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Theaters
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May 14, 2009
Theatre organ undergoes revival
DAYTON, OH — After many years working to get it back in service, some dedicated fans are giving a historic organ a chance to shine again.
Just before King Wrecking Co. crews tore down Dayton’s RKO Keith’s Theatre in 1967, David Bowers and a couple of friends went there on a mission to save a precious artifact.
Bowers and his friends, Roy Haning and Neal White, found a 1922-vintage Wurlitzer Style 210 pipe organ, “a gem of an instrument,” in Bowers' estimation. Haning and White bought the organ and its nearly 1,000 pipes on the spot.
Four decades later, the RKO Keith’s Mighty Wurlitzer is being restored in Medford, Mass., for use in Medford’s Chevalier Theatre. If all goes as planned, it’ll be played for the first time since 1986 sometime next year.
Read more in the Dayton Daily News.
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May 13, 2009
New attitude for saving South Jersey theaters
The tide is turning for the mood of saving old theaters in South New Jersey.
South Jersey developers have found that old movie houses in disrepair can make great locations for new pharmacies. The iconic Harwan Theatre in Mount Ephraim became a Walgreen’s. The Century Theater in Audubon became an Eckerd Drug.
But now volunteer groups are trying to rescue some of the remaining theaters.
Neighbors Celebrating the Westmont is dedicated to saving the 1,300-seat Westmont Theatre, in Haddon Township, Camden County, where a young Steven Spielberg once sat mesmerized by the silver screen and Dustin Hoffman sat in disguise to gauge audience reaction to “Kramer vs. Kramer.”
Read more in the Philadelphia Daily News.
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May 8, 2009
President Obama Wants to Boldly Go
You may see the new Star Trek film before America’s 44th President. Politico reports that Barack Obama, who has made use of the White House screening room to watch “Slumdog Millionaire” and other films, has asked Paramount Pictures for a print.
President Barack Obama gets hailed by supporters as a transformational, visionary leader. But can he boldly go where no man has gone before? Possibly: POLITICO hears from several sources that the President has asked Paramount Pictures for his own screening of the new “Star Trek” film in the White House.
(Image courtesy of the Official White House Photostream.)
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May 6, 2009
Cinestudio Celebrates 40 years!
My favorite and perhaps the best Art Theater in Hartford CT, is now 40 years old. Cinestudio has always had style, and class other theaters dream about having. Plus who doesn’t love sitting in the balcony at the movies? Always a flawless presentation.
Cheers to Cinestudio and to another 40 great years. I’ll never forget the first movie I saw there, “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein". If you live in the Hartford area, treat yourself to something special.
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May 4, 2009
Danville’s Science Center’s new theater not sitting well with some tax payers
DANVILLE, VA — A new theater being built for the local science center is starting a dialogue about whether public funds should be used for the project.
The building will cost $3.4 million dollars. Two-thirds of that will come from the state, and some say they don’t want their tax dollars going to a movie theater when there’s so much else to pay for.
“Spending $3 million on something that’s not going to bring a lot of revenue or a lot of jobs into the community right now, in this economy, I have to wonder,” said Lisa Guill, Danville resident.
Read more at WDBJ.
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Livermore Cinemas installs largest theater solar-power system in the country
LIVERMORE, CA — Looking towards the future, Livermore Cinemas installs state-of-the-art solar panels.
Bring ‘em on, said the owner of Livermore Cinemas, now the largest of the country’s handful of solar-powered movie theaters.
Monday, local business and city leaders gathered at the cineplex on First Street for a presentation on its state-of-the-art solar-power system, which has been up and running since February.
Unlike traditional solar panels, the modules — cylindrical tubes about the length and width of shower curtain rods — can be lined up side-by-side on a flat roof. They do not need to be fastened down to keep them from blowing away.
Read the full story in the Mercury News.
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Ithaca theaters unite
ITHACA, NY — Two independent theaters in Ithaca are joining forces for a new expanded venture.
To the unobservant eye, Home Dairy Alley is a dark, empty gap between Maté Factor and Center Ithaca. But beyond this breach is a paint-chipped door leading to a hidden gem: Cinemapolis, Ithaca’s nonprofit independent movie theater. The two-screen theater is as mysterious and interesting as the movies it shows.
Next month, the theater will close its steel door for the last time and will join with three-screen Fall Creek Pictures in a new home on Green Street. The new theater will open on May 27. The building will feature five large screens, more seating and popular concessions at the snack bar.
Read the full story at the Ithacan.
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April 29, 2009
Family Fun at Glendale 9 and Scottsdale 6 DI
Click below to watch local TV coverage of the Glendale 9 and Scottsdale 6 Drive-In promotion…
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April 23, 2009
Former theatre sold to sock manufacturer
BURLINGTON, NC — Leaving many questions marks, the West End Cinemas has been sold to a local sock manufacturer with no clear plans except that it won’t be a theatre.
After being vacant for about nine months, the West End Cinemas property on South Church Street has been bought by a local sock manufacturer.
According to records filed with the Alamance County Register of Deeds earlier this month, Burlington-based Carolina Hosiery Mills Inc. paid Carousel Cinemas LLC $1.85 million for the 5.6 acres. Of that, 37,798 square feet comprise the heated area once used by the movie theater.
But don’t expect to see a movie shown there or a sock outlet being put at that location.
Read the full story in the Times News.
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April 22, 2009
Restoring elegance to a movie palace
BUFFALO, NY — A nice look into the past and future of a surviving movie palace, Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Motion picture industry pioneer Marcus Loew once said, “We sell tickets to theaters, not movies.”
Loew had movie palaces like Shea’s in mind when he said it.
Everything about the lavish, ornate and palatial “Wonder Theatre” and its neo-classic Spanish Baroque interior was meant to transport people into a breathtaking world of elegance befitting a European palace or opera house.
Read the full story in the Buffalo News.
(Thanks to Aneurysm9 for providing the photo.)