Mike Rogers… Were those 70mm bookings of “Woodstock” and “Little Big Man” first-run or re-issue? How confident are you that they were actually shown at National Hills in 70mm? “Woodstock,” in particular, is one of those titles that historians cannot seem to agree upon or prove definitively that it actually had 70mm prints. (It certainly had a large run of 35mm 4-track mag prints.)
And “Stroker Ace”? Surely, that title is being confused with “Sharky’s Machine” or “City Heat,” two other Burt Reynolds films with 70mm prints produced around the same time as “Stroker Ace.”
The “Star Wars” engagement cited in the “Movies of note” section of the intro written above was for 25 weeks, which, I imagine, was (among) the longest run(s) of anything to ever play in Augusta. Following the completion of its Cinema Centre run, “Star Wars” moved over to the Masters 4 where it played for several additional weeks.
< The longest-running bookings that played at the Yorktowne Theatre were the showing of STAR WARS(05/23/1977)which played at this theatre until November of 1977 >
The Yorktowne’s run of “Star Wars” opened July 1, 1977, not May 23. It ran for five months, not seven.
(The Memorial Day weekend opening of “Star Wars” was only in a handful of markets, none of which were in The South.)
While most of the major markets have been accounted for, there still are a few biggies remaining, like Seattle and Cleveland.
I just realized with the Calgary posting that the series started one year ago to the week. Which means that there has been a new entry in the series posted on average every week and a half. Not bad when you consider I originally planned only a few postings as a test and most of the info has NEVER BEFORE BEEN PUBLISHED ANYWHERE.
N DiMaggio… You’re welcome! It’s nice to know that some readers who reside (or previously resided) in the region being covered understand and appreciate the posting. Many of the postings in this series have no comments from any locals (i.e. those who stand to appreciate the info the most) and some have no comments at all from anyone (which baffles and disappoints me because of the coolness of the info and the fact that most of it has never before been published, not to mention the time and cost involved with conducting the research).
JSA… That 1972 install was in Bangkok, Thailand…at least according to the International Cinerama Society. I’m somewhat skeptical and think it may have actually been a single-strip install. (I was hesitant to include that one because it sticks out like a sore thumb, but if I didn’t include it I imagine one of the Cinerama experts would’ve chimed in and pointed out its exclusion. Kind of a no-win situation…like choosing to include all the single-strip 70mm playdates in this series which irritates those who think single-strip was faux Cinerama and ought not be counted. Likewise, if I had chosen to exclude the single-strip presentations and only included the original 3-strip details, then a different group of folks would jump in and point out the single-strip stuff was missing. You can’t win with some of these things.)
Getting back to Tampa… You may have noticed a gap in the mid 1960s. This was due to the Palace not showing Cinerama product exclusively, and during that timeframe they booked, among other films, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (which played a whopping 77 weeks), and because the Palace was the only Cinerama venue in the “Tampa Bay” area, the mid-60s Cinerama titles had to settle for general-release bookings in other venues.
Tampa wasn’t the only market in which this occured; it also happened in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Dayton, Nashville, Syosset, and a couple other markets.
Actually, I see nothing unusual about Tampa not getting Cinerama until 1962. The period of 1960-63 was quite active with new Cinerama installs (in the U.S. and Canada), even more-so than the early 1952-54 period. In fact, 1961 and 1962 were the two years with the most markets initiating Cinerama presentations, and Tampa falls right into that timeframe. (If I had posted the entries in this series in the sequence of the original installations, this trend would be more apparent. Alas, I’ve been posting in a random order, primarily based on the sequence in which the research was completed.)
This early-1960s spike in Cinerama installs was largely due to (1) an increase in reserved-seat “roadshow” productions and markets showing such, (2) the introduction of “Super Cinerama” (i.e. larger, wall-to-wall screens in many of the new installs), and (3) MGM’s announcement that they would produce two narrative Cinerama features (THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM and HOW THE WEST WAS WON).
To further illustrate my point, here is a year-by-year breakdown (for the U.S. and Canada) of how many markets began showing 3-strip Cinerama.
In addition, during the early 1960s, numerous markets re-installed Cinerama after de-installing it in the ‘50s following a brief period of booking Cinerama product. This further enhances the figures I just provided, suggesting that Cinerama was alive and well in the early '60s.
