I once wrote to Famous Players and asked them if they had any plans to re-decorate the auditoriums. I always found the carpeting and especially the seats to be hidious colours and designs. Especially for that location within their head office. Remember when it opened, Cinema 1 was called La Reserve? I don’t think that lasted too long though. Wasn’t that screen capable for 70MM? It never looked wide enough to me to show that format. I remember that it opened around Christmas 1980 as well as the newly renovated Runnymede twin and the 3rd screen at the Westwood.
I agree Jon. I’ve never really liked that theatre except for it’s lobby and it’s great location. Other then that, I’ve never really liked any of the 4 cinemas themselves. Considering it was built in to what was then Famous Players head office building, I would have expected so much more.
Yes, it was renovated in 1988 and the screens were re-designed so that you entered each cinema from the rear instead of the original layout from the front beside each screen. It was most distracting because every time someone entered during the movie or went out to the lobby, you tended to look at them coming and going. They also re-designed the layout of the individual theatres to enlarge the lobby to include a larger cafe area. So on May 6 1988 it re-opened with 9 screens instead of 10. The ads said “Return of the Elegant Theatre” and “North America’s Premiere Arthouse”
Yes, that’s the one. The entrance for the cinema was at the east end of the building on Charles St. and the screen would have been on the west side facing Yonge St.
The first dealership on that site after demolishing that lovely theatre was called Glendale Ford. As far as I know, the Glendale still did good business back then so why Famous Players wanted to sell to a car dearler is beyond me. The nearby Odeon Fairlawn lasted to 1985 so I’m sure the Glendale could have lasted at least until the end of the 70s if not longer.
The Glendale was actually demolished in 1975, not 1973. The last film I saw there was “The Godfather Part 2” which was a Christmas release in 1974 and stayed at the Glendale until spring 1975.
A sad day indeed. The Century should have been restored years ago. Hamilton has lost the Tivoli, Capitol, Palace and now the Century and any one of them could have been and should have been fully restored like so many other old movie palaces and used for concerts, plays, Broadway shows etc. Such a shame.
Maybe Cineplex Entertainment should seriously consider building a brand new state of the art “art” house to replace the Carlton. After all, Toronto is supposed to be one of the most serious film going cities in the country. Otherwise we need something similar to the Angelika Film centre in the states or similar to a Landmark theatre which shows the same kinds of films that the Carlton did. I remember many years ago Alliance cinemas was looking for a replacement site for the Cumberland with more screens but that never happened. And if that one closes, well then we’re really in trouble in terms of the type of cinema that would show these kinds of films. Unless they turn the Canada Square in to an exclusive art/foreign/indie type of theatre. I haven’t seen as many articles about a theatre closing since the Uptown and Eglinton closing years ago
With all the press this place has gotten since announcing it’s closing….every major amd minor newspaper practically, maybe someone should come along and fix it up and re-open it. Obviously there IS a market out there for this type of cinema and seems like it’s going to be sorely missed by alot of people. I do think that Toronto needs a place like this to play the offbeat and obscure films that build by word of mouth and play for weeks and months. Maybe the outcry for this place will make Cineplex Entertainment realize that the Cumberland Four IS worth keeping open after all.
Thanks Jon, i’ve always wondered about that. I find it fascinating that Toronto seems to be one of the only cities in North America where all of the reserved sead roadshow films did not play right in the downtown core (such as Chicago, Detroit, etc…) but chose theatres far from the core such as the Glendale, Odeon Fairlawn, Capitol and of course the Eglinton. It obviously worked because each one of these theatres had many long runs with roadshow films, just interesting that they gambled with theatres so far away from downtown. In New York city for example they were all right around Times Square and in Chicago they were all in the Loop. Here there were so many roadshows in the late 60s they had to use theatres that never had them such as the Vaughan and the Odeon Danforth.
Jon, in those days, how did they decide what theatre was going to show Cinerama films? I mean that Cinerama moved from the University to the Eglinton to the Odeon Carlton and finally the Glendale. Some cities had all Cinerama films at one theatre in that city as we’ve seen on the wonderful Cinerama series here at Cinema Treasures. I’ve always wondered how and why it moved around so much here in Toronto.
I know! Why can’t these writers get their facts straight. It must be because both of them were named Carlton. Actually the original Odeon Carlton (1948-1974) was called the Odeon Toronto until about 1955/56 when it was changed to the Odeon Carlton. This complex opened in 1981 so there was a 6 or 7 yr period where there was NO theatre on this site. It’s not like it was continuous.
One of the last 3 original Cineplex theatres left. The other 2 are the Rainbow Market Square 6 in Toronto and the Encore Upper Canada Place in Burlington.
I once wrote to Famous Players and asked them if they had any plans to re-decorate the auditoriums. I always found the carpeting and especially the seats to be hidious colours and designs. Especially for that location within their head office. Remember when it opened, Cinema 1 was called La Reserve? I don’t think that lasted too long though. Wasn’t that screen capable for 70MM? It never looked wide enough to me to show that format. I remember that it opened around Christmas 1980 as well as the newly renovated Runnymede twin and the 3rd screen at the Westwood.
