General Cinema Corporation Bumper

[greenmonsterprod]

This brings back a lot of good memories. We had a General Cinemas twin at our nearby mall. Sadly, the theaters and a good part of the mall are gone. Thanks for saving this.

[CajunGypsy]

Where DO y'all get these? Did some of you work at theaters and swipe the reels, or what? Not that I mind - it's really cool to see these old things again; I'm just curious...

[TheCloud4Cloud]

SOOO Cool!

[Presty350]

East Towne Cinema, Madison, Wis. (Also West Towne Cinema in Madison.) Tremendous.

[shanaynay921]

Do do do do do do do do DO do ;) Dang I can still hear it vividly; and hey, add me to the list that sang it ;)

[billysings]

It was extremely cutting edge and so cool. I thought it started in the '60's. I remember it playing at Sunset Cinema Two next to Korvettes, the first twin theatres in the St. Louis area.

The screen was so blue! Our anticipation really jumped when this would come on at the end of the previews. Saw so many great flicks after this... Airport; The Andromeda Strain; Marooned. So many...

[gjc82071]

@billysings Yea, and when this came on, if you were at the snack bar/concessions stand, restroom, (or at some drive-ins, a playground), etc, you knew it was time to hurry up & hustle it back to your seat/car! (if you were at a drive-in). I miss those days. :-(

[librarybob1958]

Memories, like the corners of my mind...

[rucb1alum]

I remember hearing this right before some of the greatest movies I ever saw in the theater, including "Jaws," "Close Encounters," Star Wars," "Chinatown," and"Raiders of the Lost Ark." It was always so exciting to hear this - it meant the movie was about to begin. Nowadays the bumpers are hyper-produced and totally unmemorable.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[dave225]

This awful thing probably cost a mint to produce:

 youtube.com/watch?v=edV22Igcox­o ....and aside from annoying me every time I go to the movies, it's rather forgettable. Meanwhile, 35 years later, the GCC bumper is still in my head.

[teletubetodd]

Great rhythm! I used to love this bumper as much as (and sometimes more than) the movie that followed when I went to the Cambridge Fresh Pond Cinema in the 1970s. They don't make bumpers like this anymore. Today's are so slick, digital and computer-graphic. This one was hip, man.

[Landaux]

They would SHOW SO MANY OF THESE IN EVERY MOVIE IVE SEEN AS A KID! Star Wars ANH was one of them :-)

[Jac2Mac]

Wasn't this General Cinema logo also used before the movies From Russia With Love and Goldfinger played in the mid '60s?

[denny906]

I used to run this as a projectionist at the GCC South Bay Cinema in the early 70's.

[7DARKHELLS]

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

General Cinema was my favorite my family use to go there every Saturday.

[JewelChick01]

I've tried to explain this to people too -- I even have hand motions that accompany my version of the jingle. They don't help.

[bunloveszep]

OMG OMG OMG!!

Been waiting for years for this on Youtube!

Thanks a bunch! Love it

[gjc82071]

Me too! I love this. It was stuck in my head last month, the...Tssss, tss tss ,tssss, tss ,tss (drum/Hi-Hats sound). IMO it was a part of the entire "movie experience". This & drive-in intermission/snack bar promo/clips/films. "Let's all go the the lobby" or "Enjoy our delicious this or that" Brings back such memories. I was born '71, so I kinda grew up during the decline of the drive-in. Younger generations don't understand the drive-in wasn't just a movie, but a family experience/event.

[stalzz]

DUDE! I have been looking for this for YEARS.

THANKS!

[Saitoko7]

Wow, this version is absolutely demented! It sounds like a disturbed mind having about 3 different conversations all trying to cut into each other at once! XD I love it, though I grew up with the more groovy 80's version! Thanks for the post!

[kapat12724]

This is why YouTube was invented (not really)

[drbotanus]

There was a longer version.

[drbotanus]

Awesome!!! The original intro. I remember seeing this before

Grease, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and countless other seventies classics. Wish you had the whole thing/

[3443bh]

Earl Anthony made this famous, the machine!

[3443bh]

sounds like porn music!

[KentuckyFriedGunman]

O.O

How would you know?

[lordolbaid]

Did anyone else as a kid ever think that looked like a butt laying poopies?! My sister and I used to snicker about that....

[Dazzlewave]

What? Noooo!!!!! You and your sister were weird. LOL!!!

[flyonthewindscreen]

We used to sing along with it as it started... we were nerds.

