El Capitan Theatre

When Chronicles of Narnia was playing, during the pre-show presentation, I remember the El Capitan had “snow” fall from the ceiling over the main floor. And with the theatrical lighting it looked very impressive.

Anyone know did they did the effect? The “snow” never reached the floor (at least nothing fell on me in my seat’s location), so I don’t think it was real man-made snow.
Maybe tiny particles of dry ice that completely evaporate while falling? (I’m assuming some standard theatrical showcraft technique)

sorry about that last snip of this posting…

Terry: “Cinerama Stanley Warner was so upset that someone came along ‘National General’ and made a better Cinerama type system.”

That began way back in history. In brief: originally, the patents for the CineMiracle camera optical system were offered to Cinerama, Inc. which didn’t have the $ to pay (this was before the C'rama Inc, C'rama Prod., & SW-Cinerama trio was formed). On the projection side, R. McCullough of Nat'Gen'l who held the patent for a CineMiracle mirror-type projection had borrowed Act 2 of “This Is Cinerama” to run his projector tests. All was happy and Cinerama wasn’t too concerned about a future rival when, at the LA preem of “Cinerama Holiday,” Louis deRochemont, who had produced “C..Holiday,” got into a shouting match between the C'rama folks and the Nat'l Gen'l people and decided to take his next project over to the CineMiracle camp, claiming that the latter process was superior to what Cinerama could offer. This project is what eventually became “Windjammer.” When Cinerama’s 4th outing “Search for Paradise” tanked at the boxoffice, and “South Seas Adventure” was not yet ready for release, everybody concerned kissed and made up, and petitioned the Dept. of Justice to allow leased Cinerama houses to run non-Cinerama films, namly the CineMiracle “Windjammer” now “presented in Cinerama;” and over the next few years Cinerama incorporated a lot of CineMiracle’s innovations, particuarly on the projection side.
As for your next item, “…people brought the new DVD and didnt know about the preshow music,” in the Ziegfeld Theatre pages there’s a post about one customer at the “Lawrence” showing last year who complained to the
manager during the overture that the sound was on but there was no picture.

Veyoung. I heard the Cinerama people when they bought out the CineMiracle system destroyed most of the photos of the 3 or 4 USA installations. You never see any photos of the CineMiracle curtains or screen anywhere around. You can see some photos of the CM booth setup in old Boxoffice mags. Can you imagine the El Capitan/ Paramount Hollywood from it’s 70mm Roadshow days with a big wrap around curved screen. The El Cap doesn’t seem as wide or deep as the guys across the street at the Graumens Chinese Hollywood. The only way they can do it is start the big curve more on the stage then bring out a little to the sides. I hear from a friend Ted from THS he saw the CineMiracle set up at the Chinese in 1958 and it was so big and curved he said that it took along time just for the curtains to open. Must have looked nice. Someone has photos; one of these days they will turn up. Cinerama Stanley Warner was so upset that someone came along ‘National General’ and made a better Cinerama type system. To bad they ran out of money and had to sell out fast with only one film.‘Windjammer'ended up at most Cinerama Theatres after the CineMiracle limited run. In off Disney times the El Capitan needs to run a 70mm week of films and curve the screen a little. Bring back the Roadshow days for a new generation to see. Gone are the days of 6 Track Mag Sound, Intermissions, Programs, and Pre show music on the film track with Exit music. I can’t believe the people at Sony just released a DVD of Columbia’s 'Funny Girl’ taken from the Roadshow print I guess; and they go and put 3 or 4 minutes of BLACK screen over the new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix open Overture. Why didn’t they put in some curtains at the start of the video and open them like they did when the movie played at the theatres. I know a lot of people bought the new DVD and didn’t know about the pre show music open and tried to return the DVD saying it was bad. No picture but had sound at the top. Wake up Sony! Go out and film some Theatre curtains (If you can still find some) and re do the opening on some of your roadshow Columbia prints to video. At least the new younger crowd that buys a DVD can see what went on in the 50’s and 60’s In the Roadshow Theatres like the El Capitan. I will never forget the time I saw ‘Funny Girl’ on the new big curved D-150 screen down the street at the Egyptian. I think It was a 70mm scope blowup and looked and sounded great.

