Thanks, Leo. Are you the same Leo Carlin who is associated with the Philadelphia Eagles? I seem to remember you having an uncle in either Philadelphia or Baltimore at the Forrest Theatre.
I don’t believe management of the two Fultons waited a full week to switch films back and forth. Not only could they do so from day to day as they examined box-office figures, but they could make an adjustment even the first day as it suited them. Newspaper ads were locked in days in advance, so they’re not a significant issue here.
Also, though it was in a losing cause, the film distributors tried to keep track of which auditoriums their pictures were playing in because technically each move could generate new booking “terms” for the engagement. But the fast-growing world of multiplexes, with movies jumping freely to larger or smaller auditoriums from day to day or even mid-day, made the tracking of such things virtually impossible in cities where the film companies no longer maintained offices. And they were willing to hire “checkers” only in selected circumstances. Chuck, I sincerely think it will be impossible for you to know which films were in which Fulton auditoriums most weeks. The information never officially existed even on paper. Changes could occur on the basis of verbal instructions, and no one who wasn’t working on the premises from day to day would be the wiser.
“Mogambo” was October 1953. “At War With the Army,” the third of the 16 Martin and Lewis movies and the first in which they were top-billed, opened in December 1950 to big business. It was the picture in which they really hit their stride, although it does not hold up very well today. It was re-released a few years later but didn’t do much at that time.
Nill, did you get any impression that “Porgy and Bess” might ever be made available to the general public in some form? It’s the highest movie on my wish list at acquire on DVD. There’s no chance I’d see it in NYC.
I understand the Gershwin estate has kept the movie buried, yet stage productions go on and on freely.
Excellent question, Mike. I, too, am eager to see that answered.
As one who grew up from the 1940s to the 1960s, I always enjoyed total recall of what I saw where, and what the second feature was, if any, because each theater was unique and in some way the theater informed the experience of watching the show. (The multiplex experience, with generic bare-bones auditoria, cannot approximate even 10 percent of that sense.)
But as surely as one’s sense of “Custer of the West” was downgraded in a sense by being introduced to it in the squalor of a smelly 42nd Street grind house in the late 1960s, every movie I ever saw at RCMH informed the film with a sense of Music Hall majesty.
I cannot see even a minute of the many movies I first saw at RCMH (Mister Roberts, Indiscreet, Bullitt, The Promise, etc.) without having a sense of what a big deal they seemed when projected in that massive space.
Memorably, that sense of the Music Hall’s splendor felt at odds when the picture didn’t seem to belong there. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why “Play It Again, Sam,” which I’d seen the original cast perform on Broadway a few years earlier, felt a little lost in RCMH even though I liked and still like the picture.
But when I caught “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” at RCMH, there was no question that the theater dwarfed the cheesy animation and that the picture – however suitable for family audiences – had no business being projected in such a grand environment.
LM, Your link worked perfectly for me. I have no idea why some links work for me and some do not, but I appreciate your effort and generosity in doing the transfer into a format I could access.
Correct, LM. Crazily enough, in Downtown Pittsburgh, Sixth Avenue takes a half turn when it crosses Liberty Avenhue and becomes Seventh Street. Sixth Avenue is a full city block from the start of Sixth Street.
Sixth Street is/was the location of the Byham (Fulton), former Gateway (previously J.P. Haris / before that the Alvin) and Heinz Hall (formerly Loew’s Penn).
It leads directlyy to what used to be called the Sixth Street Bridge, which officially had been renamed the Roberty Clemente Bridge.
It is called Federal Street when it reaches the North Side on the other side of the Allegheny River.
Warren, Your post (about the Hollywood/Mark Hellinger) AND my post in response to yours turned up on both “blogs” – the one for the theater in Dormont/Pittsburgh and the one you intended on West 51st Street in NYC. Interesting electronic glitch.
Warren, Excellent post, but it does not apply to the Hollywood in the Pittsburgh suburban boro of Dormont. I believe you intended to assign your remarks to the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York, just around the corner from Broadway.
Postscript: Although it’s true that a silent called “The Baffled Burglar” was released in 1907 and a silent called “Poor But Honest” was released in 1923, most movies were so short (often a few seconds to a few minutes) in the first decade or so of the 20th Century that the titles are situations almost certainly were recycled repeatedly.