[dewey70]

@flyonthewindscreen Ha! We did too!

[dewey70]

@flyonthewindscreen LOL we did too ...

[Smithfilmproductions]

@flyonthewindscreen we did too.

[cyme5]

@flyonthewindscreen You weren't the only ones and sometimes we'd sing it outside of the movies....too.

[redpaladin64]

This Bumper was used at the Hanes Mall Cinema when it first opened in either 1975 or 1976. The first Movies shown there were Silver Streak, Annie Hall, and 2 others I cannot remember at this time. Gonna have to post again I suppose. My Dad was one of the 1st projectionists there, and passed away there in 1977. Aside from that; many happy times were held there. The theater was demolished in the late 1990's.

[drbotanus]

Silver Streak and Annie Hall were both in 1977. I am sorry about your dad, Was that a dream job or what?

[redpaladin64]

It was a great job, from a kid's point of view, but very demanding. Especially keeping up with the different times that the individual movies were either beginning or ending. Lost my interest in doing the same job as he had after he passed away.

[rickjr37]

@drbotanus Silver Streak was actually released in the fall of 1976. I saw it at the Meralta theatre in Downey,California. it was double billed with 1974's Phantom of the Paradise. You are correct about Annie Hall,though. saw that in Houston Texas at the GCC @ Greenspoint Mall

[drbotanus]

@rickjr37

Annie Hall is hard to forget.

It got the Oscar over Star Wars. People practically booed.

But they love Woody Allens sick perverted butt so much they kept quiet.

[drbotanus]

@rickjr37 Thanks for correcting me. I have seen the incorrect year of 77 next to Silver Streak in the past.

I actually didnt see it till Showtime in 1981. I watched it about 100 times. Cable was great back then.

[Cajundweeb]

I remember seeing this one at the old Lakeside Cinema in the 1970's -that jingle was REALLY groovy. It's my second favorite behind the ones that came in the 1980's and into the 1990's (CGI Versions)

[shamrockviolet]

THIS USED TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME as a kid in the 1970's!! I HATED, hated, HATED THIS logo!!!! I cant wait to tell my sister i found it ... YAY! (it is not scary to me anymore. now its cool. ;-) aaahhh, nostalgia.

[GhostHostAnth]

OMG, me too!! That logo made me think of a skull!

[jgrig0]

I love these old bumpers. I wish someone would post some of the older movie bumpers from the late 60s and early 70s. There was one "Prevues of Coming Attractions" one in which the lettering was in a passageway, and another one that had spotlights moving around. If anyone could post these I would be very grateful. Thanks

[teletubetodd]

Hey, dig that rhythm! I loved seeing (and especially hearing) this bumper before movies like "Herbie Rides Again" and "Escape to Witch Mountain" when I was a kid. Too bad the last of the General Cinemas (the Cleveland Circle Cinema in Boston) just closed. Moviegoing will never be like that anymore.

[bewarethedecks]

Most of the GCC theaters, that remained open in Massachusetts, were bought out by AMC.

[PCinoGuy]

Brings back memories! GCCwas one of the first multiplexes (duplexes) to go up in our town. Late 60's.

[RoverDaddy]

Awesome! Thanks so much for posting this!!

[dartmouthhoop]

Awesome...thanks for posting

[debaucheryBotched]

This is about when, that LCD you dropped outside the theatre starts to take effect...Aaaaaah!...Oh my god Aaaaah!

[chabba77]

You mean LSD?

[debaucheryBotched]

See? thats what all that LSD I took in the past has done to my brain. I suppose if you dropped an LCD that wouldn't be a good thing either. LOL

[iabhornc]

(cont.) mall in Lynchburg. It indeed was a blast from the past. If anybody from Lynchburg, VA sees this and knows about that cinema which was nice to see, just let me know. I read an article somewhere stating that the River Ridge Mall is supposed to get a new theater. I am glad that Carmike kept it the way they did though. However, since Carmike has gone DLP, it doesn't use film. I read that mall opened in 1980. I bet that cinema has been there since b/c it looks old. It was interesting to see.

[iabhornc]

Recently, I went into this one theater in Lynchburg, VA which used to be part of the General Cinemas chain. It still has the same layout, but is currently run by the Carmike Cinemas chain. It indeed brought back tons of memories. However, with the changes in time, I experienced the same thing many have complained about (i.e. very uncomfortable seats, small auditoriums, being able to hear the noise from the other auditoriums, etc.) It was nice to see one and see the old "CINEMA IV" outside the...

