How many people remember that 77 Sunset Strip opener with the door on the immediate left side of the theater being where Efram Zimabalist Jr would walk over to the driveway to Dino’s?
The Tiffany. I had the opportunity to be a non-union projectionist there for such events as the American Film Market, showing such mega-hits as “Rotweiller” in 3D. Many 3D films played here because of the near-flat projection onto the screen, something valuable for really good 3D. Doing weapons checks during the runs of Rocky Horror Picture Show – a cherished memory. Having to stop the film (a ragged mess after years of cinematic abuse) whenever the audience got a bit too High School with their antics, which should be noted as the income that allowed this place to stay afloat for quite some time. Yes, stars would occasionaly come by to view – and complain vociferously over what? to owner Tom Cooper. New prints some times did arrive, like a spanking brand new copy of the The Robe. But sometimes, something like that caused a ruckus, like the arrival of “Treasure of the Four Crowns” during said Film Market – put into the projector wrong (and not by this hand), it made producer/star Gene Quitano understandably apoplectic, instantly sending the first reel back to a befuddled lab, which could only return the film wondering what the…. I put this same first reel on after the fact (to an empty house but for Mr Quitano, so he would be sure this was an ok print after all) and, Voila! – perfect 3D! After many years of working with the mentally challenged, I was barely ready for this job. It was wonderful.
Owned by the same character that operated the Tiffany, I had the immense surprise of being the projectionist one Saturday evening when a privately owned copy (the owner’s) of a nitrate print trailer for “On the 20th Century” ran through the projector and burst into cadmium yellow flames. Imagine the thrill of an audience turning to see these flames in the booth. Imagine my thrill of being rushed to an emergency room and having a Hollywood hospital have to call the Denver Poison Control Center to find out how to treat inhalation of nitrate fumes (it turns to nitric acid in the lungs). So that’s what “safety film” means!
On a side note, the Tiffany was also used for 3D projection because of the direct line from booth to screen, something that is rare to find in most theaters that aim down to a screen.
Got here via a reply to a post re the Orson Welles in Cambridge and its previous name, the Esquire. But, in that quip by meself, I had noted that a relative theater, the Fine Arts, once got raided by the Boston Police when Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” played there – they not only confiscated the print, but allegedly burned the copy. Having finally seen the movie around 2000 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I can only imagine what propelled them to this ridiculous action. Sort of related story: The licensing commission also enforced a blue law one Sunday at the Ark/Boston Tea Party (1970?)during a show with Three Dog Night headlining (Earth Opera was on stage at the time when the violation was cited) – No Dancing on Sunday. Unbelievable, but true. Is it worse or better in Boston now? I wonder. Do they stil remove bar seats for this blue law menatality?
Take me back! All these facts – some people actually remember. Yes, the Esquire… saw Warhol’s “My Hustler” there as a mere teen. Yes, the Restaurant, serving in groups of four only. Does anyone have any takes on Odette Berry, the restaurant’s chef? I studied with her for a year – she was a Cordon Bleu chef and wrote an African cookbook for Time/Life – then did the Turtle Cafe in Inman Sq. and the something like For All Seasons on Beacon Hill. Recalling an empty space at 1001 Mass Ave (or thereabouts) with a full Red Grooms installation “Red Grooms' Department Store.” And as to the sound system at the Welles – it was done by Marshall Goldberg, who at the time was the sound engineer at the Ark/Tea Party on Landsdowne St., and thus brought that whole deal with Neil Young home for me, as he bought speakers from Goldberg also, as did MIT for their auditorium, even with Bose teaching there. Does anyone recall the sister theater to the Esquire – the Fine Arts over by Berkley School of Music? When Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” opened there in 1968 or ‘69, the Bosotn Police confiscated and burned the print!
There was a record shop attached to the Welles around 1970 too. A food coop functioned through the auspices of that locale that traveled from home to home to disperse the goods. Unbelievable in this day and age.
I always found someone willing to buy an Old Mole from me there when a new edition came from the press. Oh yeah, the smell of tear gas in Harvard Square….
The Kenmore Sq. Theater served up some late night weekend fun with a host of underground films in the late ‘60s – I was just a kid, but my trusty Brandeis jacket got me through the door into a wonderland that I am so grateful for — where can anyone possibly see such stuff as Bartel’s masterpiece “Secret Cinema”? The amazing list of films viewed goes on and on – anyone ever go? Anyone else see such as “Eclipse of the Sun Virgin”? I would give anything to see these again in a theater full of people supporting this type of filmmaking.
For many years in the ‘70s, this business was owned and operated by the same person that owned the very gay Nob Hill Cinema in San Francisco, a legendary character who made Variety front page with winning a counter-law suit while being sued by the union many a year ago. He was responsible for the careers of many adult film legends, gay and straight. The Vista was sold to Mike Thomas who owned the Strand in SF for cash, and a lot of it. This owner also owned the long-gone Paris gay theater and made John Holmes first film, which was gay, by the way. Also the legendary “Song of the Loon."
It can be witnessed in its former '70s 'glory’ in "The Back Row,” if you can find it.
The closure of the balcony was caused by the untimely death of a Monsignor from Quincy some time in the ‘70s, I do believe. Can’t imagine what state he was in when the body was discovered.
