They spent extra money for new stage curtains at the Castro Theatre and here last Sunday for ‘The Sound Of Music’ Singalong they just sat on a frozen Intermission sign on the screen for 15 minutes. The projectionist should have closed the curtains and projected the sign on the curtain fabric then opened on the second part of the movie. Bring some showmanship back at the new Castro Theatre please. .
They cleaned up the huge deco ceiling fixture It can change into 16 different colors but so far I have only seen It lit in white and they turn It off during a movie. Here in this photo they turned on a blue spotlight to light up the roof. Complain If you go and have them turn on the giant roof top fixture in a different color when something is going on the stage. If you don’t they spent all this money to clean re wire and fix it up for nothing and the light will just stay dark except for white light when you enter.
The deco balcony ceiling lamps change to a red color during a event when the house goes dark. I think they can change to other colors but for now they are stuck on red.
These under the loge deco lamps change to a red color during a performance. They are white when you enter or at intermission. I think they can change color but so far just see red on.
New stage spot lights added in front of the organ grill. One nice touch with the Castro remodel the inside of the organ grills light up in a dim red color during a movie or stage show. We think they can change color but so far only see red. Would be nice in blue sometimes.
Two new stage light truss bars added to the ceiling. You would think they would have hid the thick wire cables better in the ceiling on the top right side. They just drop down and hang.
Downstairs small lobby portable bar/snacks/drink set up. They now have fresh popcorn both downstairs and in the new mezzanine lobby set up upstairs. Two small store fronts on Castro ST connected to the lobby of the Castro Theatre are about to leave so this will give more room at the entrance lobby we think. More bathroom space or box office ticket sales we don’t know what will go into the former coffee and nail stores out front of the Castro Theatre that just got forced out and lost their lease.
Thanks Mike for the Plaza photo. I had hoped that they would have put in some color lights in the top lights on the wall or the side nitch organ grill curtian doors. Hard to tell If they put in blue lights on the ceiling or are they just white bulbs on a blue painted roof with twink stars? Hope they have blue curtains that work and they will use them. Glad they did not put in red drapes like so many old theatres have. Looks like a great lineup of shows coming and many are very expensive to attend. Glad the place in open.
Thanks Kino. Nice looking theatre but I see no color lights. Like so many owners they just put in white bulbs that at one time had blue,red, greeen and many other effect color lights. The Merced Theatre needs blue up on the side top and red around the tile ect. Bring in a showmanship lighting person please. I am blinded by all the white walls and lights.
Thanks for the ad DB. Its hard to find any photos of the Hollywood Chinese Theatre with the huge curved screen when they showed ‘Windjammer'in 1958. Must have looked great. My THS friend Ted Gooding from LA was there to see the movie. He told me about how great the curved screen looked and the sound of the water on the multi surround speakers. The nice dragon neon marquee was put in around this time and now they took It off.
Thanks for the nice DI ad. This is why todays movie theatres are dieing off. The movie theatres no longer run display ads in the local newspaper or mags just list the times and what is playing on the interenet. All the great movie ads started to disapear many years ago. Papers like the LA Times and the NY Times on Fridays had many pages of huge new movie listing ads some big and some small. A full list of all the neighborhood movie theatres got a listings also. Do the studios even still keep artist type people to make a ad on a new movie If you did want to advertise It in print. The new movie posters If you can find any outside a cinema are so not that interesting to draw you into the movie theatre. I collect old posters from the best years the 50’s 60’s for movie advertising.
Thanks ‘film’ for the photo info. You can see in this photo they put this giant curved Cinerama screen in front of the old screen tower. One bad advantage was the stereo 7 ch Cinerama sound system. Was just mono sound at this drive In. They did make a Eprad 3 ch stereo portable stereo in car speaker but I don’t think they used them at the Century Cinerama here. Must have looked great. I think they kept the screen up many years after all the 3 projector movies played and just ran 35mm scope, I wonder if they put in a 70mm projector in the middle booth?
‘SCREEN X’ is no Cinerama, Looks bad when installed in a older theatre and the surround speakers are still on the side walls with white paint. A beter install is where they put the surround wall speakers up on the top ceiling aiming down. Mostly effect just used at times in about 30% of a full movie. Does not look good on a scope film If the main front screen is not that wide, you get white screen at the top and bottom. Would look better If the'SCREEN X' main screen was curved and the side wall white areas had better projectors and blended in better with the front curve, They need to improve It someday. You pay extra for not much. Thanks David for the image.
SF downtown Market ST had so many large and small movie theatres at one time. Most are all gone now. The Fox Warfield, RKO Golden Gate, Orpheum Cinerama and the Strand are the only ones left. Used now for stage events. No more B ‘Grindhouse’ open all night movie cinemas left on Market ST in San Francisco. The small cinema next to the Warfield is now a adult dance theatre. Time to bring back the old Pix Theatre on Market ST. Now a storefront but hidden inside the bottom of a office building near the Powel BART station. Open It 24/7 show old retro movies get the people off the street.
Great they will offer fresh hot popcorn for the first time in this added snack bar in the upstairs lobby area.
They spent extra money for new stage curtains at the Castro Theatre and here last Sunday for ‘The Sound Of Music’ Singalong they just sat on a frozen Intermission sign on the screen for 15 minutes. The projectionist should have closed the curtains and projected the sign on the curtain fabric then opened on the second part of the movie. Bring some showmanship back at the new Castro Theatre please. .
