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Kent Theatre Moving to Japan
posted by
KentTheatre
on
April 1, 2006 at 6:40 am
CEDAR SPRINGS, MI – The Kent Theatre has had a long 120 year history in Cedar Springs Michigan, but that is soon to change. The Cedar Spring Theatre Association announced tuesday that the Kent Theatre has been sold to the Japanese Investment Company IBPC OSAKA, located in Tokyo Japan. The company has long strives to improve U.S. and Japanese relations and feel this move is beneficial to both countries.
The sale of the Kent Theatre will be finalized April 20th 2006. The final movie to be show will be April 15th 2006 with the Dustin Hoffman Classic “Little Big Man” All resident attending will receive a free egg rolls in celebration of the final showing. (Limit one per paid admission)
After the sale the Kent Theatre, it will be disassembled and all pieces number and shipped to its new home in city of Osaka Japan. The Theatre will be lovingly reassembled in its new home and the residents are delighted with the prospects. The theatre will feature the American silent movies of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
Len Allington, President of the Cedar Springs Theatre Association was instrumental in the negotiation of the sale. Speaking from a phone in Osaka Japan , Len expressed how proud he was of the sale stating “I am very impressed with the amount of respect the Japanese people have for this classic theatre, I feel this is the best move available for the true preservation of this theatre. Adding, "We will also make about $10.000 profit in this deal and that will be added bonus!” Mr. Allington also stated “Under the June 2001 agreement between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President George W. Bush, the governments of Japan and the United States have jointly held seminars in order to promote better understanding of foreign direct investment, and facilitate investment in Japan at the local level. Both sides have been emphasizing the very real investment opportunities that exist in Japan, made even more appealing by the recent upturn in the Japanese economy. This sale is a direct response to President Bush’s ideas, a man I hold in high regard!”
READ MORE about the Japan Investment Initiative here
http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20050222-73.html
To insure the Kent Theatre will be as authentic as possible, IBPC has recruited several board members to help in the transition. First is Dan Randell, manager and supervisor and long standing board member. He will be moving to the city of Osaka with the Kent Theatre. There he will carry on all his duties and over see the reconstruction. Dan feel’s good about the move too, and has personally negotiated a deal where Cedar Springs resident, who visit the Kent Theatre in Osaka will receive a small popcorn and soda FREE.“ That will really help off set the admission cost which is about $32.23 US” (Limit one per paid admission)
Joining Dan will be his wife Mary Randell. She will go as an overseas reporter for the Cedar Springs Post and will keep us update on the progress the theatre is making. Mary feels this deal is best for the city also. “We have a history we need to preserve; I’m going to make sure everybody is up to date with the Kent’s new home”
Also joining the team is Sally Grayvold, long time community volunteer. Sally will serve as both the good will ambassador for Cedar Springs and will also head security. “It’s important the theatre remains quite during the movies, I’m studying Japanese to better communicate with the residents.” Sally is very pleased with the deal and is so happy about the $10.000 profit they will make on the sale of the Kent Theatre. “We have struggled for so long to rebuild the Kent Theatre , I’m glad we’re leaving on a up note!”
Len Allington will stay behind and hopes to build a Golf / Sports store on the former location of the Kent stating “Our biggest fund raiser was always and has always been the Annual Kent Theatre Golf Outings, people loved it!” Len will proudly display a bronze plate commemorate the historic theater with the funds left over from the sale profits. It’s the least we could do; this city needs to always remember the Kent. It will live on in our memories forever!
To send comment please e-mail with your well wishes or comments about this April Fools Joke.
Or phone the Kent Theatre and leave a message by calling 616-696-SHOW.
Comments (7)
Very funny April Fool’s joke!
Very funny. I knew it was a gag with the bit about free egg rolls – aren’t they Chinese cuisine? Now we can magine how the good people of London greeted news that old London Bridge would be moved and reassembled brick by brick in Lake Havasu, Arizona, back in the 1970’s!
NOT funny—the reality is that countries like China now hold vast amounts of our currency, they have taken most of the manufacturing jobs out of our country, and we, as Americans continue to buy their products slowly bleeding dry our once strong economy. And these great leaders we have just let it happen—-the big corporations contribute huge sums to elect leaders that put them first.
2006 is here—time to vote out these people who are selling out our future.
Evan… I work for a company that has been “off-shoring” full time positions steadily for the past year and actually has a goal to quadruple the present number of such positions over the next year! But I think I can stand a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor in the spirit of April Fool’s Day, particularly on this site which – while brimming with passionate discourse – is not exactly concerned with important socio-economic issues.
The big giveaway to me that it was a joke was when the one who posted it said: “This sale is a direct response to President Bush’s ideas, a man I hold in high regard!”
But what isn’t funny is the hard truth of current U.S.-Chinese relations exposed at the following link: View link
I would love to acquire and properly restore a classic old movie theater in a neighborhood I’m 4th generation to, but have been fought at every turn by others collectively determined that it become a Dollar Tree Store instead. Which, of course, will be selling all “Made in China” (slave-produced) products when all is said and done. And it does make you really wonder who’s really running America now. And EdSolero, if that isn’t concern with important socio-economic issues in addition to my passionate discourses — if perhaps among others you were referring to me — I’d sure as heck like to know what is!
TheaterBuff… I was not referring to you at all. I was responding directly to Evan’s comments that this item was not funny at all due to the grim socio-economic realities of the world. In fact, I very much agree with Evan’s point of view concerning the slow bleeding-off of the American economy to foreign interests and cheap foreign labor and I am certainly no fan of the present Administration. I’m not trying to say that we the membership of CT are not concerned with these serious issues, but merely that – given the nature of this site – I think we can allow some room here to enjoy a moment of levity such as that provided by this light-hearted April Fool’s joke.
I agree. In fact, I look forward to the day when any grim news we hear just turns out to be just one big April Fool’s joke….as opposed to the grim news we hear being quite real and many finding it to be funny. Particularly those in power and their fiercely loyal following.