It’s been some time since I researched this, and I threw away my notes years ago. My main research was conducted at the Johnson County and Olathe Libraries going through countless rolls of microfilm of local newspapers for several months, mainly the Kansas City Star.
I also did a brief internet search, but to this day there is still not much info out there about the Glenwood.
If my information is incorrect, it’s either because my tired eyes deceived me after hours of looking at microfilm, or a reporter got their info wrong. Either way, there is a possibility that my submission should read that Glenwood’s first run of the original Star Wars back in 1977 set a local “Kansas City” record at that time. It would make more sense that a theater in New York City would gross more with regards to Star Wars than a theater in Kansas.
I do remember that not many theaters originally played Star Wars because they thought it wouldn’t do well. So those that did snag it made a ton of money.
I do appreciate you bringing this up, as I want this submission to be as accurate as possible.
I would also be interested in reading the article about the 1983 incident you described, or any other info that you may have on the Glenwood.
Thanks for posting that article Claydoh. You’re right, Dickinson Theatres is comparing the Palazzo 16 with the Glenwood Theatre. I drove by yesterday and took a peek inside the Palazzo and it is very impressive. In my opinion, it is definately the most luxurious theatre in the Kansas City area since the Glenwood. Another article…
Posted on Thu, Dec. 02, 2004
Cinema Paradiso
Overland Park’s new movie megaplex is modeled after an Italian village
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star
M oviegoers will realize something is different the moment they step into Dickinson’s new Palazzo 16 megaplex in south Overland Park.
The lobby, for instance. Only it’s not called the lobby. It’s “The Village,†and it’s been designed to look like the town square of an Italian burg.
A fountain burbles in the middle of the terra-cotta plaza. The left- and right-hand walls look like the facades of two-story buildings with wrought-iron trim and red-tile roofs. In the windows are potted plants trailing vines. Two huge murals composed of hundreds of 4-inch ceramic tiles depict Italian scenes. A dome overhead is painted to look like a summer sky.
And what’s that sound …? Oh, yeah, it’s mandolin music. No screaming guitars or hip-hop shouting for the Palazzo. Here Vivaldi rules.
“We want to provide a calm, sedate experience,†Dickinson president John Hartley said during a recent walk-through of the new complex, which opens for business Friday.
“This is by far the most elaborate theater we’ve built. But we knew this is what we’d have to do to compete in Johnson County.â€
Set on the southeast corner of 135th and Antioch in the Village Pointe Shopping Center, the Palazzo (it’s pronounced pah-laht-zo) is now Johnson County’s southernmost movie house and Overland Park’s first megaplex since the closing of the famed Glenwood several years ago.
The Palazzo’s location is intended to attract residents of neighborhoods that every year creep closer to the Miami County line, while providing some competition for rival AMC’s Leawood Town Center 20 (119th and Nall) and Olathe Studio 30 (119th and I-35).
“This location is on the leading edge of growth in the city,†Hartley said. “Housing developments now stretch out to 179th Street. And the demographics are phenomenal … the average family income in this area is around $135,000.â€
So impressed is Hartley with the education and disposable incomes of the Palazzo’s target audience that he’s considering using a couple of his 16 screens to show popular art movies. The current hit “Sideways†is a good example.
Mediterranean motifs
The Italian theme was Hartley’s idea, inspired in part by visits to the Bellagio and Venice hotel/casinos in Las Vegas. Everywhere you look in the new building there are decorative columns, murals, inlaid tile, recessed lighting. The two long hallways that provide access to the auditoriums are topped off by vaulted ceilings.
The interior was designed by Justin Heigele.
“This Mediterranean design will stand the test of time,†Hartley said. “It’s been good for hundreds of years. It never looks dated.â€
In fact, the Palazzo’s interior is elaborate enough to compare favorably with that of the ultra-luxurious Warren theaters in Wichita. The same KC cinephiles who were heartbroken when Warren backed out of a plan to build a megaplex near the Kansas Speedway will no doubt find many of their movie-going dreams fulfilled by Dickinson’s latest effort.
Even from the outside you can tell that the Palazzo is different.
Many suburban megaplexes radiate institutional austerity with tall, unadorned brick walls that rise forebodingly from the parking lot. But the Palazzo’s designers have peppered the building’s façade with ornamentation, especially faux windows and doorways that seem to invite the passer-by rather than push him away.
Out in front, set in a wide cobblestone piazza, is a large fountain with marble stallions spewing water from their mouths. The fountain was custom-ordered in Italy and shipped in pieces to the United States.
“This was a great project to work on, to get to play with all these design elements,†said architect Darrin Ingram, vice president of design and construction for Midwest Cinema Group, a Dickinson subsidiary. Dickinson is a regional entertainment corporation with headquarters in Overland Park.
