Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Jackson: city hall, lawyer, construction)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I would see these in multiples of two or three in some few places in Independence just sitting there.


It is a wonder that someone of the numbers of people walking past did not just cart one of them off, but I never heard of anyone doing so.


What is this and where would they be sitting?

Would those be film transport canisters observed sitting outside the theater?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Would those be film transport canisters observed sitting outside the theater?

In the forties and fifties, there were only five places in Independence that one could even see these things and that was at different times in those decades. In the late fifties they could be seen only at two places.


It is a movie reel canister used to ship 35mm reels to and from movie theaters.


Those that I saw at the Granada Theater were always in the outer lobby sitting on the floor close to the ticket sales office—I suppose where the cashier could keep an eye on them and some guy came to pick them up while we were watching the movie. I saw them at the Englewood, also, but I am not sure where they were put—the ticket office faced outside at that theater.



I am guessing that someone who specialized in reel shipping would pick them up in the evening during show time when the theater was open and deliver any new film at the same time.


The printing and distribution of hundreds of film copies and their shipping and reverse shipping to every movie theater in the country was an expensive endeavor for the motion picture industry. The recent phase out of shipping movie reels put an end to the canister use.



If I understand correctly, theaters today download their movies from the distributor and then have a hard drive feed the screen. I thought that the recent breach of the SONY web site might have disturbed Columbia’s overall distribution of movies but I have not heard anything specific in that respect.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Would those items have been most prevalent late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning?

When I was younger the theaters changed movies on Wednesday. Today most changes are on Friday.

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

I think the contents once transported in those containers is now transported in packets.

Today's movies are "transported" in packets, a term for a chunk of a digital transfer.

[WCHS'59]

Speaking of movies, Durwood Theaters, which is now AMC, was having problems with the union or unions in the early 60s. Durwood used non-union projectionists.



Durwood had the first run RKO Empire, Capri, Roxy, Saxon (Lowes Midland) and some others downtown.


One evening patrons showed up for a roadshow movie at, I think, the Capri, which is now the Lyric Theater. As with the roadshow movies back then the houselights went down and an overture of a few minutes played first with the curtains staying closed.



The overture finished and then as the movie began being projected on the curtain the curtain slowly opened.



There was no screen. It had been slashed and cut up by vandals with Durwood putting the blame on the union. They had to close a few days for repair.


The vandalism got worse to include other Durwood theaters with seats being slashed and someone setting off stink bombs and other stuff.


I don’t recall if Durwood went union as a result.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

When I was younger the theaters changed movies on Wednesday. Today most changes are on Friday.



Today's movies are "transported" in packets, a term for a chunk of a digital transfer.

Cool, I had not heard that term before that I am aware of.

It seems to me the movies changed three times a week in the fifties with a Wed, Thur, Fri--Sat, Sun--Mon, Tues, schedule. I would see the canisters on either Friday or Saturday nights. There was a lot more movie production back then than there is now.

[Mad Anthonie]

What can you tell me about this building?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

What can you tell me about this building?

It burned down, probably by vandals.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

It burned down, probably by vandals.

Where were you that day?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Where were you that day?

In 1961 probably at the time of the fire I was working at C&J United Super although I went to work at Charlies United Super in Fairmount that same year.

I was really saddened by the news of the fire and I had been there at that place (actually on the roadside watching a re-creation of days gone by) just a few weeks prior.

[WCHS'59]

At the time, I thought this would have been a great business for the square and it reminded me of J. A. Becker, I think, and his wife running the Granada Theater in its waning days, but they had one or two people helping them.


What ultra-famous entertainment personality started a franchise movie operation aimed at mom and pop operation? Similar to McDonalds, mom and pop bought a franchise and as with McDonalds, the theater was called by his name.


The promise was that all you had to do was push a button and the film would show all the way through without intervention leaving one person to operate the popcorn business and the other to sell tickets. Depending on the investment more than one auditorium could be included but each was small seating around 250.


The business lasted ten years but in the end, the overall push button concept was unrealistic as was the film distribution policy for the theaters. Many mom and pops were left financially stranded as was the entertainer.


None of these theaters were built in the KC area but Columbia had one as did several places in east Missouri.