Yup, that’s the one. The cinema entrance was where the yellow awning is on Charles St.
The Victory theatre on Spadina already HAS a page here on Cinema Treasures.
I agree Jon. I’ve never really liked that theatre except for it’s lobby and it’s great location. Other then that, I’ve never really liked any of the 4 cinemas themselves. Considering it was built in to what was then Famous Players head office building, I would have expected so much more.
Yes, it was renovated in 1988 and the screens were re-designed so that you entered each cinema from the rear instead of the original layout from the front beside each screen. It was most distracting because every time someone entered during the movie or went out to the lobby, you tended to look at them coming and going. They also re-designed the layout of the individual theatres to enlarge the lobby to include a larger cafe area. So on May 6 1988 it re-opened with 9 screens instead of 10. The ads said “Return of the Elegant Theatre” and “North America’s Premiere Arthouse”
What a shame!!!!!
This theatre is already listed in here under AMC Loews Orpheum 7.
Yes the proper name for this theatre was the Odeon.
Yes, that’s the one. The entrance for the cinema was at the east end of the building on Charles St. and the screen would have been on the west side facing Yonge St.
Well from the Google satellite shot at the NE corner, it looks like the old building is still there. I’ll have to drive by one of these days and see.
Nope. Not Cinecity. It was a former Post Office, right on the NE corner of Yonge & Charles.
The first dealership on that site after demolishing that lovely theatre was called Glendale Ford. As far as I know, the Glendale still did good business back then so why Famous Players wanted to sell to a car dearler is beyond me. The nearby Odeon Fairlawn lasted to 1985 so I’m sure the Glendale could have lasted at least until the end of the 70s if not longer.
The Glendale was actually demolished in 1975, not 1973. The last film I saw there was “The Godfather Part 2” which was a Christmas release in 1974 and stayed at the Glendale until spring 1975.
That was my first thought when I heard about this. What’s going to happen in Chicago. Especially with the Webster Place 11 and the City North 14.
What a fabulous photo CW. So nice to see it with “2001” showing!
The theatre on the north side of Danforth, just east of Pape was this one, the Palace. An office building now occupies the site.
A sad day indeed. The Century should have been restored years ago. Hamilton has lost the Tivoli, Capitol, Palace and now the Century and any one of them could have been and should have been fully restored like so many other old movie palaces and used for concerts, plays, Broadway shows etc. Such a shame.
Happy New Year! My very favourite place to visit, several times daily! All the Best…
Maybe Cineplex Entertainment should seriously consider building a brand new state of the art “art” house to replace the Carlton. After all, Toronto is supposed to be one of the most serious film going cities in the country. Otherwise we need something similar to the Angelika Film centre in the states or similar to a Landmark theatre which shows the same kinds of films that the Carlton did. I remember many years ago Alliance cinemas was looking for a replacement site for the Cumberland with more screens but that never happened. And if that one closes, well then we’re really in trouble in terms of the type of cinema that would show these kinds of films. Unless they turn the Canada Square in to an exclusive art/foreign/indie type of theatre. I haven’t seen as many articles about a theatre closing since the Uptown and Eglinton closing years ago
With all the press this place has gotten since announcing it’s closing….every major amd minor newspaper practically, maybe someone should come along and fix it up and re-open it. Obviously there IS a market out there for this type of cinema and seems like it’s going to be sorely missed by alot of people. I do think that Toronto needs a place like this to play the offbeat and obscure films that build by word of mouth and play for weeks and months. Maybe the outcry for this place will make Cineplex Entertainment realize that the Cumberland Four IS worth keeping open after all.
Thanks Jon, i’ve always wondered about that. I find it fascinating that Toronto seems to be one of the only cities in North America where all of the reserved sead roadshow films did not play right in the downtown core (such as Chicago, Detroit, etc…) but chose theatres far from the core such as the Glendale, Odeon Fairlawn, Capitol and of course the Eglinton. It obviously worked because each one of these theatres had many long runs with roadshow films, just interesting that they gambled with theatres so far away from downtown. In New York city for example they were all right around Times Square and in Chicago they were all in the Loop. Here there were so many roadshows in the late 60s they had to use theatres that never had them such as the Vaughan and the Odeon Danforth.
Jon, in those days, how did they decide what theatre was going to show Cinerama films? I mean that Cinerama moved from the University to the Eglinton to the Odeon Carlton and finally the Glendale. Some cities had all Cinerama films at one theatre in that city as we’ve seen on the wonderful Cinerama series here at Cinema Treasures. I’ve always wondered how and why it moved around so much here in Toronto.
I know! Why can’t these writers get their facts straight. It must be because both of them were named Carlton. Actually the original Odeon Carlton (1948-1974) was called the Odeon Toronto until about 1955/56 when it was changed to the Odeon Carlton. This complex opened in 1981 so there was a 6 or 7 yr period where there was NO theatre on this site. It’s not like it was continuous.
One of the last 3 original Cineplex theatres left. The other 2 are the Rainbow Market Square 6 in Toronto and the Encore Upper Canada Place in Burlington.
Yes I know CW, that’s why I love this site so much. There are a LOT of us out there!