CWalczak: The New York City roadshow run of “2001: A Space Odyssey” went for 37 weeks, not 26 (24 at the Capitol + another 13 on a direct moveover to the then-newly re-named Cinerama). I’m not sure why you claimed 26 since the New York entry in this series and the in70mm article of mine you just cited both list its duration as 37.
You’re correct, though, that in many markets the release of “Ice Station Zebra” cut short the runs of “2001.” This wasn’t the case in St. Louis, though, as “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is what followed “2001.”
John Hughes has been off the radar for over a decade. Despite how prolific he was, his best work, in my opinion, was made during the ‘80s. Sad news, nonetheless.
Hughes' high school-themed movies, initially, did not appeal to me as I was in high school at the time and simply preferred fantasy and action-adventure movies. His early films seemed preachy and soap opera-ish and reminded me of everything I hated about high school. Eventually, though, I came to appreciate Hughes' movies, and a few of them I consider personal favorites and outright classics.
The stuff of his (whether as writer, producer, director or any combination) I can remember seeing (and where) include:
MR. MOM (Barstow Twin, Barstow, CA)
National Lampoon’s VACATION (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
SIXTEEN CANDLES (Military Theater, Ft. Irwin, CA)
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
National Lampoon’s EUROPEAN VACATION (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
WEIRD SCIENCE (Movies 7, Victorville, CA; Military Theater, Heidelberg, Germany)
PRETTY IN PINK (National, Los Angeles, CA; Military Theater, Heidelberg, Germany)
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (Kuhio Twin, Honolulu, HI; Movies 7, Victorville, CA; AMC Commerce Center 6, San Bernardino, CA)
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (National, Los Angeles, CA)
PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
SHE’S HAVING A BABY (AMC Victor Valley Mall 10, Victorville, CA)
THE GREAT OUTDOORS (AMC Victor Valley Mall 10, Victorville, CA)
UNCLE BUCK (Barstow Station 4, Barstow, CA)
National Lampoon’s CHRISTMAS VACATION (National, Los Angeles, CA)
HOME ALONE (Cinedome, Orange, CA)
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (AMC Marina Pacifica 6, Long Beach, CA)
HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (UA Marketplace 6, Long Beach, CA)
DENNIS THE MENACE (Edwards Westminster 10, Westminster, CA)
BABY’S DAY OUT (Wallace Lakeside Cinema 4, South Lake Tahoe, CA)
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Wallace Barstow Station 4, Barstow, CA)
MPol: You could not have seen “It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World” in 1963. If you would’ve looked over my list I posted just prior to your posting, you would’ve seen that there were only a handful of bookings that began in ‘63. If it was in Waltham that you saw it, then it’s doubtful you could’ve seen it any earlier than mid-1964 or maybe not even until 1965.
The thing with the roadshows is that they were exclusive engagements, and the theaters that booked roadshow product had clearances over their entire metropolitan areas and sometimes even clearances of hundreds of miles. In your case, Waltham would not have played “Mad World” until Boston’s roadshow run concluded.
I give you credit, though, for posting a comment without mentioning “West Side Story.” That had to be a first for you! :–)
Here’s a (work-in-progress) list of the original roadshow runs of IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD that I’ve been working on for some time and I thought some readers might find it fascinating given the news item and discussion. Note the number of great “Cinema Treasures” in which the classic film played and how even in the smaller markets the film played for several months. As for the running time, the film, as previously mentioned, was cut on multiple occasions; the earlier in the run the film opened in a given market, the longer the running time. (The general-release version was even shorter than the roadshow version(s).)
