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Memories
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July 22, 2009
Remembering Cinerama (Part 36: Worcester)
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 36: WorcesterThe following is Part Thirty-Six 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 events 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: DenverAnd now… Part 36: Cinerama Presentations in Worcester, Massachusetts!
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July 20, 2009
Movie theater memories
SAN ANTONIO, TX — A Texas writer discusses memories from movie palaces long gone in the area and other locals' thoughts as well.
So now it shouldn’t surprise you that on a recent hot summer’s day I was dumbfounded with delight when I stumbled across a website that allowed me to reminisce about the perfect summer time activity; going to the movies.
I don’t mean to have an Andy Rooney moment here but, “Have you ever noticed that going to the movies doesn’t have the same feeling that it once did?”
I was lucky enough to live at the end of the movie house era. I can remember the thrill of going to see the latest movie at (get this) a one-screen theater. (In the 21st century you might call them “the uni-plex.”)
Read more at WOAI.
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July 17, 2009
Happy 10th Anniversary, “Blair Witch Project”!!!
On July 14, 1999, a little film called “The Blair Witch Project” premiered in limited release in several indie theaters around the country and the world. It would be two weeks before the movie went wide and word of mouth spread like wildfire. The film, made on a ultra-low budget, went on to make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office worldwide and even more when it was released on VHS (in a 2-pack combined with a Blair Witch mockumentary) and DVD.
It would go on to be the most successful indie movie made by Artisan Entertainment (before Lionsgate bought the company) at the time. More than a year later, a sequel was made, and was more like a horror action film than the home movie horror that its predecessor was. It bombed at the box office, with the lack of stars from the original and the creators who made Blair Witch what it is today. Without Blair Witch, there wouldn’t be a “Cloverfield”.
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July 13, 2009
Remembering Cinerama (Part 35: Denver)
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 35: DenverThe following is Part Thirty-Five 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 events 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 CountyAnd now… Part 35: Cinerama Presentations in Denver!
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July 9, 2009
Joplin Fox still going
JOPLIN, MO — Locals remember past days of glory for their local movie palaces, especially the Fox Theatre.
Several other movie theaters from that era still exist throughout the area today. Ongoing renovation projects at some of those have been undertaken to restore them to their former glory.
But in the 1930s, there was no place bigger or better in Joplin to go see a movie than the Fox Theatre.
It took 300 men working simultaneously and $500,000 to build the Fox in seven months, said Joplin Mayor Gary Shaw.
Read the full story in the Joplin Globe.
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July 8, 2009
Happy 20th anniversary, Batman!!!
On June 23, 1989, Warner Bros released Tim Burton’s version of one of the most famous comic book characters in American history, Batman. I was about six when it first came out, so I was too young to see it before it came out on video. The movie broke box office records and made money for the director, who would go on to direct a sequel that was as good as the first one.
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July 2, 2009
Remembering Cinerama (Part 34: Nanuet/Rockland County)
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 34: Nanuet/Rockland CountyThe following is Part Thirty-Four 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 events 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: MilwaukeeAnd now… Part 34: Cinerama Presentations in Nanuet/Rockland County, New York!
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July 1, 2009
Morningside Theatre info
NEW YORK, NY — The following is a request for a new member, Marya Pollack, looking for information regarding the Morningside Theatre, once run by her family:
My great-grandmother ran it from about 1908-1915 and I believe other family members before her. I have a copy of the theatre license but can you help me track down any paperwork they might have filed? My great aunt used to play the piano for the movies there. I have some pictures of actors but I don’t know if they were part of this theatre.
For over a decade all I had was Amalia Steinberg’s calling card with a fragment of the theatre name. The license gives the exact address 2135-8 8th Ave as well as another theatre at 1217 Prospect Ave.
I’d love to find out who actually filled out the request for the license as there are no first names on it. Amalia’s maiden name was Weissman (Wiseman, Weisman) and she married a Bernard Steinberg, who ran several restaurants but she is listed in the NYC Directory as “theatre owner” after he died in 1908. Much of the two families were reportedly in theatre and early film in Manhattan and “amusements” in Coney Island, but it has been a huge struggle to find anything out. Another relative, Samuel Weisman is listed as working at “Philum’s Motion Picture Studio.”
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
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June 23, 2009
Mansfield theater continues revival
MANSFIELD, TX — In the Fort Worth Business Press, they tell the story of the nearly 100 year old Farr Best Theater and how the different owners over the years have kept this legend going.
Rhonda Meadows — and family members — are well on their way to breathing new life into one of Mansfield’s oldest businesses, the 92-year-old Farr Best Theater.
When a block of downtown Main Street in Mansfield was wiped out by fire in the early 1900s, one of the buildings that sprung up in the way of replacement represented the most modern mode of mass communication available to mankind.
Or at least it did in 1917 when the Farr Best movie theater came into being. Originally the Farr Best offered silent movies and “B” level vaudeville comedians, with a little Friday night bingo thrown in for good measure. When the talkies came along, so did Tom and Jerry cartoons, news reels outlining the tribulations and triumphs of war in the Pacific, Saturday matinees for the kids with Roy Rogers and thrilling 13-chapter serials in which in the final minutes of each segment the hero always appeared hopelessly doomed, only to somehow miraculously survive the next Saturday.
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June 18, 2009
Remembering Cinerama (Part 33: Milwaukee)
REMEMBERING CINERAMA
Part 33: MilwaukeeThe following is Part Thirty-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 events 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 CityAnd now… Part 33: Cinerama Presentations in Milwaukee!