Pages about the Pantages Theatre:
| Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | booth | support areas |
A 1930 Mott Studios photo taken from the west end of the booth. The three film projectors were Super Simplexes with Hall & Connolly lamps on Western Electric Universal bases. The ballast resistor room was beyond the DC switchboard seen at the end of the booth. This is one of 5 photos in set #001416979 of the California State Library collection.
On the extreme left are two Brenkert spot lamps that are stacked vertically. The angled cart is the non-sync equipment. It had two turntables with a fader between them. The stack of two lamps beyond with the strange ventilation hood is a dual effects projector we would normally call a Brenograph. Here we'd have to call it an Ashcraft-o-Graph as those are Ashcraft lamps rather than Brenkerts. The lower unit has the usual adjustable mirrors to direct the image down to the stage. The upper one is on a jack so it can be repositioned that way.
Like
a lot of theatres of the era, it was described as being ready
for wide film. There were 70mm and 65mm processes that made it to a
few theatres in the 1929-31 time period. The "readiness" at the Pantages
did include a big screen and a comfortably wide proscenium but the
theatre didn't get projectors capable of running anything other than
35mm until 1959.
The 1930 booth equipment: The Pantages opened with Super Simplexes and a
Western Electric sound system that could handle both film and disc
reproduction. In addition, an elaborate public address system included
coverage of the auditorium, lobby and lounge areas. And we had a huge
complement of follow spot and effects projector gear in the booth.
The June 7, 1930 issue of Motion Picture News discussed the booth. Thanks to Mike Hume for locating their article "A House Built For Wide Films" via Internet Archive. They noted:
"More than $125,000 in electrical equipment has been installed. Of this amount $60,000 has been expended on the projection room and its equipment and $20,000 on the sound equipment. In the projection room, the building of which was supervised by Cass Hayes, consulting engineer for Pantages theatres, four projectors have been placed. They are equipped to handle both sound on film and on disc and are adaptable to Grandeur film.
"These projectors are run by two specially designed generators, claimed to be the largest in use in any theatre. These also are made to handle Grandeur film. The projection booth which is 50 feet long and 16 feet wide has nine control stations. Besides the projectors there are three spot lights, two floods and a special effects machine. Next to the projection room is a fireproof film vault, a room for the resistance board and a monitor room for the public address system."
The August 30, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World profiled the theatre in "Hollywood's Newest Temple of its own art - the Pantages." It's also on Internet Archive. They had this to say about the booth:
Despite the two accounts above talking about four projectors, there evidently were only three. As seen in the photos. In "Projection at the Pantages," an article by F. H. Richardson in the October 25, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. The Richardson article is on Internet Archive. It's also reproduced at the bottom of the page.
"There are four projectors in the projection room
equipped to handle sound-on-film, disc and wide-film. The booth is 16
feet wide and 50 feet long. Its construction was supervised by Castle Hayes, chief consulting engineer for the Pantages circuit. Spots, floods, and a special effects lamp are included, with nine remote control change-over stations in the equipment.."
Despite the two accounts above talking about four projectors, there evidently were only three. As seen in the photos. In "Projection at the Pantages," an article by F. H. Richardson in the October 25, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. The Richardson article is on Internet Archive. It's also reproduced at the bottom of the page.
He
lists the equipment: Three Super Simplexes with Ashcraft 600
lamps, a Brenograph, two Brenkert spot lamps, an Ashcraft high
intensity flood and two Chicago Cinema spots (with five color effects
each!). The sound equipment was by Western Electric, some of which he
describes in detail. Note that in the Mott Studios photo of the booth we
see the projectors with Hall & Connolly lamps, not the
Ashcrafts mentioned by Richardson.
For lots more on early Western Electric sound equipment see Kurt Wahlner's Projection and Sound pages on his Grauman's Chinese website. Kurt saw many films at the Pantages in the 60s and 70s. He learned to see a picture during the first week or two of a run. If he went later, the picture would strangely be dimmer. Once he went to the booth and asked the operator. He was told management didn't want to spend the money on carbons later in a run and they were told to turn down the amperage.
Sightlines: The shallow slope of the balcony was dictated by sightlines to the screen. The Motion Picture News issue of June 7, 1930 had this comment:
"The
architectural trend of the future in preparation for the
wide-screen-large-picture development is demonstrated in the new
Pantages...This new wrinkle in theatre construction is evidenced by
the low rear balcony, height of which permits full vision of the screen
at any point. The downstairs rear seats also have full view of the
Grandeur screen..."
Projection throw: About 140'
Projection angle: About 18 degrees
The screen: It was ready for standard 1.37, Magnascope or, if it ever arrived at the Pantages, wide film such as the 70mm Fox Grandeur process. The frame had motorized masking, typical for Magnascope installations. We get slightly different numbers for the size depending on the article you read.