Ingram, who also designed AMC’s Town Center 20 complex, said his goal was “simple elegance.â€
Comfort and service
A few of the Palazzo’s amenities:
• Individual auditoriums seat 150 to 500 patrons. The two biggest feature the “Gem†design introduced a year ago at Dickinson’s NorthGlen theater. The Gem auditoriums divide their seating between the floor and a large balcony. To ensure perfect sound no matter where you sit, technicians have custom-designed a speaker system with separate tweeters for the floor and balcony areas.
All auditoriums feature rocker seats with cup-holder arm rests, 18-inch risers in the stadium seating areas and enough legroom that this 6-foot-2 reporter could stretch out in comfort.
• Concession workers are stationed in one of five “pods†designed so that they never have to take more than a few steps to fill a customer’s order. The result, Hartley said, will be faster service and shorter lines.
• On busy days the Palazzo will have a staff of 40, many of whom have been training since September.
Most employees will wear tuxedoes. Doormen will greet patrons. “Floor ambassadors†will be stationed inside auditoriums to check on projection and sound quality and to remove disruptive customers. Employees will be assigned to clean and restock each restroom four times an hour.
Creating a buzz
While not Dickinson’s biggest facility (the chain operates a 20-plex in Tulsa), the Palazzo is certainly its most elaborate and becomes the chain’s flagship theater. It’s already created a buzz in the national theater community.
Hartley said that after a walk-through of the Palazzo, an Arizona financier has agreed to back two similar theaters in the Phoenix area. They would be operated by Dickinson.
And plans are being drawn up for a Palazzo-type facility in Jacksonville, Fla.
Hartley said he wants to bring back some of the glamour of movie-going he recalled from the long-gone Glenwood Theatre.
“Back when we had the Glenwood, customers actually treated the facility better,†he said. “A date at the Glenwood wasn’t just going to see a movie. It was an event.
“And I believe the Palazzo, like the Glenwood, will become a destination location.â€
Claydoh77, I would appreciate it if you could send me those postcard views you are talking about. I have plenty of pics of the Glenwood during it’s final days, but none of the theatre’s early days. My email is .com Thank you.
John, I have a few that I can email to you. They aren’t the best quality, but they are satisfactory. They are on a disk in a storage room that I am cleaning out, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get them to you. If you don’t want to post your email here, just let me know and I will link you to mine.
This would be a tragic loss. It’s unbelievable that the Empire has not been declared a historical landmark by now. I drive by it now and then and am amazed that some in this city can’t see it’s potential. I hope that something can be done. Thanks for keeping us up to date on this Claydoh77.
Gerald, I did not use the Richard Clarke example to defend President Bush. I am fully aware that Clarke does not like the President. So when Mr. Clarke goes on record as saying that the central premise of F911 is a mistake, the red flags go up. I would like to hear Michael Moore answer Clarke’s recent comment on F911.
At this point, the Senate Intelligence Committee has found the information that the CIA collected to be flawed. It has not stated that the Bush administration lied to the American people or the world community, only that they were given flawed information which resulted in the decision to go to war with Iraq. The committee is now focusing on the Bush administration but will not come to it’s conclusions until months after the election. The timing seems suspicious, but at this point, I don’t have any reason to believe the committee is corrupt, unless it is proven otherwise in the future. As far as I know, the 9/11 commission has not stated that President Bush lied, either. I would also like for Mr. Moore to publicly state now, not later, as to whether he respects the Senate Intelligence Committee’s current and future conclusions. If he supports them now, and they come to the conclusion that Bush didn’t lie, he’s stuck with it. If he waits, and they come to that conclusion, I suspect he will attack the Commission’s integrity. Is he willing to take the gamble?
I respect the right of Michael Moore to disagree with President Bush’s reasons for going to war with Iraq. However, unless Mr. Moore is privy to information that the aforementioned investigative bodies is not, I think it is irresponsible for him to lead people to believe that Bush lied until the Senate Committee releases it’s final conclusions about the administration itself. If at that time they state that Bush lied, he can scream about it until he is blue in the face for all I care.
I agree that if you have questions you think President Bush should answer, then he should do just that. That does not excuse Michael Moore from answering some of mine.
I posted here on July 9th that I would be interested in hearing Michael Moore’s comments on the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee and, at the time of this posting, have seen no comments on his website regarding that report. Perhaps he will do so in a few days.
Here is a link to an article by Christopher Hitchens stating the facts that he thinks are wrong in F911. http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/
As I have stated before, Richard Clarke has gone on record as saying that the central premise of F911 is “a mistake”. Mr. Clarke went on to say that he, and he alone, took responsibility for those Saudi departures. This presents an interesting dilemma for Michael Moore. If Mr. Moore says that Richard Clarke is lying, then his source for his central premise is flawed. If Mr. Moore says that Richard Clarke is telling the truth, then his central premise itself is flawed. I have yet to see or hear Mr. Moore comment on this, and Gerald, if you have any links that I can look at, please post them here. I would be interested in seeing them.
