Page 3 - Cinerama_booklet

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HAT IS CINERAMA?

As the curtains draw back and up to reveal the immensity of the
great, curving Cinerama screen for the first time, audiences are in-
variably stunned. Where a moment ago they had been looking at
lowell Thomas on a normal screen-normal in size, normal in shape-
now suddenly they find themselves engulfed by a kind of movie they
have never seen before. It doesn't jump off the screen at you, nor does
it gain a brief moment of excitement by throwing knives or boulders
at its spectators. On the contrary, Cinerama seems to gain its effect
by pulling the audience almost physically into the picture. Before you
know it, you are rocketing along in the front car of Cinerama's famous
roller coaster ride.
But how does it happen? What magic produces this sensation, this
feeling of participation? What makes Cinerama so unlike any other
motion picture experience? What is Cinerama?
Part of the answer is clearly visible in the theatre itself. Not only
has the screen a new shape and dimension, but now there are three

projection booths simultaneously throwing the image on the screen-
a clear, bright image that almost imperceptibly merges into one great,