Comments from Billinuk

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Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Hartman Theater on Jan 16, 2013 at 2:42 pm

I never saw a film at the Hartman Theatre but I did see a touring production of Half a Sixpence there. For a few years Danny Deeds whoowned the Maramoor resturant ran the theatre subscription series there , Ray Milland in Hostile Witness, Bob Cumming in The Wayward Stork, and Eve La Gallienne’s National Repertory Theatre all played there in the mid-sixites. I never sat in the orchestra only up in the second balcony where there were no seats just wooden benches ( with backs) .

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Town & Country Cinema on Jan 16, 2013 at 2:36 pm

I remember those ‘early bird" 50 cent matinees. I saw a fair number of movies there including Torn Curtain, Penelope, Hombre, Glen Ford in Rage, The Stalking Moon etc. I always liked the theatre but Jlgreenlee ’s comment about the Cinema East is true, that was a classy place – I belive it opened with a roadshow of Lord Jim, but I remember seeing a wide range of films there from Caprice to a sneak preview of Viva Maria! .

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Bexley Theatre on Oct 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm

I grew up in EastMoor and moved away in 1967. Prior to that I went to the Bexley fairly often ( as often as a movie obsessed 11 year old can be). The first time I went there was with my parents to see The Mouse That Roared. I remember being disappointed because the ( spoiler alert) the mouse didn’t appear until the very end. Other films I saw there were Jacques Cousteau’s World Without Sun, The Czech film The Shameless Old Lady, The World of Harold Lloyd ( which had its “world premiere” there), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and on a Sunday night: Jules and Jim. On Sunday and Monday evenings they had the Janus Film series which were basically an ongoing selection of what are now mostly Criterion Collection DVDs . I loved the Bexley, I thought it was in the best sense of the word an “Adult” theatre and when I moved away I was sad at its decline.

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Esquire Theatre on Aug 21, 2012 at 7:17 pm

I grew up three blocks from the Esquire and from about the age of 6 through to 9 I spent almost every Saturday afternoon there. The admission price was 50 cents ( The Drexel was 35 cents) . I can remember seeing all sorts of horror movies there as well as a double feature of Gigi and Lili. And for some reason or another Rory Calhoun in The Colosses of Rhodes was a major event ( for me) at the Esquire. Whenever they didn’t have a one sheet for the theatre’s next attraction they put in a poster for “Night Train to Munich” after a few months of seeing the poster on and off I remember I begged the woman in the Box office to tell me if they were ever going to show it. I don’t remember her response.

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Charles Cinema on May 20, 2012 at 2:37 am

In the late 60’s / early 70’s When the Music Hall showed movies it was the largest screen, followed by the Astor and then I think the Savoy. Thanks to the the closing of those theatres the Charles moved up the ladder. I don’t remember the Cinema 57 screen being that large but if you guys say so, I’m willing to believe it.

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Charles Cinema on Nov 29, 2010 at 4:00 am

Really? I have no memory of that at all. yikes.

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Charles Cinema on Nov 28, 2010 at 12:59 pm

I moved to Boston in the fall of 67 and I went to the Charles Cinema a lot before I went down to new York and college in 1972. I remember thinking that the Charles was a pretty classy place, I saw Truffauts The Bride Wore Black there as well as William Friedkin’s film of Pinter’s The Birthday Party and I even saw a Richard Attenborough film called Only When I Larf there. I was saddened when it became a triplex theatre but such is the way of the world.

Billinuk
Billinuk commented about Publix Theatre on Jun 30, 2010 at 7:10 am

I moved to Boston in 1967 and lived there til I went off to college in 1972. Not knowing anything about “the combat zone” or what was or wasn’t a good section of town or a bad one, I thought nothing of going to the Publix or the Center theatres on a regular basis – 50 or 75 cents admission and it was always a decent double feature. After a couple of years of doing this , I came home one night and my parents who knew where I had been were very upset, they had heard that the Publix was arun down filthy movie theatre with a “bad element”. I told them that it was a bit run down but they had double features and the price was right. They then forbade me to go there again – not explainging why. Of course the next time they had a double feature that I wanted to see I went, but now that they had told me it had a bad element, that was all that I could see – the audience was kind of grungy and the seats were broken and the restrooms had an element of danger. I didn’t feel safe. My rose colored glasses were off. `and while the Center was a rather utilitarian theatre, the Publix and the Paramount were clearly once very classy places fallen on hard times.