Month.Day.Year … City —– Cinema (Duration of engagement)
11.07.1963 … Los Angeles, CA, USA —– Cinerama Dome (67 weeks)
11.17.1963 … New York, NY, USA —– Warner (52 weeks)
11.19.1963 … Boston, MA, USA —– Boston (31 weeks)
11.19.1963 … Chicago, IL, USA —– McVickers (33 weeks)
12.02.1963 … London, England, UK —– Coliseum (32 weeks)
12.16.1963 … Berlin, West Germany —– Capitol
12.17.1963 … Paris, France —– Empire (19 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Atlanta, GA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (23 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Cleveland, OH, USA —– Palace (27 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Montreal, QC, Canada —– Imperial (58 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Pittsburgh, PA, USA —– Warner (28 weeks)
12.18.1963 … San Francisco, CA, USA —– Orpheum (52 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Tokyo, Japan —– Shochiku Central
12.19.1963 … Brussels, Belgium —– Varietes
12.19.1963 … Cincinnati, OH, USA —– Capitol (28 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Hamburg, West Germany —– Grindel
12.19.1963 … Houston, TX, USA —– Windsor (19 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Kansas City, MO, USA —– Empire (51 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Miami Beach, FL, USA —– Sheridan (23 weeks)
12.19.1963 … New Orleans, LA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (27 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Philadelphia, PA, USA —– Boyd (27 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Portland, OR, USA —– Hollywood (44 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Vienna, Austria —– Gartenbau
12.20.1963 … Dallas, TX, USA —– Capri (23 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Honolulu, HI, USA —– Cinerama
12.20.1963 … Louisville, KY, USA —– Rialto (26 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Milwaukee, WI, USA —– Cinema 1 (32 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Toronto, ON, Canada —– Carlton (18 weeks)
12.21.1963 … Copenhagen, Denmark —– Kinopalaeet
12.26.1963 … Birmingham, England, UK —– Gaumont
01.31.1964 … Nice, France —– Rialto
02.11.1964 … Detroit, MI, USA —– Music Hall (55 weeks)
02.12.1964 … Manila, Philippines —– Roman Super Cinerama
02.18.1964 … Columbus, OH, USA —– Grand (25 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Salt Lake City, UT, USA —– Villa (36 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Washington, DC, USA —– Uptown (36 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Wichita, KS, USA —– Uptown
02.20.1964 … Baltimore, MD, USA —– Town (18 weeks)
02.20.1964 … St. Louis, MO, USA —– Martin Cinerama (37 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Buffalo, NY, USA —– Teck (24 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Dayton, OH, USA —– Dabel
03.25.1964 … Hartford, CT, USA —– Cinerama (30 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Omaha, NE, USA —– Indian Hills (37 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Providence, RI, USA —– Cinerama
03.26.1964 … Lyon, France —– Palais de Congress
04.17.1964 … Madrid, Spain —– Proyecciones
04.21.1964 … Montclair, NJ, USA —– Clairidge (34 weeks)
04.22.1964 … San Diego, CA, USA —– Cinerama (50 weeks)
04.22.1964 … Seattle, WA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (48 weeks)
05.07.1964 … Toledo, OH, USA —– Valentine (25 weeks)
05.15.1964 … Scottsdale, AZ, USA —– Kachina
05.27.1964 … Fresno, CA, USA —– Warner (18 weeks)
05.27.1964 … Syosset, NY, USA —– Syosset (30 weeks)
05.27.1964 … Tampa, FL, USA —– Palace (12 weeks)
05.31.1964 … Strasbourg, France —– Broglie
06.03.1964 … Chattanooga, TN, USA —– Brainerd
06.10.1964 … Indianapolis, IN, USA —– Indiana (27 weeks)
06.13.1964 … Munich, West Germany —– City
06.23.1964 … Sacramento, CA, USA —– Esquire
06.24.1964 … Albuquerque, NM, USA —– Fox Winrock (13 weeks)
07.08.1964 … Norfolk, VA, USA —– Rosna
07.22.1964 … Charlotte, NC, USA —– Charlottetown
08.05.1964 … Vancouver, BC, Canada —– Strand (20 weeks)
09.04.1964 … Helsinki, Finland —– Savoy
09.05.1964 … Zuerich, Switzerland —– Apollo
09.10.1964 … Johannesburg, South Africa —– Cinerama
09.11.1964 … Milan, Italy —– Manzoni
09.24.1964 … Manchester, England, UK —– Theatre Royal
10.05.1964 … Newcastle, England, UK —– Queens
10.29.1964 … Denver, CO, USA —– Cooper (51 weeks)
10.29.1964 … Glasgow, Scotland, UK —– Coliseum
11.11.1964 … Stockholm, Sweden —– Vinterpalatset
11.19.1964 … St. Louis Park, MN, USA —– Cooper (47 weeks)
11.24.1964 … San Jose, CA, USA —– Century 21 (35 weeks)
11.27.1964 … Rome, Italy —– Royal
12.03.1964 … Auckland, New Zealand —– Cinerama
12.03.1964 … Sydney, Australia —– Plaza (70 weeks)
12.11.1964 … Barcelona, Spain —– Florida
12.17.1964 … Rotterdam, Netherlands —– Scala
04.15.1965 … Liverpool, England, UK —– Abbey
05.28.1965 … Dublin, Ireland —– Cinerama
06.03.1965 … Melbourne, Australia —– Plaza (60 weeks)
06.09.1965 … Caracas, Venezuela —– Canaima
12.25.1965 … San Juan, Puerto Rico —– Cinerama
03.03.1966 … Mexico City, Mexico —– Cine Diana
05.06.1966 … Oklahoma City, OK, USA —– Cooper (4 weeks)
08.19.1966 … Wellington, New Zealand —– Cinerama (17 weeks)
09.30.1966 … Tel Aviv, Israel —– Cinerama
I thought it would be interesting at this stage in the series to provide an updated list, arranged alphabetically, of the completed and yet-to-be-completed North American Cinerama markets. The completed entries have been courtesy-linked to their dedicated page.
