SPECIAL EXHIBITOR'S MANUAL

We're fortunate that Frank Dubiel managed to salvage this manual between swings of the wrecking ball as the Dufree Theatre in Fall River, Massachusetts was being demolished in 1980. Thanks to Frank for doing a little trespassing and making this interesting booklet available. We trust that the statute of limitations will prevent Frank from going to the slammer.

Curator's Note: Our good friend, Frank Dubiel, passed away in December 7, 2003. He was a great fan of films and the wide screen epics in particular. He was also a hell of a lot of fun to run around with. Everyone who knew Frank misses him and I am only too pleased to have this and other contributions from him to perpetuate his memory in a small way.

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This document accompanied press books for The Robe and How To Marry A Millionaire for theatres to use in making their premiere presentations of CinemaScope to the public. It is of interest in that showmanship was considered an essential part of making the new exhibition process even more impressive and satisfying to the audiences. Little doubt that a bit of the "This Is Cinerama" style is incorporated here. It worked for Cinerama and it apparently worked with early CinemaScope audiences as well.

While the booklet, which was a six page stencil document (the same process studios used to generate script copies), contains all the typical inane promotional suggestions that are almost embarrassing, it captures a sense of the times in that it provides the exhibitor with many recommendations for promotion prior to the actual installation of the CinemaScope system in their theatre. Fox was enthusiastic about CinemaScope and the movie going public was equally enthusiastic. For a brief period there were "events" going on in theatres around the world.

EXHIBITOR'S MANUAL COVER