I suspect the records-keeping was casual at best. Titles, especially, may be used many times, even for major films that have no relationship to one another such as “The Enforcer,” “Crash” and “(The) Unforgiven.”
A Los Angeles-based showbiz attorney told me a few years ago he could not explain how and when certain titles acquire a “hands off” status (think “Gone With the Wind” and “The Sound of Music”) while others may be used again almost immediately.
Surely copyright laws did not govern the naming of seven-minute movies made back in 1905. But that’s just speculation.
I, too, found that the Nickelodeon, identified in 1905 as being at 433-435 Smithfield Street, somehow is 441 Smithfield Street today – and for the past many years.
Can anyone explain why the numbering of addresses on a single specific commercial block, such as one in Downtown Pittsburgh, would change?
For the record, in addition to the 96 seats, patrons on crowded days also occupied standing room.
I don’t want to overload the Cinema 4/South Hills Theatre line with comments about Maxi-Saver, but the word is that it had become dirty and scruffy. Older audiences are too discriminating to settle for that. It’s also what hurt the Denis Theatre’s attempts to appear to the art house crowd in the past decade or so. Middleage and older audiences require higher standards – not lower than average.
Thanks, guys. I’ve seldom had occasion to visit Downtown Coraopolis, but I had an uncle, now deceased, who maintained his accounting office there until he was in his 80s. His second-floor office was on a main street and was near a theater with a traditional marquee, which was still there in the 1980s, I believe. No idea what the street was. Maybe this was the 1970s. It seemed to me it might have been the last moviehouse of its kind still standing (if not functioning) in town.
Your logic is right, I believe, Susan, but historically, in the past fopur decades or so of prosperity, older people – today’s most reticent moviegoers – are the first to respond to economic downturns.
Young people are the last to change their habits. They’re the most eager spenders, which is why advertisers and film companies court them so eagerly. And young people overwhelming buy, buy, buy the moment as product becomes available, not two months later when it’s cheaper.
Can’t access that, Ken.
Thanks, Leo. Are you the same Leo Carlin who is associated with the Philadelphia Eagles? I seem to remember you having an uncle in either Philadelphia or Baltimore at the Forrest Theatre.
Not sure how to establish non-published contact as no information seems to be available on how to reach you.
I don’t believe management of the two Fultons waited a full week to switch films back and forth. Not only could they do so from day to day as they examined box-office figures, but they could make an adjustment even the first day as it suited them. Newspaper ads were locked in days in advance, so they’re not a significant issue here.
Also, though it was in a losing cause, the film distributors tried to keep track of which auditoriums their pictures were playing in because technically each move could generate new booking “terms” for the engagement. But the fast-growing world of multiplexes, with movies jumping freely to larger or smaller auditoriums from day to day or even mid-day, made the tracking of such things virtually impossible in cities where the film companies no longer maintained offices. And they were willing to hire “checkers” only in selected circumstances. Chuck, I sincerely think it will be impossible for you to know which films were in which Fulton auditoriums most weeks. The information never officially existed even on paper. Changes could occur on the basis of verbal instructions, and no one who wasn’t working on the premises from day to day would be the wiser.
“Mogambo” was October 1953. “At War With the Army,” the third of the 16 Martin and Lewis movies and the first in which they were top-billed, opened in December 1950 to big business. It was the picture in which they really hit their stride, although it does not hold up very well today. It was re-released a few years later but didn’t do much at that time.
Sorry, that’s BILL.
Nill, did you get any impression that “Porgy and Bess” might ever be made available to the general public in some form? It’s the highest movie on my wish list at acquire on DVD. There’s no chance I’d see it in NYC.
I understand the Gershwin estate has kept the movie buried, yet stage productions go on and on freely.
Excellent question, Mike. I, too, am eager to see that answered.
As one who grew up from the 1940s to the 1960s, I always enjoyed total recall of what I saw where, and what the second feature was, if any, because each theater was unique and in some way the theater informed the experience of watching the show. (The multiplex experience, with generic bare-bones auditoria, cannot approximate even 10 percent of that sense.)
But as surely as one’s sense of “Custer of the West” was downgraded in a sense by being introduced to it in the squalor of a smelly 42nd Street grind house in the late 1960s, every movie I ever saw at RCMH informed the film with a sense of Music Hall majesty.
I cannot see even a minute of the many movies I first saw at RCMH (Mister Roberts, Indiscreet, Bullitt, The Promise, etc.) without having a sense of what a big deal they seemed when projected in that massive space.
