This theatre building is still standing but rotting. I went many a time to the original Six Flags Mall Cinema I&II. Sometime in the ‘80’s, they added three more screens behind the original two.
I was a projectionist here in the mid-70’s when it was still a first-run screen—I also worked the Park Forest also. This theatre would book 70MM as much as possible—it ran Woodstock in 70 in Spring 1970 for quite a few months. I ran both That’s Entertainments, The Wind And The Lion and return runs of Patton and Camelot all in 70MM!
Camelot trivia: this film’s original running was something like 193 minutes. When it was was reissued around 1976, we played it—unfortunately, Warner Bros. decided to shorten it in order to play more shows (shades of the 1954 Judy Garland A Star Is Born!). We played it one show a night starting about 7:30 with an end time around 11. When I checked the 70MM print, I thought something didn’t seem right—shouldn’t it have had more reels?—but the show must go on! Imagine the manager, the audience and my surprise when the show ended around 10! Warners’s had taken out the Overture, Intermission, the second-half overture and the walk-out music at the end plus a couple of songs and quite a bit of the movie story itself to make a compact 143 minutes! Everyone was pissed and, needless to say, it only played a week and was kicked out for Patton!
This theatre was twinned in the early-to-mid ‘80’s and that was it.
I was a projectionist at this theatre in 1972-73 when it was the Festival Theatre showing Spanish-language movies. This was quite a theatre in it’s heyday with a huge backstage area for live shows and a restaurant along the side. J.J. Rodriguez was still running it when I worked there and he was one of the best bosses I ever had; a true Padrone.
Someone tried to revive this theatre in the mid-70’s showing old movies but the downtown movie-going experience had died and it closed for good. During it’s heyday, this was the city headquarters for Interstate Theatres in Fort Worth—as was the Majestic in Dallas. This became Fort Worth’s 70MM Todd-AO roadshow house in the mid-50’s and one of the best theatres I’ve encountered for seeing Cinemascope/Panavision widescreen movies; when I saw The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father in 1963, the picture was incredibly wide leading me to wonder if they were still using the original aspect ratio 2.55:1 Cinemascope screen!
What was sorta unique about this theatre was that the screen and masking could accomodate practically any 35-70MM format size—from 2.35:1 scope to 2.10:1 70MM to 1.85:1 widescreen to 1.66:1 foreign format to old Hollywood 1.33:1; one of the few theatres able to show the 1933 King Kong in the proper ratio when it was re-released in the ‘70’S.
I worked as a projectionist off and on in 1974 at this theatre. While the shopping center is still going, the theatres were remodeled out of existence to accomodate more retail—they were in the center of the shoping center.
This theatre opened around 1968-69 as the first multiplex theatre (more than two screens) in the DFW Metroplex. I was summer projectionist in 1974 and it was a unique theatre back then. But with the advent of even bigger and better multiplexes, this theatre in the ‘80’s headed for oblivion—along with the mall it was in. This mall and theatre were remodeled into an office park at the corner of Webb Chapel and Forest Lane—directly across Webb Chapel from the Cinemark 17-Imax.
When McClendon tripled this theatre in 1970, the balcony was twinned and the downstairs theatre later installed a silver screen to show 3-D. By catering to a black audience, this theatre was a huge success in the early ‘70’s but declined in later years. Because of the early success, they added 4 more screens in the basement of the adjoining McClendon building to make it a 7-screener. When you entered either of the upstairs balconey theatres, in the outer corner of the rear of each one you could see an original 3-strip Cinerama booth.
This theatre opened with 70MM capability but didn’t show a 70MM feature until 6 years later when Rollerball opened in 1975—ran quite a bit of 70 after that.
Prior to the run-up to the construction of the convention center, someone tried to revive this theatre as a movie house. However, it appeared that they were unable to go up against the booking power of Interstate and Trans-Texas Theatres (who ran the other downtown theatres) and were only able to book less than stellar first-run pictures—pictures that were playing in the neighborhood theatres. This experiment didn’t last long!
