The last time I spoke with the boys at NA, the theatre will be completly torn down and a new Cinema Delux built in it’s place. Starting date TBA, I will post new info as I get it.
William what you wrote make perfect sense, I had forgotten about the programming available by using formats 40-43. The options are many as Jeff pointed out. It seems to me the Zeigfeld should be able to run all the different configerations. They may have to add two stage speakers to replace the sub woofers, I would assume are currently in place, should they run the older prints. This would put 7 speakers behind the screen.(assuming they are curently running with 2 subs.
This will, as Saps wrote, make the sound very purty.
I am sure REndres, once he reads this, will explain what is currently going on behind the screen at the Ziegfeld.
Jeff, that would be correct, the extra channels refer to the old left center/right center channels which were eliminted.
One of those channels is used as a sub woofer channel which feeds a mono boom track to sub woofers, usually located behind the screen between the center and left/right speakers. The other creates stereo surrounds. At least that’s the way it was when I retired.
So how is the Ziegfeld configured?
As an added note, I realise most of the 70mm prints will probably carry DTS tracks but if the theatre is to play any of the original prints in 70 mag sound, reel-to-reel of course, they may have to replace some speakers.
Perhaps Craig knows more of this.
A few thoughts about 6 track sound, as many of know originally the
6 tracks were:
left
left center
center
right center
right
surround
In later years the left center and right center tracks were combined onto one track and fed as a mono boom track to two sub-woofers, which replaced the left center and right center speakers.
The extra track freed up by this was made into a second surround track creating stereo surrounds.
So the question is, did the Zeigfeld replace the left center and right center speakers with sub woofers, and if so what would happen with the older mag tracks that still carry the original 6 track configeration?
REndres, I would appreciate your thoughts on this.
If memory serves, when we opened “Saturday Night Fever” in Hawaii it was R rated. A PG-13 version followed a bit later. Perhaps Michael Coate or someone remembers the history between these two versions.
I assume the Ziegfeld will present the more family friendly
PG-13 version,I have not seen the R version around in years.
“Dirty Dancing” has some history in my life because it was the last time I ran a movie reel-to-reel. I had just finished my run working at the D-150 in Woodbury, Long Island.
…which is what I tried to get printed after the review came out.
The implication in that newspaper review was that we were not being completly honest in the presentation of the new version.
In retrospect, I suppose we could have been more specific in the advertising, even though it was advertised as a 70mm presentaion and not the original three strip. In the 70s, furthur clarification just did not seem as neccesary as it certainly would be, for example at the Ziegfeld,today.
Warren, We had a similar reaction in Hawaii when the film played at the Cinerama theatre. Wayne Horita, then critic for the Honolulu Advertiser, also slammed the new version, and went on to baulk about the fact that the screen was the same size as any other 70mm presentation, and in fact all 35mm anamorphic showings as well. I called him and tried to explain the difference betwen the original three strip and 70mm version but he printed none of what I told him.
There were one or two favorable quotes in his review, so I got a bit of revenge by arranging for those quotes to appear in the newspaper ad and hand painted poster in front of the theatre.
lost Memory, Gosh what a sad picture,
Do you or anyone else have any pictures from the days when the theatre was open? I used to have a great 8x10 shot of the marquee taken during the mid 40s, but I can’t find it any longer.
Garth, the auditorium and stage area also had a lot of water damage due to a badly leaking roof. When I walked across the stage It creaked and felt like it was dangerous to walk on. The auditorium carpet was slighty damp and smelled of mildew. Water damage was also evident on the auditorium walls.
Garth, That guy actualy did you a favor in not letting you into the auditorium. It is a heart breaking site. I wish my last memories of the Paramount were not the ones I saw last time I visited that shell of what used to be. I believe the damage is worse now than when I visited last, is the staircase leading up to the balcony stil intact?
Once again Warren has served up some tasty bits of information for us. Where would we be without folks like Warren and Michael Coate to keep us informed and enlightened. Thanks too for the valuable contributions made by REndres over on the RCMH page.
Jeff, as far as the motor drum is concerned, we had many like that. It was a simple matter of disengaging the drum from the motor and then pulling the curtain by hand. In some cases the drum could be made to be free-wheeling which allowed easy pulling of the curtain.
The “waste of money” issue sounds more like it, when it comes to puttin-on-a-show, they just don’t get it.
Come on Craig, lets put some showmanship back into the Ziegfeld,
try it, you just might like it.
