WEBVTT - Movie Theaters 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:07.400 Ephemeral is a production of iHeart three D audio for full. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.840 Exposure, listen with that phones, open the pod bay doors. Hell, 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.200 I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.000 There's nothing quite like seeing a good movie on the 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.600 big screen. If you've ever watched something like two thousand 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.800 and one A Space Odyssey in a theater, you'll understand 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.960 how visceral it can be to experience that level of 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.080 visual and auditory immersion, and how different it is from 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.840 watching at home. Theaters have always been an important part 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.040 of the film industry. In the early nineteen hundreds, companies 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.080 like Paramount and Columbia help to open the first picture palaces, 0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:00.880 opulent and decadent houses for exhibiting film. Eight saw a 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.000 huge boom in movie going culture as theater chains expanded 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:09.840 the accessibility of movies across the country. But recently, the 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.760 COVID pandemic and the rise of streaming services have threatened 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:18.000 the existence of movie theaters altogether. So now where do 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:22.759 movie theaters fit into our modern culture today? Producer Trevor 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.120 Young walks us through the turbulene but grand history of 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.160 movie theaters and visits one special theater in Los Angeles, 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.200 which still thrives on independent cinema. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.440 Last year I had the opportunity to move to Los Angeles. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:44.800 As you probably know, we're huge film nerds here on 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.200 the Ephemeral Team, and LA is a huge film town. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.760 So I was excited to visit all the local theaters 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.360 around here. But what I wasn't expecting was just how 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.040 opulent and dense with historical meaning all of the mainstay 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.960 theaters here really are. Most of them have been around 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.880 for decades, some for over a century. They're full of life, 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.040 and the people in them carry a genuine love for film, 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.760 and especially coming out of COVID, it feels like all 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.720 the moviegoers that these theaters agree this is a special event. 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.440 You know what you can't get from sitting at home watching, say, 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.120 a movie like The Long Goodbye with Elliott Gould. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.840 Okay, I think, what was Marty Augusty doing here the 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.520 other night? How did you know him here from my place? 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.120 So dropped by to have a word or two with me, 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:30.959 and I was just curious to see who else he 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.440 wanted to talk to. A turn out to be you. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.440 You can't get Elliot Gould sitting in the seat across 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.000 the aisle from you watching The Long Goodbye. He is 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:46.000 literally sitting three feet from me. I mean, come on, 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.280 that's one of my favorite movie going experiences. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.239 I'm like, oh my god, it's Elliot cool. 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.680 This is Jules McLean, director of operations at the New 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.400 Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. The New BEV, as it's 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.959 often called, is owned by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. He bought 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.639 the historic theater in two thousand and seven and has 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.600 since devoted the theater to screening revival cinema. Jules is 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.440 a personal friend of Quentin and join the NUBEV in 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:18.680 twenty fourteen, and her job can be a little intense at. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:19.240 The New Beverly. 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.440 Kind of a jack of all trades, but I do 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:25.880 oversee everything. I communicate with Quentin a lot. I'm the 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.320 one person that has an open line of communication forum. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.640 We get programming for him, We bounce ideas off. I'm 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.120 lucky that I have a good team in place, because 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.120 you would not imagine everything it is to run a theater. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:47.000 There's booking, there's establishing relationship with filmmakers and distributors, studios, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.840 film collectors. Because we're a film only house. There's the 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.360 day to day stuff of running a business. You need permits, 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.000 health permits. You have to like take into consideration pricing 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.960 because everything is now skyrocketing navigating through COVID waters. 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.840 But Jules says it's all worth it to her. Movie 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.920 theaters like the New BEV are the most valuable cultural spaces. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.120 We have two things. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.680 One it's an escape for me, and the other thing 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.159 is the communal aspect. Just this last Saturday, went and 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.600 saw Live and let dive one of our matinees. 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:30.800 Easy, Charlie, let's get there on one piece, Charlie. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.239 Big James Bond fan here. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.600 And afterwards, you know, people are buzzing, stayed in the lobby. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:36.240 I mean people are staying in the lobby for like 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:37.920 a half an hour. Finally I had just kind of 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.279 shoot people away because we had another show coming in. 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.920 But I remember one of our regulars, Sarah, we were talking. 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.200 She's all like, I've made a lot of friends standing 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:48.479 in line at the New Beverly. