The Jersey does not have mag stereo capability at this time, so a mag print – if even a runnable one still exists – of Ben-Hur wouldn’t have done them any good. Optical Dolby Stereo can sound very good when the proper care is taken transferring the mag tracks. The LJ has a bit of an echo problem, but overall the sound is good, IMO.
I ran one of the 1999 reissue prints of Gone with the Wind a couple of years ago at the Lafayette – the IB Technicolor image is nice, but there are some issues with the focus. The elements used to make the negative are occasionally misaligned, resulting in fringing at times. There are no newer prints of GwtW available, sad to say.
I’m sure Mitchell will do a good job vis-a-vis the presentation.
As far as I know, there are no definte plans yet. But, since they committed well over $30,000 towards the organ restoration and reinstallation, I’d assume they plan to use it. But any changes are in the future.
The organ restoration should take about a year or two before it’s reinstalled at the Paramount. Off the record, LIU has stated that they will most likely return the venue to a performance space for their theater arts, music, and other programs. In the interim, it will still be used for some of the other sports and for a practice hall.
That’s probably true for that time, Bill. But don’t you think those figures I quoted above for this weekend’s event are just slightly ridiculous?
It’s time for the unions to work with the management of these venues. Show business is a seven-day-a-week operation, I don’t understand their position of “overtime” for a Saturday afternoon on a week when they had maybe one other event. And it’s time for the management to reduce their overhead as well – many do earn some outrageous numbers not always tied to profits, I’d love to see bonuses reduced/eliminated if a venue is running at a loss (as the MH does every single year). There’s plenty of room on both sides to make these things work. My point was strictly about that one event, not the entirety of the operation.
I think your estimate is probably correct – I didn’t think to take a closer count prior to the playing.
To lower the curtain would have cost NYTOS close to $4000 – the union demanded 4 stagehands for 8 hours at overtime rate to press 4 buttons. To have a PA system would have cost another couple thousand – the union demanded at least one electrician and a soundman for 8 hours at overtime rate. Same goes for the lights. The Hall would not absorb these costs nor tell the union to get lost – which they should do immediately.
So – did anybody else from here go to the organ concert Saturday afternoon? I thought the event went pretty well – it looked like around 100-150 people attended.
The Ohio Theatre (CAPA) and the Wang Center are both non-profit organizations – they survive through donations, public monies, and tickets sales, as well as volunteer staffing. The RCMH is not, I believe, a non-profit organization. There isn’t any public money available for them, nor would volunteers be allowed to work due to union regulations.
I don’t know of any major distributor who offers classic titles via download for digital projectors. They offer them in 35mm prints.
As for your question about a distributor who has a “license to these old movies”, there isn’t one single distributor. Each studio maintains its own repertory or classics division and you need to contact them about any films you want to show. Don’t waste time contacting the home video divisions, they have nothing to do with theatrical showings. Your best bet is to hire a film booker to inquire for you if you have no experience in this area.
Yes, some copies of Metropolis are in public domain, but not the latest restoration that Transit Film of Munich did – USA theatrical rights are controlled by Kino and that version is copyrighted.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
We inquired about renting the Hall for a silent film event with live orchestra – just to walk in the door, it was approximately $60,000 a night rental. That did NOT include a stage show (other than 5 minutes of the Rockettes), film costs, or orchestra costs. We would also not get a share of any concessions sold. The Hall was not interested in partnering with us to lower the cost, nor were they willing to negotiate with the various unions to give us a break on their labor. Obviously, an outside party trying to do films at RCMH is impossible. It could never work with a new film – where you’re giving up over 75% of your ticket price back to the studio for the two weeks where the film might actually do business – but even with classics you have to give back over 35%.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
Kiss Me Kate looked great when I showed it in double-system 3-D last year at the Lafayette, Vincent. There are many good depth effects and few off-screen gimmicks (other than one 30 second section). The projection angle of the Jersey might make 3-D presentations difficult down there.
The organ is being repaired and will be reinstalled over the next year or so (it was severely damaged last year by a leaky roof). The New York Theatre Organ Society just announced that LIU has secured a contractor to begin the restoration work, whoch involves removing various components and taking thme to Connecticut for resorative work.
Thank you very much Ross and Andreas for including Galaxy’s Lafayette Theatre in your selections. We are very proud to be included in such distinguished company.
