Good point Jeff, I seriously doubt Marvin would know what the digital offset delay is or how to adjust it. Of course, it should be done by a tech with proper training, this should have been done when the 70mm reader was installed. Most importantly, it should have been noticed by someone other than the ticket buying public.
DTS, HUMBUG! bring back magnetic :)
Oh and one more thing, please tell Marvin the “projectionist”, who could not fix the brain wrap, to try and increase the pressure on the film bands in the gate to help with the jitter problem. I would also be sure to match the serial numbers on the gate or film trap to the one on the projector, there are two projectors in the Ziegfeld booth and the gates should not be interchanged, they are machined to each projector. perhaps they installed the wrong gate in the projector they are using with that wonderfull platter.
Regarding the sync problem with “Lawrence. As most of you know
DTS (Digital Theater Sound), is a motion picture sound system format that stores a digital soundtrack on separate CD-ROM discs,a timecode is read off the print, and the corresponding digital soundtrack info is retrieved off of the CD-ROM, keeping the soundtrack in sync.
Because the computer is constantly analyzing the timecode and matching the audio from the CD to it, the sound is seldom out of sync with the picture. If the problem was intermittent, or reel to reel, I would say there is a possibility of the problem being with the timecode, if all of the reels had the problem, the more likely is a problem with the DTS processor or 70mm reader, too bad it was not addressed and corrected after the first showing.
It sounds like to me that the problem with the film break was a brain wrap, which is a major problem when running platters. The almost loss of a show would not have happened if they would just run reel-to-reel. Sure the film can break running reel-to-reel, but the show can resume in just a few minutes, a brain wrap can take a very long time to untangle and can cause major damage to both the print AND the projection equipment Why on earth do they insist on using a platter in a single screen with such precious cargo as the classics?
I know all about the “Backdraft” disaster and why the platters were installed, but let me tell you, platters are far more troublesome, and are much more likly to ruin a show than the very rare time a projectionist runs the wrong reel.
Bway, my sources tell me the details are not completly worked out, but the current plan is to tear down the exsisting theatre and then build a Cinema Delux, perhaps later this year or early next.
Yes Steve, #3 was the main house for the newer films along with #4,
which were the same size (bigger) houses. #1 and #2 were a bit smallar in size. It was a great place to see a movie, the theatre was clean and well maintained and the projection was state of the art for it’s time. In 1976 it was the first of the multiplexes for Hawaii, previous to that time we had only single screen, and twin theatres like the Royal Marina, and Jerry Lewis cinemas. I always prefered the single big screen theatres, all of which are gone now.
Pearlridge 4 was used for showings of independant surfing
documentary movies. Once or twice a year we would rent out one of the screens for a week to show these very popular fims, which were shown in 16mm.
A few times,when Halloween fell on a weekend night, we would have a horrorfest, the shows would start at midnight and all four theatres would show horror films till about 4am.
Chuck, The date was late in 1972, November I believe. It was one of those failed Jerry Lewis cinemas when Royal first opened it. When Royal Development changed hands, the theatre was taken over by the then theatre manager who ran it for a while.
It was the first theatre in Hawaii to use a film transport system with only one projector for each cinema. It was a common booth with the #1(red),theatre projector on one side and the #2,(blue theatre), on the other.
Chuck, I want to thank you for posting all those Hawaii theatres, it brings back many memories
I don’t know that the 300 unit condo proposed for the Citibank property will help Stapelton in it’s decline, but it’s a start.
It’s not the same developer who purchased the Paramount buiding which seems to be in limbo.
garth,I wondered the same thing, there has not been any more talk about movies, Mrs Rosemary and her daughter have my info and knows I am available to help with such a project. I would only be interested in doing film. I just hope they were not discouraged by the dvd disaster held there recently.
Garth, I heard someone was looking for partners to open the Lane for
independent (art house)film showings. Too bad about New Dorp Lane, I hope it does not go the way of Stapelton.
Sorry Chuck, the Royal was already open when I first arived in 1972
I can only tell you we closed and demolished it in 1982.
Royal theatres, Herman Rosen, originaly wanted to play “South Pacific” for a year or two as a tourist attaction. If there is anything else I can tell you about that grand old theatre, let me know.
As for Pearlridge, as it was being built, we always planned another theatre complex across in the shopping center, the fourplex was supposed to run foreign language films and the one in Pearlridge center itself would run Hollywood films, including day and date with the Kam Drive-in. It took a while for that to happen and when it eventually did Pearlridge 4 was as you said, doomed.
Hi Michael, I would love your opinion on this.
I feel the Ziegfeld is showing very little showmanship in the manner in which they present the classic old roadshows, do you think I am wrong with my rants about how poorly the Ziegfeld handles the intermissions? How are they done in LA?