Note that Fargo, Tacoma and Tucson are unconfirmed; it has not been definitively determined if those markets had an official Cinerama venue and/or showed any Cinerama presentations.
In time, some international markets will be featured in the series.
I cannot end this post without thanking my collaborators on this project, in particular Al Alvarez, Kirk Besse, Bill Huelbig, Mark Huffstetler, Bill Kretzel, Mark Lensenmayer, Stan Malone, Gabriel Neeb, Jim Perry, Bob Throop, and Vince Young.
And, finally, if any Cinema Treasures readers have access to the relevant resources and would like to contribute to the completion of the yet-to-be-completed Cinerama markets, please contact me.
I attended a test screening of “Last Action Hero” in Lakewood and can, therefore, attest to it having taken place. If, in fact, a screening took place in Pasadena, as you are recalling, then we can conclude there must have been at least two screenings.
In the spring of ‘93, the Lakewood Center hosted the infamous sneak-preview test screening of “Last Action Hero” that prompted additional photography and-re-editing.
By the way, the Dallas sneak of “Jaws” (mentiond in the post above) was held at the Medallion, not the UA Cine 150.
I, too, liked Elfman’s music in the ‘89 “Batman,” and thought he was robbed of an Oscar nomination. I especially enjoyed the cinematography and art direction, though I think it ought to have been shot in scope.
As for the action scenes, I thought they were poorly staged and lacked energy. Burton’s just not an “action director,” in my opinion. Imagine if Spielberg or Cameron, in their prime, had directed the film…
1) The “Mountain States” area, in the context of this Cinerama series, consists of Colorado (Denver), Utah (Salt Lake City) and New Mexico (Albuquerque). If in the above Denver list there’s a “Mountain States Premiere” notation, that means that Denver had the earliest booking of that particular title among the three Cinerama markets in the Mountain States region. Likewise, if there’s no “Mountain States Premiere” notation on a particular entry, then that means the earliest booking of that particular film took place in either Salt Lake City or Albuquerque.
2) No. The Syosset Theater, which opened in 1956, was purpose-built for Todd-AO (70mm) presentations. It was retrofit in 1959 for Cinerama presentations.
Mike Rogers… Were those 70mm bookings of “Woodstock” and “Little Big Man” first-run or re-issue? How confident are you that they were actually shown at National Hills in 70mm? “Woodstock,” in particular, is one of those titles that historians cannot seem to agree upon or prove definitively that it actually had 70mm prints. (It certainly had a large run of 35mm 4-track mag prints.)
And “Stroker Ace”? Surely, that title is being confused with “Sharky’s Machine” or “City Heat,” two other Burt Reynolds films with 70mm prints produced around the same time as “Stroker Ace.”
The “Star Wars” engagement cited in the “Movies of note” section of the intro written above was for 25 weeks, which, I imagine, was (among) the longest run(s) of anything to ever play in Augusta. Following the completion of its Cinema Centre run, “Star Wars” moved over to the Masters 4 where it played for several additional weeks.
< The longest-running bookings that played at the Yorktowne Theatre were the showing of STAR WARS(05/23/1977)which played at this theatre until November of 1977 >
The Yorktowne’s run of “Star Wars” opened July 1, 1977, not May 23. It ran for five months, not seven.
(The Memorial Day weekend opening of “Star Wars” was only in a handful of markets, none of which were in The South.)
Thank you.
While most of the major markets have been accounted for, there still are a few biggies remaining, like Seattle and Cleveland.
