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Topic: How many military theaters are there?

Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-02-2013 11:58 AM

Does anyone know how many base theaters the U.S. military has/had throughout the world (post WWII)?

The reason I ask is because I have a difficult time believing a claim I read recently in a film history book. (The claim was that during the 1960s the Army & Air Force Motion Picture Service operated 3,262 movie theaters, including 1,702 in Vietnam and 548 in Europe, effectively making it the world's largest chain.)

Those figures are much higher than I would've expected (and they don't even include the theaters operated by the Navy and Marines).

Any thoughts?

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 02-02-2013 12:23 PM

The number for Vietnam is probably correct given that distribution was in 16mm. I was at a small communications site with one 16mm projector. We received films daily and I'd bet they counted us (and others like us) as theaters.

When I rotated to the states I was assigned to Ft. Benning, GA and had a part time projectionist job. There were 9 theaters on that post, all 35mm.

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 02-02-2013 12:35 PM

It's been a while since I was in the Air Force but as far as I know the military had at least one theatre on every base. I worked as the base projectionist at Thule, Greenland. It was 35mm Simplex XL. I would believe the figures. I thought Regal was the worlds largest theatre chain.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-02-2013 01:59 PM

The current Army and Air Force theatres and showtimes are listed here:

AAFES Reel Time Movies

The Navy Motion Picutre Service handles the Navy theatres and does not seem to have a listing anywhere online that I can tell (for all I know, it may include shipboard theatres, which are probably 16mm or video).

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Richard Hamilton
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1341
From: Evansville, Indiana
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 02-02-2013 04:01 PM

I installed the Joe Jessel Mega Theater , it was 8/70 and 35mm equipped, but now it looks like they switched to digital. It was already a museum when I did the install.

Rick

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William T. Parr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 823
From: Cedar Park, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-02-2013 06:43 PM

quote: Richard Hamilton
I installed the Joe Jessel Mega Theater , it was 8/70 and 35mm equipped, but now it looks like they switched to digital. It was already a museum when I did the install.

I was living in Corpus Christi at the time they put that theater in the U.S.S. Lexington. Small World.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 02-02-2013 07:08 PM

Quantico also has a theatre in their "Little Hall". We premiered HBO's "Taking Chance" there.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-02-2013 08:40 PM

The guy who installed the Simplex projector at Mercyhurst told that it came fro Hanscom AFB.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-02-2013 08:59 PM

Hanscom still has its original 1950s Simplexes (see the pictures in the gallery here), or at least they did as of a few years ago. Maybe they had another theatre at one point? Seems unlikely, as it is a small base.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-02-2013 10:07 PM

I don't know for sure. All I have to go on is the story I was told by the guy we bought it from. I can't take his word as gospel but I don't have any reason to doubt him, either.

It is a straight gate Simplex PR-1003 with a serial number that dates it from the 1950s. The lamphouse is an L.P. Associates Xe-Lamp. I don't remember the serial number, off hand, but I believe it is in the 1,000 - 2,000 range.

Next time I go to Mercyhurst, I'll try to remember to look for the exact serial number.

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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-03-2013 07:42 PM

How many of these AAFES theatres have converted to digtial?

How many will convert to digital in the future?

How many have closed or will close because they are not being converted?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-04-2013 10:07 AM

Some theaters on military bases/posts have converted to digital projection. Here is a link to the web page of the Little Hall Theater on the "main side" of the Marine Corps base in Quantico, VA.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-18-2013 01:17 PM

quote: Rick Raskin
The number for Vietnam is probably correct given that distribution was in 16mm. I was at a small communications site with one 16mm projector. We received films daily and I'd bet they counted us (and others like us) as theaters.

Was there an admission charge for these "theaters" in Vietnam?

quote: Rick Raskin
When I rotated to the states I was assigned to Ft. Benning, GA and had a part time projectionist job. There were 9 theaters on that post, all 35mm.

Was it common on the larger posts to have multiple theaters? I've seen movies in a military theater on about a dozen posts, and my recollection is they all had only one theater. So my thinking that the figures cited earlier seemed too high was based on the premise that the typical situation was one theater per post. If, however, multiple theater situations were common, then I can see the figure being plausible. On the other hand, I'm not sure the Vietnam installations should count if they were merely small gauge and/or temporary/mobile situations.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-18-2013 01:51 PM

quote: Randy Stankey
Next time I go to Mercyhurst, I'll try to remember to look for the exact serial number.

XL-3259

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 02-18-2013 04:46 PM

Movies were free in Vietnam. I don't think there were any 35mm installations in country. The 5th Special Forces (Green Berets) HQ in Nha Trang, which was adjacent to my signal site, was 16mm. They did have the luxury of dual JAN projectors with changeovers though.

Long Lines North - Back-porch Tropo - Theater, Nha Trang Vietnam (1967)

At Ft. Benning there were multiple theaters as it was then a large base. The smaller bases I was stationed at stateside usually had only 1 theater. I erred on there being 9 theaters operating at Benning, but I know that 5 were operational in 1968; the smallest being Theater #9. All were XLs and 4 of them had Magnarcs. Theater #1 on the main post had Strong Super 135 lamps burning 11mm positive trim. When I visited in the early 1970s they had already converted to Xenon but were still running changeovers. I believe that now all the movies are shown at the main shopping complex in a multiplex type of theater.

The booth at the (demolished) Ft. Benning, GA Theater #1 (1968)

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