Phipps Plaza 1 & 2 and Penthouse Theatre

Joe Vogel on December 1, 2009 at 1:17 am

Long-time Paramount-ABC regional affiliate Wilby-Kincey Theatres' announcement of plans to build the Phipps Plaza Theatre appeared in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of February 3, 1969. The new house was to be equipped with the UltraVison 70 projection equipment developed by Wilby-Kincey subsidiary Wil-Kin Theatre Supply Company, and the auditorium would feature a continental seating arrangement with rows 45 inches front to back. I haven’t found the exact opening date, but the July 14, 1969, issue of Boxoffice said construction was underway and the house was expected to open that fall.

The Phipps Plaza Theatre was designed by Asheville, N.C. architectural firm Six Associates. Though Boxoffice didn’t mention his name, the lead architect on the project was William B. McGehee, who filled the same role for the first UltraVision Theatre built for Wilby-Kincey at Charleston, North Carolina. The Phipps Plaza Theatre is listed among McGehee’s works in his entry in the 1970 AIA Directory.

Cliff Carson on November 27, 2009 at 8:04 pm

I remember vividly seeing ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER there many times. It was a grand film and the first movie theatre that I ever encountered inside a mall. Another big one was THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nugOhUg4coI

thursdaynext27 on September 13, 2009 at 6:19 pm

I think Dances w/ Wolves was the last film I saw there before they became a multiplex (first movie for the reopening was Reservoir Dogs). My mother still talks about Silverado and how amazing it looked on that big screen.

dhargette on September 8, 2009 at 10:24 pm

RE: “Films Inc was a private screening room used mainly for bid screenings for southeastern film bookers. For years this duty was handled by the Columbia Pictures Screening Room and Universal Screening room which were across the street from each other downtown. posted by StanMalone on Jun 8, 2005 at 10:02am

Since my dad worked for Columbia Pictures I was fortunate to see quite a few screenings at the Columbia Screening room at their office on Luckie Street. The Rialto Theater was within walking distance and Herren’s restaurant was a famous spot for a businessman’s lunch.

Box Office, the trade magazine, referred to the screening room as “Columbia’s Filmrow Playhouse” and maintained that 90% of the trade and press screenings were held there. Most of the movie distributors and some of the exhibitors were in the area they called “Film Row”. I think Columbia was 195 Luckie Street. It didn’t seat very many people. I vaguely remember about 50 seats, but it could have been a few more (50 – 75). There was a woman that was the film censor for Atlanta at most of the screenings.

JackCoursey on March 2, 2006 at 3:52 pm

Here are photos of the Penthouse and here are shots cinemas I & II.

JackCoursey on January 1, 2006 at 3:48 pm

Here is a photo from Mr. Stan Malone of the fantastic Phipps lobby.

Coate on September 26, 2005 at 2:07 pm

The switch of ownership from ABC to Plitt Southern took place during November 1978.

Coate on June 9, 2005 at 2:10 pm

“In the early 80’s, I am not sure of the exact year, ABC sold out to Plitt Theatres.” (StanMalone)

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The switch from ABC to Plitt (Southern) took place between December 1978 and May 1980. Sorry, don’t have the exact date.

Coate on June 9, 2005 at 2:03 pm

“Around the opening of "Close Encounters” (Dec. 14 or 21, 1977), four Atlanta area theatres had Dolby Stereo (CP50): Phipps Penthouse, Buford Hwy Twin, Mableton, and Stonemont.“ (Michael Coate)

As for the Stonemont and the correct Dolby date I have no explanation. In those days, films were released in both Dolby and non Dolby prints. It is possible that ABC was going to open Close Encounters in Dolby at both locations but could only get a mono print for Stonemont.(StanMalone)

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In checking some data, it looks like during the Dec. ‘77/Jan. '78 timeframe, there was another Dolby-equipped venue in the Atlanta area: a house in Jonesboro.

I don’t have any opening day or week ads for the Atlanta engagements of “Close Encounters.” I do, however, have one from April 1978, and both the Phipps Penthouse and Stonemont were promoting Dolby Stereo for their “CE3K” showings. “An Incredible Experience” with the “Dolby System” logo centered between the two theatre names.

raymondstewart on June 7, 2005 at 7:53 pm

Wow, thanks for the story Stan! I never visited the Phipps before the twinning/penthouse, I bet it was a great place as a single. Back in those days there were so many theaters here in town, I hate to look in the AJC and see the few theaters left that are not megaplexes.

