In 7OMM with Doug Louden |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Doug Louden, Sydney, Australia | Date: 10.08.2016 |
 Leaving school in 1975, I started as a projectionist for Hoyts Theatres as a
spool boy winding 70mm reissues. DP75 projector with an ISCO T-Kiptagon lens in
the back.I am not the first ex projectionist to write a collation of 70mm released films in their territory of key city theatres. Mind you as a kid, it was without reason my passion for cinema would take over my life as did my father, Warren Kenneth Louden who was a projectionist and his brothers, Norm and Clem Louden who worked in film distribution for Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. in Sydney. My father and his family loved the era of the Reserved Seating Engagement and at a young age, I started to research and document many stories they told around the dinner table and of the 70mm film releases my family spoke so passionately on. Leaving school in 1975, I started as a projectionist for Hoyts Theatres as a spool boy winding 70mm reissues of "The Sound of Music" and "Hello, Dolly!". My dreams came true in 1976 when I worked at the Hoyts Plaza theatre with Tom Omaye as my head projectionist and in 1989 I got the life time ambition to run my own cinema on the south coast of Sydney before I moved to London in 1992 with the opportunity to work on post production for Buena Vista International where I met and worked with Nigel Wolland, David Norris and Steven Larcombe. Returning to Australia in 1994, I worked front of house for Village Cinemas with George Livery, Andrew Taylor and John Iozzi before I returned to the technical arena of the projection room and the installation growth of the cinema multiplex with Richard Dumbrell and Gary Watson. Then in 2005, I reconnected with my dear friend of the cinema industry Brian Walters and with our mutual passion of 70mm, I started to bring a number of research documents together which I had started from my family and the first visit to the New South Wales state library on the 8th December 1975. |
More in 70mm reading: In 7OMM with Doug Louden, Part 2 70mm Films in Sydney The 70mm Trailer Anomaly in70mm.com - Short stories Interview with John H. Mitchell, Australia In The Picture - Tom Down Under The lost world of 70mm Theatres By Ian Hanson Internet link: |
Sydney in 7OMM |
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 Judy,
Doug, Lily and ConnorThe premise of these eight chapters titled Todd-AO, Super Technirama, Ultra Panavision, Super Panavision, CinemaScope 55, VistaVision, 70mm Spherical blow up, 70mm Panavision blow up followed by four documents on the key city multiplex of Sydney, was to list each 70mm release, the 70mm equipped cinema and capture the incremental four year spans for cinema from the opening of "Around the World in 80 Days" in 1957 to "That’s Entertainment" in 1974 which for Sydney, was the end of the Reserved Seating Engagement. PDF Documents: • Todd-AO in Sydney • Super Technirama 70 in Sydney • Ultra Panavision 70 in Sydney • Super Panavision 70 in Sydney • CinemaScope 55 in Sydney • 7OMM Panavision in Sydney • 70MM Blow-up in Sydney - VistaVision • 70MM Blow-up in Sydney - Spherical • 70MM Blow-up in Sydney - Pitt Centre • 70MM Blow-up in Sydney - Village Cinema City • 70mm Blow Up - Centre on George Street • 70mm Blow Up - Hoyts Entertainment Centre • 70mm Release Summary Sydney • Sydney in 35mm - Part 1 By 2017 these documents will be completed and I am so grateful for the opportunity to post on your web site. Sadly I lost my Father this year and I know my wonderful Dad would be thrilled with the final project which he helped proof read for so many years. And thank you to all those proof readers who has assisted me in writing and updating each document as they were finalised. Special thanks to Judy, Nigel, Steven, David, John, David, Brian, Greg, Tom, Jack, George, Richard, Gary, Cyril, Norm, Clem and Warren. |
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 On the 16th December 2016 is the 40 year anniversary of the Hoyts
Entertainment Centre in Sydney.Since 2005, I have been collating the twelve chapters of 70mm releases for the key city theatres and multiplex of Sydney. Fitting I conclude my research documents today with this milestone for the Hoyts Entertainment Centre Doug Louden 2018 Update - New articles in progress SYDNEY IN 35MM – PART 1 covers the Sydney and Melbourne 70mm comparison release dates from 1958 to 1974 and further describes a number of films which were released in Melbourne in 70mm and which were presented in 35mm in Sydney. Two additional chapters are now currently under research … SYDNEY IN 35MM – PART 2 will cover 1975 to 2000 70mm comparisons with Sydney and Melbourne and the last chapter, SYDNEY IN 35MM – PART 3 will be a summary of the completed fifteen chapters. |
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