
A Summer Senator
BALTIMORE, MD — This week at Blogcritics, praise is given to the historic Senator Theatre.
This 69-year old movie theater is one of the last bastions of motion picture elegance, especially in this neck of the woods. This is no generic multiplex, but a true movie house. Its single screen is sized just short of a football field, and shows the pictures larger than life, which is how movies are meant to be seen, if you ask me.
The lobby is small and round, holding onto its faded elegance with due dignity. Past the concession stand lies the screening room: tall, wide, and comfortable. It’s as though you’ve come to sit in the great hall of a king’s palace. You would never expect it from the street, but when you take your choice of the 900 seats, it feels special.
What makes the Senator great, though, is not just the building. Buildings fade and crumble, after all. No, what makes the Senator great, what makes it an experience, is its character.
Comments (6)
Summer blockbuster films are always a delight at this venue. You can’t beat its decently sized screen and killer sound system. There are usually personal intros by the theater’s owner on opening weekends that add that nice personal touch to the showmanship, which includes an opening and closing curtain.
Is he/she saying that the screen is 300 feet wide?
Haha. Of course not. Its about 40.
The screen is actually “sized just short of a football field” built for gnomes. It’s a fact little known outside Baltimore that, in that city, football is played exclusively by gnomes- thus there’s some confusion among Baltimoreans about the relative sizes of football fields and movie screens.
Thanks for clearing that up. What’s the name of the Baltimore team, Joe, if you don’t mind my asking?
I’m holding myself back … no, no I’m not going to say it … control yourself Andy … I think I’m falling …