Share Your Personal Memories of Historic Theatres: ‘Please Remain Standing’

posted by ThrHistoricalSociety on October 19, 2015 at 9:55 pm

Please Remain Standing is the title of a portfolio of work encompassing over 350 movie theaters built before 1965 across America. With an eye for architectural details, whether in a grand movie palace or a small hometown theater, Benita VanWinkle has traveled from Alaska to New York, LA to Miami for over thirty years capturing the experience of attending one of these treasures with color photographs that embody their novelty and charm.

Benita is currently working on making the photographs into a book, with the title (Please Remain Standing) being a nod of recognition to the 1970’s manager of the Carib movie theater in Clearwater, FL. Prior to playing a scratchy reel of the Star Spangled Banner before every movie was shown, Clarence would announce over the loudspeaker that everyone should “please remain standing for our national anthem”, stopping the film and turning on the house lights if a patron did not comply.

If you have a personal memory of attending a theater that you would like to share, please contact Benita through her website www.busybstudio.com as she would like to include stories in the upcoming publication.

The images in this post were taken by Benita. She holds the copyright for each image.

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ABOUT THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Founded by Ben Hall in 1969, the Theatre Historical Society of America (THS) celebrates, documents and promotes the architectural, cultural and social relevance of America’s historic theatres. Through its preservation of the collections in the American Theatre Architecture Archive, its signature publication Marquee™ and Conclave Theatre Tour, THS increases awareness, appreciation and scholarly study of America’s theatres.

Learn more about historic theatres on our website at historictheatres.org