I remember this theatre fondly from the time it opened in December ‘77 with Saturday Night Fever in Dolby Stereo, but I believe screen 1 was the only house to have 70MM (saw Days Of Heaven,Hurricane,Meteor,Poltergeist,Star Trek III:The Search For Spock all in 70). When it opened with Saturday Night Fever in screen 1, rather than having surround speakers along the side walls, the surrounds were in the back. When you sat towards the back, you heard a lot more surround than front; seated toward the front, you heard more front than surround. They eventually put surround speakers along the side walls! After it was torn down, you could see where the actual theatre was because they covered it with asphalt!
I occasionally worked as a projectionist after this theatre was tripled. But I remember seeing The Cowboys and a return run of Ryan’s Daughter both in 70MM when it was a single. It later showed Spanish-language movies for a while. In the early-to-mid ‘80’s, they gutted the theatre and turned it into a parking garage!
The lobby of this theatre became a bank and the auditorium was sub-divided into various retail shops; they kept the Heights vertical sign and it became the Heights Shopping Center. In it’s later years, it became a 70MM house; saw Ghostbusters and missed seeing Silverado before it closed in ‘85.
In the early ‘70’s, McClendon Theatres took over the drive-in and changed the name to the East Main Drive-In. Later in the '70’s, it became a metal pipe storage facility!
I never remembered this drive-in having 5 screens; and judging by the aerial photo from Silicon Sam, it looks like only 4 lots. I went to a number of flicks in the early ‘70’s and enjoyed the layout; I had only been to single-screen drive-ins before this. Passing by the lot recently, it looks like they put up a huge auction hall/warehouse there. I knew and occasionally dated the daughter of the landowner.
This theatre was opened in April 1965 as the newest Interstate suburban theatre; opening night was a special screening of The Trouble With Angels followed the next day by the regular run of Walt Disney’s That Darn Cat. The Manager was Bob Narowitz who formerly managed the Tower Theatre. I spent a lot of my youth in this theatre as we lived close by; sometimes I even rode my bike over! This theater usually showed family features including the Disney’s and Elvis although more mature fare was shown, still fairly suitable for older kids—although in 1970, the X-rated Midnight Cowboy showed up after winning the best picture Oscar (just before the X rating was slapped on porno!). In June ‘77, like so many single screens before, it was twinned and I rarely went back. In the late '80’s it was forpled (my term for becoming a four-plex). I still miss this theatre to this day!
The Sundance opened around Thanksgiving of 1991; saw JFK and Alien 3 there. A rather unusual theatre in that it was built into a tall but narrow building so the 11 theatres were positioned on various floors; escalators were needed to access some of the theatres. It’s now a conference/meeting center; the boxoffice was out in front on the sidewalk separate from the entrance and you can still see the discolored tile in front where it was.
This Drive-in was operating into the late ‘70’s with the entryway marquee on Britain Rd still up into the late '80’s-early 90’s. My family saw It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad world there in 1963 and in 1972, I was a relief projectionist for a night and ran the double-bill of Joe Kidd and Play Misty For Me.
This theatre has not been demolished. Like the fate of so many theatres, I like to say it has been remodeled out of existence! It is now a Family Dollar store like quite a few multiplexes I have known. And like so many theatres remodeled, there is still some remnant or indication it used to be a theatre. In this case, while the front of the store is glassed in, on the left side of the glass front is a slight brick front where the poster cases (recessed into the brick) have been boarded over. I saw many a movie in the early ‘70’s there including 2001; although the theatres were all rather long and narrow, the psychedelic trip into the monolith at the end was quite a trip!
This theatre has not been demolished! It still stands! The Story:
In the early ‘60’s, the new Seminary South Shopping Center opened at the corner of the new I-35W and Seminary Drive. It was one of the last of the open air shopping centers, being that there were walkways between the stores; soon the mall craze would begin. In the late '60’s, General Cinema decided this would be a good place for a deluxe twin cinema so the Seminary South Cinema I&II opened. This was to be Fort Worth’s version of Dallas’ Northpark Cinema I&II—except no 70MM. In the early ‘80’s, Seminary South Shopping Center became a totally enclosed mall called the Town Center Mall. General Cinema decided to build a new 8-screen theatre inside the mall so abandoned their original theatre which was in the far northwest corner of the mall—quite a distance away. The original theatre was vacant for quite a while but is now reoccupied. The original Cinema I (which was twinned in the late '70’s) is now a bingo hall while the original Cinema II is a church.