I just realized with the Calgary posting that the series started one year ago to the week. Which means that there has been a new entry in the series posted on average every week and a half. Not bad when you consider I originally planned only a few postings as a test and most of the info has NEVER BEFORE BEEN PUBLISHED ANYWHERE.
Doesn’t anyone read the older comment postings??? I cited the correct 1966 opening date in my post of March 31, 2009.
N DiMaggio… You’re welcome! It’s nice to know that some readers who reside (or previously resided) in the region being covered understand and appreciate the posting. Many of the postings in this series have no comments from any locals (i.e. those who stand to appreciate the info the most) and some have no comments at all from anyone (which baffles and disappoints me because of the coolness of the info and the fact that most of it has never before been published, not to mention the time and cost involved with conducting the research).
JSA… That 1972 install was in Bangkok, Thailand…at least according to the International Cinerama Society. I’m somewhat skeptical and think it may have actually been a single-strip install. (I was hesitant to include that one because it sticks out like a sore thumb, but if I didn’t include it I imagine one of the Cinerama experts would’ve chimed in and pointed out its exclusion. Kind of a no-win situation…like choosing to include all the single-strip 70mm playdates in this series which irritates those who think single-strip was faux Cinerama and ought not be counted. Likewise, if I had chosen to exclude the single-strip presentations and only included the original 3-strip details, then a different group of folks would jump in and point out the single-strip stuff was missing. You can’t win with some of these things.)
Getting back to Tampa… You may have noticed a gap in the mid 1960s. This was due to the Palace not showing Cinerama product exclusively, and during that timeframe they booked, among other films, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (which played a whopping 77 weeks), and because the Palace was the only Cinerama venue in the “Tampa Bay” area, the mid-60s Cinerama titles had to settle for general-release bookings in other venues.
Tampa wasn’t the only market in which this occured; it also happened in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Dayton, Nashville, Syosset, and a couple other markets.
And here’s the installation breakdown for the rest of the world. (3-strip installations only; single-strip hasn’t been included.)
1952: 0
1953: 0
1954: 1
1955: 5
1956: 1
1957: 1
1958: 6
1959: 4
1960: 4
1961: 5
1962: 6
1963: 31
1964: 5
1965: 1
1966: 3
1967: 1
1968: 1
1972: 1
bercy…
Actually, I see nothing unusual about Tampa not getting Cinerama until 1962. The period of 1960-63 was quite active with new Cinerama installs (in the U.S. and Canada), even more-so than the early 1952-54 period. In fact, 1961 and 1962 were the two years with the most markets initiating Cinerama presentations, and Tampa falls right into that timeframe. (If I had posted the entries in this series in the sequence of the original installations, this trend would be more apparent. Alas, I’ve been posting in a random order, primarily based on the sequence in which the research was completed.)
This early-1960s spike in Cinerama installs was largely due to (1) an increase in reserved-seat “roadshow” productions and markets showing such, (2) the introduction of “Super Cinerama” (i.e. larger, wall-to-wall screens in many of the new installs), and (3) MGM’s announcement that they would produce two narrative Cinerama features (THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM and HOW THE WEST WAS WON).
To further illustrate my point, here is a year-by-year breakdown (for the U.S. and Canada) of how many markets began showing 3-strip Cinerama.
1952: 1
1953: 8
1954: 5
1955: 1
1956: 6
1957: 2
1958: 3
1959: 1
1960: 6
1961: 16
1962: 9
1963: 5
1964: 1
In addition, during the early 1960s, numerous markets re-installed Cinerama after de-installing it in the ‘50s following a brief period of booking Cinerama product. This further enhances the figures I just provided, suggesting that Cinerama was alive and well in the early '60s.
Whoops! “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” followed “2001” at the same-named Trans-Lux Cinerama Theater in New Orleans.
CWalczak: The New York City roadshow run of “2001: A Space Odyssey” went for 37 weeks, not 26 (24 at the Capitol + another 13 on a direct moveover to the then-newly re-named Cinerama). I’m not sure why you claimed 26 since the New York entry in this series and the in70mm article of mine you just cited both list its duration as 37.
You’re correct, though, that in many markets the release of “Ice Station Zebra” cut short the runs of “2001.” This wasn’t the case in St. Louis, though, as “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is what followed “2001.”
“Star Wars” during its original 1977 release played a 26-week engagement at this theater.
