Then the masks started to move - and kept on moving - until it seemed that the entire end of the auditorium was filled with screen.
There was a concerted gasp as the first, full-screen images were revealed and then the near-capacity audience burst into applause.
The scene was The Astor Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. The event was the first public, 70mm presentation on the cinema's new screen. The film, of course, was "Ben-Hur" ...
It was the culmination of months of planning and hard work - the applause tasted sweet.
For many years, The Astor has been the only cinema in Melbourne - and one of only two in the entire country - showing 70mm films on a regular basis. But being number-one in 70mm wasn't enough for The Astor's owner, George Florence - he wanted the best sound-system and the biggest screen that could be fitted into the theatre.
There has been an almost-continuous upgrading of The Astor's facilities since Florence took it over in 1982 (see the August, 1997, issue of Wide Gauge).
However, the decision to actually get a new screen was not made until after the runaway success of the four-hour, 70mm version of Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" in mid-1997. It was also decided that the new screen had to be in place in time for the screening of a brand-new, 70mm print of "Ben-Hur" around Easter, 1998.
In some respects they were easy decisions to make. The old screen had certainly seen better days - it was more than 30 years old, some of the seams had started to split and it had already been painted twice.
But the installation of the new screen would prove to be the biggest project at the theatre since it was built more than 60 years ago.
First, though, the sound system had to be upgraded. The decision to get a new screen made it more urgent but, in truth, the system had to be replaced anyway. It had served The Astor well but there was just no way it could handle some of today's sound tracks - the woofers and the surrounds could often be heard rattling and buzzing in protest.
There have been no such problems with the new system which boasts more than 11 kilowatts RMS feeding a total of 41 ElectroVoice speakers - including eight 18-inch, bass-reflex sub-woofers and 24 surround speakers. The processor can handle 70mm magnetic sound and DTS, 35mm Dolby Digital and DTS, Dolby A, Dolby SR and, of course, standard mono sound-tracks.
Indeed, the results were so good that they gave the new-screen project an added impetus and the planning intensified.
It soon became clear that fairly-major structural alterations would be needed if a screen anywhere near the wanted size was to be installed.
An enlarged proscenium arch would have to be built in front of the old one and the plaster mouldings containing the proscenium lights would have to be moved. And they did have to be moved - not just replaced - because they were an original part of the old building. George Florence was determined to preserve as much of the theatre's unique look and ambience as possible.
The big question, of course, was how big could the screen be.
The width of the new proscenium arch would be limited by load-bearing walls either side of the auditorium. There had to be room for the masks and for a "well" for the opened curtains.
Audience sight-lines were also a major factor, although they affected the height of the new screen more than the width, and there was much seat-hopping around the auditorium.
Florence wanted a shallow-curve screen, with a radius-of-curvature equal to the projector throw, to make focusing more precise. The final calculations and "seat-hopping" showed that a 62-by-30-foot screen with a 3-foot curve-depth would just fit.
By this time, however, the end of the year was approaching and it was time for another already-planned project - the installation of a new air-conditioning system.
In common with many pre-war buildings in Australia, The Astor had heating but no cooling. However, modern audiences demanded a greater degree of comfort than could be provided by the old fans that fought a losing battle on hot nights.
Murphy's Law was much in evidence and considerable time was lost removing the asbestos cladding that was discovered around the old boiler.
But the result was worth the effort and, in keeping with Florence's policy, all the visible air-conditioning vents have art-deco surrounds that blend perfectly with the overall decor.
Then it was back to the screen and a few major decisions.
George Florence had decided initially to install a "gain" screen. Of course, a screen is a passive device and there can be no actual gain but a flat-matte screen is said to have a "gain" or reflectivity of 1.0 and that is taken as the reference figure.
Be that as it may, measurements showed that the existing 4 kW xenon-arc projection lamps would provide sufficient light-levels if a screen with a "gain" of 1.7 was used. This was an attractive scenario because of the obvious cost-savings involved - but it was not to be.
Doubts were expressed by overseas experts as to the suitability of a large, gain screen in a cinema the size of The Astor. So, despite local assurances, Florence inspected some existing installations. And he was horrified by what he saw.
"One screen was so directional," he said later, "that there was a huge, 'hot' area - the rest of the screen was dark by comparison. And the hot area 'moved' as I walked around the auditorium.
"It would have been an absolute disaster at The Astor."
So it was back to a flat-matte screen and that meant a move to 5 kW xenon-arcs - fortunately, the existing rectifiers could handle the load - with upgraded water-cooling and heat deflectors.
Work started in earnest at the beginning of March and regular patrons soon got used to seeing the scaffolding either side of the old proscenium. Nobody complained and, indeed, many said it reminded them of the time some forty years ago when cinemas were installing CinemaScope screens as they scrambled to head-off the threat from television.
And, speaking of those days, what should be "discovered" behind the existing screen but a genuine, 1950s "Miracle Mirror" CinemaScope screen - exactly as specified by 20th Century Fox and still attached to its frame!