What a ridiculous excuse, it’s the Ziegfeld for Gods sake, go over to the Music Hall, grab a couple of the boys and fix the damn curtain! As to not being able to work the curtain manualy, what the heck kind of rigging is that? For years and years and years we
“pulled the curtain” by hand. In fact I started as a curtain puller/usher at the Staten Island Paramount back in the early 50s.
My God, with all the comments regarding the use of the curtains,
so often posted in this thread, you would think someone in management would have gotten the messgae by how.
They just don’t sem to give a damn, it’s just too much trouble for them to be bothered going that extra step which would mean so much to so many theatre lovers. Makes my blood boil.
I demand someone in management at the Zeigfeld explain why they are so ignorant as to not do what it takes to do a proper presentaion.
In my day, the people responsible for this lack of showmanship would not be qualified to be ushers, much less managers.
Yes I know, there goes grumpy ole Vito again, well to bad, it’s just disgraceful.
National Amusements, like many theatre circits, employees security at all times. Whenever a potential “problem” movie is booked, additional security is provided. At amboy, in addition to the regular private secutity, local police also provided security with off-duty personnel. It is not uncommon for a studio to offset some of the cost of any additional security hired for specific movies.
Sure do baldwin, I don’t remember him working the Freeport but he was one of the two full time projectionists working the Baldwin when I relieved there. I don’t think he is still working as a projectionists but you may be able to reach him through:
IATSE local 640, 103 Cooper Street, Babylon NY 11702
Thanks for that William, I guess I have to accept
the facts,which are, the times-they-are-a-changin. I still prefer the ole days when the studio brass were barred from the booth.
Sorry William, I am not buying that. We are talking about Radio City Music Hall here, where I am sure changing xenon bulbs is not an there. The way they ran the new Die Hard movie was ridiculous, and totaly unnessary.
Besides, in every studio screening I ever had, a tech rehersal was done, light ouput from the lamphouse’s was balanced and the sound track was equalized to ensure optimum presentation.
The Music Hall has 5 projectors, qualified personnel to make changeovers, and run a perfect show without the help of new fangled platters and MUTTS. It’s the way we did things for over 75 years thank you very much. The studio’s just need to deliver the print to the Music Hall lobby and let the pros take it from there.
Hey there Steel, nice post!
I retired from National Amusements after having worked for that great compamy for 22 years, first as a projectionist and then as a manager/Managing Director/Asst DM.
When I first took over Amboy as Managing Director the theatre was full of crooks and thieves, my first job was to weed out all the bad eliments in both management and front of the house staff. I probably hired you to replace some of the managers I had to get rid off.
I loved your haunted theatre story, however the shows started on their own from time to time in several of the theatres, it was due to an aging automation system, not a ghost, but far be it for me to break the spirit at to all the ghost lovers who worked at the theatre. That automation system was a nightmare, the diodes (or pins)used to advance the steps of the programming often failed causing many disruptions in the shows. Parts were hard to come by since the company that manufactured it was no longer suppoting the system, they may even be out of business now.
You are so right about those smaller theatres which were carved out of larger ones, we used to call them “subway theatres” because of the shape, and when we installed surround sound, the speakers on the walls were like having your own pair of headphones.
I only stayed at Amboy about a year before I was asked to work the pre-opening, and eventualy helm, the Hazlet Muliplex.
I think the biggest problem with Amboy was the lack of holding areas in the small lobby, which as you wrote started out as a six plex. While screens were added, the looby space remained the same.
Plans were drawn up to increase the lobby space by eliminating the walkways ajacent to the sides of the building and moving the lobby walls out. In addition, two more bathrooms were planned, which was another problem the theatre had,there simply was not enough bathrooms. However, the plans never saw the light of day.
Vito
commented about
Waikiki 3on
Jul 10, 2007 at 4:18 pm
People shouid know that the theatre entrance remained just as beautiful as it is shown in the postcard until the tragic end.
The article also mentions two theatres were “added” in 1969, of course this refers to the twin theatres that were built around the corner on Seaside ave while the original theatre remained a single screen.
Well baldwin, I can tell you, we projectionists were always very greatful and kind to ushers. During those long 12+ hour grind days you kids were our only conection to the outside world. Ushers would get us our coffee and dinner and sometimes they were the only human contact we had all day. So thanks!
It was not to bad at the Baldwin since the booth was close to the main floor, but some of the theatres in the area like the Fantasy, Freeport and Grove had booths a mile in the sky and no one ever came up to visit. It could be a very lonely job sometimes.
The last time I spoke with the boys at NA, the theatre will be completly torn down and a new Cinema Delux built in it’s place. Starting date TBA, I will post new info as I get it.
