the queue, enjoying some Armands pizza which we had delivered to us … in line… one friend though wasn’t really much into the antipation of the film, but informing the interviewer how good the pizza was – ah, good times!

There might be drapes but my guess is not the same as when the theater was open. I think I would have noticed. There was some redecoration.

Here is an April 2008 photo of the former Cinema Theatre. Aside from leveling the floor and opening up the projection booth (or was it the balcony) it appears that much of the auditorium is still intact. Although the screen is gone the drapes which adorned it remain. I have yet to ever see a theatre which was configured in such a fashion.
Questions: Did this theatre have balcony seating?
Was there a concession stand on the auditorium level as well as the main level?

I’d like to say that the only reason why my friends and I would come here was because they’d book 70mm movies.

In 1983, my brother and I (since I was not of age to see it alone or with my underaged friends), saw Flashdance on opening weekend and even though it was not in 70mm, I was quite amazed at the cinematography(Oscar nominated Don Peterman), editing, dance numbers and Giorgio Moroder (Oscar winning) soundtrack. The stereo track was heavy but not ear splitting particularly the title number and Gloria Branigan’s “Imagination”…probably my favorite dance sequence because of its abstract construction of fantasy vs reality in that white brick corner set and the climax with that very cool strobe lighting effect. The whole theater was flashing in that light as if it were transformed into a dance club. So cool. So very cool! I thoroughly enjoyed the contrasts in music when the tracks would go from say, classical and melodic…the music made you feel like you were in a concer hall, then it would transition to something contempoary with a rapid beat such as in the Maniac sequence. Of course, it was one of the hits of the year and this theater showed it quite nicely.

The next booking was War Games in 70mm. I was very surprised that this movie was booked here and not Return of the Jedi since Empire played here for a long time back in 1980. While War Games was a thoughtful movie, it just didn’t capture my interest at the time. Matthew Broderick was heralded as the next big thing after his broadway debut in some Neil Simon play, but he didn’t do much for me in this movie. His performance was as inspiring as eating white bread and just as memorable. The presentation was what would one expect visually and aurally from a 70mm 6 Track stereo experience but nothing outstanding that I can recall…hey, this was 24 years ago!

I can recall seeing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom here in 70mm. A school buddy of mine came with me and we sat pretty close to the front of the theater to be enveloped by the sound and picture. Critics and certain members of the public complained about the violence levels and Spielberg did push things beyond the PG limits, but hey, this was one heckuva ride. The Today show had a piece with Gene Shalit interviewing Spielberg and Ford and they showed a bit of the opening sequence where Indiana takes Willie and Short Round and flies out of the plane in that boat raft. Now to see it on the wide screen with all the preceding heavy action, Willie’s ‘Anything Goes’ song and dance number was a lot of fun. Kate Capshaw’s character would later become increasingly irritating througout the movie lacking the previous street smarts and saavy that Karen Allen brought as Marion Ravenwood and Indiana’s previous main squeeze. She whined and complained so much that I thought if either Short Round or Indiana didn’t get rid of her, I wanted to grab her off the screen myself.

The movie boasted lots of visual effects that played quite well, looked so real and seamlessly integrated itself into the movie that I thought that many of them were done live action. The Cinema’s great sound system got some workout from the action. Of particular mention is the human sacrfice scene at the temple with the evile Molo Ram. Aurally there were lots of things going on; fire, chanting in surround sound, Molo Ram praying to that god in Hindi, the sacrificed guy praying all increasing in a frenetic pace until his heart gets ripped out and he eventually gets lowered into that pit of fire. What was brilliant to me was the way the scene was not rated R blood spurts and guts but brilliant editing, close ups, vfx, make up and sound effects.

Once again, a wonderful cinematic experience thanks to the great presentation and format!

Empire of the Sun played here, in ‘87 or so, and I thought it was a very good movie. Christian Bale’s debut performance was very impressive not playing the usual cutesy boy-next-door type as we’d later see from Macaulay Culkin. I can’t believe its been 20 years since then and, boy, has Bale grown as an actor.

I’m thinking the last 70mm movie I saw here was probably in 1989 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The film did not have the over-the-top action sequences or gross out monkey brain scenes like The Temple of Doom and maybe, just maybe it was to this film’s detriment. The film’s climax wasn’t that great with the finding of the Last Supper’s cup.

Ah, the Cinema…I was the chief projectionist there from the end of 1982 (after the MacArthur Closed) and well into 1983. Sam Brooks was the projectionist there for most of its life…in fact he worked it until it closed. I only got the lead position when Sam transitioned from the Army to the Post Office and couldn’t work there full time for a brief period.

In the summer of 1982 I swapped quite a bit of time between the MacArthur running Star Trek II and the Cinema running ET. The following year at the Cinema we had Wargames which was a bit of a surprise hit (and in 70mm). I seem to recall showing Amadeus and Temple of Doom there in 70mm quite a bit too.

