Lucy/Mame

[followspot]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 9:12am

This really happened.

Updated On: 11/9/13 at 09:12 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 9:23am

Incredible! I love the Cineramadome. I saw many movies there in my 23 years in Los Angeles.

The Little Mermaid (the day it opened), re-releases of Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz, plus West Side Story, Oklahoma! (both in 70mm), Dreamgirls, Evita ...

A great place to see a movie!

The only thing unfortunate about this photo is that they're about to see Mame.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 9:32am

For some reason the Cineramadome reminds me of Chiara de Blasio.

Updated On: 11/9/13 at 09:32 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 9:39am

By the way, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" just passed its 50th anniversary two days ago on November 7th. It opened the Cineramadome back in 1963, the first movie to play there ... so the Cineramadome just passed it's 50th anniversary two days ago!

Happy 50th, Cineramadome! (And It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!)

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 10:44am

Wow! Great pic! Warners went all out for that Mame premiere. Get a load of that signage! Oh and the dome decorated to look like a hat...they just don't do things like that anymore.

Posted: 11/9/13 at 10:59am

Imagine Ethel Merman shrieking at Milton Berle on that HUGE screen!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 11:16am

Remember seeing Mad when it opened @ Warner Theater in Times Square.

Awhile back TCM played a near complete version missing only 5 minutes and clocking in @ a shade over 3 hours. The complete sequence about how they go after the $$ was great go see. The only drawbacks are the obvious use of stunt doubles and the horrible rear projection work.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 11:17am

They still do cool stuff at the Cineramadome occasionally.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 11:25am

Is it still equipped for the 3 panel films? If so it would be great to show them in original cinerama

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 11:57am

One film I would love to see in it's original Cinerama presentation is John Sturges' The Hallelujah Trail starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and the luscious Pamela Tiffin (who I still have a crush on after all these years and recently spotted on one of my walks in the Upper West Side)...I think the cinematography and stunt work in that film are top notch.

[bobs3]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 11:58am

Every few years they have a week long Cinerama festival where they show films (usually bad prints) in three projector Cinerama style. Cinerama aficionados from all over the world come to Los Angeles for the screenings of films like HOW THE WEST WAS WON, THIS IS CINERAMA, CINERAMA HOLIDAY, SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (these were the only films ever shot in true 3-strip Cinerama). There were other feature films that were shot in Ultra Panavision 70 and Super Panavision 70 and projected in the 70mm Cinerama.

Updated On: 11/9/13 at 11:58 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 12:04pm

Thanks

I remember seeing West in Cinerama and the buffalo stampede sitting in the center of the orchestra was something else. Beats home video or watching it on a device.

Saw many others in Panavision "Cinerama"

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 11/9/13 at 2:00pm

Still a cool theatre. The last time I went there was for a special engagement of Dreamgirls before the general release. The lobby had displays of costumes and props from the movie which was cool.

Posted: 11/9/13 at 2:40pm

I wish they'd re-release My Dinner with Andre in Cinerama.

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 2:26am

It's still the same only refurbished and it's the Arclight Dome with a whole added new theatre complex in the back. But yes- if any movie opened in LA even on multiple screens -THAT was the theatre to see it. I remember seeing Mae West stroll in for the premiere of "Sextette" godawful but a kick to see her, and every star imagininable (The cast) for the premiere of the sequel to "That's Entertainment". Also used to love it when they would have classic film festivals there - i saw "Citizen Kane" "Mr.Smith Goes to Washington" "Casablanca" and of course, spacey movies looked great there - "ET" "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" "2001". And in return to LA "The Empire Strikes Back". And then there was that incredible sound too - movies like "The Last Waltz". And a very long run - my friends and I went multiple times to see "Hair". OK, I'll - stop . This kicked off a wave if nostalgia in me. I moved from LA two years sgo and many of those friends have passed away. But oh, sweet memories.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 2:18pm

i saw THIS IS CINERAMA and HOW THE WEST WAS WON when they both were released in 70 MM at the DOME...i may have seen MAME there but the movie was SO GOD DAMN AWFUL i don't remember too much from that evening...EXCEPT that MAME was the worst movie musical EVER made!...even worse than CAMELOT which i also saw at the DOME!...:)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 3:10pm

Mame would have been great had Ball not been it. Oh well

Remake it with Bette and you would have a completely different animal.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 3:31pm

Yeah, another over-aged actress as Mame Dennis.

[jv92]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 4:41pm

As terrible as the MAME movie is, some of Lucille Ball's line-readings (in the comic scenes) are good, except for her wheezing rasp. But when it gets even mildly serious or sentimental, it's a laugh riot...wrongly. It's a shame that the old guards at major studios didn't get the drift from BONNIE AND CLYDE, THE GRADUATE, THE GODFATHER, and (in the case of MAME) CABARET-- just to name a few game changing American films.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 11/10/13 at 4:45pm

I'd love to see The Greatest Story Ever Told in its original Cinerama presentation format.

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 11/11/13 at 11:33am

Jv92 - "some good comic line readings..." etc. Unfortunately, "Mame" was a musical.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 11/11/13 at 11:56am

LOL but part of the "charm" and fun of being able to bash it all these years is indebted to the fact that Lucy did it. One of those movies that everyone says they hate but it is still watched.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/11/13 at 12:14pm

Barely watched.

I tried many times to get through it, because friends always wanted to watch it.

It wasn't until this past July that I made it all the way through the film.

I wanted an "I SURVIVED MAME" button. I still do.

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 11/11/13 at 12:42pm

One of the great unknowables is whether it would have been a good movie with Angela. I'm sure it would have been a BETTER movie with her, but I'm still not sure it would have been good.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/11/13 at 12:50pm

I don't know if I'm in the minority on this or not, but I vastly prefer the nonmusical "Auntie Mame" to the musical "Mame."

The songs are fine, some of them are quite good, but so much was sacrificed in the plot and characters (no Nora Muldoon, no Mr. O'Bannion, etc.) that I think it was a step backwards. And unfortunately, I'll always compare any production (filmed or live) of Mame to Auntie Mame. Maybe if I saw a really good Mame, I could be swayed.