Anyone remember General Cinema Theaters?

They were a chain of theaters in America that were all over the country..ours was in Ossining,N.Y. at The Arcadian Shopping Center..last time I was there,it was turned into a Toys "R" Us store..a sad ending to my fav theater! You Tube's got a whole load of GCT Movie House Bumpers from the 70's and '80's,all taken directly from those now-Defunct Theater prints..Also,Retrojunk's got them too,as well!

 

Bought out by AMC in 2002.

Their old website still sits out in cyberspace like a ghost: http://generalcinematheatres.com/

 

I certainly remember General Cinemas, as I spent a lot of time there in my younger days. Nearly every time I make a home made DVD for someone, I include the famous horribly edited "Feature Presentation" bumper. Seriously, what drugs was the guy on that edited the music for that? My friends and I used to laugh ourselves sick at that bumper.

As seen and heard here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F_tv1XNoCc

Chris C

 

Here, is what I call the later, "porn music" version of their "Feature Presentation" bumper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6oc1EYKRlg&feature=related

Chris C

 

...and, who can forget the classic "Star Wars", attacking popcorn, "No Smoking Please" bumper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJoNR0ILZrM&feature=related

Chris C

 

I remember the "Candy Band" trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-ym0IUBuA

 

One more, a slightly different, "Candy Band" bumper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDCaA2T6xyU&feature=related

Chris C

 

Yeah, I definitely remember General Cinemas and all those bumpers. Great stuff.

 

Here's another one for us old folks here... ABC Movie of the Week opener

 

ok, I'll bite... HBO sign-off (kiddies, HBO was not always 24-7)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GDH39Jfyfo

 

I saw that one MANY times. Used to go to the Springfield (VA) Mall GC all the time - they had a coupon book that would give you a free admission, so I'd buy that.

Always thought the "Candy Band" thing was kinda creepy. The Popcorn Dude's watching a band made of candy - and then he EATS candy. That could be the guitarist's cousin!

 

I worked (usher) at a couple of 'em in my college years. The pay was low, but the movies were free....

To this day I can still remember the last few lines of dialogue of several long-running features (as I would wait to open the doors at the end of the movie). We had a few that ran for months (Home Alone, Pretty Woman...)

They were using that 1977 bumper as late as the early 90's.

 

I have many of the same memories as I worked at General Cinema all through college. The pay was low but being able to see every movie out for free sure made up for it at that point. Plus, a pretty good place to meet young and single girls at that stage in life!

The GC I worked at in the Indy area was very close the local amphitheater so we got a LOT of musicians in there on a day off or in the afternoon before performing that night. Just to name a few that I met, waited on, etc....Bob Weir & Vince Welnick from the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Butch Trucks from the Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top (rented out a whole theater in the afternoon), Prince, Olivia Newton John, Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon, and many more that I'm forgetting at the moment.

 

Great stuff!

 

My friends and I would laugh until we were crying. To this day I dont know why!

 

I love it. So poorly cut it sounds almost surreal. Their bumpers were fun though.

It brings back happy memories but if I actually stop and think about seeing movies in those cheap, drab mall boxes in the 70s and 80s it wasn't all that great. Sticky floors, awful mono sound, beat-up prints....a FAR cry from the golden age movie palaces and space age Cinerama-type stuff the generation before. Us GenXers were robbed!

dan c

 

We have a resurrected multiplex theater here, independently owned now, was a former General Cinema theater and it's exactly as it was in the 80's. I like to go there for the nostalgia. Cheap tix, cheap food, long dark disco lighted hallway, ultra dark theaters with small leveled seating, 2.0 stereo sound, the relaxing humming clicking projector sounds, sticky floors, out of focus sloppy edited bumpers and trailers. I love it! When Kill Bill came out I made a point to see it there. Nice Tarantino even put the same feature presentation bumper in his film.

I remember back in the day they would show Will Rogers Institute ads and an usher would pass around a donation bucket.

 

THANX SO MUCH,MLutthans! That brings back sweet memories of me watching "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" at The Arcadian GCC in Ossining in 1970..I'll forever remember that glorious night now...once again,my humblest thank you!To you!

 

Yyyup! Looks familiar. Our local cinema owners turned the old mall boxes into their second-run seats. Redid the whole thing quite nicely but the small screens are still 'wind tunnels'.

dan c

 

My first job out of college: GCC Usher. I still have a blue uniform jacket hanging in a closet at my mothers house! Yes, free movies, popcorn and several usherettes make my memories of the place.

 

I used to go to the ones in Menlo Park, Woodbridge, and Blue Star in NJ (the theater in my hometown was a UA). I saw ET, Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders Of The Lost Ark at a General Cinema.

An online friend of mine was looking for the 1970's bumper with the wacko music about 4 years ago, and it was nowhere to be found on the internet. Now there's multiple versions on Youtube. All Hail Youtube!

 

In the industry we refer to auditoria like that as a 'bowling alley'

-Aaron