Another break! Here’s the wrapup.
In ‘83, we showed Table For Five, Bad Boys, Tender Mercies, Return Of The Jedi in 70MM, War Games in 70MM, Brainstorm in 70MM, The Right Stuff not in 70MM!, Yentl, Star 80, Silkwood and Max Dugan Returns (Matthew Broderick’s debut).
Return Of The Jedi trivia: As mentioned in an above missive, we were one of the first theaters to install the brand new THX system before Return Of The Jedi. In mid-late May on a Sunday night, we finished a shortened run of Max Dugan Returns ready to begin installing the new system. First the screen was removed and rolled up, then the three speakers behind the screen were removed. Then a scaffolding system was put in to hold the five stage speakers and the sub-woofers for the low end. Then a brand new screen was installed to complete the effect. Then in the booth, the original Dolby CP-100 for 70MM-originally put in for Star Wars in '77-was replaced with an updated CP-250 with the THX crossover system installed. This was all supervised and set up by MR. THX himself Tomlinson Holman with the aid of Dolby’s crack tech Clyde McKinney. We were set to rock and roll!!!
In '84, we ran The Buddy System, Romancing The Stone, Sixteen Candles, Rhinestone, Streets Of Fire in 70MM, Places In The Heart, Mrs. Soffel, Greystoke The Legend Of Tarzan not in 70MM!, Gremlins in 70MM, Police Academy and The Killing Fields. At Christmas, another all 70MM fest with 2010 and Dune.
Dune trivia: we screened a 35MM Dolby Stereo print for the local critics as the 70MM prints weren’t quite ready. However, when it came time to open the regular run, the print still wasn’t ready so we had to make due with the 35MM for the first week despite the fact that the ad for the first few days said 70MM!
In '85, we ran Mask, Ladyhawke, Brewster’s Millions, Goonies in 70MM, Back To The Future in 70MM, Fletch, A View To A Kill, Mad Max:Beyond Thunderdome in 70MM and American Flyers in 70MM. I took my leave of Northpark and Dallas in September closing out my run with Back To The Future (still going strong after 2 ½ months) and American Flyers.
Since I only moved down the highway to Shreveport Louisiana and my folks still lived in the Metroplex, I came back many a time to see them and catch up on movies (Shreveport being a relative cinema backwater at the time!). But I didn’t set foot in Northpark until '92 to see Matinee-later followed by Jurassic Park in new DTS sound, Schindler’s List and, of course, Titanic in 70MM DTS.
So that’s the story of my Northpark years-hope it didn’t bore you. More on other theatres in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Little Rock and even Shreveport! Until then, happy remembering!
Had to take a break! Here’s more.
After starting here and wrapping Star Wars 70MM in june, some of the pictures I ran included Heaven Can Wait, Damien-Omen II, Interiors-Woody Allen doing Bergman!,Eyes Of Laura Mars, Magic.
Christmas ‘78-Superman The Movie in 70MM in Cinema II and finally, Cinema I was installed with Dolby Stereo for Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!
'79-The Deer Hunter, A Little Romance, a sneak preview screening of Beyond The Poseiden Adventure (with Irwin Allen in person!), The Main Event, Just You And Me Kid, Breaking Away, Lost And Found, More American Graffiti, The Seduction Of Joe Tynan, Yanks, The Rose, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (with the requisite attendance of the local Monty Pythoniacs!) and Disney’s Sleeping Beauty in 70MM! Just as I was leaving my first hitch there, they were preparing to open Kramer Vs. Kramer and The Black Hole in 70MM.
In May of '80, GCC and Fox decided they were going to do right by The Empire Strikes Back so they completely exchanged the entire projection chain between the cinemas-Cinema I had the 70MM Dolby and Cinema II had the 35MM Dolby!
