“Almost like a real web site”
 

IN7OMM.COM
Search | Contact
News | e-News
Rumour Mill | Stories
Foreign Language
Auf Deutsch

WHAT'S ON IN 7OMM?

7OMM FESTIVAL
Karlsruhe | Gentofte
Krnov | Varnsdorf
Banská Bystrica
Oslo | Bradford

TODD-AO PROCESS
Films | Premiere
People | Equipment
Library | Cinemas
Distortion Correcting
DP70 / AAII Projector
 

VISION, SCOPE & RAMA
1926 Natural Vision
1929 Grandeur
1930 Magnifilm
1930 Realife
1930 Vitascope
1952 Cinerama
1953 CinemaScope
1953 Panavison
1954 VistaVision
1955 Todd-AO
1955 Circle Vision 360
1956 CinemaScope 55
1957 Ultra Panavision 70
1958 Cinemiracle
1958 Kinopanorama
1959 Super Panavision 70
1959 Super Technirama 70
1960 Smell-O-Vision
1961 Sovscope 70
1962
Cinerama 360
1962 MCS-70
1963 70mm Blow Up
1963 Circarama
1963 Circlorama
1966 Dimension 150
1966
Stereo-70
1967 DEFA 70
1967 Pik-A-Movie
1970 IMAX / Omnimax
1974 Cinema 180
1974 SENSURROUND
1976 Dolby Stereo
1984 Showscan
1984 Swissorama
1986 iWERKS
1989 ARRI 765
1990 CDS
1994 DTS / Datasat
2001 Super Dimension 70
2018 Magellan 65

Various Large format | 70mm to 3-strip | 3-strip to 70mm | Specialty Large Format | Special Effects in 65mm | ARC-120 | Early Large Format
7OMM Premiere in Chronological Order

7OMM ON EARTH

Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | Denmark | England | France | Germany | Holland | India | Iran | Israel | Ireland | Mexico | Norway | Poland |  Russia | Spain | Sweden | Turkey | USA |

LIBRARY
7OMM Projectors
People | Eulogy
65mm/70mm Workshop
The 7OMM Newsletter
Back issue | PDF
Academy of the WSW

7OMM NEWS
• 2026 | 2025 | 2024
2023 | 2022 | 2021
2020 | 2019 | 2018
2017 | 2016 | 2015
2014 | 2013 | 2012
2011 | 2010 | 2009
2008 | 2007 | 2006
2005 | 2004 | 2003
2002 | 2001 | 2000
1999 | 1998 | 1997
1996 | 1995 | 1994
 

in70mm.com Mission:
• To record the history of the large format movies and the 70mm cinemas as remembered by the people who worked with the films. Both during making and during running the films in projection rooms and as the audience, looking at the curved screen.
in70mm.com, a unique internet based magazine, with articles about 70mm cinemas, 70mm people, 70mm films, 70mm sound, 70mm film credits, 70mm history and 70mm technology. Readers and fans of 70mm are always welcome to contribute.

Disclaimer | Updates
Support us | Staff
Testimonials
Table of Content
 

 
 
Extracts and longer parts of in70mm.com may be reprinted with the written permission from the editor.
Copyright © 1800 - 2070. All rights reserved.

Visit biografmuseet.dk about Danish cinemas

 

The U.S. Pavilion
The 1968 Hemisfair, San Antonio, TX.

Read more at
in70mm.com
The 70mm Newsletter
Written by: John Stewart, The Paramount Theatre, Austin, Texas, USA Date: 16 January 2006
Picture by Jim Maloy, Austin Texas

The 1968 Hemisfair was held in San Antonio, TX. The U.S. Pavilion was where the picture of the 70mm machines came from.

This is what I remember from nearly 38 years ago.

United States Pavilion (now the John H. Wood, Jr. United States District Court for the Western District of Texas) was a large theater divided into 3 smaller theaters with curtains between each theater.

As the program began, we watched footage presented in a wide-screen format shown in 35mm. At one point in the program, the footage reverted to the 1.33 format as early silent film footage was shown. The top masking was raised at this time. Footage was shown of the Wright Brothers type of airplane flying over a pasture with horses running. (I'm sure this was recreated footage if memory serves me) As the airplane flies towards the audience and goes over head, the image fades and the noise of the engine loudly fills the theater and in the total darkness, the walls between the theaters disappear into the ceiling and the smaller screens in each auditorium folds up into the ceiling. Suddenly, we are all in one large theater with 3 large triptych screens that the 70mm machines are projecting on to.

I don't remember much about the film other than it was a social documentary of some sort. Some of the images were mulitpaneled and some were continuous across the three panels. One scene was a daughter of the mother of roller coaster type crowd pleasing footage. The 3 cameras were attached to the front of a vehicle and as it sped down the freeway, it came to a "Y" intersection and appeared to go one way when it suddenly lurched the other way causing the audience to gasp as our collective stomachs churned.
 
Further in 70mm reading:

70mm at the Paramount in Austin, Texas, USA

Internet link:
 
Picture by Jim Maloy, Austin Texas

I did not get to visit the booth as much as I would loved to have. From this picture, we can see 2 of the 70mm machines and one of the 35mm machines in this one booth.

I'm fairly certain the 3rd 70mm machine was just off to our left in the picture.

The other 2 35mm machines were in a different area located directly behind the individual sub theater.

I vaguely remember some of the other film venues but can't tell you who they belonged to. There was one 360 degree theater projected by 16mm projectors. Another theater was the Czech Kino Automat. This theater had muiltipanels of action around a stage and sometimes the actors ran out of the movie panel onto the live stage. Seems like we had a devise so the audience could decide how the program would continue.

One other thing, the Texas Pavilion is still there. It is now know as the Institute of Texan Cultures at UTSA. In this exhibit, there was a large multi paneled dome that had an array of 35mm, 16mm and 35mm slide images projected on to these various sized panels. You could sit anywhere on the floor and see a complete show. The images were repeated 3 times around the dome.

The dome is still there but the movie projectors were replaced with video a few years ago.
 
 
 
Go: back - top - back issues - news index
Updated 28-07-24