I opened the Pearlridge 4 plex, but I believe it was 1976
When we opened, one auditorium showed Chinese films and another was strictly philipino movies, the other two ran second run American films. Eventually, the theatre ran all American films, some first run day and date with Honolulu. It was a very popular theatre with all four screens often selling out on the weekend.
Thanks Chuck, I haven’t been back to Hawaii since 1982, but I still have a lot of friends I keep in touch with. I was chief projectionist for Royal theates for a while and then head of the sight and sound department for Consolidated theatres. Sadly, all the great theatres are gone. I was there to close the Royal theatre, I’m glad I did not see the end of so many more.
I would appreciate the people in the booth at the Ziegfeld not be referred to as projectionists. They are mearly threading a projector feed by a platter, pushing a button and then sitting on their butts for two+ hours. Hal made some very good points, the Zeigfeld guys would not have lasted a day in my time. They have only one screen to attend to and could do a lot more to enhance the presentation with a little showmanship.They choose not to bother.
Ok Clearview projectionists, listen up.
Assuming you get the complete print of 2001 please handle it as follows:
Overture: Raise stage curtain, lower lights to mid.
As overture ends lower lghts to full out, open title curtain as MGM logo appeares (do not show any white sheet!)
Intermission: close title curtain and stage curtain, making sure the two panels kiss and the stage curtain hits the stage as the intermission title fades out.
No music (non sync) played during intermission
Act two: raise stage curtain and lower house lights to 1/3rd as music begins. Half way thru the entr'acte music, cut lights to 2/3rd
leaving just enough light for patrons returning to seats
During the last few notes of the music, lower lights completly and open title curtain as first scene fades in.
End of movie: repeat intermission instructions and play exit music with both curtains closed and lights up.
I agree about the marquee, you don’t see many like it anymore. I would always glance over at it when I rode by on the LIRR. Sad it’s gone and replaced by that sigh.
So the operator (I refuse to call him/her a projectionist) could not take the trouble to close the curtain on the intermission tag, and open them again at the end of the entr'acte music. As for the lights, I would not be surprised if that was done from a remote switch down in the lobby somewhere, so the operator does not have to get out of a chair and do any extra work. DISGRACEFULL!
Good point Jeff, I seriously doubt Marvin would know what the digital offset delay is or how to adjust it. Of course, it should be done by a tech with proper training, this should have been done when the 70mm reader was installed. Most importantly, it should have been noticed by someone other than the ticket buying public.
DTS, HUMBUG! bring back magnetic :)
Oh and one more thing, please tell Marvin the “projectionist”, who could not fix the brain wrap, to try and increase the pressure on the film bands in the gate to help with the jitter problem. I would also be sure to match the serial numbers on the gate or film trap to the one on the projector, there are two projectors in the Ziegfeld booth and the gates should not be interchanged, they are machined to each projector. perhaps they installed the wrong gate in the projector they are using with that wonderfull platter.
Regarding the sync problem with “Lawrence. As most of you know
DTS (Digital Theater Sound), is a motion picture sound system format that stores a digital soundtrack on separate CD-ROM discs,a timecode is read off the print, and the corresponding digital soundtrack info is retrieved off of the CD-ROM, keeping the soundtrack in sync.
Because the computer is constantly analyzing the timecode and matching the audio from the CD to it, the sound is seldom out of sync with the picture. If the problem was intermittent, or reel to reel, I would say there is a possibility of the problem being with the timecode, if all of the reels had the problem, the more likely is a problem with the DTS processor or 70mm reader, too bad it was not addressed and corrected after the first showing.
It sounds like to me that the problem with the film break was a brain wrap, which is a major problem when running platters. The almost loss of a show would not have happened if they would just run reel-to-reel. Sure the film can break running reel-to-reel, but the show can resume in just a few minutes, a brain wrap can take a very long time to untangle and can cause major damage to both the print AND the projection equipment Why on earth do they insist on using a platter in a single screen with such precious cargo as the classics?
I know all about the “Backdraft” disaster and why the platters were installed, but let me tell you, platters are far more troublesome, and are much more likly to ruin a show than the very rare time a projectionist runs the wrong reel.
Bway, my sources tell me the details are not completly worked out, but the current plan is to tear down the exsisting theatre and then build a Cinema Delux, perhaps later this year or early next.
Yes Steve, #3 was the main house for the newer films along with #4,
which were the same size (bigger) houses. #1 and #2 were a bit smallar in size. It was a great place to see a movie, the theatre was clean and well maintained and the projection was state of the art for it’s time. In 1976 it was the first of the multiplexes for Hawaii, previous to that time we had only single screen, and twin theatres like the Royal Marina, and Jerry Lewis cinemas. I always prefered the single big screen theatres, all of which are gone now.