How many people remember that 77 Sunset Strip opener with the door on the immediate left side of the theater being where Efram Zimabalist Jr would walk over to the driveway to Dino’s?
The Tiffany. I had the opportunity to be a non-union projectionist there for such events as the American Film Market, showing such mega-hits as “Rotweiller” in 3D. Many 3D films played here because of the near-flat projection onto the screen, something valuable for really good 3D. Doing weapons checks during the runs of Rocky Horror Picture Show – a cherished memory. Having to stop the film (a ragged mess after years of cinematic abuse) whenever the audience got a bit too High School with their antics, which should be noted as the income that allowed this place to stay afloat for quite some time. Yes, stars would occasionaly come by to view – and complain vociferously over what? to owner Tom Cooper. New prints some times did arrive, like a spanking brand new copy of the The Robe. But sometimes, something like that caused a ruckus, like the arrival of “Treasure of the Four Crowns” during said Film Market – put into the projector wrong (and not by this hand), it made producer/star Gene Quitano understandably apoplectic, instantly sending the first reel back to a befuddled lab, which could only return the film wondering what the…. I put this same first reel on after the fact (to an empty house but for Mr Quitano, so he would be sure this was an ok print after all) and, Voila! – perfect 3D! After many years of working with the mentally challenged, I was barely ready for this job. It was wonderful.
Owned by the same character that operated the Tiffany, I had the immense surprise of being the projectionist one Saturday evening when a privately owned copy (the owner’s) of a nitrate print trailer for “On the 20th Century” ran through the projector and burst into cadmium yellow flames. Imagine the thrill of an audience turning to see these flames in the booth. Imagine my thrill of being rushed to an emergency room and having a Hollywood hospital have to call the Denver Poison Control Center to find out how to treat inhalation of nitrate fumes (it turns to nitric acid in the lungs). So that’s what “safety film” means!
On a side note, the Tiffany was also used for 3D projection because of the direct line from booth to screen, something that is rare to find in most theaters that aim down to a screen.
Got here via a reply to a post re the Orson Welles in Cambridge and its previous name, the Esquire. But, in that quip by meself, I had noted that a relative theater, the Fine Arts, once got raided by the Boston Police when Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” played there – they not only confiscated the print, but allegedly burned the copy. Having finally seen the movie around 2000 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I can only imagine what propelled them to this ridiculous action. Sort of related story: The licensing commission also enforced a blue law one Sunday at the Ark/Boston Tea Party (1970?)during a show with Three Dog Night headlining (Earth Opera was on stage at the time when the violation was cited) – No Dancing on Sunday. Unbelievable, but true. Is it worse or better in Boston now? I wonder. Do they stil remove bar seats for this blue law menatality?
Take me back! All these facts – some people actually remember. Yes, the Esquire… saw Warhol’s “My Hustler” there as a mere teen. Yes, the Restaurant, serving in groups of four only. Does anyone have any takes on Odette Berry, the restaurant’s chef? I studied with her for a year – she was a Cordon Bleu chef and wrote an African cookbook for Time/Life – then did the Turtle Cafe in Inman Sq. and the something like For All Seasons on Beacon Hill. Recalling an empty space at 1001 Mass Ave (or thereabouts) with a full Red Grooms installation “Red Grooms' Department Store.” And as to the sound system at the Welles – it was done by Marshall Goldberg, who at the time was the sound engineer at the Ark/Tea Party on Landsdowne St., and thus brought that whole deal with Neil Young home for me, as he bought speakers from Goldberg also, as did MIT for their auditorium, even with Bose teaching there. Does anyone recall the sister theater to the Esquire – the Fine Arts over by Berkley School of Music? When Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” opened there in 1968 or ‘69, the Bosotn Police confiscated and burned the print!
There was a record shop attached to the Welles around 1970 too. A food coop functioned through the auspices of that locale that traveled from home to home to disperse the goods. Unbelievable in this day and age.
I always found someone willing to buy an Old Mole from me there when a new edition came from the press. Oh yeah, the smell of tear gas in Harvard Square….
The Kenmore Sq. Theater served up some late night weekend fun with a host of underground films in the late ‘60s – I was just a kid, but my trusty Brandeis jacket got me through the door into a wonderland that I am so grateful for — where can anyone possibly see such stuff as Bartel’s masterpiece “Secret Cinema”? The amazing list of films viewed goes on and on – anyone ever go? Anyone else see such as “Eclipse of the Sun Virgin”? I would give anything to see these again in a theater full of people supporting this type of filmmaking.
For many years in the ‘70s, this business was owned and operated by the same person that owned the very gay Nob Hill Cinema in San Francisco, a legendary character who made Variety front page with winning a counter-law suit while being sued by the union many a year ago. He was responsible for the careers of many adult film legends, gay and straight. The Vista was sold to Mike Thomas who owned the Strand in SF for cash, and a lot of it. This owner also owned the long-gone Paris gay theater and made John Holmes first film, which was gay, by the way. Also the legendary “Song of the Loon."
It can be witnessed in its former '70s 'glory’ in "The Back Row,” if you can find it.
The closure of the balcony was caused by the untimely death of a Monsignor from Quincy some time in the ‘70s, I do believe. Can’t imagine what state he was in when the body was discovered.