My second hitch started in June '81 and we showed Outland in 70MM, Endless Love, Arthur, Body Heat (we had the AC on high and it didn’t help!), Prince Of The City, Rich And Famous, Absence Of Malice, Rollover, Buddy Buddy, Time Bandits, Zorro The Gay Blade and History Of The World Part I.
In '82, we started out with Chariots Of Fire and On Golden Pond. But the die was cast when in May Northpark Cinema-both screens-became 70MM houses, along with Christie platters and each cinema getting one of the two Century 70MM projectors first put in in '65 in Cinema II and of course Xenon lamps! We had one of the world premiers (I think there were 5 or 6 tied in with local PBS stations) of Annie in 70MM followed by E.T. in 70MM-both houses showing 70 (we ran E.T. all the way to Christmas!). Also showing were Fame in 70MM (a return run) and Pink Floyd The Wall in 70MM (and loud!!!) At Christmas, we played Still Of The Night and Sophie’s Choice (what a downer Christmas!).
Blade Runner trivia: while Northpark East III & IV played Blade Runner first run, earlier in the year we had one of the two pre-release studio sneaks (the other in Denver) in 70MM! The ad had no mention of the title but everyone seemed to know as we had a full house! The air system upstairs in the offices and booth was quite noticeable so anytime the booth door opened, we felt it. Well, the door opened and in walks Han Solo himself-Harrison Ford. After intoductory pleasantries, he proceeded to sit outside on the booth balconey to watch his movie (both sides had this balconey-a clear floor with no seats usually used for storage) But we had a couple of padded chairs to put on either side. If you want to see this pre-release cut, check out the 5-disc DVD and Blu-Ray set. While the music for the regular release was by Vangelis, this print had Fox library music including a number of cuts from Jerry Goldsmith. More to come.
This theatre building is still standing but rotting. I went many a time to the original Six Flags Mall Cinema I&II. Sometime in the ‘80’s, they added three more screens behind the original two.
The Riverside Drive-In I remembered was on 28th Street, not Sylvania Ave. Could there have been two!
I was a projectionist here in the mid-70’s when it was still a first-run screen—I also worked the Park Forest also. This theatre would book 70MM as much as possible—it ran Woodstock in 70 in Spring 1970 for quite a few months. I ran both That’s Entertainments, The Wind And The Lion and return runs of Patton and Camelot all in 70MM!
Camelot trivia: this film’s original running was something like 193 minutes. When it was was reissued around 1976, we played it—unfortunately, Warner Bros. decided to shorten it in order to play more shows (shades of the 1954 Judy Garland A Star Is Born!). We played it one show a night starting about 7:30 with an end time around 11. When I checked the 70MM print, I thought something didn’t seem right—shouldn’t it have had more reels?—but the show must go on! Imagine the manager, the audience and my surprise when the show ended around 10! Warners’s had taken out the Overture, Intermission, the second-half overture and the walk-out music at the end plus a couple of songs and quite a bit of the movie story itself to make a compact 143 minutes! Everyone was pissed and, needless to say, it only played a week and was kicked out for Patton!
This theatre was twinned in the early-to-mid ‘80’s and that was it.
I was a projectionist at this theatre in 1972-73 when it was the Festival Theatre showing Spanish-language movies. This was quite a theatre in it’s heyday with a huge backstage area for live shows and a restaurant along the side. J.J. Rodriguez was still running it when I worked there and he was one of the best bosses I ever had; a true Padrone.
Someone tried to revive this theatre in the mid-70’s showing old movies but the downtown movie-going experience had died and it closed for good. During it’s heyday, this was the city headquarters for Interstate Theatres in Fort Worth—as was the Majestic in Dallas. This became Fort Worth’s 70MM Todd-AO roadshow house in the mid-50’s and one of the best theatres I’ve encountered for seeing Cinemascope/Panavision widescreen movies; when I saw The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father in 1963, the picture was incredibly wide leading me to wonder if they were still using the original aspect ratio 2.55:1 Cinemascope screen!
