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The latest movie theater news and updates
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February 19, 2007
Farewell to The Commodore Theater
BROOKLYN, NY — After suriving the turmoils of the 1970’s; blackout of 1977, loss of hundreds of manufacturing jobs, and White flight, Brooklyn’s Commodore Theater is being demolished.
It was at this theater that I saw one of the scariest movie ever made, “The Exorcist” with Linda Blair. And later grooved to the music of the Bee Gees in “Saturday Night Fever” with John Travolta.The Williamsburg area is undergoing gentrification and there is no room for a grand dame like the Commodore. It’s out with the old and in with the bland and boring. The last movie I saw there was “Out of Sight” starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. The movie was playing in cinema 2 and you could hear the rumbling of the J train that is next to the theater.
Unlike the newer modern ‘movie theaters,’ the Commodore had seen better days. For the price of admission though, $6.00, you got a great bargain and helped to keep a neighborhood landmark operating.
So tip your hat to the Commodore for standing grand right up to the bitter end.
For a picture of the Commodore, go to Photo Bucket.
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Somerset Playhouse in jeopardy..
This has been in court since 2004? You can visit the small website dedicated to the playhouse and some of the playbill covers of the many stars who performed there.
Here’s an article from the Providence Journal regarding Walgreens wanting to buy it. Mind you they want to build across the street and we are talking less than 80 feet away from a Brooks Pharmacy.
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Monroe Theatre demolition to be discussed
ROCHESTER, NY — The Monroe Theatre demolition is part of zoning application. The zoning hearing is Wed. Feb 21st in Rochester, NY. This is a theatre of historical interest. Info needed by citizens.
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February 18, 2007
Just over $30K left to Save Our Senator
BALTIMORE, MD — With just less than four days before the deadline, the Senator Theatre has raised $78.2K of its $109K required to save it.
Donate at the Senator Website via paypal before it’s too late.
Thanks
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A look at the fire damaged Lebowsky Center
OWOSSO, MI — On Saturday, February 17, I took pictures of the fire damaged Joseph H. Lebowsky Center to view the extent of the damage myself. The fire began on stage and quickly spread to the theater itself, causing the roofs of the stage and the theater to cave in. The front part of the theater building escaped major damage. The walls of the stage seem intact, but the west wall of the theater facing Park Street shows the reason why the temporary wall was erected.
Park Street was still closed alongside the theater. A web site devoted to Shiawassee County, Michigan history has an updated page about the Capitol Theatre/Lebowsky Center which has an aerial photo showing the extent of the theater’s damage.
It is interesting to note that the Capitol Theatre was renamed to honor the Owosso businessman who built it. His legal surname was “Lebowsky” and he was Jewish. His Yahrzeit (Memorial) plaque is at Temple Beth El in Flint, MI where he was a member. But in Owosso, he spelled his name “Lebowski” apparently to make him seem more Polish than Jewish. If you look at the “Joseph H. Lebowsky Center” letters on the facade, you may notice that the “Y” is a different shade of gold. That’s because it replaced the “I”.
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February 17, 2007
Senator goal raised - donate now!
BALTIMORE, MD — As reported yesterday, the Senator Theatre is just days away from going up for auction. Its lender is now making them provide $109K by this Wednesday, February 21st at 1:30PM. As of 6:32 EST, today, $68.4K has been collected.
Please donate via paypal on their website and pass this message along to others.
We’ll update you with the latest on the fight to keep this movie palace alive.
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Kansas City Theater destroyed by fire
KANSAS CITY, MO — The Waldo Astoria Theater, which opened in 1924 as the Westmoreland Theater, was destroyed by fire Friday, February 16. It is a complete loss.
Five firefighters were injured and hospitalized fighting the two-alarm blaze during freezing temperatures and inclement weather. Five remain hospitalized; three with burns. Their efforts could not prevent loss of the building, but adjoining retail structures were spared.
The historic building burned for several hours and the roof collapsed. Problems with water pressure from hydrants hampered efforts.
Local media have reported that the fire appears to have started in the French bistro Cafe Apanaire. The cause of the fire is undetermined and is under investigation.