Mr. Moore’s use of the term “occupation” is not an innocent choice of words (word). His meaning is very clear. It is a force Iraqis will rise up to and defeat. I find it confusing that he paints the image in F911 that he is supportive of the American troops in Iraq and the victims of 911, yet makes the comments that I have previously posted. You would think that you were talking about two entirely different individuals, yet they are one and the same. It’s so sad, I don’t even think I could call it hypocritical.
I will continue to wait for Michael Moore to comment on the aforementioned controversies. If Michael Moore can meet that “challenge”, I think that it will be a good start to answering some of the more important questions.
You bring up a good point about AMC, Charles. They have done the same thing here in the Kansas City area. Just a few years ago, we had a megaplex boom out here. AMC and Dickinson have both closed some of their smaller theaters out here. We had two brand new megaplexes competing right across the street from each other back in the early to mid 1990’s. Ironically, they both ended up closing. They both lost out to two AMC megalplexes just a few miles away. One is now a health club and the other was torn down to just the frame and two walls and totally rebuilt to house part of the IRS complex out here. It’s really strange to see all of these millions of dollars thrown around like that, like it’s a big game of theateropoly.
“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘The Enemy’. They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow – and they will win.” (Moore’s message posted on his website April 14, 2004)
How are American soldiers supposed to feel when Moore calls them the “occupation” and says that they are going to lose to the Iraqis?
“The kind of people who fly in airplanes want someone else to clean up their mess; that’s why they let hijackers take the plane.”
“The passengers on September 11 were scaredy-cats, because they were mostly white.”
To German fans about Americans Moore asked “Should such an ignorant people lead the world?”
In England, regarding American intelligence: “They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet.”
As for comments 2-5, these are Moore’s generalized, racist comments, not mine. For whatever good Moore does, he turns around and hurts his own credibility by saying things like that. Add to that the people who claim that he has a problem getting his facts straight and that adds up to quite a controversy.
All of this info and much more is available on the internet for anyone who wants to take the time to check into it. You can choose to believe or disbelieve it. But does the controversy itself help or hurt the film industry? I guess we will find out in due time. Gerald, we may not agree on this, but if Michael Moore strikes a chord inside you than all I can say is more power to ya.
Time will tell as to whether Mr. Fridley has made the right decision or not. However, I would not call anyone “backward” because they have a different point of view. Mr. Fridley is exercising his right just as Mr. Moore is, and that is what makes this country great.
I urge people to go see the movie and decide for themselves. However, I also think that people should educate themselves on the controversy surrounding Mr. Moore. Here is a man who has insulted our troops, called Americans “dumb”, and put down Capitilism. Yet he doesn’t seem to have a problem enjoying the freedoms that our troops fight for, or making millions of dollars off of a Capitalistic society filled with “dumb” Americans.
You can like Mr. Moore, or you can hate him. I am posting a link that is not kind to him. I would urge everyone to do a search on Michael Moore and look at the good as well as the bad and decide for yourselves. Then, please feel free to post your comments here. This has become a very interesting debate.
It is difficult to discuss this without going in a totally different direction that would not allow us to stay within the spirit of this website. I will try to keep my comments more focused on Michael Moore’s impact on the film industry and less focused on my political point of view.
I think that Americans are ready for a detailed look at the reasons 911 happened. I think a movie or documentary covering the last 30-40 years of all of our presidential administrations during that time period would give a more accurate account as to what lead up to 911. I also think it would be a boom to the theater industry. If Moore had decided to go in that direction his film may be taking in twice the revenue it is now. Who knows?
You bring up a good point that the Bush administration has it’s credibility problems, and there are facts out there to back that up. That is why I hold Michael Moore to a higher standard. You can’t criticize Bush for his credibility problems when you have plenty of your own. I would dismiss the criticism of him if it were just coming from the conservative side. But the criticism is coming from both sides of the political spectrum, and I can’t ignore that.
A documentary is factual presentation given in artistic form. I feel that Moore lowers the bar, and it may have a negative impact on the film industry. There are bound to be Michael Moore clones in the near future that will follow his lead. If the industry as a whole or part starts to have a credibility problem, that can have a negative impact on box office receipts and hurt, if not cause closure of, some of the smaller theaters that are struggling to get by.
I will have to disagree with you that there is no difference between the works of Michael Moore and Frank Capra or Barbara Kopple. Mr. Capra and Ms. Kopple have earned their respect through integrity. Mr. Moore has yet to achieve that status. One only has to do a google search on each filmmaker individually to see the difference.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this, Gerald. Thank you for the spirited debate and best of luck to you.
Ross, thanks for allowing us to expand upon the subject of the Michael Moore film. I agree wholeheartedly with you about comments about this subject being kept at a civilized and intelligent level. This is where I think Moore drops the ball. He tends to go a little too far out there sometimes, and I don’t know if he is helping or hurting his industry. There seems to be more talk about Moore’s fudging of the facts than his movies themselves. Even Richard Clarke, who served as a principal source for Fahrenheit 911, has said the central premise of the film is “a mistake”. We have a local Kansas City movie chain that is also refusing to show the movie. With all of the movies that have been shown over the last few decades that have an anti-war message, I seriously doubt that these movie theater chains are refusing to show Moore’s movie solely because it is anti-Bush or anti-war. Moore has a growing credibility problem, and I don’t think these theater chains feel that this is a true “documentary”. At the end of a true documentary, I feel that I have been given all of the important facts and am left to make up my own mind. At the end of a Michael Moore film, I feel as though he has tried to make up my mind for me.