Motion Picture News - June 7, 1930:
"Three Way Screen - The screen which
has a special masking device which can be used for standard, Magnascope
and wide film as it is 56 feet wide and 27 feet high."
Exhibitors Herald-World - August 30, 1930:
"Seventy-five sets of scenic lines stretched overhead above the stage include the screen, which is 30
by 60 feet in size. A motor control masking device diminishes or
increases its size, according to the picture, whether standard or wide
film."
Stage speakers: They were in a box that traveled offstage on a monorail. See the backstage page for a discussion as well as several photos. They were Western Electric 12A horns with 555 drivers. In the early photos we see only 4 horns, despite several trade magazine mentions of 8.
Motion Picture News - June 7, 1930:
"Sound Box on Mono-Rail - On the stage, hung from a mono-rail track, is
the sound box. This device carries eight horns and is moved off stage to
one side when presentations are on. Augmenting these are five extra
horns, one at each side of the proscenium arch, and three above the
arch. This system will enable the operator to throw the sound to any
part of the house with equal clarity..."
Exhibitors Herald-World - August 30, 1930:
"A mono-rail carries
eight reproducing horns directly behind the screen...."
The vista at the east end of the booth. This side of the film projectors are an Ashcraft high intensity flood and, to the right, two Chicago Cinema Co. followspots. This Mott Studios photo is one of 17 of different areas of the building in set #001407754 of the California State Library collection.
The PA room on the house left end of the booth. In the two PA racks we have 2 207A horn control panels, one 203B panel, a patch panel, two 41-A amps (with the boxes covering the tubes), one 42-A amp and two 43-A amps. On the left wall we have a 42-A amp bridging the film sound equipment's output -- it could be patched into the PA system if desired. The Mott Studios photo is included in the California State Library collection set #001416979. See the backstage page for a discussion of the location of the PA speakers in the auditorium and other areas.
A 1930 view of the ports. From the left it's the two Chicago Cinema followspots, the Brenkert flood in a port (here with shutter down) that could have been used for projector #4, the 3 Simplex projectors, the Ashcraft-o-Graph dual lamp effects projector in the tall/skinny port, dual Brenkert effects lamps in the larger double port, and an extra dual port. The three large ports to the right were for the PA room. It's a detail from a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
Upgrades
in the 30s, 40s, 50s: Well, there were undoubtedly were many, as would
befit a major first run house. But not much information has surfaced.
In 1942 the theatre got a Retiscope screen, curved both horizontally and vertically. At least one writer commented that it produced "a sort of stereopticon effect." Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating this story. It was headlined "New Glass Screen Makes Movies Far Better" when it appeared in the May 16, 1942 issue of the Stockton Record:
A photo of the screen appearing with "The Retiscope Fiberglas Screen," an article in the July 1946 issue of International Projectionist. They mention the 1942 tryout at the Pantages with the rollout put on hold due to wartime material limitations. The article is on Internet Archive. A story about the new screen had also appeared in the L.A. Daily News on May 14, 1942.
Operator Paul Caton in the booth c.1958. Thanks to Carole Ester-Hager for sharing this photo. She comments:
"My
father was the projectionist there 1950–1960. My playground was the
roof. No railings or anything to keep from falling off. All he told me
was don’t hold near the edge. lol. My job was to rewind the reels
and I would get all the popcorn I wanted. Such wonderful memories.
"There is a small viewing room off the projection room and
at that time it was just cement with a couple of seats. It
had no glass between the room and the theatre. When I got tired I would
go sleep there until the last picture ended. A person could possibly
throw small bits of popcorn on people's heads if they were so inclined——
I will admit to nothing."
70mm arrives: The theatre got an installation of Norelco DP70 35/70 mm machines and Ashcraft Super Cinex lamps in 1959. The first 70mm run was "Spartacus," opening October 19, 1960. There were many later 70mm runs, including "Cleopatra" in 1963.
The theatre had closed in November 1959 for a renovation supervised by the
Heinsbergen Co. Work included lots of
draping in the auditorium and a "modernization" of the ticket lobby. They reopened Christmas Day with
"Operation Petticoat."
The first phases of the renovation program were discussed in "Indoor Luxury From Sidewalk To Screen," a May 9, 1960 Boxoffice
article. article page 1 | article page 2 | The project got an additional writeup in a January 30, 1961
Boxoffice article titled "RKO Pantages in Los Angeles Faces New Era
After $100,00 Remodeling." article section 1 | section 2 | section 3 |
A 27' x
55' screen was installed and the front of the house completely
draped. Or, as Boxoffice put it: "...the proscenium arch was
eliminated." The actual picture size for "Spartacus" was 20' x 54'. Boxoffice
noted that the 4 3/4" Bausch & Lomb lenses ("the first and only
ones of their kind") were, of course, made especially for the RKO
Pantages and "are the result of a series of new developments."
