Early film exhibition
Tally's Phonograph & Vitascope Parlor - 1896 - First regularly scheduled film screenings.
Tally's Electric Theatre - 1902 - Considered to be the first purpose-built theatre for film exhibition in Los Angeles.
The Bioscope - A blog reporting on the world of early and silent cinema.
Wikipedia - The Vitascope article discusses the 1895 development by Jenkins and Armat, later marketed by Edison as the successor to his Kinetoscope.
Vintage theatre specs
Julius Cahn's Official Theatrical Guide - 1897 - on Google Books
Julius Cahn's Official Theatrical Guide - 1900-1901 - on Google Books
Henry's Official Western Theatrical Guide - 1907-1908 - on Google Books
Vaudeville Trails Thru the West - 1919 - on Internet Archive - L.A. is on pages 114-115
Theatre, Arena & Auditorium Guide - 1949 - on Bob Foreman's Vintage Theatre Catalogs site
Early sound equipment
FilmSound.org - 100 Years of Cinema Loudspeakers
Lee Sound - Altec photo gallery | Altec index
Ominious Valve - The Tube Thing | The horn illustration is from the site's Altec Lansing Speakers page.
Wikipedia - "Sound Film" - an article covering early technology
Later sound film history
Robert Gitt's fantastic "The History of Sound in Motion Pictures: The Sound of Movies 1933-1975" is available free from the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Ominious Valve - Altec Lansing Speakers
Early Color
American Widescreen Museum - Early color -- index page | Kinemacolor | Technicolor history
Talkie King - Chronochrome | The illustration of the camera and projector is from the site's article on Kinemacolor.
Vintage projection equipment
Everything you wanted to know about Brenographs is in "The Brenograph and the Brenkert Light Projection Company," a lovely pdf from Thomas J. Mathieson. It's on the website of the Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
See Kurt Wahlner's "The Dream Machines," an extensive history of projection equipment from 1927 onward on his site GraumansChinese.org.
Tom Wilson's Vintage Photographs and Postcards set on Flickr is a great collection of photos of early projection and sound equipment. He's a collector of not just the photos but the equipment itself.
Vitaphone
Grauman's Egyptian - The main page on the Egyptian has several items relating to the 1926 run of "Don Juan."
Criterion Theatre - Leased by Warners for the run of "The Jazz Singer" (1927).
Tower Theatre - Ran a sneak preview of "The Jazz Singer" and later got the moveover run.
Warner Hollywood - The main page on the Warner has a discussion of the Vitaphone process. The booth page has several early Vitaphone-equipped views.
George Groves - A site devoted to this pioneer soundman -- with lots of information and memorabilia from his days with Bell Labs, Vitaphone and Warner Bros.
Movie Mice - John Conning's great site is all about early Western Electric sound equipment.
Talkie King - "The First Talkie"
Vitaphone Varieties - A blog about early talkies.
The Vitaphone Project - On a mission to round up and preserve Vitaphone films and discs.
Wikipedia - "Vitaphone"
Fox-Case Movietone
"Fox Case Starts Producing Movietone Film For Theatres" - a March 5, 1927 Exhibitors Herald article, on Internet Archive.
Tower Theatre - The first west coast Movietone installation.
70mm Fox Grandeur 1929 - 1930
Carthay Circle - The projection and sound page on this theatre has photos of the booth and the special Simplex projectors installed for the seven week run of "Happy Days," which opened February 28, 1930.
Grauman's Chinese - The Chinese was equipped with the special 70mm projectors to run "The Big Trail," an 8 week run beginning October 2, 1930. There's more about Grandeur on the main Chinese page.
The Chinese also ran "Song o' My Heart," which opened April 19, 1930. It was filmed in both 35mm as well as 70mm Grandeur but the consensus is that that the 70mm version was never exhibited and the Chinese run was 35mm. See Mile's Kreuger's article on "Song 'O My Heart."