Ross, thanks for running such a wonderful website and allowing us to “vent”.
Charles, my family and I thank your son for his courage and commitment to allowing all of us to live in freedom.
I am also sorry to hear about the loss of the Lake Air Cinema. While it is not easy to save any type of theater, it seems that theaters built in the 1950’s and 1960’s are even harder to save than an art deco theater. This is just my opinion, but I believe that art deco theaters cater to the art films and theater plays niche, while megaplexes cater to the mall rat niche. But people who like the futuristic designs of the 50’s and 60’s tend to be ignored, as though there is no market for it. I’ve read several articles over the years about developers who find building designs from that era ugly and immediatley want to tear them down, and I feel that is a shortsighted attitude. There are plenty of baby boomers out there that would love to take their spouse or kids to the place they used go to when they were younger. We had a local theater that was built in 1966, and I used to see all of my sci-fi and action movies there and the futuristic design of that theater added so much to the experience. While it was being torn down, I took my 5 year old son with me to watch some of the demolition and he told me that he thought the design of the theater was really cool and he couldn’t understand why they were “killing it”. Unfortunately, he and many other kids of today are stuck with the cookie cutters and will never know what it is like to see a movie in a “real” theater.
Sorry to hear about the fate of the Garden Theater, John. It still amazes me how many developers saturate an area with retail stores and nothing else. It would seem to make more sense to keep a major anchor, such as the Garden Theater, and build entertainment and retail venues around it. The limited mindset of many developers is frustrating.
Grant, thanks for keeping us up to date on the fate of the Villa. I enjoy visiting your website and reading up on the Villa’s history. Whenever I look at the photos, I just want to jump into the picture and experience what it must have been like to visit the Villa in it’s heyday. You have an amazing website, and I hope you will continue to host it for a long time to come.
Wonderful photos, Andy. Having taken pictures a couple of years ago of the demolition of one of our local theaters, I can appreciate the risk you took from possible falling debris. Thanks for submitting them.
That’s a good idea, Ed. Some local developers and city governments have rushed these demolition plans through the process, and by the time the public finds out, it’s too late. A national organization would be able to let the public know in the early stages what’s going on and what their options are.
I couldn’t agree with you more, John. It would seem to make more sense to renovate the old theatres and build new shops around them with the same design theme as the older buildings/theatres. Some developers have used that idea with some of the new major league baseball parks and it has been very successful. Instead of stripping away a neighborhoods identity, they could add to it.
Thanks for viewing my submission, Charles. The 9578 Metcalf address is incorrect. You are thinking of the Glenwood Arts Theatre in the Metcalf South Mall. The original Glenwood Theatre and the current Glenwood Arts Theatre are not one and the same. I am the person who contributed this page and picture, and this submission is a tribute to the original Glenwood Theatre that sat at 9100 Metcalf from 1966-2000. During it’s demolition, the sign, seats, and other items were bought by the Fine Arts Group and put into storage. Shortly after that, the Fine Arts Group signed a lease occupying the space of the former Metcalf Theatre at the Metcalf South Shopping Mall at 95th and Metcalf. They did a wonderful restoration and integrated some artifacts from the original Glenwood which included the seats and the 40+ feet tall sign. One of the owners told me that he gets quite a few phone calls from people who think that the original Glenwood closed and then moved just a few blocks down the street. The original Glenwood was owned by Dickinson Theatres from 1966-1999 and by Goodrich Quality Theaters from 1999-2000. After it’s demolition, the artifacts, not the theater or company itself, moved a few blocks down the street to be integrated into the Glewood Arts Theatre. The Fine Arts Group is not affiliated with Dickinson or Goodrich. It is common for them to use fixtures from closed and demolished theaters in the theaters that they remodel and operate. Some of the original Glenwood seats were recently installed in the Englewood Theatre on Winner Road. I can understand the confusion, and if I hadn’t followed the demolition of the Glenwood as closely as I did, I would have thought the same thing that you and many other people have. Once again, Charles, thanks for viewing my submission, and if you have any memories of the old Glenwood that you would like to post, I would be interested in reading them.
Ed, the photos are fantastic. They really capture the sad ending to the Grand. I really like the added touch at the front with the black flags, banner and hollywood figures. Thanks for braving the cold and putting in the hard work to bring all of us across the country the latest pics of the final days. I’ve been watching the demolition on the webcam here in Kansas City area and the Grand looks pretty solid to me, not the crumbling disaster it was said to be. Keep the pictures coming.
It’s been some time since I researched this, and I threw away my notes years ago. My main research was conducted at the Johnson County and Olathe Libraries going through countless rolls of microfilm of local newspapers for several months, mainly the Kansas City Star.