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February 16, 2007
S.O.S. - SAVE OUR SENATOR! (Interview with Tom Kiefaber)
BALTIMORE, MD — There are very few theaters in the country today that still have that universal appeal and are operating at the peak of their strengths. So many have fallen by the wayside and are either gone or just a shell of their former selves. For those in Baltimore though, moviegoing has always been a little more special because they’ve had the Senator Theatre.
Recently, though this seemingly perfect marriage of venue and community has been in danger. The Senator could close next week and go on the auction block due to recent turmoil with the bank. For those that have ever had the pleasure of taking part in a Senator experience or for anyone that wants to preserve one of the last remaining neighborhood movie palaces in this country, they need your help desperately.
If you can help, please go to the Senator website and donate via paypal. Pass the message along to any theater enthusiast you know, too! If the proper funds cannot be raised by Wednesday February 21st at 1:30PM, the Senator as we know it can become a thing of the past. Over 60% of the goal has been met at the time of this article’s publishing so please help the Senator cross the finish line still standing.
Alarmed by the news when I first heard about this issue last week, I wanted to get the facts. Never having the pleasure of visiting the Senator myself, I was pretty much in the dark about its history. However, within minutes of talking to the legendary theater’s owner, Tom Kiefaber, I felt right at home as if I’d been watching movies there all my life.
CT: Tell me a little bit about the history of the theater and how it’s been since you’ve personally been working there?
TK: My Grandfather started out in the theater business almost 100 years ago. After creating Durkee Enterprises, he at one time controlled 40 of Baltimore’s 175 movie theaters. Now, there are just 3.
The Senator was built in 1939, the golden year of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Despite its status as the big theater for Baltimore, it started out as one of neighborhood movie houses in the chain. Originally, it had 1150 seats but that has gone down to 900. It’s lasted so long because it was such a well-designed suburban movie house.
I grew up in the Senator. With all the theaters in the family chain, I went to this one the most just cause it was near my house. I was the most popular kid on Saturday mornings cause my friends and I would go see movies in the different theaters all day!
Around 1977, everything changed. When “Star Wars” came along, no one had every seen a picture with that high level of technological innovation. With this film as a benchmark, I immediately got more involved with the business and made it my goal to raise the bar even higher for the Senator’s already stellar technical standards.
Since then, we’ve made a name for ourselves by having an extremely high standard for presentation. Besides that, we also go the extra mile by having one less showing of a film per day so people can hang around after the show and we can fully clean the auditorium following each program.
CT: While looking over your site, I noticed credit cards can’t be used to buy tickets. With more and more theaters teaming up with online ticketing services, how do you get away with only accepting cash?
TK: We have plans to make the theater economically stable. Until that happens though, we can’t carry out a lot of ideas that would bring the theater more up to date. We want a computerized system for ticketing along with many other advances.
For example, we want to retrofit the theater so it can be used for more concerts. We already had 15 major ones but to attract other strong acts, we need to install new sound equipment. We have a lot of plans but until we can make an investment, we can’t get the benefit. It takes money to make money!
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Historic Granada Theater to go on sale
BEAVER FALLS, PA — The Granada Theater might be for sale again at a fraction of the selling price of $90,000. Current owners have done some work to the marquee and have fixed most of the major leaks in the building. This is a rare atmospheric theater that was built in 1930.
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Lebowsky Center fire investigation continues and Owosso Players find temporary home
OWOSSO , MI — Fire investigators sift through the rubble of the destroyed Lebowsky Center to determine the cause of the fire. Considered “suspicious, it may take a week to determine the cause of the blaze. The unstable west wall of the theater has been braced and an outside wall was built barricading it.
Meanwhile, the Owosso Players have found a temporary home and will perform the musical “Beauty and the Beast” at the Owosso Middle School auditorium as scheduled.
Updated news stories from:
Owosso Argus Press #1 and #2
From the Flint Journal
The Lansing State Journal
From WLNS
and WJRTThe official web site has finally been updated and include photos of the fire damage, both interior and exterior.