StanMalone on June 5, 2005 at 1:22 pm

The Phipps Plaza Theatre was one of the outstanding movie theatres in Atlanta history, and after reading the two posts on Cinema Treasures I thought that it would be nice if the whole story was told. So, here it is, from the beginning up to the point that the existing posts take over.

The Phipps Plaza Shopping Center was built in 1968-69 across Peachtree Road from the existing Lenox Square which at the time hosted its own fine single screen first run theatre. From the beginning, Phipps Plaza considered itself more upscale than Lenox and it showed in the choice of anchor stores Lord and Taylor and Saks 5th Avenue, and the design of the theatre. The Phipps Theatre bridged a gap in theatre design between the old downtown movie palaces such as the Fox, Roxy, Grand, and Erlanger, and the modern day spaceship look of Rave, Regal, AMC, etc… Phipps could best be described as 1970’s living room. The lobby was not particularly big, but was the full height of both levels of the mall. From the second mall level you could look down onto the open area in front of the boxoffice and into the lobby thanks to the two story glass wall that separated the lobby from the mall itself. The lobby was furnished in ultra modern (for the times) art and seating areas. The lounges were also very swank with a women’s rest room area that did not have stalls as such but actual private rooms with wooden doors. Each stall / room had its own private basin.

Nice as the lobby was, it was the design of the auditorium that really set the theatre apart from its contemporaries. The auditorium held 860 seats, but instead of a shoebox pattern was actually wider than it was deep. Across the front was a wall to wall curved screen. I do not know the dimensions, but it must have been equal to the 34' by 65' Cinerama screen that was in the Atlanta / Erlanger at that time. The layout of the seating area was also curved to the same degree, opposite from the screen. There was no center aisle. Two aisles along the walls provided access to the very long rows of seating. The first time I saw a movie there I sat in the middle and was amazed by the way I could look down the row and see the seats curve out of sight before reaching the wall. Although this provided an outstanding field of view from almost any seat in the house, it did cause problems when the house was full, which it often was. Anyone sitting in the middle had to climb over a minimum of 15 to 20 people if they had to leave during the show. It also made it hard for the theatre to be sold to capacity because of the tendency people have to leave a seat between themselves and their temporary neighbors. Just outside the projection booth there was a small balcony the manager could look off of to spot the gaps in the patrons, and he could then use the PA system to ask the everyone move into the center of the rows so they could free up seats at the ends of the rows. The auditorium was completely covered in medium green drapes while the seats were dark red. The floor was either painted, stained, or poured black.

As with everything else, the projection booth was equipped state of the art. There were two 35 /70 projectors which did not point at the screen, but toward each other into a box known as an Optiverter. This system, which I believe was called Optivision, used a system of mirrors inside the box to adjust and enlarge the picture so that by the time it came out the front it filled up the entire curved screen with amazingly sharp focus and light. This was a new and very delicate system which won an Academy Award for technical achievement, as the theatre was proud to inform you by the way of a plaque posted next to the boxoffice. As with anything of this nature, exact alignment was a must, and that was not always the case. The tech for the Wil-Kin company spent many long hours at the Phipps and the South DeKalb Twin fine tuning their boxes. Despite these problems, when the system was working right it produced a great movie watching experience, especially when coupled with 4 and 6 track magnetic sound. To add to the enjoyment, there was a vertical rack of lights behind the drapes on each edge of the screen which pointed toward the center of the screen. Whenever there was an overture preceding a movie, the curtain would be closed after the previews, the auditorium lights would remain off, and the two racks of screen lights would illuminate the closed curtain. As the overture ended, the screen lights would dim and the curtain would open. Since all previews at that time were flat and most roadshow type movies were scope, this had the added effect of almost doubling the size of the screen. The scope picture used the whole screen of course, but the flat was impressive too, using the full floor to ceiling height of the screen.