I also did a brief internet search, but to this day there is still not much info out there about the Glenwood.
If my information is incorrect, it’s either because my tired eyes deceived me after hours of looking at microfilm, or a reporter got their info wrong. Either way, there is a possibility that my submission should read that Glenwood’s first run of the original Star Wars back in 1977 set a local “Kansas City” record at that time. It would make more sense that a theater in New York City would gross more with regards to Star Wars than a theater in Kansas.
I do remember that not many theaters originally played Star Wars because they thought it wouldn’t do well. So those that did snag it made a ton of money.
I do appreciate you bringing this up, as I want this submission to be as accurate as possible.
I would also be interested in reading the article about the 1983 incident you described, or any other info that you may have on the Glenwood.
Thanks Michael.
Thanks for posting that article Claydoh. You’re right, Dickinson Theatres is comparing the Palazzo 16 with the Glenwood Theatre. I drove by yesterday and took a peek inside the Palazzo and it is very impressive. In my opinion, it is definately the most luxurious theatre in the Kansas City area since the Glenwood. Another article…
Posted on Thu, Dec. 02, 2004
Cinema Paradiso
Overland Park’s new movie megaplex is modeled after an Italian village
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star
M oviegoers will realize something is different the moment they step into Dickinson’s new Palazzo 16 megaplex in south Overland Park.
The lobby, for instance. Only it’s not called the lobby. It’s “The Village,†and it’s been designed to look like the town square of an Italian burg.
A fountain burbles in the middle of the terra-cotta plaza. The left- and right-hand walls look like the facades of two-story buildings with wrought-iron trim and red-tile roofs. In the windows are potted plants trailing vines. Two huge murals composed of hundreds of 4-inch ceramic tiles depict Italian scenes. A dome overhead is painted to look like a summer sky.
And what’s that sound …? Oh, yeah, it’s mandolin music. No screaming guitars or hip-hop shouting for the Palazzo. Here Vivaldi rules.
“We want to provide a calm, sedate experience,†Dickinson president John Hartley said during a recent walk-through of the new complex, which opens for business Friday.
“This is by far the most elaborate theater we’ve built. But we knew this is what we’d have to do to compete in Johnson County.â€
Set on the southeast corner of 135th and Antioch in the Village Pointe Shopping Center, the Palazzo (it’s pronounced pah-laht-zo) is now Johnson County’s southernmost movie house and Overland Park’s first megaplex since the closing of the famed Glenwood several years ago.
The Palazzo’s location is intended to attract residents of neighborhoods that every year creep closer to the Miami County line, while providing some competition for rival AMC’s Leawood Town Center 20 (119th and Nall) and Olathe Studio 30 (119th and I-35).
“This location is on the leading edge of growth in the city,†Hartley said. “Housing developments now stretch out to 179th Street. And the demographics are phenomenal … the average family income in this area is around $135,000.â€
So impressed is Hartley with the education and disposable incomes of the Palazzo’s target audience that he’s considering using a couple of his 16 screens to show popular art movies. The current hit “Sideways†is a good example.
Mediterranean motifs
The Italian theme was Hartley’s idea, inspired in part by visits to the Bellagio and Venice hotel/casinos in Las Vegas. Everywhere you look in the new building there are decorative columns, murals, inlaid tile, recessed lighting. The two long hallways that provide access to the auditoriums are topped off by vaulted ceilings.
The interior was designed by Justin Heigele.
“This Mediterranean design will stand the test of time,†Hartley said. “It’s been good for hundreds of years. It never looks dated.â€
In fact, the Palazzo’s interior is elaborate enough to compare favorably with that of the ultra-luxurious Warren theaters in Wichita. The same KC cinephiles who were heartbroken when Warren backed out of a plan to build a megaplex near the Kansas Speedway will no doubt find many of their movie-going dreams fulfilled by Dickinson’s latest effort.
Even from the outside you can tell that the Palazzo is different.
Many suburban megaplexes radiate institutional austerity with tall, unadorned brick walls that rise forebodingly from the parking lot. But the Palazzo’s designers have peppered the building’s façade with ornamentation, especially faux windows and doorways that seem to invite the passer-by rather than push him away.
Out in front, set in a wide cobblestone piazza, is a large fountain with marble stallions spewing water from their mouths. The fountain was custom-ordered in Italy and shipped in pieces to the United States.
“This was a great project to work on, to get to play with all these design elements,†said architect Darrin Ingram, vice president of design and construction for Midwest Cinema Group, a Dickinson subsidiary. Dickinson is a regional entertainment corporation with headquarters in Overland Park.
Ingram, who also designed AMC’s Town Center 20 complex, said his goal was “simple elegance.â€
Comfort and service
A few of the Palazzo’s amenities:
• Individual auditoriums seat 150 to 500 patrons. The two biggest feature the “Gem†design introduced a year ago at Dickinson’s NorthGlen theater. The Gem auditoriums divide their seating between the floor and a large balcony. To ensure perfect sound no matter where you sit, technicians have custom-designed a speaker system with separate tweeters for the floor and balcony areas.
