Comments from HowardBHaas

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HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Odeon Luxe Holloway on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:40 am

My friend Ken Roe, who is the volunteer Moderator of this website, and I visited the restored foyer and upstairs areas (except for the auditoriums) last month of this theater, and we’ve posted photos. Fantastic refurbishment, Odeon!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Fulham Road Picturehouse on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:37 am

My friend Ken Roe, who is the volunteer Moderator of this website, and I visited the restored foyer last month of this theater, and we’ve posted photos of the foyer and the restored facade. Great job, Picturehouse!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Regent Street Cinema on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:33 am

To continue from my 2017 post, I’ve visited this theater each year from its 2015 reopening thru 2019, when I had to pause due to the Pandemic my visits to London from Philadelphia. In 2018, I enjoyed a sold out local premiere of an Australian film “Breadth” which was accompanied by a wine reception, and in 2019, “That’ll be the Day” (1973) with a Q & A with the film writer & producer. Last month, I enjoyed “Downton Abbey: A New Era” here and I posted photos of the beautiful auditorium and marvelous hand drawn staffer posters for the movie and for “Top Gun: Maverick” The history panels showcasing the theater’s most remarkable history are no longer in the concession foyer, but I hope they return.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Curzon Mayfair on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:26 am

Ian, your 3rd photo link above goes to surfers.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Curzon Mayfair on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:24 am

After a Pandemic pause, I revisited London last month & enjoyed a movie, “Benediction” at this theater, in the main screen. I posted photos. The auditorium is gorgeous. The lobby has a remarkable piece of art which I included in my photos.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Prince Charles Cinema on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:22 am

After a Pandemic pause, I revisited London last month & enjoyed 2 movies at the Prince Charles, in the main theater, a 35mm print of “Badlands” (1973) and “The Lighthouse” (2019). I really enjoy this theater and the immaculate presentations with proper use of the curtain, masking, projection, and surround sound. What happened to the vertical sign? Online, it seems to have been there in the last year, but now gone. Why?

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:18 am

Because of the huge seating capacity of the auditorium, when I visit London, from Philadelphia, I’ve always been more awestruck by this movie theater than any other in London. Last month, after a Pandemic pause for visiting London, I was finally able to see a movie in the redone auditorium. I had seen “Top Gun: Maverick” at the Empire Haymarket, but the movie is worthwhile enough to see a 2nd time, so I saw it in Dolby Vision & Atmos here. Unfortunately, the curtain was not used before or after the film. I posted photos of the exterior, the auditorium, and a closeup of the Circle doors with movie titles that premiered here. I loved that the doors listed the titles. The main stairs to the Circle has screens with images from the history of this theater, another nice touch. Even though the auditorium no longer has the huge seating capacity, the Circle (balcony) still has enough seats to keep me awestruck. Movie theaters should not be only boutique. We should be able to enjoy a movie with a crowd!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Empire Cinemas - London Haymarket on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:11 am

This remains one of my favorite movie theaters to visit when I visit London (from Philadelphia) as I did last month, after a Pandemic pause for me since 2019. Renovations mentioned above have not taken place yet. I posted photos of the main upstairs auditorium and the foyer, both of which I love since they are ornate. I saw “Top Gun: Maverick” which looked great on the huge screen and sounded great with 7.1 surround sound.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about My 5-28-22 photo, main auditorium on Jun 8, 2022 at 5:43 am

before Top Gun Maverick, scope movie

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about My 5-28-22 photo, closeup giant screen, main auditorium on Jun 8, 2022 at 5:42 am

before Top Gun Maverick, scope movie

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about 5-19-22 on Jun 7, 2022 at 3:51 am

actually 5-20-22 photo

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Boyd Theatre on Apr 17, 2022 at 4:23 pm

The Trans-Lux became Eric’s Place

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Union County Performing Arts Center on Mar 11, 2022 at 5:01 am

8 PM tonight, 35mm directed by the late Peter Bogdanovich “The Last Picture Show” (1971) $8 includes free popcorn with pipe organ at 7:30 PM by Eric Fahner before the movie.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Regal UA Main Street 6 on Mar 6, 2022 at 11:13 am

There are other raked, non stadium seated multiplexes in the Philly area that were converted to recliners, and became very popular with audiences.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Market Street Cinema on Feb 20, 2022 at 7:31 pm

Michael, thanks, I’ve heard of the Philly policy. I’ve been to El Capitan, but I didn’t remember its prior names.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Market Street Cinema on Feb 20, 2022 at 4:30 pm

Michael, re Dirty Harry, Philadelphia’s Fox listing with MW. What’s MW? Also was Hollywood Loews the one at 6764 Hollywood Blvd?

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about PFS East on Feb 8, 2022 at 2:15 pm

After reopening Sept 10, 2021 from the March 2020 Covid shutdown, the Ritz East closed again October 10, 2021, its fate uncertain!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about 7-27-61 Philadelphia Inquirer ad on Feb 6, 2022 at 7:12 am

the original run of A Raisin in the Sun.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Ritz Theatre Company on Feb 4, 2022 at 9:56 am

Last week, I had a wonderful visit to the Ritz with Bruce Curless, the founder and director of the theater company that operates it. I added 26 photos. Some interesting tidbits of history:

The ticket booth’s lower panel was covered with aluminum before they tookover but inside the theater is seen in the original marble or stone.