The better part of three weeks was needed to move the plaster mouldings - they were so heavy that it took eight men to lift just one of them - and another week to install the new proscenium arch and do the painting.
Then the theatre closed for three days for the installation of the screen itself and more than one person was heard muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "... bigger than Ben-Hur."
And, surely, only at The Astor could the hammering and banging and the scream of power tools be accompanied by grand opera as a pianist and opera singer used the piano in one of the upstairs foyers for a rehearsal.
Most of the first two days was devoted to assembling the frame - a complex structure that had to maintain the curve of the screen, hold the masks and support the three behind-screen speaker-systems.
The seamless, plastic screen itself was mounted on the frame on the third day and it was hard work that was made worse by having the heating going full-blast. The theatre was like a hot-house but it kept the screen soft and pliable and helped any creases to fall-out.
George Florence had wanted to fit movable top and bottom masks but there was simply no room for the top-mask mechanism so he had to settle for having only the bottom mask.
The symmetry of masks moving on all four sides of the screen would have been pleasing with the added advantage that the centre-of-picture would have remained unchanged. But a movable bottom mask alone was much better than staying with constant-height presentation and Florence was determined that every film at The Astor should be shown with the proper framing and aspect ratio. The centre-of-picture movement could be handled with comparative ease by cutting some of the aperture plates with a bias towards top-of-picture.
The side masks were something of an adventure in themselves.
The Astor sometimes shows 16mm films during local film festivals and there is a very-definite limit to how much some of those small frames can be blown-up.
This meant that each side mask had to have a 15-foot travel but the manufacturer making the mask track was convinced there had been a mistake and wanted to make a curtain track instead. "Surely," they asked, "the screen can't be more than 30 feet wide?"
If they thought the masks were big their reaction to the actual curtains would have been interesting - it took nearly four-thousand square feet of material to make them!
The screen was in position, although not fully-stretched, halfway through the fourth day and George Florence couldn't wait - it was time for first light.
The aperture plates hadn't been finished and the framing was out but it was obvious immediately that the whole operation was heading for a major success. Light-levels, even using the old 4 kW lamps, were about 25% better than with the old screen. And the SMPTE test loops revealed edge-to-edge - even corner-to-corner - sharpness and no obvious hot-spots!
And then the race against time was really on because the cinema was scheduled to open that evening and people were already starting to arrive for the double feature.
Marzipan, the theatre's cat, looked on disdainfully - as she had all week - as the last-minute preparations almost threatened to descend into farce.
It had been known for some time that two of the beautiful, old chandeliers would have to be moved because they would cast shadows on the bigger screen. But it wasn't known exactly how far they would have to be moved until the screen was in place and the sight-lines set.
One at a time the massive chandeliers were lowered from the roof on their steel cables and then hauled up again when the new mounting hole had been cut in the ceiling. And, just five minutes before show time, one of the chandeliers was still resting on the top of an industrial garbage bin in the middle of the stalls as the opportunity was taken to replace burned-out bulbs.
It was hauled back to the ceiling, the doors were opened and the audience poured in - but only to the circle because the stalls area was still half-filled with tools and rubble.
The house lights dimmed and the opening titles flashed onto the screen. It was a 1.85 : 1 print of a film that might have been entirely-forgettable had it not been for the superb image with its bright colours, vastly-improved contrast and crisp definition. It was looking good. In fact, it had never looked better and George Florence smiled - REALLY smiled - for the first time in more than a month.
But the work wasn't over yet and there was just a week to go before the opening night of "Ben-Hur". And, of course, there was the almost-inevitable rash of problems.
The first was VERY obvious. The suppliers, used to the small travel on most cinema curtains, had fitted the wrong gearbox to the curtain motor - the curtains took a full minute to open!
Then, for some unknown reason, the side-mask motor stopped working. Aspect-ratio changes had to be made manually for a couple of days by a projectionist hauling on the drive-belt behind the screen with a torch held between his teeth so he could see the markers.
The new, closed-circuit, water-cooling systems arrived but they were from a US manufacturer who had apparently never heard of overseas voltage requirements so a 117-volt supply had to be made available.
The countdown towards "Ben-Hur" continued and there could be no "holds" - it had to open on time!
A new stage was built with new footlights, the projection-box ports were widened to almost twice their original size and the projector lamp-houses were re-aligned after the 5 kW lamps and new heat-deflectors were fitted.
There was also a rush to install a new, digital light-control system.
It is certainly more convenient to use with its ability to handle several pre-programmed events but it also saw the end of a piece of history. The old, manual faders, with their wire-wound resistors and massive levers, had been in use for more than 60 years until modern technology caught up with them. They now stand cold and almost forlorn but George Florence plans to make them part of The Astor's historical exhibit.
And then, almost suddenly, it was "Ben-Hur" day. Most of the morning was spent rebalancing the sound system. It was a long process and there was not enough time to check all the formats - that would have to come later.
The theatre doors were opened and everybody waited and hoped that "Ben-Hur" still had its old crowd-pulling magic.