Memorably, that sense of the Music Hall’s splendor felt at odds when the picture didn’t seem to belong there. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why “Play It Again, Sam,” which I’d seen the original cast perform on Broadway a few years earlier, felt a little lost in RCMH even though I liked and still like the picture.
But when I caught “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” at RCMH, there was no question that the theater dwarfed the cheesy animation and that the picture – however suitable for family audiences – had no business being projected in such a grand environment.
LM, Your link worked perfectly for me. I have no idea why some links work for me and some do not, but I appreciate your effort and generosity in doing the transfer into a format I could access.
Sorry, Ken, but despite your postings being news, I keep getting: “The page cannot be displayed.” No idea what the problem is here.
Correct, LM. Crazily enough, in Downtown Pittsburgh, Sixth Avenue takes a half turn when it crosses Liberty Avenhue and becomes Seventh Street. Sixth Avenue is a full city block from the start of Sixth Street.
Sixth Street is/was the location of the Byham (Fulton), former Gateway (previously J.P. Haris / before that the Alvin) and Heinz Hall (formerly Loew’s Penn).
It leads directlyy to what used to be called the Sixth Street Bridge, which officially had been renamed the Roberty Clemente Bridge.
It is called Federal Street when it reaches the North Side on the other side of the Allegheny River.
No luck accessing your marquee files, Ken.
Warren, Your post (about the Hollywood/Mark Hellinger) AND my post in response to yours turned up on both “blogs” – the one for the theater in Dormont/Pittsburgh and the one you intended on West 51st Street in NYC. Interesting electronic glitch.
Warren, Excellent post, but it does not apply to the Hollywood in the Pittsburgh suburban boro of Dormont. I believe you intended to assign your remarks to the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York, just around the corner from Broadway.
Having trouble keeping my checkmark on on this theater.
Postscript: Although it’s true that a silent called “The Baffled Burglar” was released in 1907 and a silent called “Poor But Honest” was released in 1923, most movies were so short (often a few seconds to a few minutes) in the first decade or so of the 20th Century that the titles are situations almost certainly were recycled repeatedly.
I suspect the records-keeping was casual at best. Titles, especially, may be used many times, even for major films that have no relationship to one another such as “The Enforcer,” “Crash” and “(The) Unforgiven.”
A Los Angeles-based showbiz attorney told me a few years ago he could not explain how and when certain titles acquire a “hands off” status (think “Gone With the Wind” and “The Sound of Music”) while others may be used again almost immediately.
Surely copyright laws did not govern the naming of seven-minute movies made back in 1905. But that’s just speculation.
I, too, found that the Nickelodeon, identified in 1905 as being at 433-435 Smithfield Street, somehow is 441 Smithfield Street today – and for the past many years.
Can anyone explain why the numbering of addresses on a single specific commercial block, such as one in Downtown Pittsburgh, would change?
For the record, in addition to the 96 seats, patrons on crowded days also occupied standing room.
The theater closed in 1911.
For the record, this theater was never identified as the Denis Quad.
This theater should have its location changed from Pittsburgh to Dormont.
Any chance this place is in danger of closing?
I don’t want to overload the Cinema 4/South Hills Theatre line with comments about Maxi-Saver, but the word is that it had become dirty and scruffy. Older audiences are too discriminating to settle for that. It’s also what hurt the Denis Theatre’s attempts to appear to the art house crowd in the past decade or so. Middleage and older audiences require higher standards – not lower than average.
Thanks, guys. I’ve seldom had occasion to visit Downtown Coraopolis, but I had an uncle, now deceased, who maintained his accounting office there until he was in his 80s. His second-floor office was on a main street and was near a theater with a traditional marquee, which was still there in the 1980s, I believe. No idea what the street was. Maybe this was the 1970s. It seemed to me it might have been the last moviehouse of its kind still standing (if not functioning) in town.
Your logic is right, I believe, Susan, but historically, in the past fopur decades or so of prosperity, older people – today’s most reticent moviegoers – are the first to respond to economic downturns.
Young people are the last to change their habits. They’re the most eager spenders, which is why advertisers and film companies court them so eagerly. And young people overwhelming buy, buy, buy the moment as product becomes available, not two months later when it’s cheaper.
During the first two years of the theater’s existence, when it was known as the Imperial, it lost money trying to present vaudeville shows.