Quick updates – the ceiling painting is going very well – view a slideshow at the top of our photo gallery page: View link
Also – the Big Screen Classics fall season opens on October 23 with the new restored print of David Lean’s epic BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.
Saturday, November 6, will be the “Salute to Universal Horror” during the Horror-Thon, featuring the films: DRACULA, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943), HOUSE OF DRACULA, and the 75th Anniversary presentation of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.
I posted the following good news last night on our website:
Nelson Page is proud to announce that the Lafayette Theatre’s long-overdue ceiling cleaning and repair â€" which includes scraping, refinishing, and repainting as well as replacement of plasterwork that has been damaged over the years â€" will be taking place from August through October.
We are thrilled that the Benmosche family is making the long-term future of the Lafayette Theatre a reality by their commitment of $250,000 to this project. As the landlords of the building, the Benmosche’s have long been dedicated to keeping the Lafayette Theatre and downtown Suffern a vital place to visit.
The Lafayette Theatre will be closed from August 16 through October 21 for this work to take place. Please keep your eye on our website and your e-mail for details on upcoming films and live events at the Lafayette. We’re happy that our world-famous Horror-Thon will return on the weekend of November 5 â€" 7; the Big Screen Classics Saturday matinee series returns on October 23; and Sunday morning movies from our friends at the Rivertown Film Society will be back starting on October 24.
We hope to install a live webcam so that you can log on and see the work in progress â€" watch your e-mail for details on how to view it once it’s hooked up and ready.
The Castro is not a first-run theatre, so they do not fall into the “open 7 days” and showtimes policy that the Grand Lake and most other first-run locations do.
Great article, Michael. I remember seeing it about 3 weeks into the first run at the UA Wayne in New Jersey on a Saturday afternoon sold-out show. The place went nuts during the Ben Gardner boat sequence.
One minor correction – Jerry Goldsmith scored Spielberg’s segment from “Twilight Zone: The movie”.
On-screen ads are terrible in theatres – and the AMC in Rockaway is the worst of the lot. I saw a film there a few weeks ago that not only had a ridiculous 7 trailers (1 or 2 is more effective for the audience), it had a horrific 30+ minute pre-show commercial reel. Despicable.
The Robe was absolutely NOT made in 3-D. 5 minutes of research would give you the correct answer: The Robe was the first release in CinemaScope. Also, why are they wearing red/blue glasses? Almost no theatrical features were shown that way.
Nice article! I remember cutting afternoon high school classes to drive down to opening day at the RKO Route 4 Paramus. I think we ended up seeing the 5-ish show. While I was not enamored of the film – Fred Clarke’s review above mirrors my own thoughts – it was a great experience with a packed house.
Glad everyone enjoyed “It’s a Gift” yesterday – a true comedy classic. The next four shows (as was It’s a Gift) are all going to be showing in pristine studio prints: Gilda, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Eve, and The Red Shoes (new restoration) so I hope to see some of you there.
We just posted a video on YouTube of a brief excerpt form a 1926 newsreel showing the front & marquee of the Lafayette Theatre and the crowd coming out of a show. View it here: Lafayette Newsreel
The print I ran at the Lafayette yesterday (the only currently available studio print) was from Paramount’s 1989 re-issue, where they blew up the VV image to fill CinemaScope proportions. The aspect was a little closer to 2.2:1. The sound on the film was Dolby “A” stereo with very little surround activity, none of the sound effects or dialogue are in stereo, only the music. Glad you enjoyed the show!
The LJ ran a local collector’s print, which was nice to see though the print itself was in varying degrees of condition and completeness. Sound, of course, was mono on that one.
Great news – wish I could be there. Did you finally get them to spring for Academy-ratio lenses & plates? We’re running it at the Lafayette on May 8 – please take good care of the print ;)
Hope we see some of the CT regulars come to the Lafayette tomorrow morning for the Big Screen Classics spring season opening attraction – DOCTOR NO. I inspected the print last night and it looks to be in great shape and – surprise – has the re-mastered stereo soundtrack.
The digital 3-D system debuted this weekend and looks as good as it can – excellent brightness & uniformity. With nearly 1000 seats – and about 600 prime seating locations for 3-D – the Lafayette is a great place to showcase. We hope you can come out and experience it soon.
The Lafayette’s new digital projection system premieres on Friday 3/5 with Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, presented in Real-D 3-D. Hope some of you come out for the historic event this weekend!
Fascinating article Michael, thanks for writing it. Somewhere in my house I have a foot-long chunk of a 70mm print of SoM, it was given to me by a projectionist I worked with at the Cinema 46 in Totowa, NJ. The reel it came from was in the booth of the Cinema 46 and was from a print that ran at the Bellevue in Upper Montclair. If I recall his discussion about it, they had two prints over the 100 weeks it played there (he was the chief projectionist) and this reel was from the second print. He took it with him and used it as his 70mm set-up reel at the Cinema 46. It was bizarre to come in early one morning at Cinema 46 and see a faded reel from the film playing just prior to our 70mm engagement of Poltergiest there.
While we don’t have any regularly scheduled classics set up for Cedar Lane, we hope to do the occasional show. Ironically, one of the problems is the theatre’s success with its regular line-up of first-run, indie, and foreign films – the studios do not like us scheduling the classic film shows at a time when we have to cancel a showing of one of the regular films.
Quick updates – the ceiling painting is going very well – view a slideshow at the top of our photo gallery page:
View link
Also – the Big Screen Classics fall season opens on October 23 with the new restored print of David Lean’s epic BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.
Saturday, November 6, will be the “Salute to Universal Horror” during the Horror-Thon, featuring the films: DRACULA, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943), HOUSE OF DRACULA, and the 75th Anniversary presentation of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.