I still remember the deal we had with McDonalds across the street, all the coffee and burgers we could consume in exchange for movie passes.
Pearlridge 4 was used for showings of independant surfing
documentary movies. Once or twice a year we would rent out one of the screens for a week to show these very popular fims, which were shown in 16mm.
A few times,when Halloween fell on a weekend night, we would have a horrorfest, the shows would start at midnight and all four theatres would show horror films till about 4am.
Aloha and Mahalo!
Chuck, The date was late in 1972, November I believe. It was one of those failed Jerry Lewis cinemas when Royal first opened it. When Royal Development changed hands, the theatre was taken over by the then theatre manager who ran it for a while.
It was the first theatre in Hawaii to use a film transport system with only one projector for each cinema. It was a common booth with the #1(red),theatre projector on one side and the #2,(blue theatre), on the other.
Chuck, I want to thank you for posting all those Hawaii theatres, it brings back many memories
I don’t know that the 300 unit condo proposed for the Citibank property will help Stapelton in it’s decline, but it’s a start.
It’s not the same developer who purchased the Paramount buiding which seems to be in limbo.
garth,I wondered the same thing, there has not been any more talk about movies, Mrs Rosemary and her daughter have my info and knows I am available to help with such a project. I would only be interested in doing film. I just hope they were not discouraged by the dvd disaster held there recently.
Garth, I heard someone was looking for partners to open the Lane for
independent (art house)film showings. Too bad about New Dorp Lane, I hope it does not go the way of Stapelton.
Royal theatre
View link
Sorry Chuck, the Royal was already open when I first arived in 1972
I can only tell you we closed and demolished it in 1982.
Royal theatres, Herman Rosen, originaly wanted to play “South Pacific” for a year or two as a tourist attaction. If there is anything else I can tell you about that grand old theatre, let me know.
As for Pearlridge, as it was being built, we always planned another theatre complex across in the shopping center, the fourplex was supposed to run foreign language films and the one in Pearlridge center itself would run Hollywood films, including day and date with the Kam Drive-in. It took a while for that to happen and when it eventually did Pearlridge 4 was as you said, doomed.
Hi Michael, I would love your opinion on this.
I feel the Ziegfeld is showing very little showmanship in the manner in which they present the classic old roadshows, do you think I am wrong with my rants about how poorly the Ziegfeld handles the intermissions? How are they done in LA?
I opened the Pearlridge 4 plex, but I believe it was 1976
When we opened, one auditorium showed Chinese films and another was strictly philipino movies, the other two ran second run American films. Eventually, the theatre ran all American films, some first run day and date with Honolulu. It was a very popular theatre with all four screens often selling out on the weekend.
Thanks Chuck, I haven’t been back to Hawaii since 1982, but I still have a lot of friends I keep in touch with. I was chief projectionist for Royal theates for a while and then head of the sight and sound department for Consolidated theatres. Sadly, all the great theatres are gone. I was there to close the Royal theatre, I’m glad I did not see the end of so many more.
I would appreciate the people in the booth at the Ziegfeld not be referred to as projectionists. They are mearly threading a projector feed by a platter, pushing a button and then sitting on their butts for two+ hours. Hal made some very good points, the Zeigfeld guys would not have lasted a day in my time. They have only one screen to attend to and could do a lot more to enhance the presentation with a little showmanship.They choose not to bother.
Atta boy Peter, I’m proud of you. There is absolutly no excuse for the guys at the Ziegfeld not to do the same.
Ok Clearview projectionists, listen up.
Assuming you get the complete print of 2001 please handle it as follows:
Overture: Raise stage curtain, lower lights to mid.
As overture ends lower lghts to full out, open title curtain as MGM logo appeares (do not show any white sheet!)
Intermission: close title curtain and stage curtain, making sure the two panels kiss and the stage curtain hits the stage as the intermission title fades out.
No music (non sync) played during intermission
Act two: raise stage curtain and lower house lights to 1/3rd as music begins. Half way thru the entr'acte music, cut lights to 2/3rd
leaving just enough light for patrons returning to seats
During the last few notes of the music, lower lights completly and open title curtain as first scene fades in.
End of movie: repeat intermission instructions and play exit music with both curtains closed and lights up.
Now take a bow, ya done good!
I agree about the marquee, you don’t see many like it anymore. I would always glance over at it when I rode by on the LIRR. Sad it’s gone and replaced by that sigh.
So the operator (I refuse to call him/her a projectionist) could not take the trouble to close the curtain on the intermission tag, and open them again at the end of the entr'acte music. As for the lights, I would not be surprised if that was done from a remote switch down in the lobby somewhere, so the operator does not have to get out of a chair and do any extra work. DISGRACEFULL!
Does anyone know what type of equipment is in the booth and are they running reel-to-reel or have they gone platter
Bill, how was the intermission handled?