What was sorta unique about this theatre was that the screen and masking could accomodate practically any 35-70MM format size—from 2.35:1 scope to 2.10:1 70MM to 1.85:1 widescreen to 1.66:1 foreign format to old Hollywood 1.33:1; one of the few theatres able to show the 1933 King Kong in the proper ratio when it was re-released in the ‘70’S.
I worked as a projectionist off and on in 1974 at this theatre. While the shopping center is still going, the theatres were remodeled out of existence to accomodate more retail—they were in the center of the shoping center.
This theatre opened around 1968-69 as the first multiplex theatre (more than two screens) in the DFW Metroplex. I was summer projectionist in 1974 and it was a unique theatre back then. But with the advent of even bigger and better multiplexes, this theatre in the ‘80’s headed for oblivion—along with the mall it was in. This mall and theatre were remodeled into an office park at the corner of Webb Chapel and Forest Lane—directly across Webb Chapel from the Cinemark 17-Imax.
When McClendon tripled this theatre in 1970, the balcony was twinned and the downstairs theatre later installed a silver screen to show 3-D. By catering to a black audience, this theatre was a huge success in the early ‘70’s but declined in later years. Because of the early success, they added 4 more screens in the basement of the adjoining McClendon building to make it a 7-screener. When you entered either of the upstairs balconey theatres, in the outer corner of the rear of each one you could see an original 3-strip Cinerama booth.
This theatre opened with 70MM capability but didn’t show a 70MM feature until 6 years later when Rollerball opened in 1975—ran quite a bit of 70 after that.
Prior to the run-up to the construction of the convention center, someone tried to revive this theatre as a movie house. However, it appeared that they were unable to go up against the booking power of Interstate and Trans-Texas Theatres (who ran the other downtown theatres) and were only able to book less than stellar first-run pictures—pictures that were playing in the neighborhood theatres. This experiment didn’t last long!
I remember this theatre fondly from the time it opened in December ‘77 with Saturday Night Fever in Dolby Stereo, but I believe screen 1 was the only house to have 70MM (saw Days Of Heaven,Hurricane,Meteor,Poltergeist,Star Trek III:The Search For Spock all in 70). When it opened with Saturday Night Fever in screen 1, rather than having surround speakers along the side walls, the surrounds were in the back. When you sat towards the back, you heard a lot more surround than front; seated toward the front, you heard more front than surround. They eventually put surround speakers along the side walls! After it was torn down, you could see where the actual theatre was because they covered it with asphalt!
I occasionally worked as a projectionist after this theatre was tripled. But I remember seeing The Cowboys and a return run of Ryan’s Daughter both in 70MM when it was a single. It later showed Spanish-language movies for a while. In the early-to-mid ‘80’s, they gutted the theatre and turned it into a parking garage!
The lobby of this theatre became a bank and the auditorium was sub-divided into various retail shops; they kept the Heights vertical sign and it became the Heights Shopping Center. In it’s later years, it became a 70MM house; saw Ghostbusters and missed seeing Silverado before it closed in ‘85.
The Downs Drive-In closed in the late ‘60’s and was demolished to make way for the Century 4 Drive-In in 1970.
In the early ‘70’s, McClendon Theatres took over the drive-in and changed the name to the East Main Drive-In. Later in the '70’s, it became a metal pipe storage facility!
I never remembered this drive-in having 5 screens; and judging by the aerial photo from Silicon Sam, it looks like only 4 lots. I went to a number of flicks in the early ‘70’s and enjoyed the layout; I had only been to single-screen drive-ins before this. Passing by the lot recently, it looks like they put up a huge auction hall/warehouse there. I knew and occasionally dated the daughter of the landowner.