Nelson Page, President
Galaxy Theatre Corporation
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
It’s sad, but Disney does not currently offer Mary Poppins for regular theatrical bookings. I tried to get it last November for my Big Screen Classics series and it’s out of circulation. Disney should have had an East Coast re-premiere of the film (they did so at, I think, the El Capitan in LA), but it’s not the RCMH’s fault if they didn’t show it.
I might not be correct regarding the color of the walls in the Kubrick section of my post above – it might have been white and not orange. I will check out my references.
Most theatre screens are made out of vinyl, which is then stretched around a frame of some sort. The are small perforations in the material to allow the sound to transmit through from the speaker(s) behind it. The front surface of the screen is generally a matte white surface (silver is sometimes used – that’s what we use at the Lafayette Theatre – mostly for installations that plan to run 3-D) that has a slight bit of reflective material in it. Cleaning a screen is difficult, most products will remove the coating and the screen darkens in those sections. There are companies that professionally clean screens, but it’s expensive and can not always remove the dirt & stains.
The Kubrick story is that when A Clockwork Orange was set to premiere in New York, the theatre had a screen mounted on the front wall (not projecting on the wall itself) with no curtaining or masking on the surrounding wall. The theatre painted the wall and ceiling around the screen an orange color, which would look awful with a projected image in the middle of it. When Kubrick heard about this (he always sent representative to the first-run theatres to check their presentations), he demanded the wall be painted the proper flat black color. I don’t know of any theatres that use the wall, but I’m sure there’s one someplace.
I think it was a stage house, the “Hines Playhouse”. I didn’t see any ads for it in the papers starting in 1928, so it may have only existed prior to then. There was another movie house in Suffern, it was called “The Strand” and opened sometime in the 30s and was gone by the 50s. I came across ads for it in the newspaper microfilms when researching the 3D films that played at the Lafayette, The Strand billed itself as “The Family Theatre”, or something like that. I have to look at my files at the office to see if I saved any copies of their ads.
The Jersey does not have mag stereo capability at this time, so a mag print – if even a runnable one still exists – of Ben-Hur wouldn’t have done them any good. Optical Dolby Stereo can sound very good when the proper care is taken transferring the mag tracks. The LJ has a bit of an echo problem, but overall the sound is good, IMO.
It certainly could be, YankeeMike. Warner just hasn’t done it yet.
From what I remember, Ben-Hur has no exit music. I think it’s probably the only one of the major epics of that era not to have exit music.
Sounds like the Ben-Hur will be a winner.
I ran one of the 1999 reissue prints of Gone with the Wind a couple of years ago at the Lafayette – the IB Technicolor image is nice, but there are some issues with the focus. The elements used to make the negative are occasionally misaligned, resulting in fringing at times. There are no newer prints of GwtW available, sad to say.
I’m sure Mitchell will do a good job vis-a-vis the presentation.
As far as I know, there are no definte plans yet. But, since they committed well over $30,000 towards the organ restoration and reinstallation, I’d assume they plan to use it. But any changes are in the future.
The organ restoration should take about a year or two before it’s reinstalled at the Paramount. Off the record, LIU has stated that they will most likely return the venue to a performance space for their theater arts, music, and other programs. In the interim, it will still be used for some of the other sports and for a practice hall.
That’s probably true for that time, Bill. But don’t you think those figures I quoted above for this weekend’s event are just slightly ridiculous?
It’s time for the unions to work with the management of these venues. Show business is a seven-day-a-week operation, I don’t understand their position of “overtime” for a Saturday afternoon on a week when they had maybe one other event. And it’s time for the management to reduce their overhead as well – many do earn some outrageous numbers not always tied to profits, I’d love to see bonuses reduced/eliminated if a venue is running at a loss (as the MH does every single year). There’s plenty of room on both sides to make these things work. My point was strictly about that one event, not the entirety of the operation.
I think your estimate is probably correct – I didn’t think to take a closer count prior to the playing.
To lower the curtain would have cost NYTOS close to $4000 – the union demanded 4 stagehands for 8 hours at overtime rate to press 4 buttons. To have a PA system would have cost another couple thousand – the union demanded at least one electrician and a soundman for 8 hours at overtime rate. Same goes for the lights. The Hall would not absorb these costs nor tell the union to get lost – which they should do immediately.
So – did anybody else from here go to the organ concert Saturday afternoon? I thought the event went pretty well – it looked like around 100-150 people attended.
The Ohio Theatre (CAPA) and the Wang Center are both non-profit organizations – they survive through donations, public monies, and tickets sales, as well as volunteer staffing. The RCMH is not, I believe, a non-profit organization. There isn’t any public money available for them, nor would volunteers be allowed to work due to union regulations.
