Comments from ButchMcLarty

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ButchMcLarty
ButchMcLarty commented about Hyland Cinema on Jun 26, 2008 at 7:18 pm

I worked as an assistant manager at the Odeon-Hyland in Hamilton, Ontario from October 1974 to about July of 1975, after I was transferred in from Odeon Kitchener and before that, Odeon London.

At the time, Odeon Theatres (Canada) Ltd. transferred their assistant managers and manager trainees around the province so they could learn from different theatre managers.

When I worked at the Odeon-Hyland Theatre in 1974 and 1975, the longtime manager was a gentleman by the name of Gordon Gotts who lived in Stoneybrook. He was an ardent Hamilton Tiger-Cats' fan. Nice man.

When I first arrived at the Odeon-Hyland in October of 1974, the theatre was showing soft-porn movies, starting at 12 noon and running until about 11:30 pm.

That all changed in early 1975 or so when we premiered the blockbuster movie, Earthquake (with “Sensuround”), which subequently broke all house records and ran for about 20 weeks.

I remember the “Sensuround” cracked the retail store’s front plate-glass window next door (attached to the theatre). The entire theatre vibrated when this earthquake-replicating sound came on. It was produced by about 12 large speakers placed on the main floor of the theatre and the balcony.