Los Angeles Theatres: Grauman's Chinese: projection and sound

Grauman's Chinese: projection and sound

Over the decades the Chinese has had five different projection booths: the original installation upstairs, a move to the main floor for Cinemiracle in 1958, a new booth upstairs in 2001, a rebuilt two-level booth upstairs for the 2013 IMAX renovations, and a temporary booth, installed twice on the main floor for the 2023 and 2024 IMAX 70mm film runs of "Oppenheimer." It stuck around the second time for runs of "Tenet" and "Dune: Part 2."

A 1927 publicity shot of the usherettes in their Chinese costumes up in the booth playing with the arc lamps. It's a view that appeared in a special issue about the Chinese that Terry Helgesen wrote for Console magazine. The photo also appears as part of the Library of Congress collection and in the AMPAS Tom B'hend and Preston Kaufmann Collection.

The original layout upstairs, a detail from a 1926 second floor plan in the Huntington Library collection. See the full drawing. That's the booth over on the left, flanked by a closet, a "cutting room," and the private boxes. On the right we get the offices on either side of the two-story main lobby. The stairs up are off the house right side foyer, from the landing on the stairs down to the men's room. There are exit stairs to the forecourt from the office area seen in the lower right.

Somehow a number of Meyer & Holler drawings for the Chinese ended up in the Morgan Walls & Clements Archive at the Huntington. The second floor plan is on their site as image #3870. The set is on ten pages of their site running from image #3864 to image #3873. Thanks to Mike Hume for locating these. Visit the page about the Chinese on his Historic Theatre Photography site as well as his Index to the MW&C Drawings. There's also an index by Mike Callahan on Internet Archive.

A section view with the booth indicated in green. It's from Volume 1 of "American Theatres of Today" (1927) by R.F. Sexton and B.F. Betts. That door we see in the far wall of the booth went to the cutting room and out to the ramp leading to the office corridor.

The booth timeline:

1927 - opening - The booth was originally upstairs, flanked by the small private boxes. The booth was 17' deep, 28' wide and 9' high. The throw was 90'.

Screen size: Originally 17'4" high x 23' wide. See an early photo.

1928 - talkies arrive - The theatre got a Western Electric sound installation in time for "White Shadows in the South Seas" in August 1928. And the Powers machines were, at some point, replaced by Simplexes.

1930 - Super Simplexes - We got a November 8, 1930 report from the Exhibitors Herald-World writer F. H. Richardson who visited the booth sometime in mid-1930. He noted that the three Supers had the "new" Ashcraft Model 600 lamps. When Richardson was there he reported that the theatre was running sound on a separate dubber interlocked with the projector. For "Hell's Angels," equipment was added including nine additional Vitaphone horns to provide more punch for various Magnascope action sequences in the film.

Screen size: A 24' x 37' screen was installed for "Hell's Angels" so certain sequences could be shown bigger in a Magnascope format.

1930 - 70mm Grandeur - It continued to be a busy year with specially built Grandeur process Simplex 70mm heads installed for "The Big Trail," an 8 week run beginning October 2, 1930. The machines probably had been moved over from the Carthay Circle. In February the Carthay had them installed for a seven week run of "Happy Days." See our page about Carthay Circle projection for more details.

Screen size: A wide screen was installed for Grandeur with a picture size perhaps 23' x 50'.

Grandeur used a frame with four jumbo perforations, about 25% higher than a 35mm frame and twice as wide. The aspect ratio was about 2.13 to 1. The image area was almost the same as the 1955 TODD-AO image. The sound was a wide mono optical track using a scaled up version of the Fox Movietone technology. Sound quality was evidently quite good due to the wider track.

A few frames of the 70mm Grandeur film from an illustration in the December 1929 issue of Photoplay magazine. Note the Western Electric variable density soundtrack at the left.

One of the hand built Simplex 70mm projectors for Fox Grandeur. The photo is from David Coles' fine article "Magnified Grandeur -- The Big Screen 1926-1931" on the site In70mm.com. This first generation Grandeur machine was for 70mm only.

A photo by Leonard Carey Williams of one of the second generation of Grandeur machines. It appears on the In70mm.com page "Simplex Grandeur 70 Projector," where there's also an inside view. This dual gauge 35/70mm machine is quite different than the earlier one above. There's another photo as well as an article about the later Grandeur machines in the August 1, 1931 issue of Motion Picture Herald. It's on Internet Archive.

