The Park was in the 800 block of East Broad Street where the Trailways Bus Station used to be. The Grand had once been the Bluebird. It was at 620 East Broad.
I’m currently attending the BFI London Film Festival 2015, and they are not using their curtains. If they have them, then why not use them? It makes for a more polished and professional presentation.
I was there tonight to see THE GODFATHER. They had an excellent 35mm print but it was very dark and much of the sound was unintelligible due to bad acoustics. They did use the curtain at the beginning and end. I sat in the balcony. There was a very large crowd.
The Playhouse had a beautiful curved CinemaScope screen, but it had no movable masking. When a flat picture (1.85:1) was shown, the whole width of the screen was exposed. It had a curtain which was manually operated. It opened in a jerky manner, as if someone was using just one hand on the rope.
They did use the gold curtains during the BFI London Film Festival and it made for a nice presentation. I have never seen them used during regular performances. What a shame!
Yes, ghostman59, you are correct about the Trans-Lux. Rhonda Carter is now married and living in Florida. I worked there as assistant manager and projectionist. Jim Robison, his wife Linda, his daughter Laurie, his step-daughters Janet and Jean, and his step-son Wesley all worked there. I have many happy memories of working there.
There was another theater in D.C. named the Capitol Hill. It was a twin, two auditoriums back to back. I saw YANKEE DOODLE DANDY there sometime in the early eighties. It was across the street and a block or two from the Penn.
This theater opened in 1970 as the Trans-Lux Theatre. Trans-Lux sold it to the manager in 1984 and it became the Gemini Twin. Later it became the Southgate Dollar Cinemas. Each auditorium originally seated 408. One was blue and the other was gold. The curtain and wall-coverings were in these colors. They had Century projectors and ORC xenon lamps.
I worked at the Ashland in the late eighties as a projectionist when it was a dollar theatre. They had Brenkert projectors with 6000-foot reels and Brenkert arc lamps that had been converted to xenon. The screen was curved. There was no curtain and the masking was opened and closed manually. The flat picture (1.85:1) was beautiful, but the scope picture was barely wider than the flat picture and a lot was cut off on both sides. Getting a sharp focus was impossible. The house lights along the upper side walls didn’t work, so a couple of amber spotlights on the back wall lit the theater. The reason it closed is that the landlord raised the rent to where the theater couldn’t be profitable. The outside front of the building was beautiful at night when the colored neon inside the glass bricks was turned on.
The Center Theatre had a curved Cinemascope screen. It was a floating, or suspended screen, similar to the one at the State Theatre, and it was backlighted with pink light. There was no curtain and no adjustable masking. Flat and Scope had a common height, and flat didn’t take up the full width of the screen. Since there was no moveable masking, the unused part of the screen was exposed.
I went to this theater in 1966 to see “Spencer’s Mountain”, which was a ‘scope picture. This theater didn’t have a CinemaScope screen, so they made razor blade scratches from the cue marks into the picture so they could make changeovers. The original cue marks were completely cut off.
The Bluebird was a long, narrow theatre and it played first-run movies. It had two aisles with three seats on each side section and six across the middle. The fire exit was on the right side at the front of the auditorium and there was a blue neon clock at the back. It had stage curtains, a curved CinemaScope screen in the correct aspect ratio, and a balcony. The concession stand was on the left side of the lobby as you entered. The box office was out in front and not attached. The theater did a very good business, but it closed because Neighborhood Theatres, Inc. lost the lease on the building. The Palace Theatre down the street took over its role as a first-run theatre and was renamed the New Bluebird.
This is wonderful news! I have visited the Crest many times on my trips to Los Angeles, and it is one of my favorite theaters. I hope the moviegoing public will support it this time. I know I will.
This was the shape of the CinemaScope screen at the Rex Theatre. The two bottom corners were cut out to make room for the fire exit doors. When a flat picture was shown, panels were closed to mask the picture, and you got the whole image. But on a scope picture, the panels were opened and the two bottom corners were missing. The Grand Theatre in Richmond also had this type of screen.
When I attended the BFI London Film Festival in 2014, the curtains were used, but not at the 2015 festival.
When I worked there from 1969 to 1983, we had two Simplex X-L projectors with Peerless Magnarc Lamps and a carbon-arc spotlight. Great picture!
The Park was in the 800 block of East Broad Street where the Trailways Bus Station used to be. The Grand had once been the Bluebird. It was at 620 East Broad.