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.520 This place is magic. I don't know, you're not going to. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.560 Get that experience sitting at home on your couch. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:56.200 You got to get out. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.120 It doesn't matter if it's at the New Beverly another theater, 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.080 and so we support independent theaters the most. But even 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.880 if you get out and you go to the bigger 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.640 chain theaters, just get out of your house, go to 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.360 the movie, see it with an audience. Oh my gosh, 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.000 Live and Let Die, wonderful action pack, but also had 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.760 this moments of comedy and just being in a theater, 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:21.000 a pack theater, and sharing laughter with somebody's it really 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:22.560 is Sarah's raight is magical. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.039 Jules told me that the new Bets reminded her of 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.240 the kind of theaters she used to go to growing up. 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.720 When I was I'm going to stay five, but I 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.800 think I was actually six, my mom took me to 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.320 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids. But Cassidy's Hole in 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.240 the Wall Gangcasi's Hole in the Wall Gang, that's me, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:43.240 the whole bank of over close to twenty fives. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:44.920 What hard you do your planning for you? You want 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:46.680 them to do your thinking for you. You want him 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:47.360 to run things. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.720 You can shut up now, news or not yet till 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.159 I get the good part. Butch and before y'all be 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.960 judge everyone. I really wanted to see Butch Cassidy and 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.599 the Sundance Kids. She just didn't pick that out of 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.599 the blue. The next movie was The Great Gatsby, and 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.080 I think I was seven, and I wasn't very into it. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:06.840 You want too much? 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:10.039 I love you now? 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:11.000 Isn't that enough? 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:12.840 I can't help what's passed. 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.240 I did love him once, but I loved you too. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.440 And then we stood in line for like Star Wars, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.039 like my mom rocked as far as like movies go, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.159 and that just really formed my sensibilities. That's a movie 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.200 going experience. I just, I mean, decades later, I remember 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.240 that I take my nieces to the theater. I mean, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.880 I just I hope people continue to go out to 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:37.839 the movies. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.480 One unique thing about the New Beverly is that they 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:46.200 only show film, meaning actual analog reels and no digital 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:47.040 film whatsoever. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.760 It's not easy, but we know a lot of collectors, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.599 a lot of the studios, in fact, the majority of 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.479 them have opened up their repertory. They do lend out 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.719 prints a lot of times. There's costs and volve in 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.960 the shipping aspect. Sometimes the archives are local and we 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.720 can go pick them up. And luckily we actually went 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.000 back through all our programming and one of the reasons 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.240 Quinton got the theater in the first place is that 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.600 he has a very large film print collection. Over half 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.960 the titles that we play come from his collection. So 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.640 that's a way for him to share it with audiences. 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.320 Because actually we had to do that for tax purposes too. 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.040 It's like, oh no, no, no, he really does play 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.720 his prints at that theater. 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.160 But it's not just an arbitrary choice. The new bev 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:35.960 uses real film for a reason. 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.880 Seeing actual film, they've done studies and I forget if 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.240 it was Harvard or Yale. But the brain's reaction to 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:48.760 twenty four frames per second, you have a different emotional connection. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.960 Digital very flat thirty five offers a different texture. Your 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.240 brain takes it in differently, you have a different emotional reaction. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.880 I mean that's a big part of what's different now 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.880 days two because it's all digital projection and this and that, which, 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.840 by the way, I'll still go to see digital films. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.480 I'm not pooh pooing them if I have a choice, 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.360 darn right. Like I waited forever to see Nightmare Alley 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.360 because I know we were going to show it and 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:15.840 I wanted to see it on film. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:21.960 Oh I see an older man. Oh the boy hates cinema. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.200 Oh, the boy would love to be loved, but he 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.559 hates that man. Death. 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:33.240 Death. I'm no wish to death. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.880 As you can tell, Jules has a deep love for 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.079 all things cinema, and she's very attuned to the vast 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.560 history of theaters in LA and across the country. So 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.960 we thought she'd be the perfect person to help us 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.720 learn a little bit more about theaters, or as they 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.559 were originally called, picture palaces. 