Grandeur was only one of many widescreen processes the studios experimented with in the late 20s and early 30s. For more information about early L.A. widescreen runs in various formats see the great 70mm & Wide Gauge: The Early Years page from Michael Coate and William Kallay on FromScriptToDVD.com. They list the 1930 "Song o' My Heart" run at the Chinese as 70mm although no evidence for that has surfaced. It was shot in both Grandeur and 35mm.

By 1931 there had been a lot of talk about abandoning 70 as the new wide standard and going to 50mm instead. All of the experiments were doomed as the depression deepened and boxoffice receipts continued to plummet. By late 1931 nothing was happening except continued enthusiasm from a few partisans. Theatres continued to open with prosceniums "ready for wide film" but the formats were all dead -- only to be resurrected again in the 50s.

1953 - "Shane" was the first widescreen film at the Chinese since 1930. The format was 1.66 to 1.

Screen size: 25' x 41'.

The screen used for "Shane." It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.

1953 - Cinemascope - The Chinese got Cinemascope, 4 channel magnetic sound, and a big new "Miracle Mirror" screen for the premiere of "The Robe." The idea for "The Miracle You Can See Without Glasses," had been kicking around for years. Inspired by the widescreen panoramas of the triple screen sequences of Abel Gance's "Napoleon" (1927), French inventor Henri Chretien designed an anamorphic lens to compress a picture by a factor of two during photography and spread it out again during projection.

Screen size: "The Robe" played the Chinese in a 2.55 to 1 format on a screen about 24' x 62'.

A 35mm Cinemascope frame in the original format: 2.55 to 1 aspect ratio, 4 channel mag striping, no optical track, and reduced size (Fox-hole) perforations to make room for the two tracks inside the perforations. Most later mag prints were mag-optical with a 1/2 width optical track and were intended to be shown at 2.35 to 1.

Exhibitors had to install a new wider screen, buy new Cinemascope lenses and aperture plates, add adjustable masking, buy new speakers and amplifiers, change out their old projector sprockets and add a new attachment atop the projector to read the magnetic sound tracks. Most releases were soon available in mono optical versions for theatres opting for less costly conversions.

We don't have any shots of the Chinese booth during this period but this was the equipment package almost invariably installed in Fox West Coast houses: a new Simplex 4 channel mag sound head, a Simplex XL projector with a Bausch & Lomb anamorphic attachment, a Simplex SH-1000 optical soundhead. Thanks to the late Martin Hart for the illustration, one included in the "Cinemascope - Information for the Theatre" brochure he shared on the American Widescreen Museum site. See the Cinemascope section for more data and illustrations. Also see the Cinemascope section on the GraumansChinese.org site

1956 - curved gates - Panavision developed a curved gate retrofit kit for Simplex XLs and installed them in the three machines at the Chinese during the May and June run of "The King and I." The company would later offer kits to convert XLs to 35/65/70mm machines as a result of their work on the 1957 film "Raintree County." It was shot in MGM's Camera 65 process, later rebranded as Ultra Panavision. In the American Widescreen Museum's Ultra Panavision section it's noted that the mag soundheads for those 70mm conversions were made by Magnasync. XL 35/70 machines did get installed in several Fox West Coast houses including the Vogue in Hollywood (1959) and the 5th Avenue in Seattle (1962). But when it came time to buy 70mm machines for the Chinese, they went with Norelcos.

1958 - new downstairs booth for "Cinemiracle" - The upstairs booth was abandoned and a new one constructed downstairs for the run of "Windjammer" in the three-projector Cinemiracle system. It was much like Cinerama only with the three machines (and a separate sound dubber) in a single booth. The booth would remain downstairs until 2001. The proscenium was bashed out to install a big curved screen for Cinemiracle. The stage was substantially gutted with the front half of the stage lowered 7 feet making for some unusual contours both at stage level and in the basement.

Screen size: The frame size was 40' x 100' (measured along the arc) with the picture size for "Windjammer," the only film to play in the 3 projector process, being 38' x 92.' The screen had a shallow curve and was a single sheet, not vertical louvers like the more deeply curved Cinerama screens.

You'll find links to more information about Cinemiracle and other different projection processes on our film and theatre tech page. And don't miss the Cinemiracle section, plus data on individual theatres, on Roland Lataille's site InCinerama.com.

1961 - 70mm (again) - Three Norelco DP70 35/70 projectors were installed in the downstairs booth. A reissue run of "The King and I" opened May 9, the first 70mm feature at the Chinese since 1930. The Chinese was not listed on an August 1960 Norelco installation list on the back page of a DP70 brochure, available as a pdf from In70mm. One machine at the Chinese later got pulled out to make room for a platter system. The two that remained (serial numbers 920 and 921) were used for decades and were relocated upstairs in 2001.