All auditoriums feature rocker seats with cup-holder arm rests, 18-inch risers in the stadium seating areas and enough legroom that this 6-foot-2 reporter could stretch out in comfort.
• Concession workers are stationed in one of five “pods†designed so that they never have to take more than a few steps to fill a customer’s order. The result, Hartley said, will be faster service and shorter lines.
• On busy days the Palazzo will have a staff of 40, many of whom have been training since September.
Most employees will wear tuxedoes. Doormen will greet patrons. “Floor ambassadors†will be stationed inside auditoriums to check on projection and sound quality and to remove disruptive customers. Employees will be assigned to clean and restock each restroom four times an hour.
Creating a buzz
While not Dickinson’s biggest facility (the chain operates a 20-plex in Tulsa), the Palazzo is certainly its most elaborate and becomes the chain’s flagship theater. It’s already created a buzz in the national theater community.
Hartley said that after a walk-through of the Palazzo, an Arizona financier has agreed to back two similar theaters in the Phoenix area. They would be operated by Dickinson.
And plans are being drawn up for a Palazzo-type facility in Jacksonville, Fla.
Hartley said he wants to bring back some of the glamour of movie-going he recalled from the long-gone Glenwood Theatre.
“Back when we had the Glenwood, customers actually treated the facility better,†he said. “A date at the Glenwood wasn’t just going to see a movie. It was an event.
“And I believe the Palazzo, like the Glenwood, will become a destination location.â€
Claydoh77, I would appreciate it if you could send me those postcard views you are talking about. I have plenty of pics of the Glenwood during it’s final days, but none of the theatre’s early days. My email is .com Thank you.
John, I have a few that I can email to you. They aren’t the best quality, but they are satisfactory. They are on a disk in a storage room that I am cleaning out, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get them to you. If you don’t want to post your email here, just let me know and I will link you to mine.
This would be a tragic loss. It’s unbelievable that the Empire has not been declared a historical landmark by now. I drive by it now and then and am amazed that some in this city can’t see it’s potential. I hope that something can be done. Thanks for keeping us up to date on this Claydoh77.
Hey Ross, ya wanna open up a debate about your age? Just kidding, Happy Birhtday!
Gerald, I did not use the Richard Clarke example to defend President Bush. I am fully aware that Clarke does not like the President. So when Mr. Clarke goes on record as saying that the central premise of F911 is a mistake, the red flags go up. I would like to hear Michael Moore answer Clarke’s recent comment on F911.
At this point, the Senate Intelligence Committee has found the information that the CIA collected to be flawed. It has not stated that the Bush administration lied to the American people or the world community, only that they were given flawed information which resulted in the decision to go to war with Iraq. The committee is now focusing on the Bush administration but will not come to it’s conclusions until months after the election. The timing seems suspicious, but at this point, I don’t have any reason to believe the committee is corrupt, unless it is proven otherwise in the future. As far as I know, the 9/11 commission has not stated that President Bush lied, either. I would also like for Mr. Moore to publicly state now, not later, as to whether he respects the Senate Intelligence Committee’s current and future conclusions. If he supports them now, and they come to the conclusion that Bush didn’t lie, he’s stuck with it. If he waits, and they come to that conclusion, I suspect he will attack the Commission’s integrity. Is he willing to take the gamble?
I respect the right of Michael Moore to disagree with President Bush’s reasons for going to war with Iraq. However, unless Mr. Moore is privy to information that the aforementioned investigative bodies is not, I think it is irresponsible for him to lead people to believe that Bush lied until the Senate Committee releases it’s final conclusions about the administration itself. If at that time they state that Bush lied, he can scream about it until he is blue in the face for all I care.
I agree that if you have questions you think President Bush should answer, then he should do just that. That does not excuse Michael Moore from answering some of mine.
I posted here on July 9th that I would be interested in hearing Michael Moore’s comments on the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee and, at the time of this posting, have seen no comments on his website regarding that report. Perhaps he will do so in a few days.
Here is a link to an article by Christopher Hitchens stating the facts that he thinks are wrong in F911.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/
As I have stated before, Richard Clarke has gone on record as saying that the central premise of F911 is “a mistake”. Mr. Clarke went on to say that he, and he alone, took responsibility for those Saudi departures. This presents an interesting dilemma for Michael Moore. If Mr. Moore says that Richard Clarke is lying, then his source for his central premise is flawed. If Mr. Moore says that Richard Clarke is telling the truth, then his central premise itself is flawed. I have yet to see or hear Mr. Moore comment on this, and Gerald, if you have any links that I can look at, please post them here. I would be interested in seeing them.
Mr. Moore’s use of the term “occupation” is not an innocent choice of words (word). His meaning is very clear. It is a force Iraqis will rise up to and defeat. I find it confusing that he paints the image in F911 that he is supportive of the American troops in Iraq and the victims of 911, yet makes the comments that I have previously posted. You would think that you were talking about two entirely different individuals, yet they are one and the same. It’s so sad, I don’t even think I could call it hypocritical.
