Comments from Zweigbaum

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Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Whalley Theatre on May 13, 2006 at 12:49 pm

Does anyone know the whereabouts or what happened to theatre manager Franklin Fergusson?

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Smell-O-Vision making a comeback? on Apr 12, 2006 at 4:33 pm

I smelled both attempts in NY: Mike Todd Jr’s Scent of Mystery and some foreign import travelog that wafted into the DeMille. I think any attempt to revive the experience is a mistake.

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Bowl Drive-In on Apr 5, 2006 at 7:13 pm

Probably the only opening night gala I attended in my pajamas. Opened by the parents of a summer camp bunkmate around 1953, the theatre was always well run and had the added attraction of having a Dairy Queen stand right out front! Passing through several managements the theatre eventually closed, but I had long since moved away and grown beyond the cone with the curl on top. Still, on hot summer nights….

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about 8th Avenue Theatre? on Dec 23, 2005 at 4:11 pm

It was the Tivoli, with a beautiful “open air” theatre on the roor.

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Whalley Theatre on Dec 17, 2005 at 6:24 pm

“Roadshow” events started in 1957 when the theatre, by virtue of ample street parking, was selected for the Southern Ct. engagement of “Around the World in 80 Days.” I think it ran for 26 weeks. We were all very impressed.

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about NYC's Ziegfeld offers an exclusive... with a price tag to match on Dec 17, 2005 at 6:16 pm

But what of the film The Producers? Any comments on the shabby way it was treated by the NY press. And since when does a so called legit film critic (NY Post) get paid for cheap lyrics insted of film criticism? Isn’t that why we read reviews?

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Karlsruhe, Germany - "50 YEARS OF TODD-AO" Festival on Sep 28, 2005 at 6:54 pm

Todd-AO? 70mm? Was you there, Charlie? Why isn’t any one talking about or running the two premiere Todd-AO productions; Oklahoma! and Around the World in 80 Days?

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about The Producers on Sep 17, 2005 at 5:50 pm

I walked that set at Steiner Studios and suddenly I was back in the 50’s. The physical locations of the theatres may have been adjusted for cimematic effect and some of the marquees may not have been exactly accurate, but still, it was magic.

Zweigbaum
Zweigbaum commented about Whalley Theatre on Feb 19, 2005 at 3:01 pm

The photo shown is not the theatre’s front, but an entrance on the side of the building which, I believe, was constructed to accommodate the sad transformation from movie theatre to club, to food market. In it’s heyday, the theatre had a traditional facade with a grand three sided marquee suspended over the sidewalk and centered box office kiosk. In the 50s the theatre was “modernized”; the marquee removed, the kiosk gone, and the tiny lobby expanded, ironically absorbing an A&P food market on the right. As a child of the 40s and early 50s the Whalley was my neighborhood theatre and my introduction to the movies. From a traumatized Christmas night in 1947, believing everything about Abbott and Costello meets Frankenstein, to the theatres first-run transformation with Around the World in 80 Days in 1957, I fondly remember countless “Hey Kids!” Saturday matinees, free seasonal showings of MGM’s A Christmas Carol, and of course theatre manager, Franklin Fergusson, entertaining us kids between features with various contests, games and lighting effects on the stage curtain. As noted, some of the theatre’s interior remains. You can find the stage, much smaller than I remembered, and proscenium arch behind the food display cases.