ABC Southeastern Entertainment, the operators of the Fox and Roxy in downtown Atlanta as well as the Alabama and Ritz in downtown Birmingham, opened the Phipps Plaza Theatre during the Christmas holidays of 1969. The opening movie was Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice. The theatre and movie were an immediate hit. BCTA was followed by the not so hit They Shoot Horses Don’t They? which was in turn followed by the biggest hit of those early years, MAS*H. By this time Phipps was established as one of Atlanta’s top theatres, a place where people expected the big films to play. Other big grossing films to play in those years were Klute, What’s Up Doc? and The Getaway. Business was so good that ABC decided to add a screen, and in 1973 The Phipps Penthouse Theatre was built on the upper level of the mall just to the north of the existing theatre. At 550 seats, this house was not as large, or grand as the downstairs location, but was quite a theatre in its own right. Other than sharing a manager and staff, the Penthouse was run as a completely separate theatre with its own boxoffice, concession stand and projectionist. It had a very ugly and distracting loud color scheme for its auditorium walls and seats, but it also had a curved screen with Optivision projection. The Penthouse opened on December 26, 1973 with The Exorcist. This was the height of the glory days for this location, and in fact, it proved to be the beginning of the end.

The success of Phipps convinced the ABC crowd that there was business to support another screen. But, where to put it? There was no more mall space convenient, and besides, that would mean paying more rent. The solution? Split the original downstairs theatre. I know that there is a movie theatre Hell somewhere, heavily populated by theatre owners and execs who spent the 70’s carving up once proud venues into shotguns and shoeboxes, but there should be an especially hot corner reserved for who ever made this decision. In March of 1975, the run of Young Frankenstein was brought to an early end while still doing sellout business. The magnificent, wide, curved screen, curved seating area showplace, was split into two rectangular shoeboxes, each seating about 500 with flat screens and 4-16-4 seating divided by two off center aisles. While not bad theatres when compared to other criminal designs of that era, they were truly pathetic sights for anyone who knew what was destroyed to create them. The tone for the new version of Phipps was set by the premiere engagement of the new Phipps Plaza Twin, none other than At Long Last Love staring Burt Reynolds and Cybill Sheppard. Need I say more?

Despite this beginning, the location continued to do well. The summer of 1975 brought Jaws, which probably made the owners wish they had their 350 lost seats back. Following that were such hits as Logans Run, Omen, A Bridge Too Far, Jaws 2, and Empire Strikes Back. The Penthouse got into the act with the Sensurround release of Midway and in 1977 scored a first with the premiere of Dolby Stereo in Atlanta when Close Encounters opened. (I know there are people who will dispute this. There were a few other Dolby equipped theatres in Atlanta, and some of them were playing movies that had previously opened in mono, like Star Wars, but Close Encounters was the first movie to premiere in Dolby in Atlanta.) Even movies that did not do well overall did well at Phipps due to the demographics of the area. These included Lucky Lady, Barry Lyndon, and The Other Side of Midnight.

In the early 80’s, I am not sure of the exact year, ABC sold out to Plitt Theatres which later sold out to Cineplex, and the handwriting was soon on the wall. I do not know the terms of the Plitt deal with Phipps. They might have just been running the location for a management fee like ABC did for years with the Fox. At any rate, they did not spend one dime on keeping the theatre up. The last movie I saw there was The Verdict in 1983. By that time the Penthouse had lost its name and identity and the place was being run as a triple. The boxoffice of the Penthouse had been turned into a giant planter, complete with plastic plants. All tickets were sold from the downstairs boxoffice, a source of no small amount of irritation to patrons in those pre elevator days. The downstairs theatre had large sections of carpet missing and a small version of Niagara Falls running down the large two story lobby wall and into buckets placed in front of the concession stand. The once proud auditorium was in similar shape with a very musty smell to boot. I never went back until the night before it closed where with the help of the projectionist I shot several rolls of film. Sadly I know of no pictures of the 1969 theatre, but the Penthouse looked pretty much unchanged from the day it opened since my pictures do not show up dirt, torn carpets or reproduce smell.

Phipps Plaza has undergone a complete rebuilding since those days. The AMC 14plex occupies a completely different spot from the old theatre. The area where the theatre was located was completely demolished. If you go to Phipps Plaza today, walk to the far western end of the ground floor of the mall where the two story Parisians Department Store is located. That is roughly the spot. Go to the upper level, stand in front of Parisians upper entrance and look to your right. That is about where the Penthouse was located. As with so much in Atlanta a sad end to a once fine place. I only wish I had time and room to tell all of my Phipps stories.

DonRosen on April 8, 2005 at 4:48 am

I saw Close Encounters here in 1977. The sound was so distorted. I asked the manager to fix it. He said the projectionist was out getting a haircut. Great experience.