I will continue to wait for Michael Moore to comment on the aforementioned controversies. If Michael Moore can meet that “challenge”, I think that it will be a good start to answering some of the more important questions.
It will be interesting to see what Michael Moore has to say about the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee report released today.
You bring up a good point about AMC, Charles. They have done the same thing here in the Kansas City area. Just a few years ago, we had a megaplex boom out here. AMC and Dickinson have both closed some of their smaller theaters out here. We had two brand new megaplexes competing right across the street from each other back in the early to mid 1990’s. Ironically, they both ended up closing. They both lost out to two AMC megalplexes just a few miles away. One is now a health club and the other was torn down to just the frame and two walls and totally rebuilt to house part of the IRS complex out here. It’s really strange to see all of these millions of dollars thrown around like that, like it’s a big game of theateropoly.
Gerald, some of Michael Moore’s comments:
How are American soldiers supposed to feel when Moore calls them the “occupation” and says that they are going to lose to the Iraqis?
“The kind of people who fly in airplanes want someone else to clean up their mess; that’s why they let hijackers take the plane.”
“The passengers on September 11 were scaredy-cats, because they were mostly white.”
To German fans about Americans Moore asked “Should such an ignorant people lead the world?”
In England, regarding American intelligence: “They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet.”
As for comments 2-5, these are Moore’s generalized, racist comments, not mine. For whatever good Moore does, he turns around and hurts his own credibility by saying things like that. Add to that the people who claim that he has a problem getting his facts straight and that adds up to quite a controversy.
All of this info and much more is available on the internet for anyone who wants to take the time to check into it. You can choose to believe or disbelieve it. But does the controversy itself help or hurt the film industry? I guess we will find out in due time. Gerald, we may not agree on this, but if Michael Moore strikes a chord inside you than all I can say is more power to ya.
Time will tell as to whether Mr. Fridley has made the right decision or not. However, I would not call anyone “backward” because they have a different point of view. Mr. Fridley is exercising his right just as Mr. Moore is, and that is what makes this country great.
I urge people to go see the movie and decide for themselves. However, I also think that people should educate themselves on the controversy surrounding Mr. Moore. Here is a man who has insulted our troops, called Americans “dumb”, and put down Capitilism. Yet he doesn’t seem to have a problem enjoying the freedoms that our troops fight for, or making millions of dollars off of a Capitalistic society filled with “dumb” Americans.
You can like Mr. Moore, or you can hate him. I am posting a link that is not kind to him. I would urge everyone to do a search on Michael Moore and look at the good as well as the bad and decide for yourselves. Then, please feel free to post your comments here. This has become a very interesting debate.
View link
Thank you for your response, Gerald.
It is difficult to discuss this without going in a totally different direction that would not allow us to stay within the spirit of this website. I will try to keep my comments more focused on Michael Moore’s impact on the film industry and less focused on my political point of view.
I think that Americans are ready for a detailed look at the reasons 911 happened. I think a movie or documentary covering the last 30-40 years of all of our presidential administrations during that time period would give a more accurate account as to what lead up to 911. I also think it would be a boom to the theater industry. If Moore had decided to go in that direction his film may be taking in twice the revenue it is now. Who knows?
You bring up a good point that the Bush administration has it’s credibility problems, and there are facts out there to back that up. That is why I hold Michael Moore to a higher standard. You can’t criticize Bush for his credibility problems when you have plenty of your own. I would dismiss the criticism of him if it were just coming from the conservative side. But the criticism is coming from both sides of the political spectrum, and I can’t ignore that.
A documentary is factual presentation given in artistic form. I feel that Moore lowers the bar, and it may have a negative impact on the film industry. There are bound to be Michael Moore clones in the near future that will follow his lead. If the industry as a whole or part starts to have a credibility problem, that can have a negative impact on box office receipts and hurt, if not cause closure of, some of the smaller theaters that are struggling to get by.
I will have to disagree with you that there is no difference between the works of Michael Moore and Frank Capra or Barbara Kopple. Mr. Capra and Ms. Kopple have earned their respect through integrity. Mr. Moore has yet to achieve that status. One only has to do a google search on each filmmaker individually to see the difference.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this, Gerald. Thank you for the spirited debate and best of luck to you.
Ross, thanks for allowing us to expand upon the subject of the Michael Moore film. I agree wholeheartedly with you about comments about this subject being kept at a civilized and intelligent level. This is where I think Moore drops the ball. He tends to go a little too far out there sometimes, and I don’t know if he is helping or hurting his industry. There seems to be more talk about Moore’s fudging of the facts than his movies themselves. Even Richard Clarke, who served as a principal source for Fahrenheit 911, has said the central premise of the film is “a mistake”. We have a local Kansas City movie chain that is also refusing to show the movie. With all of the movies that have been shown over the last few decades that have an anti-war message, I seriously doubt that these movie theater chains are refusing to show Moore’s movie solely because it is anti-Bush or anti-war. Moore has a growing credibility problem, and I don’t think these theater chains feel that this is a true “documentary”. At the end of a true documentary, I feel that I have been given all of the important facts and am left to make up my own mind. At the end of a Michael Moore film, I feel as though he has tried to make up my mind for me.
