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Memories

Monday / November 2, 2009

Memories
Those delightfully goofy William Castle promotional gimmicks

posted by CWalczak at 7:45am

SEATTLE, WA — A recent article in the online Seattle P-I notes that while the internet has been used to promote the success of low budget films such as “Paranormal Activity” and the “The Blair Witch Project,” those of us “of a certain age” fondly recall how schlockmeister William Castle used memorable “promotional innovations” as effectively to create buzz around movies such as “House on Haunted Hill” and “The Tingler”. Many will recall the theaters - many, if not most, themselves now just memories - where we experienced “Emergo,” “Percepto,” and “Illusion-0”

William Castle didn’t just produce scary movies, he PRODUCED scary movies. To him, filming the movie was one thing, but marketing it was quite another. His promotional innovations (or “gimmicks” for you less romantic souls) earned him the title “The Schlockmeister” and he reveled in his reputation. Like a carnie barker, Castle would appear in a filmed segment before the start of each of his movies to hype the special “icing” associated with that particular film.

Read the whole article at Seattle Pi.

6 comments (125 views)

Friday / October 30, 2009

Memories
Happy 50th, "Sleeping Beauty"

posted by Michael Coate at 8:11am

Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”
50th Anniversary — The Original Engagements

Commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Walt Disney’s animated film production of “Sleeping Beauty,” I’ve put together a list of the film’s original roadshow* bookings. These were the first cinemas anywhere to play the film and, for the most part, the only ones to showcase the film in 70mm and stereophonic sound. This article is a celebration of the cinemas in which the film played as much as it is a celebration of the classic film.

(*Officially, “Sleeping Beauty” was not a roadshow release since screenings were continuous and seats were not reserved. However, many moviegoers and historians tend to remember the film as a roadshow because the film was booked initially as a 70mm exclusive in roadshow markets.)

The original “Sleeping Beauty” presentations included the CinemaScope short film “Grand Canyon.”

21 comments (283 views)

Friday / October 23, 2009

Memories
Remembering Cinerama (Part 43: New Haven)

posted by Michael Coate at 8:00am

REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 43: New Haven

The following is Part Forty-Three in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable screenings took place.

Part 1: New York City
Part 2: Chicago
Part 3: San Francisco
Part 4: Houston
Part 5: Washington, DC
Part 6: Los Angeles
Part 7: Atlanta
Part 8: San Diego
Part 9: Dallas
Part 10: Oklahoma City
Part 11: Syracuse
Part 12: Toronto
Part 13: Columbus
Part 14: Montreal
Part 15: Northern New Jersey
Part 16: Charlotte
Part 17: Vancouver
Part 18: Salt Lake City
Part 19: Boston
Part 20: Philadelphia
Part 21: Fresno
Part 22: Detroit
Part 23: Minneapolis
Part 24: Albuquerque
Part 25: El Paso
Part 26: Des Moines
Part 27: Miami
Part 28: Orange County
Part 29: Pittsburgh
Part 30: Baltimore
Part 31: Long Island
Part 32: Kansas City
Part 33: Milwaukee
Part 34: Nanuet/Rockland County
Part 35: Denver
Part 36: Worcester
Part 37: Toledo
Part 38: St. Louis
Part 39: Tampa
Part 40: Calgary
Part 41: Hartford
Part 42: Albany

And now...Part 43: Cinerama Presentations in New Haven, Connecticut!

6 comments (160 views)

Friday / October 9, 2009

Memories
Remembering Cinerama (Part 42: Albany)

posted by Michael Coate at 8:14am

REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 42: Albany

The following is Part Forty-Two in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable screenings took place.

And now...Part 42: Cinerama Presentations in Albany, New York!

2 comments (142 views)

Tuesday / September 29, 2009

Memories
Remembering the lost theaters of Boise

posted by CWalczak at 7:45am

BOISE, ID — In a a two-part article recently published in Sunday editions of Idaho Statesman, area historian Arthur Hart writes about the movie theaters of Boise, Idaho. Many, if not most, are long gone, some even from memory. One, however, the Egyptian, still survives.

They didn’t have multiplex movie theaters in Boise a century ago, but Boiseans had a range of choices, all of them Downtown.

