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Moral hits rockbottom at the Colonial Twin!
posted by
ColonialTwinFollies
on
March 31, 2011 at 7:42 am
POMPTON LAKES, NJ — Moral sinks to an all time low at the Colonial Twin, when the crew’s paychecks start bouncing, and the day’s receipts reveal a box office shortage, in the latest episode of Colonial Twin Follies!
(WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE… AS WELL AS STALE POPCORN!)
Comments (11)
(The word is morale.)
Asshole employees destroy cinema. Yeah, thanks for sharing.
I hope you are all unemployed.
They did have a point. Wouldn’t you quit too if your checks are bouncing?
Hey ChasSmith, thanks for the spellcheck. I’m so mad at myself for missing that one.
As for AlAlvarz, I totally understand your displeasure with the crew’s behavior, but you must understand their point of view at the time. There were times when the crew wouldn’t get paid for a whole week, and when the paychecks finally did arrive, they would bounce. The owner owned three other theaters at the time, and so with business so bad, and the place falling apart, the Colonial Twin sadly became the owner’s “forgotten child.” That was the crew’s take on it, anyway. It still doesn’t excuse the crew’s actions, and attitudes at the time, but we were all young once.
Did you consider walking out instead?
I was a patron of the Colonial Twin and I never really found the employees to be a problem (I take these videos as dicking around when there wasn’t customers around – in between shows, ect). Truth is they could have provided perfect customer service but the place was falling apart, it was so musty I really stand seeing a movie there so we’d go elsewhere. Although my biggest regret is at least not seeing In & Out there (filmed right across the street, this and The Game were the last attractions – my guess is it was victim of the recently, enlarged Loews Wayne, which went from 8-14 screens, and Kinnelon – even though that theatre is truly an awful experience).
I can’t say Pompton’s downtown helped – it still isn’t a large draw. The place now seems to be working out okay – the top theatre is the home of the Smiling Rhino Theatre company and the rest of the building is used by Windsor School and as a youth center. If they ever get their plans going to revamp downtown Pompton Lakes, I hope a 4-8 screen boutique theater would come into town, it has potential. As for these videos – it nice to see the theatre back, I’m sure you guys sold my grandma and I popcorn at some point, probably during that summer where all you were showing was In The Line of Fire and Last Action Hero (we saw them 3 times!).
Believe it or not, the idea of just walking out never even crossed our minds. That would have meant leaving our manager in a bind, and we just wouldn’t do that to him, considering how much we actually did care for him. In fact, he was suffering from major back problems at the time, and one of the crew members had to step in as manager, (as you will see in next few episodes). The truth is, despite our frustrations, and what may have appeared as downright contempt in the video, we actually did feel an emotional attachment to the old Colonial Twin, which is why we decided to videotape our antics in the first place. We actually enjoyed our time spent working there, and we knew it wouldn’t last forever, so videotaping was our way of preserving this short, carefree, time in our lives. In doing so, we were able to preserve a tiny piece of the Colonial Theater’s century old history as well. A history we are proud to be a part of.
Hey John J. Fink… We most certainly served you and your grandmother popcorn that summer. And who knows, you might have made it into one of our video clips. Wouldn’t that be a riot? That was the same summer Jurassic Park was released, and I remember the owner passed on showing it in his theaters. Bad call on his part. I remember when I asked him why he chose not to show the hottest movie of summer, he actually said, and I quote…“A dinosaur could walk down the street right now, and it wouldn’t impress me in the least.” I kid you not, that’s what he said. I guess he was more impressed with Last Action Hero, and Dennis the Menace! Oh, well. At least you came and saw them. Anyway, keep on the lookout for you and your grandmother on Colonial Twin Follies…Hey, you never know!
I am glad you think this stuff is amusing. I can’t say I find your ‘follies’ about a financially struggling independent operator with incompetent employees a hoot. Especially as he is now out of business. What was your role in that?
If you were not the managers, who was managing this place? Aren’t you all a bit old to be hourly paid staff? And did you not play a role in making that manager lose his job?
I have never worked for an independent, but I did fire many employees who acted just like you did and hurt our industry. YOU killed this theatre.
And only YOU can prevent forest fires. I guess we all have our crosses to bear. Look, you have to understand, we were just a bunch of high school and college kids working a part time job. We actually did do our jobs the best we could, and with business as slow as it usually was, well, you know what they say about idle minds. The manager never lost his job, he had to take a leave due to a serious back problem. As for the theater, it ran for four years after we were long gone, so we didn’t actually kill the Colonial Twin. We may have added to it’s injuries, but we certainlly didn’t kill it. I do appreciate your feedback, your point of view, and the passion that you bring to this topic. It’s that very passion, that makes Cinema Treasures so great!