The
sound was an Ampex 6-4-1 system with "high level mixing" -- meaning
changeover switching was post-preamp. Speakers were Altec Voice of the Theatre.
Current film equipment: There isn't any installed.
The booth ports opened up for followspot use. The three on the far right are in the old PA room. This is a detail from a great 2009 photo by Christian Dionne appearing in his Theatres album on Flickr. On the hi-res version you can pan around and look at details.
A closer look at some of the ports. Several are still the 1930 configuration, the three big ones were opened up later. Thanks to Doug Palmer for sharing his photo. It's one of 37 he took at an October 2022 Pantages subscriber open house that he posted on the LAHTF Facebook page.
Recent booth views:
The door to the booth is house left just beyond the balcony ladies room. Keep going and you're in the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Looking up to the first landing. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Up to booth level. Take a right at the top and there's a little corridor heading to the booth. Take a left and you can get into a space along the west wall of the building. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Looking along the building's west wall toward the niches along the upper part of the auditorium side walls. There's also access to above the main auditorium ceiling. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
The corridor heading to the house left end of the booth. The PA room is behind the wall on the left when one gets closer to the booth. On the right are a film vault and several storage rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Looking into the booth. The PA room is behind us. The followspots are Strong Gladiators fitted with Strong Lume-X Xenon lamps. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
One
of the three surviving front wall control stations. This one is by a
spare port at the far left end of the booth. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
The
booth was envisioned as having four projectors, although only three
were installed. The operator had control of the curtain and masking but
no lighting control. The button in the center of the bottom row was to
signal the stagehand.
Looking in to the PA room on the left end of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A bit of the control gear for the original Western Electric sound equipment survives on the back wall of the PA room. Thanks to Steve Gerdes for this photo taken during the April 2022 LAHTF "all-about" tour of the
theatre. See his full set on Facebook.
The knob of the rheostat on the lower left controlled the current to the DC fields of the speakers. Above it on the left was the switch to turn on the stage horns. To the right of that the smaller switch was for the monitoring horn. The switch at the far right was the power switch for the amps. The four
pilot lights above are labeled 42-43-43-41, the Western Electric amplifier models used. They were to show that the
filament transformers for the power amps were on.
The view from the PA room. Thanks to Mike Hume for his 2022 photo. Visit the page about the Pantages on his Historic Theatre Photography site.
A look out across the ceiling. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
An organ grille and side stage view from the PA room. Thanks to Cat Lukaszewski for sharing her photo. It's one of 49 great views she has in a Hollywood Pantages album on Facebook that were taken at the April 2022 LAHTF "all-about" tour.
The last of the original booth ceiling fixtures. This one's near the toilet on the left end of the booth. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
The partition in front of the toilet area. Thanks to Claudia Mullins for her photo. It's one she took during the April 2022 LAHTF "all-about" tour. See her terrific 40 photo Pantages set on Facebook.
The niche in the back wall where the film sound amp racks once were. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
1930 vintage film storage bins below the rewind bench. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
Another look at the bins below the rewind bench. 1959 vintage bins for 70mm in the foreground, 35mm bins beyond. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A nice chandelier view between two of the spots. Thanks to Cat Lukaszewski for the 2022 photo.
The control panel on the front wall adjacent to the former location of projector #3. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Bins and storage drawers on the back wall near the house right end of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
The front wall at the right end of the booth. Photo: Mike Hume - 2022
The control panel adjacent to the location of one of the original Chicago Cinema Co. followspots, next to the switchboard. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A closer look at the DC switchboard. The ballast resistor room is behind this. Photo: Steve Gerdes - 2022
The two vertical rows of switches at the far left were for the various arc lamps for projectors, follow spots and effects projectors. Meters at the top right of the board could read voltage and amperage from the two motor-generator sets in the basement.
The 4 prong plug with the handle below the meters allowed you to select which generator was feeding this board. Below that to the left were start and stop buttons for "Stage M-G" and "Proj. M-G" with pilot lights for each. The knobs to the right were connected to resistance plates that varied the field current to each generator, and thus its output voltage.
The horizontal row of switches just above the Kleenex box are labeled "Proj. Room Exhaust," "Forced Air Exhaust," "Forced Air Intake," "Proj. No. 3.," "Panic Lights - Red" plus a 110v receptacle.
The ballast resistor room behind the DC switchboard. By opening or closing different switches the amperage could be controlled that would be drawn by each of the arcs. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Beyond two doors at the house right end of the booth is a fan room. Around this fan on the right is an access door going out to the east side of the roof over the office building. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
At the east end of the fan room looking back toward the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
Looking across to house left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
A view back down the house left corridor. That's a little fan/storage room straight ahead. Take a left and there's a door to the roof. A right gets you to the stairs. Photo: Bill Counter - 2022
The October 1930 Exhibitors Herald-World article about the booth:
Pages about the Pantages Theatre:
| Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | back to top - booth | support areas |
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