Eglinton Theatre

I've heard this morning that the Eglinton and Uptown Theatres will be closed because they don't have wheelchair access.

I'm disgusted.

I can't believe that the Eglinton and the Uptown will be closed...I don't know who to be angrier at...Famous Players or the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

A tragedy of immense importance. And Toronto thinks its world class- Help us save the Eglinton!

The Eglinton Theatre Is Still Open, But Its Going To Close Its Doors In April Or May 2002. A Group Of Us In Toronto Is Going To Try To Save The Eglinton Theatre Before It Closes Its Doors Forever. For More Info On How To Help Save The Eglington Theatre Just E-Mail Me @ chadirish@hotmail.com

HELP SAVE THE EGLINTON THEATRE !!! Please Add Your Signature Here --> http://www.petitiononline.com/503244/petition.html <-- To Help Save The Eglinton & Add Your Comments. Thanks. :-)

I saw some picketers with "Save the Eglinton" signs in front of the theatre today. Also, some store fronts were advertising a community rally/meeting tomorrow night (Monday, Feb. 18) at 7:30pm. Anyone have any more info on this?

I knew the builder personally, and I am certain he would be pleased and proud of the flattering comments made in the petition signature and in the comments sections.

The Eglinton Theatre Now Has A Web Site Just Click Here To Enter ---> http://www.EglintonTheatre.com You can find info all everything on how to save the Eglinton Theatre in Toronto.

Hello everyone !!! There is a new store that has opened on the internet just for you all that want to help out in saving the Eglinton Theatre In Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Please visit this site -> http://www.cafepress.com/eglinton <-[ Click Here ]- $5.00 of every sale will go to help save the Eglinton Theatre. Thanks to everyone for there support.

Hey everyone, If you would like to help out the "Save The Eglinton" Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, then please go visit this web site - http://www.cafepress.com/theeglinton - $5.00 of every sale will go to the "Save The Eglinton" Thanks for your help.

Designed by Kaplan and Sprachman, opened 1936, a beautifully preserved Art Deco movie palace closed in 2003 and being remodeled. Although the new tenant will restore the marquee and facade, the interior will be retrofitted. The theatre will reopen as a rental hall for special events and renamed the Eglinton Grand.
To read an update, go to:
http://www.stet.woodengems.com/STETpress/torontoStar/20030806_0100.html

New website for the Eglinton Grand (formerly the Eglinton Theatre and no longer functioning as a cinema).

http://www.eglintongrand.com/home.html

The Eglinton ran 3-strip Cinerama (Cinemiracle WINDJAMMER, HOLIDAY IN SPAIN and Cinerama) from december 1960 to 1963. http://cinerama.topcities.com/cteglintontheatre.htm

Loved this theatre. Unfortunately the last movie I saw there was Jeepers Creepers. But it was kinda nice that my friend and I had the whole theatre to ourselves. Beautiful theatre.

This is a recent photo of the Eglinton Theater.

The 3-strip Cinerama films shown at the Eglinton were projected onto a large, but only very slightly curved, Cinemiracle screen. The only thing Cinerama about the Eglinton was the Cinerama logo that appeared in newspaper ads for How the West Was Won and Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Other than this minor beef, the theatre was one of Toronto's best.

I managed this theatre from April 1998 to April 1999. I was rummaging through the filing cabinet one day and found a scrap book from the opening. There was a full page add with a picture of the theatre and around it the names and logos of all the companies that helped build it.

The first movie was the King of Bulesque and in the opening night picture you can see the line up head west around the corner to where the Scotia Bank is now.
There was no concession when it opened, and the area by the office where the fire place is was a smoking area. The room behind the screen had stairs to two wings, a womans and a mens dressing room. Lockers behind the screen had some old uniforms that no one ever took or moved. They were a part of the place. When it opened there was an orchestra pit infront of the screen, you could get to in after it was covered up by crawling through the duct work.

I had the pleasure of being the manager during the movie shoot for Gene Wilder's Murder in a Small Town. The theatre was filled with people in 30's cloths watching the last 2 minutes of Angels with Dirty faces (which I got to do the projection for). On the street they had old cars and the fronts of the buildings on both sides of Eglinton were dressed up to look like stores from the 30's, it was a trip to the past. If you ever watch the movie the first 2 minutes of the film were shot at the Eglinton. It took 12 hours to set up, shoot and tear down for thoes 2 minutes. It was a lot of fun.

The Theatre showed Titanic for it's full run including the date the Titanic actually sank.

The Eglinton had handicapped access via the back doors, but I guess that was not good enough. It probably could have been grandfathered if Famous Players had of taken up the fight, but take it from someone who was there 3 years before the closing, the Eglliton's fate was sealed as soon as the Silver City and Yonge and Eglinton went up and the final nail was Famous Players purchase of Canada Square.

Oddly enough when it was built the Eglinton was not a first run theatre it was a nieghbourhood theatre that took in films after theatres like the University and the Uptown were done with them. It became a first run theatre when the twins and multies with their smaller audtioriums were built.

I had the re release of The Wizard of Oz in 1998. I watched it on my own one late night and you could almost feel the ghosts of the past stop by to see it again.

It was called the Jewel of Famous Players at one time.

The Eglinton showed a lot of Reserved seat Roadshows during the 60s including, Beckett, Doctor Dolittle,Finian's Rainbow, Hello Dolly! and of course the record breaking 144 week run of "The Sound of Music" from March 10, 1965 to December of 1967.

Here is a 2007 photo.

Funny about the Hello Dolly movie. In the back behind the screen there were dressing rooms for the staff (not the modern ones but the ones used in the 30's and 40's. In a dusty pile in one of these rooms was a stack of ticket stubs from Hello Dolly. I took a few for myself and left the rest for the sake of history. Probably gone now.

Have a look at a tribute to the Eglinton Theatre I recently wrote, including an ad for the opening night!

Another photo of the Eglinton can be seen here.

According to fromscripttodvd.com, The Sound Of Music ran 146 weeks.

This is a 2008 close-up view.

Here is a recent view of the Eglinton at night.

A nice close-up photo is here.

Eglinton Grand at night

Still closed...

...but the Kingsway Theatre lives again...

www.kingswaymovies.com

A favourite of mine when I worked as a projectionist and also as a movie-goer. The Eglinton's magnificent auditorium is somewhat similar to the Zigfeld in New York (where most of NYC's world premieres occur). Massive screen, and the best THX installation in the city by far.

Before the THX work was done, the booth had the most unique machines in the city - Bauer U2's. Big old German workhorse 35/70mm projectors that put a picture on the screen and nailed it there. I forget what bulbs they were running (4.5kW @ 150A, IIRC), but the gates needed to be water-cooled, not unlike a drive-in! The few times I worked there it was after the Bauers had gone and, IIRC, were replaced by a pair of 35/70mm Simplex XLs running 6000' reels.

Here are two 1982 photos which appear to be the Eglinton. If that's the case, Cine Colon should be an aka.
http://tinyurl.com/oxh9f2
http://tinyurl.com/qko57h

That's not the Eglington.

OK, thanks. Any idea what that was before it showed Spanish films?

Fortunately you don't make mistakes with theater photos. LOL

No, I've been to the Eglington but we will have to wait for a Canadian to identify this Colon theater.

Doesn't look anything like the Eglinton! And it's EGLINTON, not EglinGton....it may be the current Royal cinema down on College st...it used to be the Pylon and I think for a brief time was the Colon showing Spanish films.

That is the Royal Cinema
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/889/