Up to 1961 the only 70mm equipped houses in L.A. were the Egyptian (1955), the Carthay Circle (1956), the Vogue (1959), the Fox Wilshire (1959), the Pantages (1959), the Ritz (1960) and the Warner Hollywood (1961). The United Artists downtown had been but the equipment was removed after the run of "Oklahoma!" See the In70mm.com site's great article "The Story of the TODD-AO Projector."

Screen size: The Cinemiracle screen remained in place and was masked down for shows after "Windjammer." Typically there was a 36' x 81' image for 70mm. A 31' x 75' size was once used for 35mm scope format, but a smaller picture size was usually the case. It ranged from a hilariously small 19' x 45' for "Auntie Mame" in 1958 to about 24' x 57' during the 70s.

A full size frame from a 70mm print of "Star Wars." It's from "The Original First Week Engagements of Star Wars," an article by Michael Coate on the site In70mm.com. The six channel stereo sound on 70mm prints was, like Cinemascope, via magnetic tracks. Two were outside the sprocket holes and one inside on both sides of the image. The aspect ratio is 2.21 to 1.

1974 - Sensurround - It was installed for "Earthquake" -- with the famous net below the plaster ceiling to allegedly catch any debris that might fall. The film later moved across the street to the Paramount/El Capitan.

1976 - Dolby - The Chinese got the first generation of Dolby equipment (a CP100 processor) for the engagement of "A Star is Born," opening December 19. The advertising said "Dolby System Stereophonic Sound." The equipment was all ready for the 70mm run of "Star Wars" the next year.

1978 - It's unconfirmed but the Chinese may have been one of the first theatres to use Dolby's split surround configuration for the 70mm run of "Superman."

1980? - It's unknown when the theatre got its Dolby CP200 processor, a unit that was available beginning in May 1980.

1980 - VistaSonic - The theatre got an installation of the VistaSonic sound system in time for the December 12 premiere of Robert Altman's "Popeye." The system used four very narrow optical tracks in the normal soundtrack space on the print. One story is that there were so many issues that they switched to a normal Dolby print during the initial screening. In any case, the equipment wasn't used again at the Chinese. See more about the system on a separate page.

1984 - THX - The theatre got an upgraded sound system and THX certification prior to the run of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," opening May 23.

1987 - Dolby SR - The first engagement to use Spectral Recording playback was "RoboCop," opening July 17.

1990 - Cinema Digital Sound - Installed and then uninstalled for "Days of Thunder." The 70mm prints had a digital optical track and no mag tracks. Paramount pulled all the 70mm CDS prints during opening weekend due to problems at various venues, including the National in Westwood. Michael Coate comments: "I saw 'Days of Thunder' at the Chinese on Saturday, June 30th, which would've been Day Four of its run. All mention of CDS had disappeared by then. And no CDS snipe before the presentation." See some additional comments about the system and its problems in a thread on the Friends of 70mm private Facebook group. There's an article about CDS on the site In70mm.

1992 - Dolby Digital - Installed for "Batman Returns." 35mm, of course.

1994 - DTS - Installed for the 35mm run of "The Crow." The first 70mm use was in 1997 for "Titanic."

1995 - SDDS - Installed for "Kiss of Death."

1999 - Dolby Digital Surround EX - Installed for "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace."

2001 - booth back upstairs - As part of an overall restoration of the theatre, the booth was moved back upstairs. The lobby was expanded at this time and the concession area pushed forward into what had been the booth space and the last several rows of seats. JBL did an update on the speaker system including five custom three-way "ScreenArray" speakers behind the screen, 4642A subwoofers and 8340A surround speakers.

Screen size: A new screen frame was installed featuring a shallow curve about like the 1958 installation. An 85' wide picture was possible but 35mm image sizes used were about the same as before the remodel. When digital equipment went in, the scope format picture was reported as being in the 72' to 75' range. Maximum image height was 33'.

2002 - digital projection arrives - The first digital presentation at the Chinese was for "Star Wars: Episode II - The Attack of the Clones," opening May 16. It was "Presented in Technicolor Digital Projection / Powered by Qualcomm / Dolby Digital / THX." In 2003 "The Last Samurai," opening December 5, used a Christie CP2000 unit. Within a couple of years, most presentations at the theatre were digital with film use becoming a rarity only for special events or premieres when directors favored film.

The theatre has been through a variety of digital gear including a 2006 installation of a Starus NC2500S from NEC with a Doremi server in a package from Technicolor. In 2009 for the "blue carpet" premiere of "Avatar," some sort of gear from American Hi-Definition was installed. They had a pair overlapped to get the brightness up. A second pair ran as backup. A single 2K Christie unit was used in 2010 for the 3-D run of "Clash of the Titans." The 2011 TCM Festival used a DP4K-32B 4K unit by Barco. See the 10 minute Celebrity Tech 2012 tour of the booth discussing both film and digital equipment in place before the IMAX renovations.