3-D Film Archive - See the Widescreen Documentation page of Bob Furmanek's terrific 3-D Film Archive site for reproduction of some articles on Grandeur.
American Widescreen Museum - "70 Millimeters" - An American Cinematographer article from February, 1930 - the article includes sample frames
From Script To DVD - "70mm & Wide Gauge: The Early Years" - A list of early wide film exhibition dates in Los Angeles.
In70mm.com - "Magnified Grandeur -- The Big Screen 1926-1931" - A fine article by David Coles about early widescreen processes. The article "Grandeur" by Dan Sherlock is a discussion of "Movietone Follies of 1929" and whether it played as a full feature in 70mm. Also see the List of films exhibited in widescreen 1929 - 1931.
The photo above of one of the specially built 35/70 Grandeur machines from the Carey Williams Collection appears on the In70mm.com page "Simplex Grandeur 70 Projector." There's also a photo of the Simplex 35/70 machine in the August 1, 1931 issue of Motion Picture Herald, on Internet Archive.
Wikipedia - "Fox Grandeur" | list of film formats
65mm Warner Vitascope 1929 - 1931
Warner Hollywood - The main page on the Warner has a discussion of the 65mm Vitascope process. The Warner ran two features in 1930 and 1931 in 65mm: "Kismet" and "The Lash."
Warner Downtown - The theatre ran "A Soldier's Plaything" in 65mm in 1930.
From Script To DVD - "70mm & Wide Gauge: The Early Years" - A list of early wide film exhibition dates in Los Angeles.
In70mm.com - "Vitascope" - a list of productions | "Magnified Grandeur -- The Big Screen 1926-1931" - A discussion about early widescreen -- including Vitascope. Also see the list of films exhibited in widescreen 1929 - 1931.
Disney's Fantasound 1940 - 1941
Carthay Circle Theatre - This venue got the full stereo roadshow treatment for an engagement opening January 30, 1941. The Carthay Circle projection and sound page has lots of information on the process.
American Widescreen Museum - Start your Fantasound explorations with the American Widescreen Museum's Fantasound section: page 1 | page 2 | page 3 |
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers - A Fantasound technical paper. It also appears in the Widescreen Museum Fantasound section
More Early Widescreen Adventures
3-D Film Archive - See the Widescreen Documentation page of Bob Furmanek's site for information about Magnascope in the 20s.
American Widescreen Museum - "70mm is Born, Dies and is Resurrected" | more early widescreen articles
From Script To DVD - "70mm & Wide Gauge: The Early Years" - A list of early wide film exhibition dates in Los Angeles.
In70mm.com - "Magnified Grandeur -- The Big Screen 1926-1931" - The article by David Coles offers lots of discussion about early widescreen processes. | list of films exhibited in widescreen 1929 - 1931 | "The Bat Whispers in 65mm" - Magnifilm | "Magnifilm" | "Natural Vision" | "Realife"
Wikipedia - "List of Early Wide Gauge Films"
There were a number of films photographed in various wide film formats that only got exhibited in conventional 35mm.
Cinerama - 1952
Warner Hollywood - See the page on the Warner for a discussion of the three strip Cinerama projection process. The Warner later also ran 70mm films as "Presented in Cinerama."
The Cinerama Dome - Opened in 1963 with 70mm and later ran revivals of the original three strip Cinerama process films.
Forum Theatre - This theatre on Pico was a test house for both the 3-strip and 70mm Cinerama processes.
American Widescreen Museum - Cinerama - A great section of this amazing website.
In Cinerama - Roland Latalle's website about everything Cinerama and Cinemiracle. The site has lots of ads, articles and more. See his pages on the Cinerama Dome and the Warner Cinerama.
From Script To DVD - "This is Cinerama in Los Angeles"
In70mm.com - Cinerama section "From Broadway to the Dome" | "This Is Cinerama" by Greg Kimble
Observations on Film Art - David Boardwell's blog has a nice article on the "Wayward charms of Cinerama."
