Comments on: In the movie houses of the holy

By: larry 48

larry 48 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:34:40 +0000

i think this is a great site aqnd i will check it out every day…

By: RHS

RHS — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:27:47 +0000

Sounds like Rosa Rio might deserve a blog entry of her own!

By: 42nd Street Memories

42nd Street Memories — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:50:32 +0000

I usually make to the Tampa Theater for their summer classics fest. Last time for me was It Came From Outer Space in 3-D. Fun to see a packed house, with a lot of kids, watching old fashioned 3-D. Rosa Rio will be there for Wings in a couple of weeks.

By: David B

David B — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:10:19 +0000

I haven’t been to Tampa Theatre in a while, but I have great memories of the past several years. There’s nothing like seeing Ben-Hur (1959), or Rosa Rio accompaning Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro (1920), or Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)…..

By: RHS

RHS — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:47:02 +0000

I probably should have mentioned that the organist at The Tampa Theater is raised up to and lowered down from (hydraulically, presumably) from the stage. Awesome! More priests should do that. And you should be allowed to eat popcorn in church.

By: saraeg

saraeg — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:02:46 +0000

i always think of the loews coliseum on 181st street in washington heights whenever i watch ben-hur. it was in this magnificent movie palace that i first watched this spectacular movie on the wide screen. i had never seen lights recessed in the floor next to the banks of chairs and there must have been 3 levels to accomodate the balcony. i roamed around as much as i could and loved looking down to the level below through a ‘hole’ in the ceiling-floor. what a wonderful memory!

By: john august smith

john august smith — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:16:25 +0000

I remember fondly the loews capitol theatre in downtown wash. d.c. first an organ recital, then a 5-7 act stage show and filally a first run film. a beautiful theatre, red velvet everywhere, even the drinking fountain was carved marble. I was a movie nut in those glorious youthful days, I would catch a matinee at the capitol, then walk 1/2 block to the loews palace and still get home for dinner. From my house there were 7 movie houses within easy walking distance. In 1942 tickets to these local houses cost 11 cents(1 cent war tax) and for saturday matinee you got a double feature, a serial,a cartoon, a newsreel and a free comic book! Those were the days!! now on TCM I am seeing some of the same movies I saw 50+ years ago. one that really made a lasting impression upon me was Spawn of the North with raft, lamour, barrymore and a talented seal. I would love to see it one more time before I get to movie heaven.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:08:12 +0000

I remember the Loew’s Theater in Syracuse, a beautiful late 1920s palace where I saw a few films in the 1960s. There were a few other similar houses down South Saiina Street (Paramount, RKO Keith’s) which fell prey to urban renewal in 1967. The Loew’s is still around, now known as the Landmark Theater, and holds stage performances and concerts (though it sadly is a bit rundown). It will host the premiere of a biopic of Ernie Davis, the late Syracuse U. football star (and the first black to win the Heisman Trophy), who died of leukemia before he could play professionally. I believe the film is called “The Elmira Express” (Davis’ nickname)…and perhaps while Ernie attended SU, he caught a few films at the Loew’s.

By: JoseM

JoseM — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:49:14 +0000

Reminds me of my love of the Riviera theater in San Juan, a magical, wonderful art deco movie theater where I saw so many movies as a child. Unfortunately it was torn down before the city could declare it a historic place.

By: 42nd Street Memories

42nd Street Memories — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:25:05 +0000

Like many, I fondly recall my neighborhood theater of my youth (1950s). What added to the excitement of movie-going was getting away from our small screen black & white TV set (7 channels, so lack of remote contol was a moot point – I sat right in front on the floor anyway). Also, living in a one bedroom flat, I could appreciate the chandeliers, marble staircase to the balcony, plush carpeting (where’s the linoleum?)and AIR COOLED BY REFRIGERATION. Our A/C was opening the window (bus fumes and all) or sitting on the fire escape. Our theater, the RKO on 23rd Street in NYC was formerly the Grand Opera House at the turn of the 20th century. So it was a palace, a thing of beauty. Also, the theaters mentality was different back then. They wanted patrons in and they wanted to keep them in as long as they could. So for the kids, that meant a lot of Saturday triple feature matinees with cartoons. In at 10am, out at 4pm. Lunch was a hot dog “cooked” under a light bulb with a soda dispensed from a machine into a paper cup. (If you were paying attention, you would straighten out the cup in order to salvage some of the drink). The matron, former SS, would patrol the Kiddie Section with a flashlight and a snarl. So, it was an experience. A social gathering, not just a movie. The kids today will create their own nostalgia for the gigaplex and tell their grandchildren about having to leave the house to see a movie. Jerry K