It’s an idiotic idea – these are snack foods.
Janus Films is handling screenings of Chaplin’s longer films in the USA and has 35mm prints: http://janusfilms.com/chaplin/
Shorts are available in 35mm from Kino International:
View link
I posted the following good news last night on our website:
Nelson Page is proud to announce that the Lafayette Theatre’s long-overdue ceiling cleaning and repair â€" which includes scraping, refinishing, and repainting as well as replacement of plasterwork that has been damaged over the years â€" will be taking place from August through October.
We are thrilled that the Benmosche family is making the long-term future of the Lafayette Theatre a reality by their commitment of $250,000 to this project. As the landlords of the building, the Benmosche’s have long been dedicated to keeping the Lafayette Theatre and downtown Suffern a vital place to visit.
The Lafayette Theatre will be closed from August 16 through October 21 for this work to take place. Please keep your eye on our website and your e-mail for details on upcoming films and live events at the Lafayette. We’re happy that our world-famous Horror-Thon will return on the weekend of November 5 â€" 7; the Big Screen Classics Saturday matinee series returns on October 23; and Sunday morning movies from our friends at the Rivertown Film Society will be back starting on October 24.
We hope to install a live webcam so that you can log on and see the work in progress â€" watch your e-mail for details on how to view it once it’s hooked up and ready.
Thanks, and see you at the movies!
The Castro is not a first-run theatre, so they do not fall into the “open 7 days” and showtimes policy that the Grand Lake and most other first-run locations do.
Here’s the CT link to the theatre referred to above as the ‘UA Wayne’ in Wayne, NJ:
/theaters/11614/
It’s currently called “Clearview’s Wayne Preakness Cinemas”
Great article, Michael. I remember seeing it about 3 weeks into the first run at the UA Wayne in New Jersey on a Saturday afternoon sold-out show. The place went nuts during the Ben Gardner boat sequence.
One minor correction – Jerry Goldsmith scored Spielberg’s segment from “Twilight Zone: The movie”.
On-screen ads are terrible in theatres – and the AMC in Rockaway is the worst of the lot. I saw a film there a few weeks ago that not only had a ridiculous 7 trailers (1 or 2 is more effective for the audience), it had a horrific 30+ minute pre-show commercial reel. Despicable.
Thanks bolorkay. Yes, the Horror-Thon will be returning this October.
The Robe was absolutely NOT made in 3-D. 5 minutes of research would give you the correct answer: The Robe was the first release in CinemaScope. Also, why are they wearing red/blue glasses? Almost no theatrical features were shown that way.
Nice article! I remember cutting afternoon high school classes to drive down to opening day at the RKO Route 4 Paramus. I think we ended up seeing the 5-ish show. While I was not enamored of the film – Fred Clarke’s review above mirrors my own thoughts – it was a great experience with a packed house.
Glad everyone enjoyed “It’s a Gift” yesterday – a true comedy classic. The next four shows (as was It’s a Gift) are all going to be showing in pristine studio prints: Gilda, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Eve, and The Red Shoes (new restoration) so I hope to see some of you there.
We just posted a video on YouTube of a brief excerpt form a 1926 newsreel showing the front & marquee of the Lafayette Theatre and the crowd coming out of a show. View it here:
Lafayette Newsreel
The print I ran at the Lafayette yesterday (the only currently available studio print) was from Paramount’s 1989 re-issue, where they blew up the VV image to fill CinemaScope proportions. The aspect was a little closer to 2.2:1. The sound on the film was Dolby “A” stereo with very little surround activity, none of the sound effects or dialogue are in stereo, only the music. Glad you enjoyed the show!
The LJ ran a local collector’s print, which was nice to see though the print itself was in varying degrees of condition and completeness. Sound, of course, was mono on that one.
Glad y
How did the show go?
Great news – wish I could be there. Did you finally get them to spring for Academy-ratio lenses & plates? We’re running it at the Lafayette on May 8 – please take good care of the print ;)
As far as I know, there is no air conditioning at the Jersey.
Thank you for the kind words, bolorkay. Glad you had a good time at the show.
It doesn’t have the original sound mix on it.
Hope we see some of the CT regulars come to the Lafayette tomorrow morning for the Big Screen Classics spring season opening attraction – DOCTOR NO. I inspected the print last night and it looks to be in great shape and – surprise – has the re-mastered stereo soundtrack.
The digital 3-D system debuted this weekend and looks as good as it can – excellent brightness & uniformity. With nearly 1000 seats – and about 600 prime seating locations for 3-D – the Lafayette is a great place to showcase. We hope you can come out and experience it soon.
2K for now.
The Lafayette’s new digital projection system premieres on Friday 3/5 with Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, presented in Real-D 3-D. Hope some of you come out for the historic event this weekend!
Fascinating article Michael, thanks for writing it. Somewhere in my house I have a foot-long chunk of a 70mm print of SoM, it was given to me by a projectionist I worked with at the Cinema 46 in Totowa, NJ. The reel it came from was in the booth of the Cinema 46 and was from a print that ran at the Bellevue in Upper Montclair. If I recall his discussion about it, they had two prints over the 100 weeks it played there (he was the chief projectionist) and this reel was from the second print. He took it with him and used it as his 70mm set-up reel at the Cinema 46. It was bizarre to come in early one morning at Cinema 46 and see a faded reel from the film playing just prior to our 70mm engagement of Poltergiest there.
While we don’t have any regularly scheduled classics set up for Cedar Lane, we hope to do the occasional show. Ironically, one of the problems is the theatre’s success with its regular line-up of first-run, indie, and foreign films – the studios do not like us scheduling the classic film shows at a time when we have to cancel a showing of one of the regular films.