Q AND A : O.C. Theater Owner Gives Preview of New Attraction : Entertainment: Edwards chain founder discusses his plans to build an 18-screen cinema complex in Irvine.

James Edwards Sr., founder of Orange County’s largest chain of movie theaters, last week announced plans to build an 18-screen cinema complex at the Irvine Spectrum business park just north of the El Toro Y.

Edwards, who will be 87 in November, opened his first cinema in 1930. Admission was 25 cents. The man who says he once gave away cars and refrigerators through ticket raffles to attract moviegoers now controls more than 400 screens throughout Southern California. In an interview Friday, Edwards spoke broadly about his latest venture and the future of theaters.

Question: Why choose a spot in the Irvine Spectrum for Orange County’s largest theater?

Answer: The principal growth in the future, I think, will be in south Orange County. That seemed to be the way Orange County was headed to grow 15 years ago. At that time the Irvine Co. had planned to build a regional shopping center there, but various things happened to change their perspective. Every time that area came up again, we expressed our interest for the project, which was then called the Golden Triangle.

Q. What about the City Walk feature recently added near the 18-screen Cineplex Odeon at Universal Studios? Do you envision something like that for your new location?

A. Yes. The Irvine people and ourselves are going to review the City Walk, not to ape it but to follow the good ideas they’ve incorporated in City Walk--and hopefully make our spot in the Irvine Spectrum into another tourist attraction for Orange County. It will be 180,000 square feet with fast food, restaurants and shops.

Q. How did you get started?

A. I borrowed $400 from my dad, who was a rancher. I was born in Los Angeles. The early ‘30s were the Depression years, and things were pretty tough. Business was bad, and movie theaters failed. The Monterey Park theater had been closed, and I took it over. So I really started my company in San Gabriel Valley in Monterey Park in 1930 and moved into Alhambra in 1932, then built the first multiplex in 1939 there.

Q. And now you have a virtual monopoly on Orange County theater houses.

A. We don’t have a monopoly because nearly every home has a movie theater these days. What we’ve done right is try to grow and build where the future is. We’ve gone into Riverside, and now we’re going up north, in Simi Valley. I think that’s the right thing. I think Orange County can support these theaters because, as new theaters come in, the old ones will be phased out.

Q. With the changing demographics in Orange County, have you ever thought of opening a Spanish-language theater?

A. There is a Spanish-language theater in Santa Ana that is doing quite well. You’ve given me an idea. We may. We used to run Spanish-language films.

Q. Your new multiplex will have two screens for art and foreign films. What size theaters will those films be shown in?

A. It will depend on the box office value of the picture. If they are minimum box office value, they will play in the small theaters. If they are higher value, they will play in the larger theaters. We won’t just say these two screens are only for art. It will be where the need is. These types of films have become quite successful.

Q. Will we see larger multiplexes, maybe even a 27-screen theater, in Orange County?

A. Oh, sure. Our construction guy just came back from Brussels, and he visited a 27- or 28-screen theater there.

Q. The invention of radio, television and now video have at different times caused people to predict an end to moviegoing. Were you ever worried?

A. Looking back, I can see that additional forms of entertainment delivery were beneficial to the movies, particularly the TV and the VCR, because they created a demand for a great amount of varied entertainment, so there are more and more pictures being made now than ever before. Disney has announced they will have 50 movies next year.

Q. What will the movie house of the future look like?

A. It will be more grand. I think there will be fewer neighborhood theaters and more of the destination-point theaters. You know, when movies were at their peak of excitement many years ago, the theaters were Art Deco palaces. They were just dripping with gold and ornaments, statues and lights, all the things that make people excited just to be in the place. When you left your house and went to the theater, you really felt you were going someplace. I think that will come back. Also, high-tech features are important, with digital sound and everything. It’s a gradual change.

Q. Where do you go to the movies?

A. I live on Newport Island--we moved here in 1950--and I like to go to the movies right here at the Edwards Theatre’s Newport Cinema on Newport Center Drive. Why? Because it reminds me of yesterday. The theater in the middle. It’s big: The ceiling is 40 feet high, and the seats are larger. It’s a grand experience.

Q. What is your favorite movie?

A. My favorite movie is “Dr. Zhivago.” It had everything in it. It had the war, it had Russia and the fall of the empire, and sex, excitement and murder. It had everything. My favorite movie right now is “The Fugitive”--with digital sound.

Q. Are there any movies you won’t show?

A. Yes, that has happened, but only within these parameters. The parameters are: We won’t play rated-X pictures or the equivalent, NC-17. Other than that, we will play any and every picture of box office value, providing it doesn’t offend a religious group. And that we put into effect only once, and that was “The Last Temptation of Christ.”

Q. What do you think about the quality of movies today?

A. I think the public is more selective than they’ve ever been. I think the thing the public wants now is quality, good stories, and the excitement to be done in good taste. I think it was Shakespeare who said--and I’m not sure because that was before my time--but when the cast was getting ready, powdering their noses, he said: “Don’t do all that. Remember, the play’s the thing.” And that’s how it is today. It’s the picture, the story that counts.

Q. What was the most controversial movie you ever showed?

A. I think it goes back to the days of Clara Bow, the “It” Girl. In those days a kiss wasn’t any longer than that (he snaps his fingers). Back then, the cowboys never kissed any of the girls. In fact, they didn’t have any girls. And Clara Bow was a very active young lady. There was a National Review Board, and they banned nearly all of her pictures. I showed her pictures, nearly every one, because they were good pictures.

Q. Who will run your company when you retire?

A. You have a nice way of putting it. You mean when I’m gone. Well, my son, James Jr., is president, and my daughter, Joan, works in the company and has for years. And we have a lot of other people here, just like you do at your company. We hope things will stay in the family. They say they are interested, but you never know.