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Who is Paul Rayton
a mini bio
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Read more
at
in70mm.com
The 70mm Newsletter
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Written
by: Paul Rayton's alter ego |
Date:
01.10.2007 |
Paul
in Bradford March 2007. Picture by Thomas Hauerslev
A slightly pre- "baby boom generation" guy, Paul Rayton was born in 1942
in New Hampshire, in the far northeastern part of the US. Initially
brought up there, by the early 1960s he felt enough interest in film to
head west, to attend the University of Southern California -- attending
classes along with several other future luminaries that included George
Lucas and John Milius. However, Paul's interest remained focused on
exhibition, and he followed a career as a motion picture projectionist
after graduation. During the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, he was in
various theatres, mostly in Los Angeles, but a few times in New York,
entertaining the moviegoing audiences.
His background and expertise (and enthusiasm) were sought out by "Filmex",
the first real Los Angeles Film Festival, in the '70s, and at the end of
1999, he re-joined some of the original Filmex group, which by that time
was known as "The American Cinematheque" and which had preserved and
re-opened the historic (1922) Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
His first "wide screen" experiences were not in his home town -- both
the town and the local cinema were rather small -- but in a neighboring
town, when "The Robe" was brought to the area, complete with
stereophonic sound. What a discovery! A few years later, "West Side
Story" also made an indelible impression on him. And, he would be
one of the select few to catch the original 70mm presentation of
"Scent of Mystery"
in actual Smell-O-Vision, yet,
thanks to a conveniently-timed high school group field trip to the then
far-away and exotic New York City.
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More
in 70mm reading:
Paul Rayton In Conversation
Paul Rayton Remembers "Scent of
Mystery" in 3 minutes and 49 seconds
Life With THX In Hollywood Part 1
Life With THX In
Hollywood Part 2
70mm Presentations - Letters from
Directors
Original 6-track Mix Recovered and
Restored for West Side Story
Berlinale 2009 - 70mm Retrospective
"The Master" in 70mm, Los
Angeles
WSW Academy
Staff & Volunteers
Internet link:
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Paul
and 70mm around 1973
Other 70mm inspirations occurred, and by the 1980s, Paul was a dedicated
70mm aficionado. As 70mm usage began to decline, in the 1990s, Paul
celebrated it as he worked the noted AVCO cinema in L.A. (home of the
first THX in L.A.), and looks fondly back on the 6 month run there of
"Out Of Africa", probably the last time such an epic film had such a
long run in such a grand (1100 seats) venue, at least in American
exhibition. The next major 70mm epic would be 1992s "Titanic",
unfortunately apparently destined to be the last such "grand" 70mm event
ever ("Titanic" was at the Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood, for a long
run, but after about 3 or 4 months, it was moved out of the big theatre
to one of the smaller ones).
During those active years, Paul became acquainted with
similarly-interested people from around the world, including Thomas
Hauerslev and
Johan Wolthuis. Johan and Thomas had gathered with some others
interested in "the splendor of 70mm" from the European side, and were
beginning to publish some early
newsletters to try to spread the glory of 70mm. Paul soon found he
could contribute tidbits of information and news from his vantage point
in Hollywood, and then gradually also volunteered to help with
proofreading some of the publications knowing that English was not
always the first language of some of the readers, and so it would be
helpful to have things composed and stated clearly, with as few "typos"
as possible, both for clarity of information, but also because, to be
influential, it needed to be as professional as possible.
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Paul
examining 35mm film June 2003. Photo credit: Mutsuko Iwasa.
And so, during these last several years, Paul has been in the background,
watching (and showing) movies, and helping the 70mm news, in whatever format
-- printed, or electronic -- to keep coming your wayl He has attended
Bradford's "WSW"
annually since 1999 and was made a member of the
"WSW Academy"
in 2005.
As of mid-2007, he was still working in Los Angeles, happy to be in his
"time machine" theatre, where some days he may run 70mm film, and other days
may find him working with nitrate 35mm from the 1930s or 1940s.
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28-07-24 |
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