I have fond memories of the Art Cinema, in all it’s porn glory.
In the late sixties while still in my late teens, my Dad got me the job of putting up the marquee letters each week for it’s XXX movies. I got paid $25 cash by the theater manager, Jerry, who was a nice portly fellow and always friendly to me.
My Dad, a local sign painter, had the job of creating clean, word-only, flourescent color versions of the posters that hung in the glass cases outside the theater every week.
I would arrive, get the titles from the manager and then walk through the theater while the films were running, to a tiny room under the screen where the large plastic letters were kept. Then, I’d grab what I needed in a box and head back up the main aisle past the patrons and out the front door where I’d set up a tall A-frame ladder and get to work spelling out the movie titles. Occasionally, a letter would fall and shatter on the sidewalk. Sometimes there wasn’t enough correct letters and I’d have to get creative, like adding a ‘5’ for a missing ’S'.
When I was done (maybe 45 minutes or an hour later), the manager would always invite me to relax, have some popcorn and sit in the back row to watch the movies. It was a real education and saved my Dad from having to explain the facts of life that I wasn’t already familiar with.
Occasionally, a few Irvington Fire Department members would show up, on the pretense of needing to check fire extinguisher expiration dates and to generally check for any fire code issues. Then they’d stand in the back and watch the movie for a bit.
After my stint there ended, I remember reading in the papers about how the theater manager Jerry, was arrested for trying to abscond with embezzled theater funds. That was the end of the Art Cinema as I knew it. Years later, it became the senior citizen center that it still is today.
The first time I can remember attending the Ken was in the early eighties for a Saturday night
screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There were so many people dressed up as the characters in the movie that I had no idea what to expect. It was my first viewing of this now camp classic and I can remember someone entering with a motorcycle from a door on the front right side, playing the role of the Meatloaf character and the scenes where people tossed toilet paper and rice towards the screen.
Truly an eye-opening experience.
In a few weeks, I’ll be bringing a group of photographers there for a screening of Edward Burtynsky’s movie, Manufactered Landscapes. Looking forward to it. http://www.pbase.com/camera0bug
I have fond memories of the Art Cinema, in all it’s porn glory.
In the late sixties while still in my late teens, my Dad got me the job of putting up the marquee letters each week for it’s XXX movies. I got paid $25 cash by the theater manager, Jerry, who was a nice portly fellow and always friendly to me.
My Dad, a local sign painter, had the job of creating clean, word-only, flourescent color versions of the posters that hung in the glass cases outside the theater every week.
I would arrive, get the titles from the manager and then walk through the theater while the films were running, to a tiny room under the screen where the large plastic letters were kept. Then, I’d grab what I needed in a box and head back up the main aisle past the patrons and out the front door where I’d set up a tall A-frame ladder and get to work spelling out the movie titles. Occasionally, a letter would fall and shatter on the sidewalk. Sometimes there wasn’t enough correct letters and I’d have to get creative, like adding a ‘5’ for a missing ’S'.
When I was done (maybe 45 minutes or an hour later), the manager would always invite me to relax, have some popcorn and sit in the back row to watch the movies. It was a real education and saved my Dad from having to explain the facts of life that I wasn’t already familiar with.
Occasionally, a few Irvington Fire Department members would show up, on the pretense of needing to check fire extinguisher expiration dates and to generally check for any fire code issues. Then they’d stand in the back and watch the movie for a bit.
After my stint there ended, I remember reading in the papers about how the theater manager Jerry, was arrested for trying to abscond with embezzled theater funds. That was the end of the Art Cinema as I knew it. Years later, it became the senior citizen center that it still is today.
The first time I can remember attending the Ken was in the early eighties for a Saturday night
screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There were so many people dressed up as the characters in the movie that I had no idea what to expect. It was my first viewing of this now camp classic and I can remember someone entering with a motorcycle from a door on the front right side, playing the role of the Meatloaf character and the scenes where people tossed toilet paper and rice towards the screen.
Truly an eye-opening experience.
In a few weeks, I’ll be bringing a group of photographers there for a screening of Edward Burtynsky’s movie, Manufactered Landscapes. Looking forward to it.
http://www.pbase.com/camera0bug