The Cinema did indeed have some of the best pair of Norelcos (as Mungo pointed out above) I ever laid hands on. They came from the KB Apex.

The Cinema had one of the very first Dolby CP200s (installed for The Empire Strikes Back).

One should also mention Mrs. Lange…she was a fixture in the boxoffice for many years and we even had a party for one of her birthdays where the price of admission was her age…I remember that during Amadeus.

The Cinema was also one of the first theatres in the area of any size that really put the right amount of light on the screen…in fact, after the Cinema purchased its lamphouses…the Uptown followed suit.

I had many good times at the Cinema and met/worked with some really great people….the MacArthur remains my favorite though (as a single).

SG

The cinema had 2 of the nicest Norelco AAIIs I ever saw,They were very well kept, untill managment started running them. I was the last projectionist at the Jennifer, and te norelco we had in theatre #1, ended up behind the screen of the cinema. It was placed there upside down on the floor by the stupid people Cineplex Odeon had hired to put it there. Broke my heart to see such a beautiful, projector that I took care of be treated that way.I had my first heart attack in the booth of the Jennifer on April 13th, 1993, the asst.mngr. did not want to let the ambulance crew up to the booth to take me away, because she thought they were just trying to see a free movie. They had the gurney and all. When they did get me out she stood between the rear of the ambulance and the gurney saying I dont know how to shut the switches off. The hell with me, she just worried about the theatre, and her job. Another great example of big theatre chains and thier managment, and thier attitude towards Union projectionist. Let them die just keep the movie on the screen.
Norelco

The architect of the Cinema was Ben Schlanger, who was also instrumental in the development of the Cinema I-Cinema II in New York City.

So, is it open or closed now? If closed, what is its future?

Sadly the Cinema was just closed by Loews Cineplex Entertainment.

In response to JodarMovieFan. I thought the first Star Trek movie opened at the old MacArthur theatre. It also had a dolby system. Maybe it was a second run at the Jenifer. When there was little first run material the old GCC theatre would should second run films.
I know I saw the last Star War movie at the Jenifer which was shown there in 70mm and dolby. There may have been a 70mm run of Superman at the Uptown but as I recollect the Embassy theatre(which is now the Visions theatre and bar)was the first to show Superman in the 70mm format.

That second theatre at the Jenifer was really too small for anything! Would you believe when the Sensurround movie
Rollercoaster was not getting any business the manager moved it to the second theatre? He moved everything including the special speakers to that much smaller screen! Ocassionally the Jenifer would show some arthouse films if nothing else was available. During my duration there they had a double feature of early Lina Wertmuller films! Later they showed the old 1965(?) Czech film “The Shop on Main Street” – on the big screen! No one showed for that on a Saturday night except for two people!

No, there was a GCC theatre called the Jenifer & & II. It was located a couple of blocks from KB’s Cinema. It was originally named the GCC Jenifer Cinema I & II but KB objected so it was shortened to Jenifer I & II. The GCC theatre opened in 1975 with Funny Lady. But it hit its stride with long lines outside its theatre for the immortal “Jaws”. Unfortunately, after Jaws' run, it ran a gamut of bad movies and B movies that did not attract many crowds. (Part of this may be due to the fact that it ran many of Universal’s films which were, aside from “Jaws”, pretty awful. None of them are mentioned as great classics of the ‘70s). However, by 1976 the problems were rectified and the Jenifer showed better, more prestigious films. The list of films shown included The Bad News Bears, An Umarried Woman, Julia, Annie Hall, Hustle and Animal House.

Initially, although it had a big widescreen in its larger hall, it did not have stereophonic sound. By 1979 Dolby Stereo was installed in the first house, its first stereo feature being “Superman”. It was one of the very few houses that ran the Superman in Dolby Stereo.

The Jenifer’s second screen was much smaller and its original screen was the size of a postage stamp. It was later replaced by a more subtantial larger screen.

I’m familiar with the Jenifer because I worked as a doorman part time for a few years there. The security problem was immense as the entrance to both screens were across from one other. One could easily go from one theatre to the other without any real scrutiny. As it was located in the lower level of a building that included a Booeymonger and old Herman’s store this also posed problems of security.

I’m not sure but I believe the local Circle chain bought the Jenifer I & II. When the Circle chain was gobbled up by Loew’s Cineplex the Jenifer was closed down and gutted for new stores.

I’m not sure if this theater was part of the General Cinema chain, during the 60s, but I’m sure it was part of the KB chain during the latter part of the 70s and most of the 80s.

If memory serves me correctly, the GCC chain had just a few theaters in the DC area; namely the Springfield Mall (VA) multiplex (now AMC), Mazza Gallery (now AMC), Columbia 9, in MD, and I think the Fair Oaks Mall 10.