Ominous Valve - "Cinerama II: The Revival"
Vintage Theatre Catalogs - Bob Foreman has the program from the initial 1952 New York engagement of "This Is Cinerama" on his site.
Wikipedia - "Cinerama"
A new 3 strip Cinerama production: "In The Picture" premiered in September, 2012 at the "Cinerama at 60" festival at the Dome. It was the first footage shot in the 3 strip process in over 50 years. On YouTube: "Cinerama 2012" | "Cinerama 2012 - Part 2"
Transition to Widescreen
3-D Film Archive - See the Widescreen Documentation page of Bob Furmanek's terrific site for great research on the industry's transition to widescreen and stereo sound presentation.
CinemaScope - 1953
The street view timeline pages from 1926 to 1954 and from 1955 to the present offer some nice views of the elaborate signage for CinemaScope features, illustrating how it changed from picture to picture.
American Widescreen Museum - main CinemaScope section | "CinemaScope - Information for the Theatre" |
Wikipedia - "CinemaScope"
YouTube - "The CinemaScope Story"
CinemaScope 55 - 1956
"Carousel" got an 8 week run at Grauman's Chinese beginning February 17, 1956 and was advertised as being with six channel sound, presumably run on separate dubbers along with a 35mm print. "The King and I" got a 9 week run beginning June 28, 1956. It was advertised as CinemaScope 55, presumably using a 35mm print. The sound was advertised as "Stereophonic" without specifying the number of tracks.
The initial 35mm prints of both films were 4 track mag only -- no optical track. "King and I" was back at the Chinese a few years later in a 70mm version, billed as "Fox Grandeur 70."
Thanks to Mark Gulbrandsen for the photo of one of the rare Century EE 35/55mm projectors. The photo appeared as a post about CS 55 on the Facebook page Motion Picture Technology. The mag penthouse has heads for both 4 track 35mm CinemaScope as well as 6 track for CinemaScope 55. The projector was a precursor to the more successful Century JJ 35/70 machine. Bauer also built 55mm kits for their U2 35/70 machines.
Mark notes that the State-Lake in Chicago got an installation of the 55mm machines. Louis Bornwasser mentions that the Paramount in Memphis also got the machines, probably for "The King and I." Fox had noted that they intended to roadshow "King and I" in a few locations using 55mm prints. After "King and I," Fox went with TODD-AO for their big productions and acquired an interest in the company.
VistaVision - 1954
The downtown Paramount (the former Metropolitan) evidently also got the horizontal machines for the run of "White Christmas."
The El Capitan - The theatre got the horizontal machines in 1955 for the runs of "The Seven Little Foys" and "To Catch a Thief."
American Widescreen Museum - The illustration is from the site's VistaVision section. Also see the article "Horizontal VistaVision Projector" and "The Development of VistaVision." Thanks, Martin!
In 70mm.com - "VistaVision presented in Horizontal Projections" - a list of installations and films.
Wikipedia - "VistaVision" | "Technirama" a 35mm horiontal process like VistaVision but with an anamorphic lens | list of film formats
70mm TODD-AO - 1955
United Artists - Equipped in 1955 to add a second theatre to the run of "Oklahoma."
Carthay Circle - Ran the second film in the process, "Around The World in 80 Days," in 1956. See the page for photos of the renovation in process and the finished screen installation.
From Script To DVD - The "70mm in Los Angeles" section has detailed information about 70mm runs and 70mm equipped theatres.
In 70mm.com - "70mm Projectors" | "TODD-AO" | "TODD-AO - The Show of Shows" | DP70 projector index page | "DP70: A The Story of the TODD-AO Projector" | "Construction of the DP70" | "DP70 Projectors in the USA (Los Angeles)" | The faded 70mm clip from "The Alamo" is featured on "Dust To Dust," a discussion of film presentation.
