In 1990 I worked at the Vogue Theater. The manager and I would sit around and talk about old movies while repairing the floor or rummaging in the storage room for marquee letters before the theater opened for the day. Who knew that room was a former Musso’s speakeasy? This is when I had first moved to Hollywood and was in such awe of the biz. The theater was screening ‘Pretty Woman’. I remember thinking it was so cool that the exterior of the Vogue could be seen in the movie. I went behind the theater, looked up at the fleabag hotel where Richard Gere pulled down the fire escape to rescue Julia Roberts from a life of prostitution, and smiled. As an 18-year-old fresh from the midwest, it was magical to see these locations in person.
After a screening of ‘Gremlins 2’ a customer approached the assistant manager to complain that it wasn’t shown in 70mm as advertised. The assistant manager explained that the print was indeed 70mm and this guy yelled that he worked for Warner Bros. and he was going to report the theater. Bizarre.
Such Hollywood luminaries as ‘Welcome Back Kotter’s’ Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs — thanks IMDB), Crispen Glover, Eddie Deezen and Robert Townsend would come down from their lofty perch to see movies with the great unwashed, too. OK, in 1990 Townsend was a still pretty big. A still-closeted George Takei tried to use a coupon clipped from the newspaper to buy some candy from the concession counter. I told him the theater didn’t accept coupons. In that booming baritone stage voice he told me he couldn’t believe he had to pay full movie retail for a Butterfinger. Andrew “Dice” Clay came in to catch ‘Ford Fairlane’ with a regular audience. He wore a garish leather jacket, natch.
I bartered with the waitstaff from Musso’s: movie admissions for flannel cakes. I miss that job.
In 1990 I worked at the Vogue Theater. The manager and I would sit around and talk about old movies while repairing the floor or rummaging in the storage room for marquee letters before the theater opened for the day. Who knew that room was a former Musso’s speakeasy? This is when I had first moved to Hollywood and was in such awe of the biz. The theater was screening ‘Pretty Woman’. I remember thinking it was so cool that the exterior of the Vogue could be seen in the movie. I went behind the theater, looked up at the fleabag hotel where Richard Gere pulled down the fire escape to rescue Julia Roberts from a life of prostitution, and smiled. As an 18-year-old fresh from the midwest, it was magical to see these locations in person.
After a screening of ‘Gremlins 2’ a customer approached the assistant manager to complain that it wasn’t shown in 70mm as advertised. The assistant manager explained that the print was indeed 70mm and this guy yelled that he worked for Warner Bros. and he was going to report the theater. Bizarre.
Such Hollywood luminaries as ‘Welcome Back Kotter’s’ Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs — thanks IMDB), Crispen Glover, Eddie Deezen and Robert Townsend would come down from their lofty perch to see movies with the great unwashed, too. OK, in 1990 Townsend was a still pretty big. A still-closeted George Takei tried to use a coupon clipped from the newspaper to buy some candy from the concession counter. I told him the theater didn’t accept coupons. In that booming baritone stage voice he told me he couldn’t believe he had to pay full movie retail for a Butterfinger. Andrew “Dice” Clay came in to catch ‘Ford Fairlane’ with a regular audience. He wore a garish leather jacket, natch.
I bartered with the waitstaff from Musso’s: movie admissions for flannel cakes. I miss that job.