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.880 The nineteen tens the nineteen twenties. A lot of the 0:08:55.920 --> 0:09:00.000 older theaters were actually live performances converted to a movie 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:01.920 theater once the talkies came about. 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.080 Early film studios like Paramount or Warner Brothers were deeply 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.320 involved in the movie palaces. They were, of course, the 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:10.800 only venues for their product. 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.160 Once they got a little bit of this success in 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.840 the studios operated a lot of them. They just kept 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:22.760 getting bigger, seating like twenty five hundred three thousand downtown 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.760 Los Angeles, wonderful like two mile stretch of just like 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.040 picture palace after picture palace after picture palace. 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.800 One thing most people either forget about or don't realize, 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.280 is that there was a whole show before the film 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:41.760 back then you'd have the news ads, a cartoon or short. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.319 Film, television highlights of the news of yester year. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.959 That's something you might also see at the New Beverley. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.880 Cartoons were a big draw in the thirties. Cereals those 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:58.400 were a big draw. You'd package cereals and cartoons and 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.880 maybe a comedy shortened. 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:01.959 That's their entertainment for the weekend. 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:04.720 I go on private forums and stuff like that, and 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.360 I'm always looking for cool things because we will play 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.040 newsreels from the thirties, the forties, the fifties. 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.240 In Gary, Indiana, struck mills or idol behind picket lines 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:15.160 composed of women. 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:25.160 Cartoons were big on cartoons. When Quentin took it over, 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:29.240 he really wanted to kind of mimic what happened in 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.480 the past, which was you would play like a tag, 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.840 a little like kind of commercial or something cool for 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:35.840 like Coca Cola. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.120 Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:41.359 the lobby. 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.280 Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat. 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.040 Then you would play like a short, you know, Three 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.240 Stooges short or you know, bugs Bunny cartoon, and then 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.280 it's like trailers and trailers for either up and coming 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.559 films or trailers that thematically fit what you're showing that night, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.120 and then you go into the actual feature and that's 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.839 what they did that then it was a different movie 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.960 going experience. I know, you get the trailers when you 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.520 go and see your first run films and stuff, but 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.800 you know, it's not quite the same. 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.880 One other interesting thing is that most theaters did not 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:19.280 have concessions back then. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.120 I don't know how they survived. I forget what decade 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.240 concessions came into, but can you imagine going to the 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.920 movies and not having concessions. Now as an exhibitor, I'm like, oh, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.160 oh gosh, we would not be in business if we 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:33.599 had to close our concessions. 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:35.319 I have to have my popcorn. 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.400 But by far the most striking feature of the old 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.640 picture palaces was the architecture. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.280 Stunning, absolutely stunning. I can tell you that a lot 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.320 of thought went into them. You can tell by the 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:54.319 little decorations, very ornate, very thematic. You had two theaters 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.200 in Los Angeles that had an Egyptian theme and they 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:58.640 were two different architects. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:11:59.800 You know, you see. 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.600 Middle Eastern themes. You just see a lot of art 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.120 deco themes. I would love to go back in time 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:07.800 and just kind of sit in on some of the 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.360 planning and what people thought. But again, studios behind a 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.600 lot of the big picture palaces, so they could throw 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.720 a lot of money into them, and they wanted to 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:20.439 appeal to a wider class of people. They did want 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.839 the theaters to reflect that. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.840 I asked Jules to mention a few examples and to 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.160 tell us what her favorites are. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.640 Believe it or not, Radio City Music Hall, which does 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.960 not show film anymore. I don't think the Music Box 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:39.120 in Chicago. There's a handful that a still around in 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.800 downtown Los Angeles. A secret movie club is out of 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.800 the million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles. And then 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.000 there's other venues that are open. We've had premieres of 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.760 Quinton's films at a couple of the theaters. I really 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.000 like the Metrograph in New York. I love the Bellcourt 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.640 in Nashville. You know, I was a big fan of 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.920 the Ramadome and even the arc Light Complex in general 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.320 because I thought they had, you know, really nice big theaters. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.000 I do like when I travel, i'd like to see 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.199 the independent movie theaters. I like to experience them. I'll 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:18.800 tell you a wonderful one is the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon. Amazing, gorgeous, 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.880 wonderful programming. I got a little tour and everything. There's 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:27.400 fun little basement hangout, you know. And I get kind 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.839 of jealous of theaters like the Hollywood because they have 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.400 so much room and can do so much and the 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:34.920 guy that runs it, oh, here's two free drink tickets. 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:35.679 I'm like, oh wow. 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.800 It's like, yeah, we don't get drink tickets at the 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.520 New Beverly. We don't even starve alcohol and stuff. So 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.840 I did a little jealous, But I mean, theaters are 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:49.160 just wonderful one. They're in every town and it's yay, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:50.040 they're magic. 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.560 Jules says that back in the day going to the 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:55.040 movie theater was a big. 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.040 Deal throughout the country. I think they were packed. That 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.199 was your night out. You're getting dressed up to go 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.800 to these places. Now part of it, Yeah, you want 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.800 to be seen dressed up, drive your car there. Maybe 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.640 it was the equivalent to when we go to maybe 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.440 to the Pantagious in Los Angeles to go see Hamilton 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.920 or something, or if you go to Broadway you would 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.480 have more like the Douglas Fairbanks action, you know, buccaneers. 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.440 I also think a lot of the comedies you have 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.680 the Harold Lloyd's MaxEnt and comedies, and I think a 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.200 lot of like shorter films that are just they're lost 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.080 now even if they were found. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.800 Is there an audience form, I don't know so. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.120 Because the studios largely funded the movie palaces back then, 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:42.800 the theaters were a lot more strict about what they 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:44.000 could or couldn't play. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.320 I know, there wasn't a lot of like cross pollinations. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.520 So if it was, you know, a Warner Brothers theater, 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:56.760 they only played Warner pictures. There were studios that didn't 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:58.960 have theaters, and I think it was a tougher time 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.400 for them to get in into some of the established 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.200 studio owned But I mean that broke up, and I 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.440 think that was probably good. There certainly were, I mean 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:14.320 studios are cranking it out in the heydays, forties fifties. Absolutely, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.760 if they made money, they were going to produce some 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.080 some not so great that you can say that for 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:21.960 today's films too. 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.640 The New Beverly did not yet exist by this point, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.080 so it's not technically a picture Palace, but its history 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:29.600 is interesting nonetheless. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.040 Yeah, New Beverly's built in twenty nine, so it was originally, 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.240 I believe, a candy store. Then somebody sold wine out 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:43.160 of it, and it eventually became Slapsy Maxis, which was 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:47.920 a live club. In nineteen fifty, it became a movie theater. 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.400 I mean, there's been one ever since. But it's had 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.480 so many iterations and so many different names, it's kind 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.320 of crazy. It was even split into a twin theater 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.000 called the Riviera Capri Crazy. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.440 I can't imagine it now because I still think it's 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:04.880 a little small. It was the. 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:10.080 Arrows, the Riviera Caprids, the Beverly, the New Yorker. It's 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.800 an adult theater, as we all know, kind of referenced 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.520 in Once upon a Time in Hollywood, What's. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:16.960 Going on at the Dirty Movie Place? 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.040 Well, they're having a premiere. Dirty movies have premieres. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:22.640 Yeah, they're fun. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:23.600 Which is really cool. 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.760 If you watched Once upon a Time in Hollywood at 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.680 the New Beverly, you got. 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:28.280 That d joke. 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.840 Been home to a lot of different theaters and made 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:34.120 many people happy. 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.760 She says. Theaters like this started to become more common 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.760 in the fifties instead of the grand picture palaces, now 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.479 we were getting more small, single screen theaters. 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.360 They popped up because people are moving to the suburbs. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.040 You know, you can build a giant picture palace their 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.480 neighborhood theaters, so I think they served their neighborhoods. 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.080 But soon big companies would take notice of the success 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.280 of movie theaters and they would create the franchises we 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.240 know today chains that all but doomed the independent theaters 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:21.119 of the last century. These days the most common movie 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:25.480 theaters are the chains, amc, Cinemak, Regal and so on. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:29.840 But before these, in the early days, the studios themselves 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:31.080 were the franchises. 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:32.960 They were up. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.720 During the picture palaces, you had your lolls and your 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.800 warners and stuff, so you saw them. But when the 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.560 studios were told that they couldn't be exhibitors, there were 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:49.000 opportunities for corporations. Probably sixties they really started getting going. 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.840 Seventies probably their heydays, seventies and eighties. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:53.720 Then the slide began. 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:59.240 Unfortunately, theater chains radically shifted the movie business in the eighties. 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.439 Now you have these big buildings with a dozen or 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:06.360 more screens showing every available movie, usually more than once 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.680 a day. While Jules prefers the older art house single 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.520 screen theaters, she understands why these types of theaters became popular. 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:19.520 There's your economic aspect as an exhibitor, where you're not saddled. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.280 If a movie bombs. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.359 You open it in your big three hundred seat theater, 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.080 and at bombs you move it over to the fifty 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.720 seater and you can put something in where you will 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:34.720 make money. As far as the movie going experience, it's 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.000 just like now, it's a lot of options. I want 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.200 to go see the two ten show of so and so, 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.000 but I missed it. But look at two thirty, I 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.000 can make this so it's not a complete wash. I 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:46.680 don't have to get back in my car. I don't 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.600 have to kill two hours to the next showing. As 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.920 a teenager or as a young college person, multiplexes were 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.320 great because you could see two or three movies a 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.040 day and only pay once. 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.920 But Juele says we lost a lot of value when 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.400 we transitioned away from the neighborhood theaters. 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.679 There more things like textually, if you go to the Vista, 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.439 you have the manager that has worked there for decades, Victor, 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:16.960 and he'll greet you and you have interactions and you 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.959 can you know, it's your neighborhood theater. I live in 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.439 that neighborhood, so I always run into friends there. But 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.800 you don't have that kind of interaction at an AMC. 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.280 And it's so big, and you don't like stand in 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.720 a lobby and talk about the film afterwards. You don't 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.359 like meet people and say, hey, let's go get coffee 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.040 over here and talk about the film. You go, you 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.800 see the movie. It's great, you know what you're getting, 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.439 and you go home. Go someplace like New Beverly, you 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:49.800 know the vista, the Arrow Los Biless three. It's a 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:55.119 different experience. It's more of a movie going experience. I 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.560 don't know if I can put my finger quite on it, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.560 but it just isn't a little bit more at an AMC, 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:02.520 shall we say. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.600 Of course, the biggest impact of the chain theaters was 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.399 the eventual closure of indie theaters. For the older single 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.000 screen theaters and picture palaces, companies like AMC signaled near 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:15.760 certain death. 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.400 I don't know how a single screen theater makes it. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:25.520 I have zero idea. We've come close to closing several times, 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:30.080 despite Quentin Tarantino being the overall owner. That doesn't mean 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:33.000 he has to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.720 You know, the American cinema tech is at the low 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:37.600 SPI list three. I don't know if they have all 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.600 three screens, but I think they have like two of them. 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:42.639 At least. That gives you an. 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.800 Opportunity to make your programming a little bit. I don't know, 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.720 I'm like diverse or something, but you can fall back 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.840 onto something and gives you a little bit more flexibility. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:54.640 Where if we put. 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:57.479 A dog in there, it's bad for us, you know, 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.159 can't really overcome that. Now we have to try to 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.400 think like, okay, what can we do to make up 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.800 like we're losing five thousand dollars by showing this one movie? 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:11.200 You know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and there's twelve people here. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:13.800 This is bad. Doesn't matter. 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.320 We still have to pay the studios their licensing fee. 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:21.600 Now we're paying employees not to serve you popcorn, or 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.399 sell you tickets or monitor the show. I do not 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:27.640 know how single screen theaters exist. 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.480 Well. Jules is thankful that the new BEV is surviving. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.840 She says running a single screen theater is both complicated 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.720 and difficult in ways that chain theaters don't have to 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:38.680 worry about. 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:40.560 Well B corporations. 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.719 Obviously, you can like move your money around at this 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.680 theater location. B you don't take a loss, and it's different. 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.040 No place to hide for the single screen theater, I'll 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.240 tell you that. Much like in twenty fourteen, when we 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.560 took over the new Beverly to pick up our trash, 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.160