Boxoffice-July.1997

;
greets
—
Iiilv 1007 ±\
provided the theatre with an art deco flair by
installing hammered-metal wall sconces, three
omamental chandeliers, quilted walls with
brass buttons, etched metal doors, and a polished-metal
concessions stand.
With Skouras' work completed. Fox renamed
the theatre the Fine Arts and ran it until
1973, when Mann
moved in. In the early
'80s, Laemmle took
over the theatre, programming
specialized
films. When Cecchi
Gori came on the scene,
the theatre was closed
for its most recent renovation,
which was
completed in time for a
December 29, 1993
opening with Savoy's
"Shadowlands." Gross,
who directed the renovation
process, used
the theatre's glory days
as her polestar.
To aid her quest, she
hired designer Joe
Musil, whose refurbishment
efforts for Pacific
Theatres at the
NOW
circuit's El Capitan
carries
Theatre in Hollywood
and its Crest Theatre in
Westwood Village
both of them singlescreen
halls— had
gained well-deserved
acclaim. Musil was
able to salvage many of
the Fine Arts' most intriguing
features: He
recast the hammeredmetal
wall sconces and
restored the quilted
wall coverings and the
proscenium, which
now displays Skouras'
signature 1940s look
with swags and tassels.
The brass buttons
were removed and
made gleaming again;
new carpeting was installed;
and walls were
painted to depict the post-World War n period.
The restrooms and the concessions stand were
modernized with an art deco motif, the original
vintage seats were restored (the theatre now
has several fewer rows, allowing for greater
legroom throughout the auditorium), armrest
cupholders were installed and the marquee
was relit to beckon in passersby. letting them
know that the "grand old lady" had returned.
As at Musil's redone El Capitan and Crest,
a glorious new feature of the vintage look is
the Fine Arts' gUttering velvet curtain, which
audiences in a dramatic way. Says
Gross. "When people round that bend, they
1 gasp because you don't see theatres like that
Lanymore." All told, the renovations ran into the
f says. long with upgrading its look, Cecchi
Gori wanted his theatre to provide out-
LStanding capabilities in sight and
sound. "As a production executive, I know
how hard you work on a film. I know what you
go through—^and then it goes into a theatre and
you don't even recognize your own film," says
AND THEN: The Fine Arts concessions stand now
items favored by American art-house audiences.
Gross, who made sure that the vision here was
attained. To revitaUze the technical systems at
the Fine Arts, Gross hired Tony Francis of Los
Angeles-based Theatre Products International.
Francis designed a version of the THX sound
system, building a wall directly behind the
screen and instaUing loudspeakers in it, and he
created a bi-ampUfied sound system with JBL
speakers. The end resuh is a sound system that
is almost identical to what some consider
Hollywood's premier screening room, the
Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Says Francis,
"It's a terrific sounding theatre. When
Turner Entertainment came out with its restored
'Dr. Zhivago,' it screened at the Fine
Arts." Although the original sound installed
was analog, the system has since been \vpgraded
with SDDS digital soimd.
The projection system is designed to accommodate
both commercial films and
screenings of dailies for the studios. To allow
for flexibiUty, Francis installed two projectors—one
for 70mm films, the other for
35mm — plus a platter system.
"The platter worics
both ways," Francis says,
"so that they can use either
projector and the platter,
or they can do a changeover
where they could use
both projectors as 35mm."
To accommodate the
showing of dailies, for
which the soundtrack
isn't always on the film, a
dual dubber (a magnetic
sound reproducer) was installed
to handle separate
picture and track. Both
projectors can be interlocked
to the dubber to
maximize the sound.
With the renovation
well underway. Gross
began looking for a company
to manage the Fine
Arts. As part of her dehberations,
she traveled to a
number of L.A.-area theatres
to inspect them for
cleanliness as well as to
judge the staff's courtesy
and knowledgeability.
Based on a belief that its
management philosophy
was similar to hers. Gross
chose AMC, which has
found great success with
its nearby Century City
AMC 14 and its sevenscreener
in Santa Monica.
She had evidence her
belief was correct barely a
month after the theatre's
reopening— specifically,
on the morning of January
17, 1994—when a phone
call arrived from the Fine
Arts manager 40 minutes
after the predawn Northridge
earthquake. "She had come in the dark
during the aftershocks to make sure the theatre
was okay," Gross recalls. 'That's when I knew
we had great management." Although the
temblor did inflict a certain amount of damage—some
cracking along the roofline and
some broken mirrors inside—the theatre was
able to re-reopen three weeks later
Dashwood, AMC's vice president
Nora
ofoperations ofthe West Division, says
the Fine Arts has given AMC the opportunity
to display its abilities in a new area.
The Fine Arts is one of two single-screeners
(the other is in San Jose) that AMC manages,
an interesting sideUne for the company commonly
credited with giving birth to the con-