The 1953 and 1954 rollout of CinemaScope

For information about the 1953 and 1954 rollout of CinemaScope, head to Kurt Wahlner's page about the timeline on his Grauman's Chinese site: http://www.graumanschinese.org/cinemascope/

The first dozen theatres in the L.A. market to run 'scope:

Installation #1 was at the Chinese, for "The Robe." Thanks to Richard Wokcik for sharing this photo from his collection. It appears on our page of early Grauman's Chinese street views. The film opened September 24, 1953.

Installation #2 was the Los Angeles Theatre. It got "The Robe" on October 30, 1953. 

Installation #3 was the Fox Wilshire. It hosted the premiere of "How To Marry a Millionaire" on November 4, 1953. 

Installation #4 was the Warner Downtown, known by then as the Stanley-Warner Downtown. It ran "How To Marry a Millionaire" beginning November 11, 1953.

Installation #5 was the Fox Pomona. It opened "The Robe" on December 5, 1953.

Installation #6 was the Fox Riverside. It opened "The Robe" on December 9, 1953.

 Installation #7 was the West Coast in Long Beach. It played "The Robe" beginning December 16, 1953.

 Installation #8 was the Egyptian. It got "Knights of The Round Table" for a run beginning December 23, 1953. 

Installations #9, 10, 11, and 12 were the Crest in Long Beach, the Alex in Glendale, the Academy in Pasadena and the West Coast in Santa Ana. These four played "The Robe" beginning December 30, 1953.

 

The early releases used a 2.55 to 1 aspect ratio and went out with 4-channel mag prints on stock with smaller than normal sprocket holes, dubbed "Fox-hole" perforations. These prints had and no optical soundtrack. 

At some point Fox relaxed the CinemaScope standards that had required stereo sound reproduction and added an optical track producing mag striped prints that also included a half-width optical track. These were intended for projection with a 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio. That format also became the standard for prints that were optical-only. 

There have also been a number of releases NOT in the CinemaScope format that have also gone out with at least a few 4 track mag prints. Some of these releases: 

1964 - "Mary Poppins"

-- It played Grauman's Chinese with a stereo print. 

 

1970 - "Gimme Shelter"

-- They ran a mag print for a midnighter at the Tiffany, according to Kurt Wahlner, who was working there at the time.

1972 - "Concert For Bangladesh"

1972 - "Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii" 

-- They ran a mag print for a midnighter at the Tiffany, according to Kurt Wahlner. 

1972 - "Fantasia" reissue

1973 - "The Exorcist" 

-- The National and the Fine Arts both ran mono 4-track mag prints to take advantage of the greater frequency response. Michael Coate notes that about two dozen of the early engagements got them. 

1974 - "Phantom of the Paradise" 

1975 - "Yessongs"

-- They ran a mag print for a midnighter at the Tiffany, according to Kurt Wahlner. He notes that the first-run booking had been at the National.  

 

1975 - "Tommy" 

-- A release in "Quintaphonic" sound, using a special decoder. L, C, R tracks were used but nothing on the surround track. The left rear speaker signal was derived from a matrix using the left and center channels. The right rear was derived from the center and right channels. 

 

1976 - "A Star is Born" 

-- The one and only time Dolby did 4 channel mag. They vowed never again.

 

1976 - "The Song Remains the Same"

-- Opened at the Fox Wilshire. They ran a mag print for a midnighter at the Tiffany, according to Kurt Wahlner.

1980 - "The Blues Brothers"

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