The facility operations are no way comparable.
I don’t know of any major distributor who offers classic titles via download for digital projectors. They offer them in 35mm prints.
As for your question about a distributor who has a “license to these old movies”, there isn’t one single distributor. Each studio maintains its own repertory or classics division and you need to contact them about any films you want to show. Don’t waste time contacting the home video divisions, they have nothing to do with theatrical showings. Your best bet is to hire a film booker to inquire for you if you have no experience in this area.
Yes, some copies of Metropolis are in public domain, but not the latest restoration that Transit Film of Munich did – USA theatrical rights are controlled by Kino and that version is copyrighted.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
We inquired about renting the Hall for a silent film event with live orchestra – just to walk in the door, it was approximately $60,000 a night rental. That did NOT include a stage show (other than 5 minutes of the Rockettes), film costs, or orchestra costs. We would also not get a share of any concessions sold. The Hall was not interested in partnering with us to lower the cost, nor were they willing to negotiate with the various unions to give us a break on their labor. Obviously, an outside party trying to do films at RCMH is impossible. It could never work with a new film – where you’re giving up over 75% of your ticket price back to the studio for the two weeks where the film might actually do business – but even with classics you have to give back over 35%.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
Kiss Me Kate looked great when I showed it in double-system 3-D last year at the Lafayette, Vincent. There are many good depth effects and few off-screen gimmicks (other than one 30 second section). The projection angle of the Jersey might make 3-D presentations difficult down there.
I think that Kiss Me Kate did not show in 3-D at the Music Hall. I’ll ask Bob Furmanek to add his expertise about 3-D to this thread.
The organ is being repaired and will be reinstalled over the next year or so (it was severely damaged last year by a leaky roof). The New York Theatre Organ Society just announced that LIU has secured a contractor to begin the restoration work, whoch involves removing various components and taking thme to Connecticut for resorative work.
Congrtatulations on the milestone!
Pete Apruzzese
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
There are no plans at this time to reconfigure the Sparta Theatre.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
Galaxy Theatre Corp.
Thank you very much Ross and Andreas for including Galaxy’s Lafayette Theatre in your selections. We are very proud to be included in such distinguished company.
Nelson Page, President
Galaxy Theatre Corporation
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
Vincent –
It’s sad, but Disney does not currently offer Mary Poppins for regular theatrical bookings. I tried to get it last November for my Big Screen Classics series and it’s out of circulation. Disney should have had an East Coast re-premiere of the film (they did so at, I think, the El Capitan in LA), but it’s not the RCMH’s fault if they didn’t show it.
Great news, Howard! Congratulations.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
I might not be correct regarding the color of the walls in the Kubrick section of my post above – it might have been white and not orange. I will check out my references.
CConnolly –
Most theatre screens are made out of vinyl, which is then stretched around a frame of some sort. The are small perforations in the material to allow the sound to transmit through from the speaker(s) behind it. The front surface of the screen is generally a matte white surface (silver is sometimes used – that’s what we use at the Lafayette Theatre – mostly for installations that plan to run 3-D) that has a slight bit of reflective material in it. Cleaning a screen is difficult, most products will remove the coating and the screen darkens in those sections. There are companies that professionally clean screens, but it’s expensive and can not always remove the dirt & stains.
The Kubrick story is that when A Clockwork Orange was set to premiere in New York, the theatre had a screen mounted on the front wall (not projecting on the wall itself) with no curtaining or masking on the surrounding wall. The theatre painted the wall and ceiling around the screen an orange color, which would look awful with a projected image in the middle of it. When Kubrick heard about this (he always sent representative to the first-run theatres to check their presentations), he demanded the wall be painted the proper flat black color. I don’t know of any theatres that use the wall, but I’m sure there’s one someplace.
dave-bronx:
Here is the link to the news item posted last week telling of the plans for the property:
http://cinematreasures.org/news/12537_0_1_0_C/
Glad to hear you enjoyed the show, Robert.
I think it was a stage house, the “Hines Playhouse”. I didn’t see any ads for it in the papers starting in 1928, so it may have only existed prior to then. There was another movie house in Suffern, it was called “The Strand” and opened sometime in the 30s and was gone by the 50s. I came across ads for it in the newspaper microfilms when researching the 3D films that played at the Lafayette, The Strand billed itself as “The Family Theatre”, or something like that. I have to look at my files at the office to see if I saved any copies of their ads.
Hope you guys made the show yesterday, it was a doozy!
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayete Theatre