William what you wrote make perfect sense, I had forgotten about the programming available by using formats 40-43. The options are many as Jeff pointed out. It seems to me the Zeigfeld should be able to run all the different configerations. They may have to add two stage speakers to replace the sub woofers, I would assume are currently in place, should they run the older prints. This would put 7 speakers behind the screen.(assuming they are curently running with 2 subs.
This will, as Saps wrote, make the sound very purty.
I am sure REndres, once he reads this, will explain what is currently going on behind the screen at the Ziegfeld.
gosh, this is fun!
Jeff, that would be correct, the extra channels refer to the old left center/right center channels which were eliminted.
One of those channels is used as a sub woofer channel which feeds a mono boom track to sub woofers, usually located behind the screen between the center and left/right speakers. The other creates stereo surrounds. At least that’s the way it was when I retired.
So how is the Ziegfeld configured?
As an added note, I realise most of the 70mm prints will probably carry DTS tracks but if the theatre is to play any of the original prints in 70 mag sound, reel-to-reel of course, they may have to replace some speakers.
Perhaps Craig knows more of this.
A few thoughts about 6 track sound, as many of know originally the
6 tracks were:
left
left center
center
right center
right
surround
In later years the left center and right center tracks were combined onto one track and fed as a mono boom track to two sub-woofers, which replaced the left center and right center speakers.
The extra track freed up by this was made into a second surround track creating stereo surrounds.
So the question is, did the Zeigfeld replace the left center and right center speakers with sub woofers, and if so what would happen with the older mag tracks that still carry the original 6 track configeration?
REndres, I would appreciate your thoughts on this.
If memory serves, when we opened “Saturday Night Fever” in Hawaii it was R rated. A PG-13 version followed a bit later. Perhaps Michael Coate or someone remembers the history between these two versions.
I assume the Ziegfeld will present the more family friendly
PG-13 version,I have not seen the R version around in years.
“Dirty Dancing” has some history in my life because it was the last time I ran a movie reel-to-reel. I had just finished my run working at the D-150 in Woodbury, Long Island.
Lost Memory, Thanks for that site. I enjoyed that walk down memory lane very much.
…which is what I tried to get printed after the review came out.
The implication in that newspaper review was that we were not being completly honest in the presentation of the new version.
In retrospect, I suppose we could have been more specific in the advertising, even though it was advertised as a 70mm presentaion and not the original three strip. In the 70s, furthur clarification just did not seem as neccesary as it certainly would be, for example at the Ziegfeld,today.
Warren, We had a similar reaction in Hawaii when the film played at the Cinerama theatre. Wayne Horita, then critic for the Honolulu Advertiser, also slammed the new version, and went on to baulk about the fact that the screen was the same size as any other 70mm presentation, and in fact all 35mm anamorphic showings as well. I called him and tried to explain the difference betwen the original three strip and 70mm version but he printed none of what I told him.
There were one or two favorable quotes in his review, so I got a bit of revenge by arranging for those quotes to appear in the newspaper ad and hand painted poster in front of the theatre.
lost Memory, Gosh what a sad picture,
Do you or anyone else have any pictures from the days when the theatre was open? I used to have a great 8x10 shot of the marquee taken during the mid 40s, but I can’t find it any longer.
Garth, the auditorium and stage area also had a lot of water damage due to a badly leaking roof. When I walked across the stage It creaked and felt like it was dangerous to walk on. The auditorium carpet was slighty damp and smelled of mildew. Water damage was also evident on the auditorium walls.
Garth, That guy actualy did you a favor in not letting you into the auditorium. It is a heart breaking site. I wish my last memories of the Paramount were not the ones I saw last time I visited that shell of what used to be. I believe the damage is worse now than when I visited last, is the staircase leading up to the balcony stil intact?
You will be thrilled to see what Mrs Rosemary and family have accomplished. Please report back after your tour with comments
Once again Warren has served up some tasty bits of information for us. Where would we be without folks like Warren and Michael Coate to keep us informed and enlightened. Thanks too for the valuable contributions made by REndres over on the RCMH page.
Jeff, as far as the motor drum is concerned, we had many like that. It was a simple matter of disengaging the drum from the motor and then pulling the curtain by hand. In some cases the drum could be made to be free-wheeling which allowed easy pulling of the curtain.
The “waste of money” issue sounds more like it, when it comes to puttin-on-a-show, they just don’t get it.
Come on Craig, lets put some showmanship back into the Ziegfeld,
try it, you just might like it.