I’m currently attending the BFI London Film Festival 2015, and they are not using their curtains. If they have them, then why not use them? It makes for a more polished and professional presentation.
I agree that they need a curtain, or at least flood the screen in colored light.
I went there last week to see ST. VINCENT. They’re STILL not using their curtain.
I was there tonight to see THE GODFATHER. They had an excellent 35mm print but it was very dark and much of the sound was unintelligible due to bad acoustics. They did use the curtain at the beginning and end. I sat in the balcony. There was a very large crowd.
I was there this week and saw ANNABELLE on their Impact screen. I was very impressed.
The Playhouse had a beautiful curved CinemaScope screen, but it had no movable masking. When a flat picture (1.85:1) was shown, the whole width of the screen was exposed. It had a curtain which was manually operated. It opened in a jerky manner, as if someone was using just one hand on the rope.
They did use the gold curtains during the BFI London Film Festival and it made for a nice presentation. I have never seen them used during regular performances. What a shame!
Yes, ghostman59, you are correct about the Trans-Lux. Rhonda Carter is now married and living in Florida. I worked there as assistant manager and projectionist. Jim Robison, his wife Linda, his daughter Laurie, his step-daughters Janet and Jean, and his step-son Wesley all worked there. I have many happy memories of working there.
8/28/55
There was another theater in D.C. named the Capitol Hill. It was a twin, two auditoriums back to back. I saw YANKEE DOODLE DANDY there sometime in the early eighties. It was across the street and a block or two from the Penn.
I sure hope not. It is one of the few remaining beautiful cinema auditoriums in London.
This theater opened in 1970 as the Trans-Lux Theatre. Trans-Lux sold it to the manager in 1984 and it became the Gemini Twin. Later it became the Southgate Dollar Cinemas. Each auditorium originally seated 408. One was blue and the other was gold. The curtain and wall-coverings were in these colors. They had Century projectors and ORC xenon lamps.
The 2-screen theater inside the mall was opened by District Theatres.
I worked at the Ashland in the late eighties as a projectionist when it was a dollar theatre. They had Brenkert projectors with 6000-foot reels and Brenkert arc lamps that had been converted to xenon. The screen was curved. There was no curtain and the masking was opened and closed manually. The flat picture (1.85:1) was beautiful, but the scope picture was barely wider than the flat picture and a lot was cut off on both sides. Getting a sharp focus was impossible. The house lights along the upper side walls didn’t work, so a couple of amber spotlights on the back wall lit the theater. The reason it closed is that the landlord raised the rent to where the theater couldn’t be profitable. The outside front of the building was beautiful at night when the colored neon inside the glass bricks was turned on.
I visited this theater in the summers of 1964 and 1965. I saw ENSIGN PULVER and THE ART OF LOVE there.
They had a curved, suspended CinemaScope screen with no adjustable masking, just like the one at the Center. It was backlighted in blue.
The Center Theatre had a curved Cinemascope screen. It was a floating, or suspended screen, similar to the one at the State Theatre, and it was backlighted with pink light. There was no curtain and no adjustable masking. Flat and Scope had a common height, and flat didn’t take up the full width of the screen. Since there was no moveable masking, the unused part of the screen was exposed.
I went to this theater in 1966 to see “Spencer’s Mountain”, which was a ‘scope picture. This theater didn’t have a CinemaScope screen, so they made razor blade scratches from the cue marks into the picture so they could make changeovers. The original cue marks were completely cut off.
Credited to the Dimenti Family of Photographers
The Bluebird was a long, narrow theatre and it played first-run movies. It had two aisles with three seats on each side section and six across the middle. The fire exit was on the right side at the front of the auditorium and there was a blue neon clock at the back. It had stage curtains, a curved CinemaScope screen in the correct aspect ratio, and a balcony. The concession stand was on the left side of the lobby as you entered. The box office was out in front and not attached. The theater did a very good business, but it closed because Neighborhood Theatres, Inc. lost the lease on the building. The Palace Theatre down the street took over its role as a first-run theatre and was renamed the New Bluebird.
This is wonderful news! I have visited the Crest many times on my trips to Los Angeles, and it is one of my favorite theaters. I hope the moviegoing public will support it this time. I know I will.
This was the shape of the CinemaScope screen at the Rex Theatre. The two bottom corners were cut out to make room for the fire exit doors. When a flat picture was shown, panels were closed to mask the picture, and you got the whole image. But on a scope picture, the panels were opened and the two bottom corners were missing. The Grand Theatre in Richmond also had this type of screen.