This theatre was opened in April 1965 as the newest Interstate suburban theatre; opening night was a special screening of The Trouble With Angels followed the next day by the regular run of Walt Disney’s That Darn Cat. The Manager was Bob Narowitz who formerly managed the Tower Theatre. I spent a lot of my youth in this theatre as we lived close by; sometimes I even rode my bike over! This theater usually showed family features including the Disney’s and Elvis although more mature fare was shown, still fairly suitable for older kids—although in 1970, the X-rated Midnight Cowboy showed up after winning the best picture Oscar (just before the X rating was slapped on porno!). In June ‘77, like so many single screens before, it was twinned and I rarely went back. In the late '80’s it was forpled (my term for becoming a four-plex). I still miss this theatre to this day!
The Sundance opened around Thanksgiving of 1991; saw JFK and Alien 3 there. A rather unusual theatre in that it was built into a tall but narrow building so the 11 theatres were positioned on various floors; escalators were needed to access some of the theatres. It’s now a conference/meeting center; the boxoffice was out in front on the sidewalk separate from the entrance and you can still see the discolored tile in front where it was.
This Drive-in was operating into the late ‘70’s with the entryway marquee on Britain Rd still up into the late '80’s-early 90’s. My family saw It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad world there in 1963 and in 1972, I was a relief projectionist for a night and ran the double-bill of Joe Kidd and Play Misty For Me.
This theatre has not been demolished. Like the fate of so many theatres, I like to say it has been remodeled out of existence! It is now a Family Dollar store like quite a few multiplexes I have known. And like so many theatres remodeled, there is still some remnant or indication it used to be a theatre. In this case, while the front of the store is glassed in, on the left side of the glass front is a slight brick front where the poster cases (recessed into the brick) have been boarded over. I saw many a movie in the early ‘70’s there including 2001; although the theatres were all rather long and narrow, the psychedelic trip into the monolith at the end was quite a trip!
This theatre has not been demolished! It still stands! The Story:
In the early ‘60’s, the new Seminary South Shopping Center opened at the corner of the new I-35W and Seminary Drive. It was one of the last of the open air shopping centers, being that there were walkways between the stores; soon the mall craze would begin. In the late '60’s, General Cinema decided this would be a good place for a deluxe twin cinema so the Seminary South Cinema I&II opened. This was to be Fort Worth’s version of Dallas’ Northpark Cinema I&II—except no 70MM. In the early ‘80’s, Seminary South Shopping Center became a totally enclosed mall called the Town Center Mall. General Cinema decided to build a new 8-screen theatre inside the mall so abandoned their original theatre which was in the far northwest corner of the mall—quite a distance away. The original theatre was vacant for quite a while but is now reoccupied. The original Cinema I (which was twinned in the late '70’s) is now a bingo hall while the original Cinema II is a church.
William it probably was a Dolby CP-200. After 27 years, not all memory comes back!
Another break! Here’s the wrapup.
In ‘83, we showed Table For Five, Bad Boys, Tender Mercies, Return Of The Jedi in 70MM, War Games in 70MM, Brainstorm in 70MM, The Right Stuff not in 70MM!, Yentl, Star 80, Silkwood and Max Dugan Returns (Matthew Broderick’s debut).
Return Of The Jedi trivia: As mentioned in an above missive, we were one of the first theaters to install the brand new THX system before Return Of The Jedi. In mid-late May on a Sunday night, we finished a shortened run of Max Dugan Returns ready to begin installing the new system. First the screen was removed and rolled up, then the three speakers behind the screen were removed. Then a scaffolding system was put in to hold the five stage speakers and the sub-woofers for the low end. Then a brand new screen was installed to complete the effect. Then in the booth, the original Dolby CP-100 for 70MM-originally put in for Star Wars in '77-was replaced with an updated CP-250 with the THX crossover system installed. This was all supervised and set up by MR. THX himself Tomlinson Holman with the aid of Dolby’s crack tech Clyde McKinney. We were set to rock and roll!!!
In '84, we ran The Buddy System, Romancing The Stone, Sixteen Candles, Rhinestone, Streets Of Fire in 70MM, Places In The Heart, Mrs. Soffel, Greystoke The Legend Of Tarzan not in 70MM!, Gremlins in 70MM, Police Academy and The Killing Fields. At Christmas, another all 70MM fest with 2010 and Dune.