Three projectors…had to have 2 join lines. One join line means two projectors, and you could have seen that theatrically the same year in San Diego in “Thrillarama Adventure,” which, believe me, was singularly unimpressive.

I think Terry’s recent comment refers to the El Capitan in its pre-restoration years, as the Paramount. A photo of its exterior is depicted here:

View link

I’m not in Los Angeles, but there used to be a display of photos from when El Capitan was the Paramount (including the above photo) outside the theater. Those photos include the auditorium. Are those photos online anywhere?

William can you tell me why when I saw the Pirate movie at the El Capitan the surrounds didn’t have any volume to them. I sat downstairs in the mid section? But up in the Bay Area I saw the same movie in two mega multiplex theatres and the surround was up and clear with great split surround effects. I don’t think the projection people turned up the surrounds at these theatres but the balance was better then at the Hollywood El Capitan; they seem to have all the sound from the stage speakers and not from the effect surrounds. The balcony surrounds are even lower. The Chinese still can have some pre show entertainment even if it doesn’t have a stage. They can put something up on the right and left sides or put something in front of the screen that goes up and down. Iam sure Warner Bros or Paramount (The Mann People) can go to Las Vegas and see what they do with moving stages. I don’t think they want to spend any money to make money. They are only interested in the candy counter $ that’s why they wrecked the whole back of the downstairs to make the refreshment stand and lobby bigger. You can see the great lights that used to be in the back of the Chinese now above the popcorn machine. At least they have some color lights in them as the same lights in the main theatre when the movie is dark. Are they trying to save money by not having any color lights on low during the film showing? A few little blue/green or red lights on the ceiling or sides would look great. Does anyone have any photos of the Cinemiracle curved screen at the Chinese from 1958? I saw many 70mm prints shown at the El Capitan but the screen seemed flat or may have had a slight curve to it. The old projection booth at the El Capitan was way up above the balcony at that time of roadshow 70mm films with a long way down to the Cinemascope screen. They still run video at times from the original booth; but most films or video are projected downstairs with no keystone.

The sound at the El Capitan is indeed good even if it’s a little low (probably not to scare the kids). I’m curious how big the screen speakers are as they have to be hung behind the screen to accomadate the various stage shows.

I think the stage at the Chinese was taken out or reduced decades ago sometime in the 50s. Anyone been back there?

This ad for Citizen Kane, playing at the El Capitan, was dated June 1, 1941. If you’re familiar with the film, you will recall that RKO was under a lot of pressure from the other studios to destroy the negative and in fact was offered a sizable amount of money to do so:
http://tinyurl.com/36blnm

William, if you find those pictures, I know where they can find a proper showcase…

Lost Memory, Nice picture… has anyone posted yet about where the Marquee is programmed? I’m told It’s run from the studio in Burbank. The theatre itself has no control over the sign except maybe turning it on and off.

Found this brief video that shows the interior of the theatre.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H7g2iyA-SYU

Does anyone know of photos of the Hollywood Paramount auditorium in the 50s and early 60s (I’ve asked this before), the era of Sayonara, Vertigo and Gigi, before the unfortunate gold-glitz job that was finally (fortunately) obliterated in the theatre’s El Capitanization? For those of us who spent many happy hours during those years in that elegantly draped venue, which complimented and enhanced any film (only the Chinese during the same period, before its “refurbishment” and the late, lamented Carthay Circle were comparable), the memories are indelible.

The Paramount’s old auditorium still looked good in the 80’s before the Disney make-over. Pacific/SRO put little money into the house before Disney transformed it. The only problem I did not like about the Paramount’s look was those large mirror balls under the marquee.