Everyman Theatre
315 West Fayette Street,
Baltimore,
MD
21201
315 West Fayette Street,
Baltimore,
MD
21201
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 28 of 28 comments
What is the current status of the Town? Is the city of Baltimore planning to do anything with this theatre. One restored movie palace doesn’t make a theatre district. I think that the New and the Town have lasted so long that the city should try to save them as part of there massive redevelopment of Downtown. I find that a group of restored theatres bring a lot more people downtown and help revive an area that had been dying and left for dead. Baltimore should look to Pittsburg,Cleveland,Columbus,Boston,Detroit,Seattle,San Francisco,Hollywood,Chicago,Minneapolis,Toronto and a few others.brucec
The Town’s theatre Cinerama history is rather checkered. The first “miscalculation” occured when it was decided to show Cinerama in Baltimore in the first place. Way back in 1953/54 when Stanley Warner was trying to get contracts with major producers such as Warner Brothers, one of the main points of contention was that SW insisted that Cinerama not be shown in theatres closer than 200 miles apart. This was not adhered to. It may be argued that the Philly engagement suffered from its proximity to New York. On the other hand, Detroit received much of its trade from Canada, despite its proximity to Chicago. With Baltimore (40 miles from DC, 100 miles from Philadelphia), there was a risk involved. Possibly sensing this, SW for the first time initiated an agreement with the theatre owner whereby the latter managed the house, as opposed to prior venues where SW operated the theatre on a “four-wall” basis keeping all the boxoffice, after paying all the expenses, itself. At any rate, “This Is Cinerama” opened at the Towne as the 30th Cinerama operation on 8/28/57 running for only 16 weeks (as opposed to 100 wks in DC and 72 wks in Philly). The 2nd Cinerama travelogue, “Cinerama Holiday,” didn’t even run. “7 Wonders of The World,” number 3, opened in January of 1958, followed by “Search for Paradise” that Spring which lasted all of 3 weeks. “South Seas Adventure,” like “Cinerama Holiday,” didn’t even get a chance. After re-installation, the MGM Cinerama films began 4/11/63 and run only until September of that year. The 70mm flavor of Cinerama begin in February of 1964. On the other hand, the rival CineMiracle process utilized with the film “Windjammer” played the Mayfair for 12 weeks from February to May, 1960.
I’m surprised that Mr. VanBibber failed to mention that from 1961-1970 the Town was the Cinerama theatre in Baltimore. Until the mid-70’s the Town had a small sign atop its marquee claiming itself as the only Cinerama house in Maryland. This included the original three-strip and the one-projector systems. It showed almost almost every Cinerama movie with a few exceptions. Local bookings for Baltimore theatres could be quirky; some films that originated as 70mm roadshow engagements elsewhere were shown in Baltimore in 35mm with continuous showings. For some unexplained reason, “The Battle of The Bulge” played at the Hippodrome in 35mm after its reserved seat engagements; it was never shown in 70mm or 70mm Cinerama at the Town. “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” was shown at the New after its Cinerama runs; Whether it was a 70mm presentation or in 35mm remains unkown. “Krakatoa”, the final film presented in Cinerama, opened at the New in Super 70.
My first encounter with three-strip Cinerama was at the Town. My father treated me on Labor Day and took me downtown to see “How The West Was Won”. Being cynical I believed Cinerama was another silly gimmick from Hollywood. HOwever, when the Cinerama screen flew me across the Rockies at the beginning and the incredible stereophonic sound made me believe the chorus was actually there I was a true believer. I came back later to see “Khartoum”, “Grand Prix” and “2001: A Space Oddysey”. The Cinerama purists believe that the one-projector system did not hold a candle to the true Cinerama, but being young at the time I thought there was no difference – but then, I was young.
The Town also shown 70mm films which included “El Cid” and the second version of “The Mutiny On The Bounty”. I saw also the 70mm blowup version of “Finian’s Rainbow” at the Town.