Dune trivia: we screened a 35MM Dolby Stereo print for the local critics as the 70MM prints weren’t quite ready. However, when it came time to open the regular run, the print still wasn’t ready so we had to make due with the 35MM for the first week despite the fact that the ad for the first few days said 70MM!
In '85, we ran Mask, Ladyhawke, Brewster’s Millions, Goonies in 70MM, Back To The Future in 70MM, Fletch, A View To A Kill, Mad Max:Beyond Thunderdome in 70MM and American Flyers in 70MM. I took my leave of Northpark and Dallas in September closing out my run with Back To The Future (still going strong after 2 ½ months) and American Flyers.
Since I only moved down the highway to Shreveport Louisiana and my folks still lived in the Metroplex, I came back many a time to see them and catch up on movies (Shreveport being a relative cinema backwater at the time!). But I didn’t set foot in Northpark until '92 to see Matinee-later followed by Jurassic Park in new DTS sound, Schindler’s List and, of course, Titanic in 70MM DTS.
So that’s the story of my Northpark years-hope it didn’t bore you. More on other theatres in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Little Rock and even Shreveport! Until then, happy remembering!
Had to take a break! Here’s more.
After starting here and wrapping Star Wars 70MM in june, some of the pictures I ran included Heaven Can Wait, Damien-Omen II, Interiors-Woody Allen doing Bergman!,Eyes Of Laura Mars, Magic.
Christmas ‘78-Superman The Movie in 70MM in Cinema II and finally, Cinema I was installed with Dolby Stereo for Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!
'79-The Deer Hunter, A Little Romance, a sneak preview screening of Beyond The Poseiden Adventure (with Irwin Allen in person!), The Main Event, Just You And Me Kid, Breaking Away, Lost And Found, More American Graffiti, The Seduction Of Joe Tynan, Yanks, The Rose, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (with the requisite attendance of the local Monty Pythoniacs!) and Disney’s Sleeping Beauty in 70MM! Just as I was leaving my first hitch there, they were preparing to open Kramer Vs. Kramer and The Black Hole in 70MM.
In May of '80, GCC and Fox decided they were going to do right by The Empire Strikes Back so they completely exchanged the entire projection chain between the cinemas-Cinema I had the 70MM Dolby and Cinema II had the 35MM Dolby!
My second hitch started in June '81 and we showed Outland in 70MM, Endless Love, Arthur, Body Heat (we had the AC on high and it didn’t help!), Prince Of The City, Rich And Famous, Absence Of Malice, Rollover, Buddy Buddy, Time Bandits, Zorro The Gay Blade and History Of The World Part I.
In '82, we started out with Chariots Of Fire and On Golden Pond. But the die was cast when in May Northpark Cinema-both screens-became 70MM houses, along with Christie platters and each cinema getting one of the two Century 70MM projectors first put in in '65 in Cinema II and of course Xenon lamps! We had one of the world premiers (I think there were 5 or 6 tied in with local PBS stations) of Annie in 70MM followed by E.T. in 70MM-both houses showing 70 (we ran E.T. all the way to Christmas!). Also showing were Fame in 70MM (a return run) and Pink Floyd The Wall in 70MM (and loud!!!) At Christmas, we played Still Of The Night and Sophie’s Choice (what a downer Christmas!).
Blade Runner trivia: while Northpark East III & IV played Blade Runner first run, earlier in the year we had one of the two pre-release studio sneaks (the other in Denver) in 70MM! The ad had no mention of the title but everyone seemed to know as we had a full house! The air system upstairs in the offices and booth was quite noticeable so anytime the booth door opened, we felt it. Well, the door opened and in walks Han Solo himself-Harrison Ford. After intoductory pleasantries, he proceeded to sit outside on the booth balconey to watch his movie (both sides had this balconey-a clear floor with no seats usually used for storage) But we had a couple of padded chairs to put on either side. If you want to see this pre-release cut, check out the 5-disc DVD and Blu-Ray set. While the music for the regular release was by Vangelis, this print had Fox library music including a number of cuts from Jerry Goldsmith. More to come.