John Hughes has been off the radar for over a decade. Despite how prolific he was, his best work, in my opinion, was made during the ‘80s. Sad news, nonetheless.
Hughes' high school-themed movies, initially, did not appeal to me as I was in high school at the time and simply preferred fantasy and action-adventure movies. His early films seemed preachy and soap opera-ish and reminded me of everything I hated about high school. Eventually, though, I came to appreciate Hughes' movies, and a few of them I consider personal favorites and outright classics.
The stuff of his (whether as writer, producer, director or any combination) I can remember seeing (and where) include:
MR. MOM (Barstow Twin, Barstow, CA)
National Lampoon’s VACATION (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
SIXTEEN CANDLES (Military Theater, Ft. Irwin, CA)
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
National Lampoon’s EUROPEAN VACATION (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
WEIRD SCIENCE (Movies 7, Victorville, CA; Military Theater, Heidelberg, Germany)
PRETTY IN PINK (National, Los Angeles, CA; Military Theater, Heidelberg, Germany)
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (Kuhio Twin, Honolulu, HI; Movies 7, Victorville, CA; AMC Commerce Center 6, San Bernardino, CA)
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (National, Los Angeles, CA)
PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (Movies 7, Victorville, CA)
SHE’S HAVING A BABY (AMC Victor Valley Mall 10, Victorville, CA)
THE GREAT OUTDOORS (AMC Victor Valley Mall 10, Victorville, CA)
UNCLE BUCK (Barstow Station 4, Barstow, CA)
National Lampoon’s CHRISTMAS VACATION (National, Los Angeles, CA)
HOME ALONE (Cinedome, Orange, CA)
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (AMC Marina Pacifica 6, Long Beach, CA)
HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (UA Marketplace 6, Long Beach, CA)
DENNIS THE MENACE (Edwards Westminster 10, Westminster, CA)
BABY’S DAY OUT (Wallace Lakeside Cinema 4, South Lake Tahoe, CA)
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Wallace Barstow Station 4, Barstow, CA)
MPol: You could not have seen “It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World” in 1963. If you would’ve looked over my list I posted just prior to your posting, you would’ve seen that there were only a handful of bookings that began in ‘63. If it was in Waltham that you saw it, then it’s doubtful you could’ve seen it any earlier than mid-1964 or maybe not even until 1965.
The thing with the roadshows is that they were exclusive engagements, and the theaters that booked roadshow product had clearances over their entire metropolitan areas and sometimes even clearances of hundreds of miles. In your case, Waltham would not have played “Mad World” until Boston’s roadshow run concluded.
I give you credit, though, for posting a comment without mentioning “West Side Story.” That had to be a first for you! :–)
Here’s a (work-in-progress) list of the original roadshow runs of IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD that I’ve been working on for some time and I thought some readers might find it fascinating given the news item and discussion. Note the number of great “Cinema Treasures” in which the classic film played and how even in the smaller markets the film played for several months. As for the running time, the film, as previously mentioned, was cut on multiple occasions; the earlier in the run the film opened in a given market, the longer the running time. (The general-release version was even shorter than the roadshow version(s).)