The main, concession lobby, now has to its far left an entry to another room but originally ended with decoration like on the right side. The room that is now entered has a framed carpet that was the original carpet, and was found in a closet at the auditorium’s rear that was turned into a handicapped accessible bathroom.

Most of the light fixtures are not original to the theater except the ticket lobby’s ceiling’s fixtures.(the ticket lobby being where the ticket booth backs up into) In the auditorium, there are 4 chandeliers previously at a church and the central chandelier is from a lighting company.

When they tookover, the movie screen & carbon arc projectors were still there. They tried films with vaudeville but too few attended. The screen is gone. Someone was allowed to take the projectors.

There was a balcony to the left and right of the projection booth. To the left is now the Green Room. The right is also no longer used as a balcony.

The auditorium’s original proscenium arch is present, but often hidden by drapery for shows.

Outside, at the auditorium’s rear is a walled up section that Bruce says was for sound speakers when talkies arrived, but later walled up as speakers became smaller.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Regal UA King of Prussia on Jan 31, 2022 at 2:39 pm

I’ve seen a movie in the RPX there. It is a much larger screen. Not matted for ‘scope films. Seats are nicer. I believe sound is better. The auditorium looks & functions much differently than the regular auditoriums.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about 1-26-22 on Jan 28, 2022 at 12:26 pm

That is the original 1927 marquee.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about 1-26-22 on Jan 28, 2022 at 12:26 pm

That is the original 1927 marquee.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Ritz 5 Theatres on Jan 28, 2022 at 10:03 am

The Philadelphia Inquirer in print today has the obit of the sculptor of the art seen on the theater facade in a 2017 photo that I posted.

Headlines William P. Daley, celebrated ceramic artist and longtime professor, dies at 96 Former Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski called his work “both humble because of their reddish, raw-clay color and regal because of their carefully calculated symmetries.”

NOT ALL OF THE ARTICLE, BUT MUCH- William P. Daley, 96, an internationally celebrated ceramic artist and art professor, died Sunday, Jan. 16, of heart failure at his home in Elkins Park.

Mr. Daley was part of what is known as the American studio craft movement, a shift that took root after World War II during which artists rejected mass production of both crafts and art and combined the two. Mr. Daley worked most often in clay — he called it mud — and many of his pieces, true to the movement, are equally functional and inspiring.

As an example, Mr. Daley noted in a 2010 Inquirer video that a cistern he created not only collected water but was specifically designed to convey “the idea that rain is a sacred event.”

“Craft is absolutely vital to making art,” Mr. Daley said in the video. “But if it’s only craft, it can’t be art. … All art has to be useful either psychically, intellectually, or emotionally.” In addition to his many signature pieces of large unglazed stoneware vessels, Mr. Daley created screens, walls, fountains, and other objects. His work is shown in museums in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, London, the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and elsewhere.

His large-scale architecture can be seen, among other places, in Philadelphia at Landmark’s Ritz Five movie theater on Dock Street, and Germantown Friends School on West Coulter Street; and in West Chester at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on West Pleasant Grove Road.

Elisabeth Agro, curator of American modern and contemporary crafts and decorative arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said Mr. Daley “profoundly influenced many in the field of American craft” and “engaged in deep contemplation of mankind’s ‘inner spiritual grace.’”

Ruth Fine, former curator of special projects in modern art at Washington’s National Gallery of Art, said Mr. Daley was of “immense importance in [Philadelphia’s] attention to the craft-based arts.”

Mr. Daley also taught in the crafts and industrial design departments at Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts, from 1957 to 1990, and dozens of his students went on to distinguish themselves in ceramics, glass, furniture, and design.

William R. Valerio, the director and CEO of Philadelphia’s Woodmere Art Museum, called Mr. Daley “a generous teacher who made an impact on the thinking of generations of artists.”

Mr. Daley held dozens of exhibitions, received many awards for both his art and teaching — including the 1991 College Art Association of America Distinguished Teaching of Art Award — and wrote for his own website. He and Helen Drutt were founders of the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen, and the Helen Drutt Gallery in Philadelphia was his primary dealer.

He sometimes even encouraged those viewing his work to handle the pieces to better embrace their emotional impact. “All art is that connection between one human being and another, a kind of communication,” he said in 2010.

In 2009, Inquirer art critic Edward J. Sozanski wrote that “the physical presence of [Mr. Daley’s] work is forceful and inescapable” and that “one is able to appreciate both the formal ingenuity and seductiveness of the compositions and the perceptual dualities they generate.”

Mr. Daley was born March 7, 1925, in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, was shot down on his first mission as a tail gunner, and spent a year as a prisoner of war in Turkey and Germany before being liberated.

Using the GI Bill, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art education from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1950 and two years later earned a master’s degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about Regal UA King of Prussia on Jan 28, 2022 at 5:56 am

I have right up there in the Intro that Aud 12 is the RPX. I fully expect it is still being used as RPX.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas commented about 1-27-22 Ticket Lobby on Jan 28, 2022 at 5:22 am

The ceiling light fixtures are original. Many of the theater’s other light fixtures are not original to this theater, but these are.