Red Balloon - 70mm theatres list -- updated 2016
Cinemiracle - 1958
Grauman's Chinese - Equipped in 1958 for the 3 strip presentation of "Windjammer." The main page on the theatre has a discussion of the work done to get a 100' wide screen installed in the theatre.
Music Box Theatre - This venue (then called the Fox) got a 15 week moveover run of "Windjammer." They cited improvements in both screen and projection technology for that engagement. Meaning they probably made a composite print and ran it in 35mm scope format.
Melrose Theatre - This venue was set up as a test house for the process. See the page for a photo of the temporary projection installation
GraumansChinese.org - See Kurt Wahlner's extensive research on Cinemiracle and the installation at the Chinese on page two of "The Dream Machines," his history of projection and sound at the theatre.
In70mm.com - Cinemiracle section
Widescreen Museum - Cinemiracle section
Wilfried Wittowski - an article on "Windjammer."
Smell - O - Vision
Ritz Theatre - The page on the Ritz has information about the 1960 run of Mike Todd Jr.'s "Scent of Mystery," the only film in the process.
70mm Dimension 150 - 1968
Rosemary Theatre - This venue on the Promenade in Ocean Park was used as a test house for the process.
American Widescreen Museum - Dimension 150 section
In Cinerama - Roland Lataille's site has a section on Dimension 150. Also see his Dimension 150 at the Egyptian page.
In 70mm - D-150 section | "Come Back D-150..." | "The D-150 Super Curvulon Lens"
Other post-1955 70mm processes
From Script To DVD - The "70mm in Los Angeles" section has detailed information about 70mm runs and 70mm equipped theatres. The page allows searching the engagements by year and notes what process (Ultra Panavision, Technirama, etc.) the films employed. The site's 70mm Long Runs page is a great list of the longest running films in the 70mm format in Los Angeles.
In70mm.com - "The Original First Week Engagements of Star Wars" - Michael Coate
Links to more movie links
Cinerama Adventure -- links page | Film Sound -- links page | Silents Are Golden -- links page | Silent Film Still Archive -- links page | The Vitaphone Project -- links page
Lists of film and sound formats
Wikipedia - "List of film formats"
Lenard Audio - "Cinema Sound Formats"
Film Preservation
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
The Film Foundation
National Film Preservation Foundation
Nitrateville
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Silents Are Golden
The Vitaphone Project
Current film tech information and suppliers
American Cinema Equipment - booth equipment and supplies
Barco Digital Projectors
Bay Area Cinema Products - soundhead retrofit kits and lots more
Big Screen Biz - a blog and discussion forum for exhibitors
Christie - digital projectors and servers
Cinemeccanica - film and digital projectors, sound systems, servers, lamphouses and more
Claco Equipment & Service - parts and soundhead upgrade kits for Norelco projectors plus a full line of booth supplies
Component Engineering - sound system components including LED and Dolby Digital retrofit kits for existing soundheads -- plus a line of sound equipment and automation for digital theatres
Digital Cinema Initiatives - information about specs and practices for DCI compliance
Digital Cinema Today
DLP - Texas Instruments - digital projector components
Dolby - digital and analong sound, Dolby 3-D process, Dolby Atmos
Film Tech - supplies, vintage projector and sound manuals, theatre photos, and lots more | threading a platter | threading a projector
Future Lighting - specialists in large scale outside projection
Harkness - theatre screens
IMAX - IMAX Corporation website | Wikipedia article on the process | "Destroy Fake Imax" - a blog from 2009 | Cinema Sightlines: TJ Edwards on the problems with the digital mini-IMAX format |
Kelmar - sound, automation, misc. booth equipment.
Kinoton - film and digital projectors, lamphouses, transport system
Large Format Examiner - articles on large format processes including "Large Formats," a comparision of various film and digital formats and a page of links to articles on the early digital IMAX controversy.