The film gear still in the booth when the theatre closed for the 2013 renovations was one of the 35/70mm Norelco DP70 projectors with a Christie AW3 platter. It was used infrequently. In the #2 spot there was a 2K Christie digital projector.

2013 - IMAX renovations - The upstairs booth was made into a two-level space during the Imax renovations. The floor for the lower level was dropped down several feet from the 1927 floor level. The initial equipment package was two 2K Imax units on the lower level and two 4K Christie digital projectors above.

In 1927 the throw was 90' but with the screen now closer to the back wall it's 106'. At the time of reopening, no film equipment was installed -- it went into storage. The two Norelco heads (one partially disassembled) as well as some other parts are now sitting in the basement compressor room. Check out Peter Genovese's 2013 short video tour of the upper level of the remodeled booth for interesting ceiling views. He also gives us a glimpse of the lower level booth with the 2 IMAX digital projectors.

Screen size: The monster Imax silver screen is 46' x 94'. It's curved but the curve is fairly shallow. More of the stage was cut away, a deep incursion was made into the stage basement areas and the area under the main floor slab was excavated to accommodate the much higher Imax screen and the new stadium seating rake of the auditorium.

The full picture size in digital Imax format was 46' x 87' with 37' of that height used for scope format images. The first film to play after the reopening, the Imax 3-D version of "Wizard of Oz" in 1.37 ratio, had a 46' x 61' picture.

The existing curtain's height was extended so it could be reused. The side masking is motorized. The top masking, also motorized, may be lowered down to mask non-Imax films. The bottom masking is a huge curved berm brought in for non-Imax presentations that rests on the floor in front of the bottom of the screen. It's about 80' wide and 9' tall.

Non-Imax image sizes are approximately 26' x 62' for scope, 26' x 48' for 1.85 and 26' x 35' for 1.33. The 'scope format picture during the 2013 TCM fest was 70' wide.

2014 - film returns - 70MM Imax film projection equipment was installed on the booth's lower level for the run of "Interstellar" in November. The 15/70 machine was an Imax SR (small rotor) unit, a model introduced in the 90s, using a 7Kw air-cooled xenon lamp. The two digital projectors and the film unit were put on tracks so it was an easy changeover to slide the equipment for the desired format into position at the center port. The film equipment was removed in March 2015 to make way for the new laser machines.

Image size: For the Imax 70mm film run of "Interstellar" the side masking was brought in a bit for the 1.43 to 1 aspect ratio of the image, resulting in a picture about 46' x 68'.

2015 - new and improved - Imax installed its new laser projection system at the Chinese in March with the initial film being the April run of "Furious 7." Along with that was an "immersive" sound upgrade, to a 12 channel system. See some photos of the laser installation by Escott O. Norton of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation lower on this page or view the full 39 photo set on the LAHTF Facebook page.

Image size: With the installation of Imax laser projectors the picture size was increased to 46' x 92'.

Thanks to Mike Breiberg for this fine comparison below showing the Chinese screen compared to, among others, Universal Citywalk's 58' x 79' (70mm + digital dual GT laser) and the 67.7 x 88' screens at Irvine Spectrum and Regal Ontario Palace (both have 70mm + digital).

See Mike's post on the Imax & Film Enthusiasts Facebook page for many comments.

2019 - 35mm was back for a July 22 premiere of "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood." It later ran in 70 at the Cinerama Dome. Sean McKinnon commented on a post for the Motion Picture Technology private Facebook group: "Two Kinoton FP10A’s with Kinoton Universal Lamps, Two Kinoton SPT 5000 spool towers, Two Dolby CP-650’s were installed in a primary/back up configuration for this one show then removed. Boston Light and Sound provided the equipment and technicians (including myself). We also installed an additional film setup at the multiplex next door for overflow."

2023 - Christopher Nolan returns - 15 perf IMAX film equipment was installed for the run of "Oppenheimer" that began July 18. This time a temporary booth was constructed at the back of the main floor. Trailers were run digitally before the feature from the top level of the regular booth. It ran on Imax film until September 24, then went digital. The booth and equipment were then removed.

Image size: The Imax 70mm picture, like that for "Interstellar," was 46' high and about 68' wide.

2024 - The temporary booth on the main floor was reinstalled for another run of "Oppenheimer" from January 12 through January 31. "Tenet" had a 70mm IMAX run from February 23 through 27. "Dune: Part 2" ran from February 29 until April 11.

