Stanford Theatre

I doubt if Cary Grant would appreciate the co-billing with Marilyn in Monkey Business. Marilyn was in one scene, if I recall correctly.

Mr. Tarantino,
it would be great if those original BW photos could be enjoyed by everyone! You can find my email by clicking on my name. I’d be happy to scan them, place them on my flickr site, link those photos to this site as I did with the San Francisco Metro photos, and mail your originals back to you.
Or, maybe somebody in S.F. area can do so?

This is from the Modesto Bee, 11/10/53:

Showhouse Aide Admits Hoax In Holdup Report

Gerald Taylor, assistant manager of the Stanford Theater, has admitted his report of a $400 holdup Sunday night was a hoax, Police Captain Guy Wathen reported. Taylor and an ex-boxer companion,
Enrico Morris, have been booked at city jail on suspicion of grand theft, Wathen said yesterday. In his report to police, Taylor said a gun was pressed to his back as he was changing lights on the theater marquee. He said a gunman forced him to open a safe and then fled with the money in three bank sacks.

Under questioning, Wathen said Taylor broke down and confessed that he had taken the money and given it to Morris, who was sitting in a nearby car. Wathen said $290 of the stolen money has been recovered from a Greyhound bus depot safety box. Morris, who fought four heavyweight fights under the name of Ric Garro in 1949, admitted spending $40, said Wathen. Some $70 is still missing.

I am a reporter writing a story about the Stanford Theatre. Does anyone out there have any memories of times spent there they’d care to share? Or willing to talk about how they’ve compensated for its dark screen all these months? Please email me at – as soon as possible. Thank you so much!

Discovering this theater in the Summer of ‘99 was a dream come true for me. I can’t top what’s already been said about the beauty and physical charm of the theater itself, but for me, it’s the finest movie house in California, if not the entire country. It’s allowed me to compress a lifetime of film study into just a few years. I was drop-dead astounded when I first came to understand what this place is, what it stands for and who stands behind it. It was an absolute thrill getting to meet Eva Marie Saint, chat for a moment and get her autograph. She’s a very warm, down to earth lady, and the years have been very kind to her. My wife and I were completely blown away by Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” — astonished by the ingenuity of the set pieces and delighted with the pathos associated with the little tramp. The organist played brilliantly. Standing ovation at the close of the show. Now I understand why Chaplin is considered the granddaddy of all cinema. Thank heaven for David Packard. His efforts have brought the experience into sharp focus by helping us understand, in several dimensions, what personally experiencing the golden age of cinema really is. And why it was the golden age. To call this place a treasure is an understatement in the extreme.

Ken Zowal
Fremont, California

Newer photo. Note link to theater homepage near top of this page:
View link

Some time in the early 1990s I went to the Stanford Theatre and saw the Scarlet Empress (1934) starring Marlene Dietrich. My friends and I sat in the balcony, and that evening was a peak experience for me. The theater’s decor was magnificent. The film was a pristine, gorgeous print, and the movie itself was pretty good, too. I got on the Stanford’s mailing list, even though I don’t live in California. I sent them donations, and they sent me their schedules for a couple of years. If I lived in California I would go there often.

A very good seven-page article about the STANFORD appeared in “Americana” magazine of April 1990, and is replete with photos, both modern ones in color, and vintage in black and white. Most areas of the theatre are shown as well as a portrait of David Packard. The article well describes his loving attention to the details of accurate and complete restoration. Likely the magazine is at some libraries (ask your local librarian to check the Union List of Serials to determine who has it) or it may be available as a back issue for sale from the publisher through their web site; search for it on www.Google.com

A very quaint, but beautiful neighborhood theatre, that has been very carefully and lovingly restored, as any old theatre could hope to be. This theatre has one of the warmest and most welcoming lobbies, with it’s vintage movie posters and tapestries hanging along the walls, and the smell of hot buttered popcorn wafting in the air.
The film presentations here are always first rate, and only the nicest prints are run. The 3-D festival in Spring 2000, was particularly memorable. Seeing a brand, new print of “Kiss Me Kate” in perfect, dual-projector 3-D and interlocked stereo sound goes down as one of my favorites movie-going experiences ever! May the Stanford keep going…it’s a treasure for sure!

I live in San Francisco, and drive the 40 minutes or so to Palo Alto whenever possible to see films the way they were meant to be seen at the Stanford Theatre. David Packard not only runs the Stanford as a non-profit venue for old films, but I believe he is also the main financial supporter of the UCLA Film Archive.

The Stanford movie experience often includes Dave himself up on stage with a microphone telling the audience just how they were able to piece together the print he is about to show us, finding the best bits of film from many different prints all around the world and assembling them. And, on more than one occasion, he has done the assembly on the spot. When we recently watched The Wizard of Oz he told us that his own Technicolor print looked better in the color portion of the film, but the rented print looked better for the black and white intro …….. so he told us that they would be switching reels (seamlessly) when Dorothy reaches Oz. Another example was for my favorite film, “Gilda” staring Rita Hayworth. The UCLA Film Archive restoration hadn’t quite been completed by the scheduled screening date (one that had been postponed for months), so he showed us what he had finished. As a result, we got to see a cleaner print than any other theatrical audience ever had (or will), since our print had been made directly from the negative.. WOW! And, since they were still working on it, the sound had to be played off of another recording. He cautioned us that the sync might slip during the screening, but everything was perfect. And what an amazingly clear picture! We were seeing incredible detail in a 50+ year old motion picture ……. the kind of skin detail you don’t get in today’s films.

So, THANK YOU David Packard for spending your fortune so wisely and philanthropically. We DO appreciate your efforts and perfectionism.

A bit of clarification: The original architects of the Stanford were Charles Peter Weeks and William Day. Other nearby theatres by them include the Fox California, San Jose (undergoing restoration/expansion), the Fox Peninsula, Burlingame (demolished), and the Fox Oakland (extant but closed).

The original painted decorations were by Power Studios, a firm later absorbed by Heinsbergen. Heinsbergen still had the original Power Studios color renderings of the decorative scheme in their files, and thus were brought in to restore the Stanford’s colorful interior in 1989 to as close as possible to what had been there originally. The results are superb.

i would like some info on running classic movies. my wife and i are reopening an old movie theatre in our town (elizabeth penn.)and would appreciate any input. thank you