Name of company that delivered films in CA

[Mike Croaro]

My memory is fading me. What was the name of the company who delivered and picked up films from theatres in California? They were predominant until the late 1990's when some of the studios stopped using them. While were at it, what was the name of the film depot company in Union City, CA? Thanks, Mike Croaro

[Van Dalton]

Airborne Express?

They were bought out by DHL ~20 years or so ago.

[Jim Cassedy]

If my memory is correct, it was "Theater Transit Company" , When I worked back in New York, it was
a similar company called "Bonded Film Distribution Services". The drivers had keys to all the theaters
on heir route, and would come by very late at night, after the theater closed, to pick up the previous
weeks' film cans & drop off the new ones in the lobby. I'm not sure if they're still in business. I have't
seen one of their delivery vans on the road in ages.

The "Theater Transit" depot was in an industrial park off of DeCoto road in Union City, California.
I'd sometimes drive over there & their dumpsters were always full of craploads of 35mm features they
no longer needed. Sometimes I'd grab a couple of those metal Goldberg ICC shipping containers out
of their trash to store my own film in. Usually all they needed to make them serviceable enough for
my purposes was a couple of rivets to fix up a detached hinge, handle, or lock-hasp, and and to have
a few dings hammered out of them.

[Mike Croaro]

Jim ! Good memory. It was Theatre Transit Company, 703 Bradford Way, Union City, CA. Per CA Sec of State, it existed from 1962-2008. Last known principal was Kristi Larrance.

They used to drop off films at Belmont Theatre between 11:30 - 1:00 AM. We finally got tired of paying them for delivery and started picking up and dropping off our films. The Theatre was about 30 minutes away in non-traffic.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

In Southern California the main film delivery company was Breakwater (some of the guys were called Breakwind for obvious reasons.) When I worked at the Laemmle Grande in DT LA I arranged to pick up my prints in person on my way into work. They picked up the returns. I can't recall the one nice lady's name who worked there, but after several pickups she remembered me as the Air Force projectionist who once threatened to send back a print one frame at a time.

(This was after they sent us a truly trashed print of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at our base theatre and initially refused to send a replacement for our three day engagement. To put this in perspective, and I am NOT exaggerating in the least, the print looked like someone drove over it after being buried in sand, after scraping half the emulsion off with a razor blade. My best guess was someone did multiple passes on it skipping a feed or takeup guide roller and dragging it on the projector castings.) It took a phone call from a two star General and we had a much better print the next morning.

Shortly after we got another severely trashed print of a B-grade movie, it came in on five reels and left on eleven. (I had a spare set of shipping reels and cans on hand for a while and put them to good use.) I guess someone didn't get the memo. But I never got another bad print after that. BTW the AF Base theatres were changeover houses, with Simplex XL/RCA 9030's and Altec mono sound. (AF wide CP50's and stereo were later installed.) Initially carbon arc lit, my theatre had 1k xenon conversions installed in the old lamphouses, and shortly before I left I helped install LP Assoc. 2k lamps. We suffered from a bad exhaust fan and even at lowest settings, the traps and plates got blazing hot.

[Sam Chavez]

These was a delivery company, Gilboy that did prints plus candy girl and doorman uniforms to the bay area in the '60's.

[Paul H. Rayton]

Interesting that the name of Gilboy Co. came up (and thanks for the reminder, Sam!). The Gilboy Co. of L.A. was some kind of subsidiary (?) of the outfit called National Film Service, which actually operated film depots in a number of cities nationwide. The following article from Variety was in early 1998, and would seem to mark the point at which Gilboy Co. was disbanded, and subsequently the BWT (Brakewater Transport Co.) came into the SoCal picture:

Link to source article: < https://variety.com/1998/biz/news/na...ng-1117434974/ >

National Film Service shuttering
Daily Variety - January 8, 1998
By: Benedict Carver

Film storage company getting set for liquidation, source says

The troubled film storage and shipping firm National Film Service is “winding down its operations,” with a view to eventually liquidating its assets, according to sources within and without the company.

Over the next few weeks, the 50-year-old NFS will begin downsizing. “This process will take weeks and weeks, but we aim to avoid having to file for Chapter 11,” said the insider, who denied rumors the company was going bankrupt.

However, a rival source claimed the company’s decline was due to the studios’ loss of faith in its security measures, following an incident at one of its locations last year. NFS denied the accusations.

NFS, which has around 30 clients — including Sony Pictures, Paramount and New Line Cinema — began streamlining by folding its Gilboy Inc. subsidiary last summer (Daily Variety, Nov. 12). In November it lost Twentieth Century Fox as a customer.

The closure of Gilboy’s Pico Rivera film depot sparked an investigation by the Motion Picture Assn. of America into Gilboy’s apparent abandonment of 5,000 prints of studio and independent films, which included whole or partial copies of Fox’s “Predator,” Sony’s “Hook” and Castle Rock’s “A Few Good Men.” Some of the prints were sold to private collectors while others were returned to the studios by the MPAA.

Those familiar with the situation said Gilboy had been behind in its rent payments, but NFS said it had moved due to a disagreement with the landlord, Samuel Rosen & Sons. NFS added that no prints of any value to its customers were left behind.