Month.Day.Year … City —– Cinema (Duration of engagement)
11.07.1963 … Los Angeles, CA, USA —– Cinerama Dome (67 weeks)
11.17.1963 … New York, NY, USA —– Warner (52 weeks)
11.19.1963 … Boston, MA, USA —– Boston (31 weeks)
11.19.1963 … Chicago, IL, USA —– McVickers (33 weeks)
12.02.1963 … London, England, UK —– Coliseum (32 weeks)
12.16.1963 … Berlin, West Germany —– Capitol
12.17.1963 … Paris, France —– Empire (19 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Atlanta, GA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (23 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Cleveland, OH, USA —– Palace (27 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Montreal, QC, Canada —– Imperial (58 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Pittsburgh, PA, USA —– Warner (28 weeks)
12.18.1963 … San Francisco, CA, USA —– Orpheum (52 weeks)
12.18.1963 … Tokyo, Japan —– Shochiku Central
12.19.1963 … Brussels, Belgium —– Varietes
12.19.1963 … Cincinnati, OH, USA —– Capitol (28 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Hamburg, West Germany —– Grindel
12.19.1963 … Houston, TX, USA —– Windsor (19 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Kansas City, MO, USA —– Empire (51 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Miami Beach, FL, USA —– Sheridan (23 weeks)
12.19.1963 … New Orleans, LA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (27 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Philadelphia, PA, USA —– Boyd (27 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Portland, OR, USA —– Hollywood (44 weeks)
12.19.1963 … Vienna, Austria —– Gartenbau
12.20.1963 … Dallas, TX, USA —– Capri (23 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Honolulu, HI, USA —– Cinerama
12.20.1963 … Louisville, KY, USA —– Rialto (26 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Milwaukee, WI, USA —– Cinema 1 (32 weeks)
12.20.1963 … Toronto, ON, Canada —– Carlton (18 weeks)
12.21.1963 … Copenhagen, Denmark —– Kinopalaeet
12.26.1963 … Birmingham, England, UK —– Gaumont
01.31.1964 … Nice, France —– Rialto
02.11.1964 … Detroit, MI, USA —– Music Hall (55 weeks)
02.12.1964 … Manila, Philippines —– Roman Super Cinerama
02.18.1964 … Columbus, OH, USA —– Grand (25 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Salt Lake City, UT, USA —– Villa (36 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Washington, DC, USA —– Uptown (36 weeks)
02.19.1964 … Wichita, KS, USA —– Uptown
02.20.1964 … Baltimore, MD, USA —– Town (18 weeks)
02.20.1964 … St. Louis, MO, USA —– Martin Cinerama (37 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Buffalo, NY, USA —– Teck (24 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Dayton, OH, USA —– Dabel
03.25.1964 … Hartford, CT, USA —– Cinerama (30 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Omaha, NE, USA —– Indian Hills (37 weeks)
03.25.1964 … Providence, RI, USA —– Cinerama
03.26.1964 … Lyon, France —– Palais de Congress
04.17.1964 … Madrid, Spain —– Proyecciones
04.21.1964 … Montclair, NJ, USA —– Clairidge (34 weeks)
04.22.1964 … San Diego, CA, USA —– Cinerama (50 weeks)
04.22.1964 … Seattle, WA, USA —– Martin Cinerama (48 weeks)
05.07.1964 … Toledo, OH, USA —– Valentine (25 weeks)
05.15.1964 … Scottsdale, AZ, USA —– Kachina
05.27.1964 … Fresno, CA, USA —– Warner (18 weeks)
05.27.1964 … Syosset, NY, USA —– Syosset (30 weeks)
05.27.1964 … Tampa, FL, USA —– Palace (12 weeks)
05.31.1964 … Strasbourg, France —– Broglie
06.03.1964 … Chattanooga, TN, USA —– Brainerd
06.10.1964 … Indianapolis, IN, USA —– Indiana (27 weeks)
06.13.1964 … Munich, West Germany —– City
06.23.1964 … Sacramento, CA, USA —– Esquire
06.24.1964 … Albuquerque, NM, USA —– Fox Winrock (13 weeks)
07.08.1964 … Norfolk, VA, USA —– Rosna
07.22.1964 … Charlotte, NC, USA —– Charlottetown
08.05.1964 … Vancouver, BC, Canada —– Strand (20 weeks)
09.04.1964 … Helsinki, Finland —– Savoy
09.05.1964 … Zuerich, Switzerland —– Apollo
09.10.1964 … Johannesburg, South Africa —– Cinerama
09.11.1964 … Milan, Italy —– Manzoni
09.24.1964 … Manchester, England, UK —– Theatre Royal
10.05.1964 … Newcastle, England, UK —– Queens
10.29.1964 … Denver, CO, USA —– Cooper (51 weeks)
10.29.1964 … Glasgow, Scotland, UK —– Coliseum
11.11.1964 … Stockholm, Sweden —– Vinterpalatset
11.19.1964 … St. Louis Park, MN, USA —– Cooper (47 weeks)
11.24.1964 … San Jose, CA, USA —– Century 21 (35 weeks)
11.27.1964 … Rome, Italy —– Royal
12.03.1964 … Auckland, New Zealand —– Cinerama
12.03.1964 … Sydney, Australia —– Plaza (70 weeks)
12.11.1964 … Barcelona, Spain —– Florida
12.17.1964 … Rotterdam, Netherlands —– Scala
04.15.1965 … Liverpool, England, UK —– Abbey
05.28.1965 … Dublin, Ireland —– Cinerama
06.03.1965 … Melbourne, Australia —– Plaza (60 weeks)
06.09.1965 … Caracas, Venezuela —– Canaima
12.25.1965 … San Juan, Puerto Rico —– Cinerama
03.03.1966 … Mexico City, Mexico —– Cine Diana
05.06.1966 … Oklahoma City, OK, USA —– Cooper (4 weeks)
08.19.1966 … Wellington, New Zealand —– Cinerama (17 weeks)
09.30.1966 … Tel Aviv, Israel —– Cinerama
Cuyahoga Falls is in the Akron market.