What a ridiculous excuse, it’s the Ziegfeld for Gods sake, go over to the Music Hall, grab a couple of the boys and fix the damn curtain! As to not being able to work the curtain manualy, what the heck kind of rigging is that? For years and years and years we
“pulled the curtain” by hand. In fact I started as a curtain puller/usher at the Staten Island Paramount back in the early 50s.
My God, with all the comments regarding the use of the curtains,
so often posted in this thread, you would think someone in management would have gotten the messgae by how.
They just don’t sem to give a damn, it’s just too much trouble for them to be bothered going that extra step which would mean so much to so many theatre lovers. Makes my blood boil.
I demand someone in management at the Zeigfeld explain why they are so ignorant as to not do what it takes to do a proper presentaion.
In my day, the people responsible for this lack of showmanship would not be qualified to be ushers, much less managers.
Yes I know, there goes grumpy ole Vito again, well to bad, it’s just disgraceful.
Does anyone have an update as to the condition of the original projection toom, and is the thetare still capable of showing movies.
National Amusements, like many theatre circits, employees security at all times. Whenever a potential “problem” movie is booked, additional security is provided. At amboy, in addition to the regular private secutity, local police also provided security with off-duty personnel. It is not uncommon for a studio to offset some of the cost of any additional security hired for specific movies.
Sure do baldwin, I don’t remember him working the Freeport but he was one of the two full time projectionists working the Baldwin when I relieved there. I don’t think he is still working as a projectionists but you may be able to reach him through:
IATSE local 640, 103 Cooper Street, Babylon NY 11702
Thanks for that William, I guess I have to accept
the facts,which are, the times-they-are-a-changin. I still prefer the ole days when the studio brass were barred from the booth.
Sorry William, I am not buying that. We are talking about Radio City Music Hall here, where I am sure changing xenon bulbs is not an there. The way they ran the new Die Hard movie was ridiculous, and totaly unnessary.
Besides, in every studio screening I ever had, a tech rehersal was done, light ouput from the lamphouse’s was balanced and the sound track was equalized to ensure optimum presentation.
The Music Hall has 5 projectors, qualified personnel to make changeovers, and run a perfect show without the help of new fangled platters and MUTTS. It’s the way we did things for over 75 years thank you very much. The studio’s just need to deliver the print to the Music Hall lobby and let the pros take it from there.
Hey there Steel, nice post!
I retired from National Amusements after having worked for that great compamy for 22 years, first as a projectionist and then as a manager/Managing Director/Asst DM.
When I first took over Amboy as Managing Director the theatre was full of crooks and thieves, my first job was to weed out all the bad eliments in both management and front of the house staff. I probably hired you to replace some of the managers I had to get rid off.
I loved your haunted theatre story, however the shows started on their own from time to time in several of the theatres, it was due to an aging automation system, not a ghost, but far be it for me to break the spirit at to all the ghost lovers who worked at the theatre. That automation system was a nightmare, the diodes (or pins)used to advance the steps of the programming often failed causing many disruptions in the shows. Parts were hard to come by since the company that manufactured it was no longer suppoting the system, they may even be out of business now.
You are so right about those smaller theatres which were carved out of larger ones, we used to call them “subway theatres” because of the shape, and when we installed surround sound, the speakers on the walls were like having your own pair of headphones.
I only stayed at Amboy about a year before I was asked to work the pre-opening, and eventualy helm, the Hazlet Muliplex.
I think the biggest problem with Amboy was the lack of holding areas in the small lobby, which as you wrote started out as a six plex. While screens were added, the looby space remained the same.
Plans were drawn up to increase the lobby space by eliminating the walkways ajacent to the sides of the building and moving the lobby walls out. In addition, two more bathrooms were planned, which was another problem the theatre had,there simply was not enough bathrooms. However, the plans never saw the light of day.
People shouid know that the theatre entrance remained just as beautiful as it is shown in the postcard until the tragic end.
The article also mentions two theatres were “added” in 1969, of course this refers to the twin theatres that were built around the corner on Seaside ave while the original theatre remained a single screen.
Well baldwin, I can tell you, we projectionists were always very greatful and kind to ushers. During those long 12+ hour grind days you kids were our only conection to the outside world. Ushers would get us our coffee and dinner and sometimes they were the only human contact we had all day. So thanks!
It was not to bad at the Baldwin since the booth was close to the main floor, but some of the theatres in the area like the Fantasy, Freeport and Grove had booths a mile in the sky and no one ever came up to visit. It could be a very lonely job sometimes.