In 1910 you also could choose the entertainment offered by the Dime, the Nickelodeon, or the Bijou. In a sequence that was repeated often with those pioneer theaters, the Bijou, at 921 Main, became the Woods in 1912 and the Rex in 1914. In its prime, the Bijou offered six movies a week. In January 1911, these included two comedies, “Tag Day at Silver Gulch” and “The Gardener’s Ladder,” and two dramas, “The Englishman’s Honor” and “Washed Ashore.” A film described in the ad as “industrial” was titled “Wood Carving at Brienz” and “The Home of the Seal” was listed as “educational."

Read the articles here:
Part I
Part II

2 comments (98 views)

Tuesday / September 22, 2009

Memories
"Grandfather" of Salt Lake City film exhibition dies at 77

posted by CWalczak at 7:45am

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Regarded as Salt Lake’s champion of classic Hollywood films and at one time the operator of a number of the city’s theaters, Arthur Charles Proctor has passed. He is remembered in this article from the Deseret News.

"Art was the city’s single greatest influence for the preservation of classic movies from what we now call the Golden Age — the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s,” said Chris Hicks, former Deseret News movie critic and entertainment editor.

“Unlike most film buffs, he didn’t just talk about old movies — he showed them on the big screen in his theaters week after week for years. Then, when VHS movies came on the scene, Art opened a video store and rented those same golden oldies. I’m sure he had the largest collection of classic films in the state, and he loved to share them. His contribution to the local movie scene really can’t be measured."

0 comments (60 views)

Monday / September 21, 2009

Memories
Remembering Cinerama (Part 41: Hartford)

posted by Michael Coate at 8:00am

REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 41: Hartford

The following is Part Forty-One in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable screenings took place.

And now...Part 41: Cinerama Presentations in Hartford, Connecticut!

4 comments (178 views)

Thursday / September 17, 2009

Memories
Reconsidering Hollywood's greatest year: 1939 vs. 1959

posted by CWalczak at 7:45am

Many consider 1939 to be the Hollywood’s finest year in terms of classic film production, the year that gave us “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” among others. But in this article from the Seattle Times, the year 1959, during which “Ben-Hur,” “North by Northwest,” “Some Like It Hot,” were all released, also was a very comparably significant year in film history.

But my favorite movie year is 1959, the 12-month period when Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, Otto Preminger, Jimmy Stewart and William Wyler all hit career peaks. Simultaneously, art houses were flooded with some of the best work from Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray and Alain Resnais.

It was a year that seemed to sum up many careers (several veteran filmmakers directed their last pictures), while anticipating the innovations and disruptions of the 1960s.

Read the full story in the Seattle Times.

17 comments (305 views)

Tuesday / September 15, 2009

Memories
Fragment of famed Ziegfeld Theater shows up on E. 80th Street

posted by CWalczak at 7:45am

NEW YORK, NY The figure of a goddess carved in limestone that is alleged to be from the front of the former Ziegfeld Theater in NYC has been noted in a yard in front of a building on E. 80th Street in NYC according to this story.

How did it come to be here? Apparently, 52 East 80th was once owned by Jerry Hammer, a theatrical producer. In the 1960s, he was riding past the Ziegfeld in a car with developer Zachary Fisher, who mentioned he was tearing it down. Hammer jokingly asked if he could have one of the limestone heads. Four months later, he heard noises outside of his Upper East Side home - it was a truck lowering the head by crane into his front yard. Hammer moved out of the place in 1998 but left the head behind.

Read the full story in the Huffington Post.

1 comments (153 views)

Wednesday / September 9, 2009

Memories
Remembering Cinerama (Part 40: Calgary)

posted by Michael Coate at 7:43am

REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 40: Calgary

The following is Part Forty in a series of retrospectives on Cinerama, the legendary motion picture process that kicked off the widescreen revolution. The series focuses on providing a market-by-market historical record of when and where Cinerama and its multi-panel clones were exhibited. The easy-to-reference articles serve to provide nostalgia to those who experienced the Cinerama presentations when they were new and to highlight the movie palaces in which the memorable screenings took place.