2024 - TCM will be installing 35mm gear for their opening night gala, an April 18 screening of "Pulp Fiction."

The original booth - 1927 - 1958:

The booth of the Chinese in 1927 or 1928. We're looking at a Chicago Cinema effects projector on the left, a pole-mounted Brenkert followspot, another spot on the pole under it, and three Powers projectors with Ashcraft arc lamps on Powers bases. Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for finding the photo in the February 4, 1928 issue of Motion Picture News in an article about the theatre's communications systems titled "Brain and Arms of Showmanship...." Mike Hume has made it available as a pdf.

Kurt includes the photo with a discussion of the original booth layout in part one of his impeccably researched history of projection and sound systems at the Chinese on his site GraumansChinese.org. Check it out: Part 1: from the silents to the golden age | Part 2: widescreen & 70mm | Part 3: sensurround, dolby and digital sound | Part 4: digital projection and Imax |

The Chinese booth c.1928. Nearest us along the booth back wall are two Simplex Standards on Western Electric Universal Bases hooked up as sound dummies for either film or disc. They were synched with Selsyn motors to the projectors running the picture. If your Vitaphone record skipped, you'd have a backup machine running in sync to switch over to. That door on the left wall goes to a closet and was also the access to the private boxes on that side of the booth.

Thanks to John Conning of MovieMice.com, a site that had once been devoted to early Western Electric sound equipment, for sharing the photo from his collection. And thanks also to David Ayers for posting it on the Facebook page All Movie Projectors.

The Chinese booth c.1928 after the operators went home. Photo: John Conning - MovieMice.com

The booth backwall c.1928. We're looking at the Western Electric amp racks on the left plus the two Standard Simplexes set up as sound dummies for either sound-on-film or sound-on-disc. Photo: John Conning - MovieMice.com

"Hell's Angels" opened in May 1930 and evidently used a more elaborate sync setup (with film, not disc) to run an effects track in sync with the main track -- and feed an extra complement of speakers installed especially for that engagement. Some of the action sequences used a larger image, Magnascope style.

F. H. Richardson visited the booth in 1930, presumably during the run of "Hell's Angels." In his report in the November 8 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World he noted that the booth then was using three Super Simplexes with the "new" Ashcraft Model 600 lamps. They were still running double system sound and he commented:

"The consensus of the Chinese theatre projection staff and those projectionists of other theatres in which this method is used, is that it is a decided improvement on the method in which both the sound and the picture are reproduced from one film, which opinion I endorse."

The original port configuration. There were various spots on the far left and three Powers projectors in the center. Two pole-mounted spots were on the right of the projectors plus a tall port for a dual effects projector. It's a detail from an image Kurt Wahlner located in the August 20, 1927 issue of The American Architect. See the full photo. It had appeared as part of their story "Chinese Theatre, at Hollywood California." A very murky version is on Internet Archive.

The port revision of the early 40s. It's a detail from a photo in the Marc Wanamaker collection. See the full image. There's a new spot port on the far left, in what's on the plans as the cutting room. It required relocating the door that went from the cutting room out into the box area. That second large port had originally been four small openings. On the far right was another new spot port, in the room that was on the plans as a closet. That row of spots in front of the booth was nothing new. It had appeared by 1928.

The Cinemiracle booth downstairs - 1958-2001

Photos of the back of the main floor are scarce during this period. We get this view of Peter Finch in the house by cinematographer Joseph Biroc in Robert Aldrich's 1968 MGM film "The Legend of Lylah Clare." The big ports on either end are where mirrors were positioned to bounce the image onto the right and left sides of the screen used for "Windjammer." Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for the screenshot. See more about the film on the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post.

The front wall of the downstairs booth in 1984. Thanks to Mark Gulbrandsen for his photo, appearing on the Facebook page All Movie Projectors.

The back of the downstairs booth in 1984 with projectionist Tom Ogbourne down beyond the racks. A 35mm dubber is on the left edge of the image, Tom's right elbow is pointing to the other one. They allowed previews with sound on separate film. Photo: Mark Gulbrandsen - All Movie Projectors on Facebook

A closer look at the amp racks in 1984. At the top of rack #1 is a monitor speaker with channel selector switches. Below are BGW power amps. The unit with the THX crossover cards is at the top of rack #2 with more BGW amps below. In the rack #3 there are Dolby magnetic preamps and a CP200 processor and accessory unit. An exciter supply and Dolby power supplies are at the bottom. Thanks to Mark Gulbrandsen for his photo.

