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skytoes
skytoes commented about Cooper Theatre on Apr 22, 2006 at 7:22 pm

When I was a teenager I work as a gofer during the construction of the Cooper doing everything from installing the toilets in the projection booths to helping hang the vertical strips for the screen. I eventually spent my career as engineer in the motion picture industry.. The original screen was 105 feet along its 146 degree curve. The original three projector could run at either 24 fps or 26fps for earlier three strip Cinerama films. The screen was later reduced to 120 degrees (Todd-AO) to accommodate single projector Super Panavision. I do not believe that the Cooper could show 30fps Todd-AO films. However, the St Louis Park Cinerama Theater could show Todd-AO but not three strip Cinerama. The Cooper theaters were designed specifically for the presentation of three strip Cinerama movies. Unfortunately the deeply curved screen is a thing of the past. Too bad because it was better than Imax. I only know of two three strip Cinerama theaters that exist today. One is in Seattle and the other is the Cinerama Dome in Los Angles that was remodeled to present three strip Cinerama.