Clairidge Cinemas

Over the years my family & I saw “Windjammer,” “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” and “How the West Was Won” at the Clairidge. It was always a special treat. For some reason I also went there on school trips to see “My Fair Lady” and a reissue of “Gone With the Wind.”

Bad management…thankfully the artist is playing at rockaway, in which the lights fade during the amc “Coke/Magic Chairs” intro.

Kinnelon is an art cinema when they have nothing else to show, for example, they once showed such indie fair as Puss in Boots and New Years Eve. The Clairidge is the most reliable art theatre, Clearview had previously shown these films in Washington Township and Tenafly (and sometimes still do), Edgewater Multiplex gets a few commercial indie films (they are often showing date and date with the Clairidge on more commercial indies as they platform out to larger venues in the following weeks). With that said, this theater still has a problem: distorted projection from poorly placed port windows (things boothless digital might be able to fix – but I wouldn’t be shocked if Clearview doesn’t bother to correct these issues). Every time I see I’m in Theater #4 I think “oh man, I wish this film was playing somewhere else so I can see it projected correctly”. The kicker (as with other Clearviews with problems like this) is that they’ve renovated the theatre – this one closed for a few weeks while they redid the concession stand, restrooms and put in very comfortable new seats) but never bothered to correct the poor presentation. Kinnelon, thankfully used the better of the two theaters for art product – the 8-plex up the hill has the worst projection of any venue I’ve seen (along with poor customer service and clueless management) and last year I saw 280 films in theaters – so I kind of do know what I’m talking about there. (They of coarse treat you like an idiot and tell you “the film was sent to us that way” NO – you, sir/ma’m are a moron and long with whomever designed the layout of the booth).

Besides the Clairidge and the Kinnelon “Arts” cinema, are there any other theaters in North Jersey that show “indie” films on a regular basis?

hahahaha….they don’t do that at amc in rockaway until everyone leaves the theater and the film is over.

I’ve loved this theater for well over thirty years but lately I’ve been very disappointed by the way this place is run. Looked forward to seeing “Annymous” this week only to discover, after making the trip from Wayne that the film was cancelled due to projection “failure” and that the film was not being brought back the following week. Very frustrating as I only get the chance to make it into Montclair about once or twice a month. (I guess this was not a “high demand” film.)

The entry for New York architect Nathan Harris in the 1962 American Architects Directory of the AIA lists “Claridge Theatre & Off Bldg, Montclair, N.J, 22” among his works. The spelling of the theater’s name and the 1922 date don’t match the introduction above, but I’m sure it’s the same theater.

The book Montclair, by Royal F. and Elizabeth Shepard also mentions the Claridge Theatre opened in 1922. Another book, Another book, “Freedom’s child: The Life of a Confederate General’s Black Daughter,” by Carrie Allen McCray, gets the spelling right, and tells of attempts to integrate the Clairidge Theatre in the early 1920s.

Also note that this photo from the collection TC linked to in a comment back in 2006, which shows that the 1923 movie “White Tiger” with Priscilla Dean is listed on the marquee. The Clairidge Theatre was certainly open by 1923, and probably opened in 1922.

It’s amazing how many sources there are using the variant spelling Claridge for this theater, even though that 1923 photo shows that the spelling Clairidge was used on the marquee from the beginning. I found more than a dozen at Google Books, including the AIA Guide and some Motion Picture Almanacs, plus issues of Cue Magazine and New York Magazine, spelling it Claridge.

Trouble is that the AMC just not show as many “indie” films as the Clairidge at any one particular time.

The Clairidge does occasionally lack attention to details like this, and the way some of the theaters especially #4 has been constructed (very obnoxious keystoning more obvious in flat than scope). #6 used to be the worst, especially since the screen is on a slant providing odd slight-lines, They blocked off an exit and reduced seat out (for fire code) and they seemed to have corrected the majority of its issues. #4, an odd shaped auditorium needs to be upgraded to boothless digital so they can correct the keystoning issues. Another Clearview with unacceptably crappy projection that they didn’t think was necessary to fix in the past 13 years they’ve owned the place.

Went to the see the King’s Speech there on Xmas Day and they left the lights on in the theater during the entire film. Highly unusual and annoying.

Hey movies534 you hit that right! I remember when I was in jr. high school I had my projectionist “learners Permit” and that summer I took the state issued test in Boston everything from wireing up the rectifiers,fuses and the lamp house, set up the carbon rods lace up and go! Passed with flying colors. That fall in school with “what you did on your summer vacation” report was easy, it made for a great report explaining what we do in the booth; changeovers, curtain cue’s, changeover cues, aperture plates/scope lens, what can be shown in both(Pink Panther), sound issues. You get it… the good days. Earned my dues one night with (In Cold Blood)motor on one proj. broke did the entire film on one projector, 30 seconds or less getting the next reel up and running! If you are in the area could you e-mail me, would like local union info.

What was I thinking? I checked out the Joan Rivers movie today at this poor excuse for a theater. After being hosed for $11.00 to get in and spending $9.00 for soda/raisenettes I proceded to Aud.#5 when I sat down I thought the seat was broke because it goes to the floor and tilts back, after changing seats to find they were all like this I just kept in mine I wasn’t at the Dentist…the screen was dark until the movie started I guess that was better than Verizon commercials? When the film started we heard 30 seconds of blank leader sound before the image hit, and thank God for that BIG framer dial, half the picture was on the floor…heck why set the intermitent sprocket when any kid can spin the dial.(and those old neat pics of the place in better day’s are gone?)