Lenard Audio - Cinema Sound | Sound formats
Motion Picture Technology -- a Facebook page of interest
NEC Digital Cinema
Projector Reviews.com - consumer equipment
QSC Cinema - projectors, sound, the works
Qube Digital Cinema - servers, etc.
Real D - hardware and software for 3D exhibition
Sony Digital Cinema
Ballantyne Strong Cinema Products - digital projectors,screens, servers, signage
Technicolor
Tru-Roll - rigging, curtain tracks, draperies, projection frames and screens
Wikipedia - cue marks | film formats | movie projectors | 35mm film | 70mm film |
Xpand Vision - active and passive 3D systems
Stage tech resources -- historic
Archiving Technical Theater History -- a Facebook group
Rick Boychuk - See Rick's Facebook page for fascinating posts of his visits to old theatres to examine vintage rigging equipment. Also check out his website CounterweightRigging.com. He's the author of "Nobody Looks Up: The History of the Counterweight Rigging System 1500 - 1925."
| 1949 stage specs - Theatre, Arena & Auditorium Guide | Frank Adam switchboards | Mancall's Theatre Building and Equipment Catalog - 1931 - a glorious compendium of data sheets from various manufacturers | Land of Luxtrol | Major Equipment Co. - stage lighting catalogs - 1919, 1922, 1931 | Major Equipment Co. - 1958 catalog | Westinghouse Theatre Switchboards - 1930 / on Internet Archive | Cinerama program - NY - 1952 | San Francisco Fox - stage information | About the Atlanta Fox: Backstage at the Fox 1929 | Fox Fact - a companion site | Fanchon & Marco at the Fox |
Stage tech resources - sound
Apogee - speakers, amps, EQ
dbx - crossovers, limiters, processors
Clear-Com - intercoms
EAW - loudspeakers, amps
Full Compass - snakes, cabling, equipment
JBL Pro
Klark Teknik - signal processing
Meyer Sound - speakers, equalizers and related products
Odyssey - equipment cases, racks
Pro Sound Web - articles and forums on many topics including "Sound on Broadway," a 2009 article by Mark Frink
QSC - amps and speakers
Quam Loudspeakers - L pads, dressing room monitor speakers, etc.
Shure - mics, monitors, mixers
"Sound and Recording" - on Google Books
Star Case - racks and cases
Sweetwater - cabling, connectors, pro audio items
Yamaha Pro Audio - consoles, EQ, processing
Stage tech resources - lighting
Altman Lighting - instruments
ETC Connect - instruments, dimmers
Leprecon - dimming systems
Lycian Stage Lighting - followspots
MBS Equipment Co. - lights, rigging, misc. stage equipment
Phoebus Lighting -SF based supply house
Strand Lighting - dimmers and instruments
Strong - xenon followspots
Union Connector - connectors, cabling, company switches, patch panels, portable power distribution
Vision Quest Lighting - instruments, etc. including the old Lighting & Electronics line
Stage tech resources - rigging and drapes
J.R. Clancy - rigging equipment, stage hardware
Grosh Scenic Studios - backdrops, drapery, curtain tracks
H & H Specialties - rigging equipment, curtain tracks
Rose Brand - curtains, fabrics, stage hardware, miscellaneous stage supplies
Tiffin Scenic Studios - rigging, drapes
Tru-Roll - curtain tracks, draperies, projection frames and screens
Wenger - music stands, risers, orchestra shells, SECOA and Clancy rigging products
Stage tech - seating
Irwin Seating - new & restoration
Stage tech resources - historic restoration
Amy Higgins - building restoration artist. The photo is of Ms. Higgins at work on the ceiling of Grauman's Chinese during a 2001 restoration project.
Cole Lighting - light fixtures both new and reproduction
Stage tech resources - theatre supply houses
Mainstage Theatrical Supply - a Milwaukee based supply house
PNTA - Seattle
Stagecraft Industries - Portland
Texas Scenic - A full service supply house in San Antonio, Texas and Rockville, Maryland.
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