Ross, thanks for running such a wonderful website and allowing us to “vent”.
Charles, my family and I thank your son for his courage and commitment to allowing all of us to live in freedom.
I am also sorry to hear about the loss of the Lake Air Cinema. While it is not easy to save any type of theater, it seems that theaters built in the 1950’s and 1960’s are even harder to save than an art deco theater. This is just my opinion, but I believe that art deco theaters cater to the art films and theater plays niche, while megaplexes cater to the mall rat niche. But people who like the futuristic designs of the 50’s and 60’s tend to be ignored, as though there is no market for it. I’ve read several articles over the years about developers who find building designs from that era ugly and immediatley want to tear them down, and I feel that is a shortsighted attitude. There are plenty of baby boomers out there that would love to take their spouse or kids to the place they used go to when they were younger. We had a local theater that was built in 1966, and I used to see all of my sci-fi and action movies there and the futuristic design of that theater added so much to the experience. While it was being torn down, I took my 5 year old son with me to watch some of the demolition and he told me that he thought the design of the theater was really cool and he couldn’t understand why they were “killing it”. Unfortunately, he and many other kids of today are stuck with the cookie cutters and will never know what it is like to see a movie in a “real” theater.
Sorry to hear about the fate of the Garden Theater, John. It still amazes me how many developers saturate an area with retail stores and nothing else. It would seem to make more sense to keep a major anchor, such as the Garden Theater, and build entertainment and retail venues around it. The limited mindset of many developers is frustrating.
It is sad to see this happen. Hopefully, someone can buy the property and reopen it.
Grant, thanks for keeping us up to date on the fate of the Villa. I enjoy visiting your website and reading up on the Villa’s history. Whenever I look at the photos, I just want to jump into the picture and experience what it must have been like to visit the Villa in it’s heyday. You have an amazing website, and I hope you will continue to host it for a long time to come.
I’ll email you a couple of them, Andy.
Wonderful photos, Andy. Having taken pictures a couple of years ago of the demolition of one of our local theaters, I can appreciate the risk you took from possible falling debris. Thanks for submitting them.
That’s a good idea, Ed. Some local developers and city governments have rushed these demolition plans through the process, and by the time the public finds out, it’s too late. A national organization would be able to let the public know in the early stages what’s going on and what their options are.
I couldn’t agree with you more, John. It would seem to make more sense to renovate the old theatres and build new shops around them with the same design theme as the older buildings/theatres. Some developers have used that idea with some of the new major league baseball parks and it has been very successful. Instead of stripping away a neighborhoods identity, they could add to it.
Thanks for viewing my submission, Charles. The 9578 Metcalf address is incorrect. You are thinking of the Glenwood Arts Theatre in the Metcalf South Mall. The original Glenwood Theatre and the current Glenwood Arts Theatre are not one and the same. I am the person who contributed this page and picture, and this submission is a tribute to the original Glenwood Theatre that sat at 9100 Metcalf from 1966-2000. During it’s demolition, the sign, seats, and other items were bought by the Fine Arts Group and put into storage. Shortly after that, the Fine Arts Group signed a lease occupying the space of the former Metcalf Theatre at the Metcalf South Shopping Mall at 95th and Metcalf. They did a wonderful restoration and integrated some artifacts from the original Glenwood which included the seats and the 40+ feet tall sign. One of the owners told me that he gets quite a few phone calls from people who think that the original Glenwood closed and then moved just a few blocks down the street. The original Glenwood was owned by Dickinson Theatres from 1966-1999 and by Goodrich Quality Theaters from 1999-2000. After it’s demolition, the artifacts, not the theater or company itself, moved a few blocks down the street to be integrated into the Glewood Arts Theatre. The Fine Arts Group is not affiliated with Dickinson or Goodrich. It is common for them to use fixtures from closed and demolished theaters in the theaters that they remodel and operate. Some of the original Glenwood seats were recently installed in the Englewood Theatre on Winner Road. I can understand the confusion, and if I hadn’t followed the demolition of the Glenwood as closely as I did, I would have thought the same thing that you and many other people have. Once again, Charles, thanks for viewing my submission, and if you have any memories of the old Glenwood that you would like to post, I would be interested in reading them.
Ed, the photos are fantastic. They really capture the sad ending to the Grand. I really like the added touch at the front with the black flags, banner and hollywood figures. Thanks for braving the cold and putting in the hard work to bring all of us across the country the latest pics of the final days. I’ve been watching the demolition on the webcam here in Kansas City area and the Grand looks pretty solid to me, not the crumbling disaster it was said to be. Keep the pictures coming.