Comments from CSWalczak

Showing 76 - 100 of 3,494 comments

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Lawrence Opera House on Dec 11, 2012 at 11:45 am

There is additional historical detail about and pictures of the Lawrence Opera House here. The pictures will enlarge if clicked upon.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about RKO Proctor's Theatre on Dec 11, 2012 at 11:14 am

A picture showing the theater’s marquee can be seen here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about White House Cinema on Dec 11, 2012 at 11:09 am

There is some additional historical detail about the White House Cinema on this webpage; (scroll down about two-thirds of the way down).

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Tower Cinema on Dec 11, 2012 at 10:49 am

A photo of the theatre’s signage can be seen here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Southroads 4 Theatres on Dec 11, 2012 at 2:55 am

A picture of this theater’s marquee can be seen here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Parliament Theatre on Dec 11, 2012 at 2:47 am

Chuck, I put the photo back as a link on the Parliament Cinema page; you might want to move it to the photos page there; if you do, I will remove my comment with the link. I should have probably let you do that, since you posted the photo originally.

Ken may have inadvertently removed some still valid commentary when he took out the now-extraneous, irrelevant, and/or inaccurate comments; let us hope contributors can or will restore pertinent information to the respective pages.

In my note to him, I pointed out that the Parliament Cinema was in fact the final name of the Gay/Bluebell and the B&W photo was on the wrong page. I did say that after the clean-ups were made, some comments could be removed, but the decision regarding which ones were his. At least, what is on both respective pages now appears accurate. I don’t know if any still-valuable comments could be restored; I would guess probably not.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Happy 50th, “Lawrence of Arabia” on Dec 10, 2012 at 4:33 pm

It has to be remembered that LOA came out aound the same time as “How the West Was Won” and some other really big films that probably were seen by some as more action-oriented. My recollection is that among my moviegoing friends and relations at the time, many thought that this film was either too intellectual and/or too long. I cannot recall who was with us when we saw it the second time, but as we were leaving, he kept saying, “Sand, sand, all that [bleeped] sand! I kept wanting to go the refreshment stand.”

Some weeks ago, I went to that recent one-night-only showing of the restored and digitally presented LOA at the Regal Saint Louis Mills megaplex here in the Saint Louis area. (There were all of three people in the large screening room including myself). The overture began, just as it did when first released, but unlike the original roadshow presentations, the lights were not dimmed.

After a few minutes a (very) young theater employee came in and stood in the wide aisle between the two sections of stadium seating, shouting up at us “We’re sorry that there is this music but no picture; we are trying to fix it.”

I shouted back down: “It’s OK – this is something called an overture – they used to have them for certain films that came out long before you were born. There will also be something called an intermission in about an hour and half; don’t panic; there will also be some music with no picture after that, too.”

Another reminder that I am getting old.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Dixie Theatre on Dec 10, 2012 at 3:42 pm

The Dixie has been demolished; this occurred sometime after 2007. A picture of the theater and the site after its demolition can be seen on this blogpage (scroll down about half way).

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Gallo Theatre on Dec 10, 2012 at 3:37 pm

Scroll down about halfway on this blogpage to see a photo of the closed Gallo Theater and the site after its demolition.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 3:12 pm

Photos of the interior of the RAF Mildenhall Theatre can be seen here and here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Parliament Theatre on Dec 10, 2012 at 1:54 pm

This theatre should not be confused with the later Parliament Cinema which was also on Parliament Street, a few blocks away, and was only named that after this Parliament Theatre closed.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Happy 50th, “Lawrence of Arabia” on Dec 10, 2012 at 11:18 am

“Lawrence” is a bit of a sad memory for me for it was the last film shown at Thomas Lamb-designed Loew’s Stillman in Cleveland; after its reserved seat run there closed, the auditorium was razed and all that remains is a bit of the lobby used as an entrance to a parking structure built for he adjacent Statler-Hilton Hote . The closing of the Stillman basically began the slow and painful decline of Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. One after another, the great theaters of the area – the Stillman, the Allen, the State, the Ohio, the Palace, the Hanna – would all close. Fortunately, they – except for the Stillman – would survive to be restored, though they were some close calls before that happened.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Parliament Cinema on Dec 10, 2012 at 10:12 am

Here is a picture of this theatre in its final incarnation as the Parliament Cinema. As such, it should not be confused with an earlier and much larger Parliament Theatre which was once a few blocks away.

This webpage includes a reminiscence of Cabbagetown resident who attended the theatre as a youth when it was the Gay Theatre.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Billiken Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 9:42 am

As a current resident of STL, I thought exactly the same thing, so I looked up “Billiken.“ The explanation for its name being applied to this Alaskan theater can be found on this Wikipedia page, and it is not what I would have thought.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Pickford Film Center on Dec 10, 2012 at 9:32 am

Exterior pictures of he Pickford Film Center can be seen here and here. A view of the lobby can be seen here, and one of the Center’s larger screening room can be seen here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Ritz Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 9:16 am

This webpage has some more information about the Ace and shows an aerial view of its former site.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Orpheum Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 1:02 am

It is a photo of the Orpheum in Kodiak; here is another view. Perhaps all the original exterior detail was covered over by all that white siding.

Thre theater will be using digital projection as of 2013: View article

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Billiken Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 12:53 am

This theater now has digital projection: View article

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Midwest Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 12:36 am

I am wondering, though, if that was the original name of the Egyptian, which stood on the same site until it was destroyed in a 1945 fire. The Boxoffice article cited by Joe Vogel indicates that this theater opened as the Midwest.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Egyptian Theatre on Dec 10, 2012 at 12:31 am

Here is a blog page, with pictures, about the fire.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Fourche Theater on Dec 10, 2012 at 12:24 am

This theater may have opened in 1939 as the New Theater, which was a replacement for an earlier wood-frame theater called the Rainbow on the same site.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Yorkdale Six Cinemas on Dec 9, 2012 at 11:09 pm

If the information on the Rivest site is correct, The original Yorkdale Theatres opened along with the rest of the original Yorkdale Mall in 1964. It was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, purpose-built twin theatres in Canada. As Tim Elliot noted, one theatre was referred to as the Yorkdale Theatre and was the larger of the two; the other was the Yorkdale Cinema (you can see this fact in the signage in the black and white photo). This may have been a reflection of the fact that originally, the theater was a joint venture between Famous Players and 20th Century Theatres, with perhaps each company responsible for one of the two theatres.

In 1980, the Yorkdale Theatre was split in half. In 1986, three screens were added in an addition to the building; at some point around that time, Famous Players absorbed 20th Century.

The Yorkdale 6 closed in 1999 when the SilverCity 10 opened; was the SilverCity a new build or did it incorporate at least part of the space occupied by the Yorkdale 6? If it was a completely new build, the Yorkdale 6 should probably have its own listing.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Cinema III (II) on Dec 9, 2012 at 5:53 pm

This webpage shows pictures of the second Cinema III in Charlevoix. The official website is: http://www.charlevoixmovies.com/.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about Cinema III (I) on Dec 9, 2012 at 5:42 pm

This website shows the original Cinema III and a picture of the building after it was refaced and converted to a clothing store. The third picture and accompanying article relate to the second Cinema III on Antrim Street which has its own page here on CT

CSWalczak
CSWalczak commented about CineArts 5 at Pleasant Hill on Dec 9, 2012 at 1:23 pm

The CineArts domed theater may be facing closing and demolition: View article