The rebuilt upstairs booth - 2001-2013

The booth went back upstairs during the 2001 renovation. This is a view before it got rebuilt for the 2013 Imax project. That's a Christie digital projector nearest us and a Norelco DP70 35/70 with a platter beyond. A second Norelco had been removed to make way for the digital installation. Thanks to Wendell Benedetti for his 2012 photo on the LAHTF Facebook page.

The Christie digital projector. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Another look over to the left side of the booth at the Norelco and the Christie platter. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

The logo on the door of the Norelco. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - LAHTF Facebook page - 2012

The platter -- and the Norelco beyond. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - LAHTF Facebook page - 2012. Thanks, Wendell!

Thomas Larsen, head projectionist at the Chinese, in the booth chatting with visitors during an LAHTF "all-about" tour. Thanks to Stephen Russo for his 2013 photo, originally appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page.

The two-level IMAX booth - 2013-present:

The front of the two level booth after the Imax renovations. Imax gets the lower level (with ports barely visible at this angle) with a couple of Christie units above. Photo: Stephen Russo - September 2013

For the full-range stage channels Imax uses three across plus one high up. We get a view of the center, upper center (termed "the god channel") and right speaker systems in this August 2013 view. Also just to the left of the worklight note the two sub units sitting on the floor below the center speaker. It's a photo by Steve Czarnecki from "Check Out the Installation...," his article on the site Beyond The Marquee. That's the main chandelier down for a retrofit on the right of the photo.

Another August 2013 view after the curtain and side masking were up. Here we get a better look at the subs. The photo is one that had appeared on the Chinese Theatre Facebook page. See our recent auditorium views page for more construction photos. Imax uses a silver screen for their installations.

A look into the two level booth in March 2015. The hoists were there to assist in the installation of the IMAX Laser equipment on the lower level. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation

A 2019 peek into the booth. Bill Counter is on the lower level checking out the Imax Laser equipment. Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for the photo. Visit his GraumansChinese.org site for a terrific history of everything about the theatre.

The upper level:

A peek up toward the upper level. Equipment racks are on the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The two 4K Christie projectors in the upper level upon reopening after the Imax renovations. Photo: Stephen Russo - September 2013

An October 2014 view to the front wall. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for the photo. Keep up with his explorations: HunterKerhart.com | Hunter on Facebook | on Flickr |

Another angle on the two 4K Christie projectors. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A look down during the LAHTF "all-about" tour. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

A view during the 70mm 15 perf run of "Oppenheimer." Trailers were run on one of the Christies from this level before the feature. Thanks to Roy H. Wagner, ASC, for this September 2023 photo and the others included here. See his Facebook post for more photos plus a few video clips.

A chandelier view. Thanks to Roy H. Wagner for the 2023 photo. He notes that the hook at the top of the image is one of many remaining from the 1974 Sensurround run of "Earthquake." Ted Mann rigged a net to the ceiling, allegedly to catch falling debris. The hooks were used again to put up a tent during the 2013 Imax renovations.

The upstairs audio and signal processing racks. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The Dolby CP 750 processor in rack #3. Don't forget to mute it if you're running your film from the lower booth! Photo: Roy H. Wagner - 2023

A view back toward the stairs down from the upper level. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The lower level:

The lower level of the booth after the 2013 Imax renovations. These units were replaced in 2015 by Imax Laser equipment. Photo: Stephen Russo - September 2013

The control station for the IMAX digital projectors. Thanks to Stephen Russo for the September 2013 photo. The images from his visit originally appeared on the LAHTF Facebook page.

The lower booth level after installation of the 70mm IMAX SR ("Small Rotor") film projector. The machine was installed in September 2014 for the run of Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," opening November 4th. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for his October 2014 photo.

The Imax film projector as well as the two digital units were put on tracks to make any changeover between formats easier. Feeding the SR projector was an Imax QTRU ("Quick Turn Reel Unit") platter system with 5 levels, each platter capable of holding about 170 minutes of the 70mm Imax format film. Early Imax platters fed film from the outside of the reel and the film was rewound after a showing. This unit, like the standard 35/70mm platters in conventional theatres, has the film feeding out of the center and is ready to go again after a screening with no rewinding.

A comparison between 35mm, 5 perf regular 70mm and the horizontal 15 perf 70mm IMAX formats.

A rear view of the IMAX 70mm SR projector. The two digital units are shoved off to the left. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - October 2014

A tight squeeze to get in for threading. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - October 2014

A loop of 70mm alignment film threaded for testing. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - October 2014

The lens on the 70mm machine. The black shroud at left lifts up to thread. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - October 2014. The film equipment was removed in March 2015 to make room for the new laser projectors.