They cleaned up the huge deco ceiling fixture It can change into 16 different colors but so far I have only seen It lit in white and they turn It off during a movie. Here in this photo they turned on a blue spotlight to light up the roof. Complain If you go and have them turn on the giant roof top fixture in a different color when something is going on the stage. If you don’t they spent all this money to clean re wire and fix it up for nothing and the light will just stay dark except for white light when you enter.
I wish they would have added color bulbs or LED’s that change color in all the lobby deco lamps not just bright white light.
The deco balcony ceiling lamps change to a red color during a event when the house goes dark. I think they can change to other colors but for now they are stuck on red.
These under the loge deco lamps change to a red color during a performance. They are white when you enter or at intermission. I think they can change color but so far just see red on.
New stage spot lights added in front of the organ grill. One nice touch with the Castro remodel the inside of the organ grills light up in a dim red color during a movie or stage show. We think they can change color but so far only see red. Would be nice in blue sometimes.
Two new stage light truss bars added to the ceiling. You would think they would have hid the thick wire cables better in the ceiling on the top right side. They just drop down and hang.
Downstairs small lobby portable bar/snacks/drink set up. They now have fresh popcorn both downstairs and in the new mezzanine lobby set up upstairs. Two small store fronts on Castro ST connected to the lobby of the Castro Theatre are about to leave so this will give more room at the entrance lobby we think. More bathroom space or box office ticket sales we don’t know what will go into the former coffee and nail stores out front of the Castro Theatre that just got forced out and lost their lease.
No mention of the stereo sound FantaSound? Wonder If they just played in mono?
Thanks KD nice semi curved screen
Thanks film great colors you won’t find any American theatre chain doing this inside everything is boring white bulbs.
I wonder they they put in a true Todd-AO curved screen at the Hoyts Esquire Theatre?
Thanks Mike for the Plaza photo. I had hoped that they would have put in some color lights in the top lights on the wall or the side nitch organ grill curtian doors. Hard to tell If they put in blue lights on the ceiling or are they just white bulbs on a blue painted roof with twink stars? Hope they have blue curtains that work and they will use them. Glad they did not put in red drapes like so many old theatres have. Looks like a great lineup of shows coming and many are very expensive to attend. Glad the place in open.
Thanks Kino. Nice looking theatre but I see no color lights. Like so many owners they just put in white bulbs that at one time had blue,red, greeen and many other effect color lights. The Merced Theatre needs blue up on the side top and red around the tile ect. Bring in a showmanship lighting person please. I am blinded by all the white walls and lights.
Thanks for the ad DB. Its hard to find any photos of the Hollywood Chinese Theatre with the huge curved screen when they showed ‘Windjammer'in 1958. Must have looked great. My THS friend Ted Gooding from LA was there to see the movie. He told me about how great the curved screen looked and the sound of the water on the multi surround speakers. The nice dragon neon marquee was put in around this time and now they took It off.
Thanks for the nice DI ad. This is why todays movie theatres are dieing off. The movie theatres no longer run display ads in the local newspaper or mags just list the times and what is playing on the interenet. All the great movie ads started to disapear many years ago. Papers like the LA Times and the NY Times on Fridays had many pages of huge new movie listing ads some big and some small. A full list of all the neighborhood movie theatres got a listings also. Do the studios even still keep artist type people to make a ad on a new movie If you did want to advertise It in print. The new movie posters If you can find any outside a cinema are so not that interesting to draw you into the movie theatre. I collect old posters from the best years the 50’s 60’s for movie advertising.
Thanks ‘film’ for the photo info. You can see in this photo they put this giant curved Cinerama screen in front of the old screen tower. One bad advantage was the stereo 7 ch Cinerama sound system. Was just mono sound at this drive In. They did make a Eprad 3 ch stereo portable stereo in car speaker but I don’t think they used them at the Century Cinerama here. Must have looked great. I think they kept the screen up many years after all the 3 projector movies played and just ran 35mm scope, I wonder if they put in a 70mm projector in the middle booth?
I wonder If these are real two projector 35mm 3D films? They need to be on Blu Ray 3D someday. Thanks Cineast for the ad images.
Thanks for the great TODD-AO curved screen story. Must have looked great.
‘SCREEN X’ is no Cinerama, Looks bad when installed in a older theatre and the surround speakers are still on the side walls with white paint. A beter install is where they put the surround wall speakers up on the top ceiling aiming down. Mostly effect just used at times in about 30% of a full movie. Does not look good on a scope film If the main front screen is not that wide, you get white screen at the top and bottom. Would look better If the'SCREEN X' main screen was curved and the side wall white areas had better projectors and blended in better with the front curve, They need to improve It someday. You pay extra for not much. Thanks David for the image.
Thanks for the 3D info film. Someone needs to do a story on MR Farros, I think the theatre was once known at the Farros Theatre
SF downtown Market ST had so many large and small movie theatres at one time. Most are all gone now. The Fox Warfield, RKO Golden Gate, Orpheum Cinerama and the Strand are the only ones left. Used now for stage events. No more B ‘Grindhouse’ open all night movie cinemas left on Market ST in San Francisco. The small cinema next to the Warfield is now a adult dance theatre. Time to bring back the old Pix Theatre on Market ST. Now a storefront but hidden inside the bottom of a office building near the Powel BART station. Open It 24/7 show old retro movies get the people off the street.
Thanks Rives for the image. You can see they put in a CinemaScope addition on the sides in the early 50’s.
Thanks ‘Kino’ for the nice image of color lights used inside this cinema.