There had been a massive publicity campaign - massive, that is, in terms of some of the campaigns The Astor had been able the run in the past - with television commercials, newspaper advertisements and features in major entertainment guides.
Charlton Heston had given an interview to mark the Australian re-release and had graciously recorded a welcome message to be replayed before the overture at each session.
But there had still been the problem of finding general publicity material - "Ben-Hur" posters and photographs were not exactly a glut on the market.
Martin Hart of The American WideScreen Museum came to the rescue and spent three days scanning and enhancing several images including the famous Joseph Smith paintings and some original, 1960 artwork for newspaper advertisements.
And, as the crowd starting storming the box office, it looked as though it had all worked.
It was fascinating to watch the people as they arrived - there seemed to be almost a complete cross-section of the community.
It was easy to pick the "multiplex crowd" who had not been to a cinema such as The Astor before - they usually asked if the same film was playing upstairs and downstairs and seemed astonished when told there was only one screen.
And then there were the more-elderly people, many of whom had seen the "Ben-Hur" 'scope release back in 1960. They were from an age when going to see a major, wide-screen movie was an event and they dressed in their finest just as they had forty years before.
The whole audience sat transfixed throughout the film - they had never seen anything like it!
The new, 70mm print was simply superb with beautiful colour, solid blacks and razor-sharp focus. And it was shown to perfection on the new screen.
The sound was also awesome and it was difficult to believe that it had been recorded and mixed nearly 40 years ago.
The print had five screen channels with the sixth track for surrounds. According to now-retired MGM music and sound editor, Scott Perry, left-centre and right-centre were simply folded-in from the other tracks so there there were no problems with the three screen channels at The Astor. In fact, the directionality was superb.
The only problem came during the thunderstorm sequence - those old fans on the walls started rattling. They had to be removed.
At the end of the film, and during the intermission, many people stayed in their seats or stood in groups in the foyers to talk about what they had just seen. The word heard most often during their conversations was "big" - and they meant both "Ben-Hur" and the new screen.
It had certainly been a new experience for everybody. People whose movie-going had been confined to multiplexes were astounded. Even regular patrons were astonished - and they were used to the high standard of presentation at The Astor and to the comparatively-large screen that had been installed previously.
The decision to launch the new screen and the "Ben-Hur" re-release at the same time caused endless headaches - but the decision was vindicated. Nobody who saw "Ben-Hur" at The Astor was left untouched by the spectacle. You have to see the famous chariot race on a screen more than 60 feet wide to really appreciate the sheer size and excitement of the film - a film that, "Titanic" not withstanding, is still unmatched.
The audience figures after the first few days were generally "healthy" but somewhat disappointing.
This was something of a blow for Florence who was not only screening "Ben-Hur" at The Astor but also handling the Australian re-release through his company, Chapel Distribution. The financial investment in the 70mm print alone was enormous but there was also the expense of providing 35mm anamorphic prints for cities without 70mm facilities. And then there were the advertising and promotion costs.
One factor affecting the audience figures might have been the school holidays but there was almost certainly a drop-off because, incredibly, Warner Bros. (through Turner Network Television) had scheduled "Ben-Hur" on cable-TV four times day right through the season at The Astor! In other words, they were competing on pay-TV with a major, theatrical release of one of their own films!
But, disappointments or not, there was still much fine-tuning to be done while "Ben-Hur" was screening at The Astor and, indeed, for some time afterwards.
Everything had been set-up properly for 70mm presentations, of course, but the sound system still had to be re-balanced for all the other formats.
And more than a few days had to be devoted to getting the aperture plates filed for all the "usual" aspect ratios.
Almost the entire screen is used for 70mm 2.2 : 1 prints and, when possible, the whole width is used for 35mm 'scope films with the bottom mask raised to give the correct 2.35 : 1 aspect ratio.
However, tests soon confirmed that many older 'scope prints were too grainy to be blown-up that much. A longer-focus backing-lens is used for such prints and both the side and bottom masks are brought-in to maintain the aspect ratio.
George Florence's determination to screen every film as it was intended to be screened has resulted in an impressive collection of lenses and aperture plates. Indeed, there are seven lenses (not including the anamorphics) and seven aperture plates for each of the two projectors.
But it is worth it because The Astor can now handle aspect ratios from 2.35 : 1 right down to 1.33 : 1 and just about anything in between!
What's next? There is really nothing major that can be done - or needs to be done - as far as the technical side of presentation is concerned. So the building itself will become the focus.
The interior is in pretty-good shape although there is a lot of detail work that Florence wants to get done.
The outside is another matter. It has been "defaced" over the years by such things as power cables and traffic-light poles. Two of the three original neon signs are missing but the one that remains has been refurbished and has been classified as being of historical importance.
Plans are underway to restore the exterior to its original appearance and to have the whole building heritage-listed to protect it from "development" or demolition.
George Florence is looking to the future and he wants The Astor to be a "living museum" - a memorial to the cinema.
ran@sub.net.au
(This article was first published in
Wide Gauge Film and Video Monthly in the US)
Melbourne, Australia