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The latest movie theater news and updates
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April 2, 2008
Any vintage movie posters for sale?
I preserve/linen back vintage movie posters and would happily exchange my services for posters that I need for my personal collection.
I can be contacted directly via email at .
Thank You,
Frank0 comments -
Historic theatre chairs for free!
We are in the beginning phase of a theatre restoration project and need to clean out the basement! We have roughly 800 theatre seats, American Seating, c. 1924 in storage. They are flat-footed (for risers).
Pictures available by email at . Although we are willing to donate these chairs, the recipient is responsible for transportation and freight. Location: Cleveland, Ohio.
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April 1, 2008
Riviera debuts restored wurlitzer
NORTH TONAWANDA, NY — One of the most unique and extraordinary theatre organs in the world, the Riviera Theatre Mighty Wurlitzer, a style 235 built in 1926, has just been restored after four weeks of work.
Originally installed in 1926 at the debut of the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, New York by the world-famous Wurlizer Organ company which headquarted only blocks away from the theatre, this specific Wurlitzer — equipped with (literally) all the bells and whistles that made it perfect to accompany silent motion pictures — is believed to be the quintessential, archtetypical demonstration organ used by the manufacturer to woo their buyers. The Wurlitzer Company in Tonawanda built about 2,300 organs. Of these, fewer than 30 are complete in their original locations: The Riviera’s Wurlitzer is one of that select group.
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Time-O-Matic Chaser light control box repair
Hey there,
Does anyone have any contact names for parts to repair a Time-O-Matic Model #2 chaser light controller? This is a mechanical unit from the late 1940’s and the silver soldiered contacts need to be rebuilt/replaced. All they are is a brass bolt with extra fine threads with a glob of silver on the head of the bolt.
I might try a jeweler, but thought I’d try here first.
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Marquee letters for sale
I have 10 inch and 17 inch Wagner letters (Blue and Red). Also some 8 inch (black) snap-lok. for inventory.
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March 31, 2008
Newberry for sale
COVINGTON, OH – The Newberry Theater, a beautiful, historic and operational 400-seat opera house with over 15,000 square feet of attached commercial space is for sale.
The building, erected in 1910 as the Newberry Township Building, housed local township officials on the first and second floor and a Masonic Lodge on the third floor. The opera house, which offers crystal-clear natural acoustics and excellent sight lines from every seat, was home to traveling theater troupes in the 1910’s and 1920’s, silent movies and ‘talkies’, as well as school plays. The theater went dark in 1947, and then served for several decades as a furniture warehouse — which ensured that the roof remained intact and the building dry.
The commercial space continued to house local officials and a mix of businesses including doctor’s office, barber and law office into the 1990’s. The township sold the building in 1995 to a private individual, and it was used for private storage until 2005, when the present owners purchased the building and began significant renovations.
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$35 tickets for luxury movie theater
REDMOND, WA — An Australian theater chain will open a Seattle-area theater this fall with auditoriums with no more than 40 seats each but $35 tickets for luxury service.
An Australian theater chain opening in Redmond this fall is betting affluent audiences will pay three times the typical ticket price for plush, reclining seats equipped with call buttons for service, allowing them to order gourmet food, wine and cocktails from the theater’s restaurant.
Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas will open at Redmond Town Center in October, replacing the AMC theater that closed earlier this year.
It will cater to people who “don’t want to go to a cavernous multiplex and be caught up with hordes of people,” said Graham Burke, managing director and CEO of Village Roadshow Limited, the parent company.
Read more in the Seattle Times.
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Toronto theater history
TORONTO, CANADA — This piece in The Bulletin discusses some local theater history.
Toronto was considered hitting the big time on the traveling vaudeville circuit and with over 50 theatres from the opulent 3,000 seat Shea’s Hippodrome (now the site of New City Hall) to the small 50 seat Moore’s Musee Theater (once stood near the corner of Adelaide and Yonge) to prove it.
However what we needed now was a first-class Vaudeville house to rival anything New York City had; a theatre that would be beautiful in design, a theatre that could attract an up-market crowd, a theatre that offered only one top-billed show a night and thus making going to see a Vaudeville show an event! On Monday Feb. 16, 1914 Toronto got that upscale Vaudeville house with the astounding Winter Garden theatre. It loomed seven stories above Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre (now known as the Elgin), which opened the previous year on Yonge Street just north of Queen.
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March 28, 2008
San Diego cinema history
“Before it was the GasLamp” San Diego Reader blog
I have, however, written a separate account – LAST OF THE ALL-NIGHTERS – of my own memories and experiences while working the downtown theaters. I offer it here, as sort of a DVD-extra, at the bottom of the Gaslamp article, which appears below in its original “War & Peace” director’s cut draft.
Also in this blog, OVER 100 PHOTOS AND GRAPHICS that did NOT appear with the published article, most of which have never been seen outside of Miranda’s family and his closest associates!
(Thanks to San Diego Shooter for providing the photo.)
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Vogue becomes Supperclub
LOS ANGELES, CA — The vacant Vogue Theatre is to become another stop in the chain, Supperclub.
Sure, there are plenty of supper clubs in L.A. (see Ritual, Foxtail, etc.), but only one has the audacity to call itself the Supperclub. Supperclub at the Vogue Theater, a forthcoming 17,000-square-foot restaurant/nightclub inside a historic building (the long-vacant Vogue Theater at 6675 Hollywood Blvd.), is actually part of an international chain called Supperclub. The first Supperclub bowed in Amsterdam 15 years ago and gave birth to locations in Rome and San Francisco. Now, the concept is coming to L.A. (a Singapore outpost is also opening soon).
Read more in the L.A. Times.