[YogSopapilla]

I worked in an 4-screener GC theater in the late 80's...as I recall, I quit over a nickel an hour raise. Popcorn in the bags = true. Chintzy management = true. Glad they're gone = not so much. Oh, the halcyon days of youth. This is awesome stuff though.

[iabhornc]

Me too. I'm glad how I was able to go into what used to be a GCC theater (now a Carmike one) Lynchburg, VA. Carmike barely did any changes so it has the feel of a GCC theater. People who say they were "generally bad cinemas" hit the spot. Being so used to the much better cinemas we have now, it was crap, and had all the pains ppl. had complained about (i.e. uncomfortable seats, being able to hear noise from the other auditoriums, etc.) No popcorn probs. though. GCC was from Masshole land.

[busterth]

General Cinema owners were nothing but a bunch of cheap bastards who took advantage of their employees. Work them to death and paid them very, very little. They are out of business, and that's what greed will do to you.

[cheapholiday]

Ahhh, the sound of melting Red Hot Dollars on rubber souls...Wasn't there a more inspired version with flutes instead of this harpsichord?

It was the sound of gunshots in the distance during 'Golden Child' that put this chain under 8 Mile...

[iabhornc]

I have heard stuff like that happening with the GCC theater chain. There's a website (I forget the name) talking about old movie theaters, and it does mention the GCC chain. I read a few interesting stories in it from people telling the bad things they experience working at and with those theaters. Greed will lead to what you mentioned in the long run.

[teecayb]

I worked for General Cinema in my late teens and the manager treated me like crap. I remember them popping the popcorn and stuffing them in garbage and storing them in a room to be sold later!

[teecayb]

Oops...I meant that they stuff the popcorn in garbage bags (the plastic black ones). The popcorn would be hours old before it was put into the red and white boxes to be consumed by the public. Probably better to rent a DVD and have microwave popcorn on hand.

[iabhornc]

Funny. I read a story online about a long gone GCC theater in Charlotte, NC that did that.

[asongintheair]

NO WAY!!! I can't believe this is on YouTube! EVERYTHING'S on YouTube! This is so awesome! This is part of my earliest memories of going to the movies...so cool!

[magicianspirit]

Why did General Cinema go under? They used to be EVERYWHERE! I swear, they seemed like the only movie theatre chain in existence at one time. I guess it just goes to show, nothing is forever. And, no matter how big company is, that doesn't mean they can't go under tomorrow.

[iabhornc]

They went bankrupt. The AMC theater chain bought them out. There are still a few of those theaters which were part of that chain still around, but they're either closed down or independently owned. It's still fun when you see one open or not.

[abehammy]

and if it wasnt for amc, probably there would have been alot more former gcc theatres that would have been abandoned, closed, demolished or independent

[GeorgeJobson]

I admired the General Cinemas movie chain. too bad they're gone forever. I attended General cinemas in Saginaw and Kalamazoo. It really brough back memories.

[VodeoJMC63]

I remember this! If any of you movie trailer nostalgia buffs are (or were) from the st louis area and remember the wehrenberg theme (ba ba ba ba babababa bababa) that's on youtube too! just search for wehrenberg theme 2!

[aman1016]

Thanks again for posting this!

[blondie81566]

Thanks so much for posting! I tap dance to this!!!! There is another version, but I can't find it!

[ChristianBolt]

I have also looked for it in the past. It always built the anticipation before the movie. Great memories!

[casheasy]

I actually looked for this and hoped somebody would post it. Thanks for this.

[MSTS1]

Great clip, remembered by many I'm sure.

I never forgot it, and glad to see it again-

and hear it

[ouijaeditor]

Tried to explain this one to my kids. They looked at me like I was crazy, especially when I tried to sing the song.

[asongintheair]

--ouijaeditor wrote:

Tried to explain this one to my kids. They looked at me like I was crazy, especially when I tried to sing the song.

--reply

LOL! That happens to me, too, when I try to explain it to those who weren't around when it played in the theatres ;-D

[hothogalex]

Awesome....I've searched for this on youtube many times hoping someone had a copy of it. Brings back great memories. Ok..don't say it...I need to get a life.

[keithcop]

omg how I remember this and everyone who went to the movies in those days will remember it forever!

[Bobphx]

Ironic I was just describing this to someone yesterday and thought I would see if it was on You Tube! How did you acquire it?

[MisterL0B0]

You made my decade! This was a splinter in my brain that can finally heal!