I thought it would be interesting at this stage in the series to provide an updated list, arranged alphabetically, of the completed and yet-to-be-completed North American Cinerama markets. The completed entries have been courtesy-linked to their dedicated page.
Akron
Albany
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Baltimore
Birmingham
Boston
Buffalo
Calgary
Charlotte
Chattanooga
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus
Dallas
Dayton
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
Edmonton
El Paso
Fargo
Erie
Fresno
Harrisburg
Hartford
Honolulu
Houston
Huntsville
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Knoxville
Las Vegas
Lawrence, MA
London, ON
Long Island
Los Angeles
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milan, IL/Quad Cities
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Montreal
Nanuet/Lower Hudson Valley
Nashville
New Haven
New Orleans
New York City
Norfolk/Hampton Roads
Northern New Jersey
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Orange County, CA
Orlando
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Portland
Providence
Reno
Rochester
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
Scranton
Seattle
Springfield, MA
Syracuse
Tacoma
Tampa
Toledo
Toronto
Tucson
Tulsa
Vancouver
Washington, DC
Wichita
Winnipeg
Worcester
Note that Fargo, Tacoma and Tucson are unconfirmed; it has not been definitively determined if those markets had an official Cinerama venue and/or showed any Cinerama presentations.
In time, some international markets will be featured in the series.
I cannot end this post without thanking my collaborators on this project, in particular Al Alvarez, Kirk Besse, Bill Huelbig, Mark Huffstetler, Bill Kretzel, Mark Lensenmayer, Stan Malone, Gabriel Neeb, Jim Perry, Bob Throop, and Vince Young.
And, finally, if any Cinema Treasures readers have access to the relevant resources and would like to contribute to the completion of the yet-to-be-completed Cinerama markets, please contact me.
I attended a test screening of “Last Action Hero” in Lakewood and can, therefore, attest to it having taken place. If, in fact, a screening took place in Pasadena, as you are recalling, then we can conclude there must have been at least two screenings.
In the spring of ‘93, the Lakewood Center hosted the infamous sneak-preview test screening of “Last Action Hero” that prompted additional photography and-re-editing.
By the way, the Dallas sneak of “Jaws” (mentiond in the post above) was held at the Medallion, not the UA Cine 150.
Denver’s complete CINERAMA exhibition history has been included in the “Remembering Cinerama” series and is posted here.
Denver’s complete CINEMIRACLE and CINERAMA exhibition history has been included in the “Remembering Cinerama” series and is posted here.
While known as the International 70, this theater showed (single-strip) CINERAMA during 1965-66.
Denver’s complete CINERAMA exhibition history has been included in the “Remembering Cinerama” series and is posted here.
Worcester’s CINERAMA exhibition history posted here.
Also, “Showcase Cinemas” needs to be added to the top of this page as a previous/alternate name for this theater.
I, too, liked Elfman’s music in the ‘89 “Batman,” and thought he was robbed of an Oscar nomination. I especially enjoyed the cinematography and art direction, though I think it ought to have been shot in scope.
As for the action scenes, I thought they were poorly staged and lacked energy. Burton’s just not an “action director,” in my opinion. Imagine if Spielberg or Cameron, in their prime, had directed the film…
1) The “Mountain States” area, in the context of this Cinerama series, consists of Colorado (Denver), Utah (Salt Lake City) and New Mexico (Albuquerque). If in the above Denver list there’s a “Mountain States Premiere” notation, that means that Denver had the earliest booking of that particular title among the three Cinerama markets in the Mountain States region. Likewise, if there’s no “Mountain States Premiere” notation on a particular entry, then that means the earliest booking of that particular film took place in either Salt Lake City or Albuquerque.
2) No. The Syosset Theater, which opened in 1956, was purpose-built for Todd-AO (70mm) presentations. It was retrofit in 1959 for Cinerama presentations.