The emptied out lower level of the booth ready for the installation of the Imax laser projectors. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015

The base of one of the Imax laser machines in the forecourt. It was a middle-of-the-night installation to avoid probing eyes. The gear was lifted by crane to the door leading to the booth level hallway. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015. See the full photo set on the LAHTF Facebook page.

One of the laser projectors in the forecourt. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015

A base getting maneuvered through the upstairs corridor. It was necessary to cut a hole on one of the walls to steer around the corner. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015

A laser projector coming in from the landing outside the 2nd floor door. Side panels of the machine were removed prior to hoisting it up to minimize the width of the unit. The installation uses two machines running simultaneously to improve the brightness of the 96' wide picture. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015

One of the bases ready to be lowered to the lower booth level. Photo: Escott O. Norton - Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation - March 2015. Thanks, Escott! See the full 39 photo set on the LAHTF Facebook page.

Looking into the lower level. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The rear of the two 4K Laser projectors on the booth's lower level. They're overlapped and used simultaneously. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Along the side of Imax Laser projector #2. Photo: Roy H. Wagner - 2023

The right wall of the booth. Jose graciously allowed theatre explorers to check out the booth during a November 2 LAHTF "all-about" tour of the theatre. The racks on the left contain amps and other signal processing gear. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

The Imax audio racks. It's now a 12 channel system. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

Another look at the audio racks. Note the stairs beyond leading to the booth's upper level. Thanks to Roy H. Wagner, ASC, for the 2023 photo. See his Facebook post for more photos plus a few video clips.

The temporary "Oppenheimer" booth - 2023:

The temporary booth under construction to hold the 15 perf machine for the run of "Oppenheimer." Photo: Bill Counter - July 11, 2023

A look across the back. Photo: Bill Counter - July 11, 2023

A peek inside nine days before the first show. Photo: Bill Counter - July 11, 2023

The view from the front of the house. Photo: Bill Counter - July 11, 2023

More drapes as camouflage plus added layers of foam insulation board on the exterior. Note the bundles of ventilation duct, electrical feed, sound and control lines running up to the regular booth's two levels. Photo: Bill Counter - July 14, 2023

A look across the makeup table toward the front of the the booth as equipment is being set up on July 15. They're installing rollers so there's a path from the makeup table to the platters. Many thanks to Patrick Caldwell, The IMAXguy, for sharing this. It's a frame from his short pan around the booth that can be viewed on Facebook. Patrick comments about the equipment:

"It is an SR projector (Small Rotor). The reel unit is a QTRU - Quick Turn Reel Unit. Prior to it, we had to rewind after each show. 7k lamp for the SR. The rolling loop movement has no intermittent. Only two sprockets, one feeding into the projector, one out. The shutters (4!) are 86% efficient. Highest efficiency of any projector. The DC power for the lamp is a modified welder from Miller Electric. Compressed air at 120 psi is needed. There's an Ingersoll Rand unit backstage with 300 ft run of hose! Film runs at 337.5 fpm."

Patrick and his colleague Charlie Moss were brought in from out of town by IMAX especially for this engagement. Patrick had also come to the Chinese to run the IMAX film engagement of "Interstellar" back in 2014.

Patrick Caldwell working on the 15 perf IMAX SR projector. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

A closer look at the right side. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

This is the feed side of the machine, here threaded with a test loop. The turquoise rollers are a film cleaning medium. The red button is for an emergency stop. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

A view across the machine. The gate for the feed sprocket is in the lower center. The yellow item is a proximity detector. Foil cues are used to stop the machine after threading and a jog to check operation so the "Start" frame is in the aperture. At the end a cue shuts the machine down to avoid the tail whipping through the machine. It's then manually unthreaded. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

Looking back toward the makeup table. The platter is back there hiding behind the projector. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

The view to the platter from the right side of the projector. The platters are 6' in diameter plus, a little orange extension ring about 3/4" wide to allow for the length of the "Oppenheimer" print. The tape on the rollers offers clues as to how the top of the film should be oriented. If this were a 3-D setup, the rollers for the print for the other eye would be coded green instead of red. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

The left side of the head with the stators open for threading. On the left is the lens in its retracted position. That handle sticking up in the upper left is for the field flattener lens that each frame is slapped up against. Actually there are two of those. If one gets dirty the second one can be moved into place from the control console. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

The left side of the machine. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

Another view on the left side. That's the control console on the left. On the right is the platter with the "Oppenheimer" print. There's a velcro wrap around it. Normally the edge clamps would attach via holes on the top of the platter. For this run, due to the size of the print, they were re-engineered to fasten underneath. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

