MovieChat Forums > It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) Discussion > Remember the first threater you saw It's...

Remember the first threater you saw It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in?


http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c9c869e201116884d300970c-p i ----- My family moved to El Paso, Texas back in 1965 when I was 14 years old. I saw "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World so many times at this great classic looking drive-in theater. ----- If our family didn't go together in a car, you could pay just 25 cents at the box office and watch the movie sitting on one of the benches in front of the snack-bar. ----- And that was something I did a lot since our house was just about ten blocks behind the theater. ---------- Rusty

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The Majestic Theater in Chillicothe, Ohio. I was 13. I and my kid brother went with my brother and his wife on a Sunday afternoon. The theater was crowded and the film was well received.

"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3027/photos ----- Is this the Majestic theater that you saw "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in? ----- It sure is a lot older than the Del Norte Drive-In. The picture I posted from the El Paso Times is from 1947 when the drive-in first opened. It closed in 1973. ---- Rusty

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Yep, that's it!

The last time I was there was in the late 1990s, I believe. It was an afternoon auction of movie posters and other movie advertising the theater had amassed. The theater has been in business for a very long time. The sale got a lot of hype and attracted a large audience of collectors who thought this might be the chance of a lifetime.

Nobody knew for sure what all was going to be sold because the auctioneer hadn't been able to sort and list it all, so her advertising mentioned only a few of the best items. As soon as I got my auction booklet after registering, I saw that there weren't any treasures to be had.

About 80% of it was no older than the 1970s and not very collectible. There was so much of it, mostly from bland films of only a couple of decades before. Except for a very few items, interest plummeted and sale prices were low. The auctioneer started bundling items to get bids. She actually began chastising the dwindling crowd for losing interest!

Of course, that only offended all these seasoned collectors who knew more about the value of the stuff than she did and were already upset for coming such a long way to waste their time.

One item I wish I had bought was a turntable (the size of a coffee table) for playing soundtrack records in sync with the movie, back in the transition to sound era. They couldn't get a $500 minimum bid and withdrew it from sale. I think it maybe was worth that as a movie history relic, though useless otherwise.

Anyway, sorry I rambled. But it is a nice old theater great for experiencing movies with a large audience.

"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I saw this at the Cooper Cinerama in Denver when I was about 8 yo. I'm surprized how few movies were actually shown there. IAMMMMW ran for 51 weeks after How the West Was Won ran 85 weeks. I saw those two movies plus 2001 there.
http://cinerama.topcities.com/ctcooper.htm

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A drive-in with the family either in or near Santa Rosa, Calif. in the late 60s. The only time I've seen the film on any kind of "big" screen. Didn't find out until fairly recently that the famous stunt of the plane flying through the hanger was filmed at nearby Charles Schulz Sonoma County Airport.

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Are you sure? I heard it was filmed south of SNA airport (now John Wayne) in Irvine, where the 405 and the 132 (to Laguna Beach) meet (north of the Irvine Amphitheatre). As a matter-of-fact, there's something about this in the trivia section, too.

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Yes very sure. The Beechcraft "piloted" by Rooney and Hackett at one point flies through an actual hanger (filmed at the Santa Rosa, CA Airport). You're referring to another scene in which the plane flies through a billboard. That was filmed in Irvine as the trivia section mentions.

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Mine's more recent. This film was released a few weeks before I was born, and I never saw it in a theater until the TCM Classic Film Festival screened it in 2013, in roadshow format, including the police bulletins at intermission, at the Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd - the same theater where IAMMMMW premiered.

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I first saw it as a kid with my mom at the McVicker's Theater in downtown Chicago. I want to say 1964, the movie was fairly new. It did have an intermission, and as I recall, there were announcements during the intermission about the whereabouts of the characters. We both so much wanted to see this movie, as it contained so many TV stars we both knew. The place was packed and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I remember my mother would tell me about many of the older actors, I didn't know, like Ben Blue and Zasu Pitts. It was a wonderful day with my mom, we saw the movie again another day at another theater and I have seen it many times since.

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late february 1965. detroit michigan. madison theater. saturday afternoon. cinema. i am surprised no one else mentioned it having been shown in the very wide screen. great flick.

i wish there were a complete list of all the locations of each scene.

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CINERAMA.

does anyone remember sterling holloway?? firefighter on top of ladder.

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Yes, he yells "one at a time, one at a time" as they all push and shove to get on the ladder.

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In 1963 during its first run (I was ten or eleven, depending upon the time of the year) right here in Dalton's Wink Theater. Loved it then and love it now. The Wink is still around, though they no longer screen films for the public there. Everything's in the mall now. Steve V.

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In Cinerama, at the Capri Theater in Dallas, during its roadshow release.

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The Bourbon County Drive In Theater, Paris KY!

I was 8 yrs old and thought it was the best film ever! I love car chases and crashes and even an 8 yr old can understand the big motive of greed. Plus, it was fun to watch these adults become children in their silliness.

Watching it now. It has its flaws, but still way enjoyable!



I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?

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I'm watching it on TCM tonight too.
I saw it when it was first released, I was about 7 yrs old. It was at The Wayne Theater in Greenville, OH. I loved it then and I still think it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

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I only saw it in a theater a few years ago... At the AFI Theater in Silver Spring, MD. It was a brand new-looking print, in the original Ultra Panavision and 6-track stereo. It was absolutely fabulous.

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