The control console. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

A view toward the platter from the left side of the projector. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

A look across the platter. That's the amp rack back in the corner. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

A closer look at the sound rack. IMAX calls their system DTAC -- the Digital Theatre Audio Controller. IMAX film has always been 6 full-range channels with no compression. Initially they used a 35mm dubber with full-coat mag film synced to the projector. Now the sound comes in on a CD with a time code that syncs with the time code generated from pulses via the projector motor controller. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

Looking toward the front port, here with a drape over it. At the time of the photo the platter had 2/3 of "Oppenheimer" on it. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

Every booth running "Oppenheimer" in IMAX has a spare reel 1. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

Back in the right corner it's the DC power supply for the projector motor and the platter system. To the right is the booth's temporary electical service and, farther to the right out of the frame is the rectifier for the projector's 7Kw xenon lamp. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

The relay cabinet above the DC power supply. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2023

"Oppenheimer" came in to the Chinese on three 200 pound mini-platters. Many theatres got the film shipped on 53 individual reels. Photo: The IMAXguy - July 2023

Drapes in place and ready for a show. Photo: Bill Counter - July 18, 2023

Another look toward the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - July 18, 2023.

The view from the temporary booth before the first "Oppenheimer" show on July 20. Photo: Patrick Caldwell. Those beads of light in the upper left are reflections off the port glass of some of the party lights installed in the booth as running lights.

The projector at work during a screening. Thanks to Patrick Caldwell for this July 21 shot as well as all his other images appearing here. He notes by this time he had installed the "beauty covers" on the machine.

That's Charlie Moss back by the machine and Patrick Caldwell is at the platter. Both operators are from Tennessee. Thanks to Patrick for sharing this shot in a July 25 Facebook post. He comments: "All shows since opening sold out. The Chinese Theatre is rockin'! Charlie in the back cleaning, and I'm attaching the 'Avatar clamps' around the edge of the film."

Charlie Moss getting photographed for the New York Times by Zach Callahan. Thanks to Patrick for sharing this photo he took in a July 26 Facebook post.

This photo of Charlie taken by Zach Callahan appeared in a big way (6 1/2" x 9 1/2") on page two of the July 30, 2023 New York Times Sunday Opinion section headed "Witness: Portraits of the people living the news." This was the text from Charlie:

"Being an IMAX projectionist is kind of a lost art form. When moviegoers are watching 'Oppenheimer,' they have no clue what's going on behind the scenes. I mean, you've got 600 pounds of film speeding through a projector. If something goes wrong, it could be disastrous. But with film, the image is sharper and clearer, and there's a depth to it. It's an immersive experience and very intense, totally different from your average popcorn flick." -- Charles Moss, Los Angeles

IMAX's David Keighley discusses the system while bad music plays in a short clip on the TCL Chinese Facebook page.

A frame from "Threading the SR IMAX 70mm projection system at TCL Chinese with Oppenheimer." It's on YouTube from Patrick Caldwell. Also see Patrick's video clips of the machine starting up for a show and his nightly trip backstage to shut off the compressor. He comments:

"For the hard-core projectionist. 17 minutes. From show end, to prepping the system for the next sell-out! Those operators who are used to 35 or 70mm platter systems will see lots of similarities, just bigger and a bit scarier. 600 pounds spins at 60 rpm in about 6 seconds."

The booth and its equipment were removed at the end of the "Oppenheimer" run in September 2023. It was all reinstalled for another run of "Oppenheimer" that began January 12, 2024. "Tenet" ran from February 23 through 27. "Dune: Part 2" played in Imax 70 beginning February 29.

Charlie Moss, a veteran of the first "Oppenheimer" run, was back for "Dune." He detailed his experience in Hollywood in "I'm an IMAX projectionist. Here’s what running 'Oppenheimer' was like during the Barbenheimer phenomenon," a lovely January 2024 article on the site AV Club.

A March 1, 2024 view of the reinstalled temporary booth taken before a screening of "Dune: Part 2." Thanks to Dave Hunter for sharing his photo. See his Facebook post for another auditorium view plus a forecourt shot.

More information: Our Film and Theatre Tech page has links to many sources about the history of specific film formats. Check out the projection and sound pages of Kurt Wahlner's Grauman's Chinese site. Thanks to Michael Coate for providing many of the dates and film titles in his tech timeline of the Chinese included in a post for the private Friends of 70mm group on Facebook.

2 comments:

AntMay 18, 2018 at 11:32 PM
Nice! :)
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AnonymousAugust 2, 2023 at 11:42 AM
This was a fantastic read, thank you for all the work this article took.
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