I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the El Rey - that’s where I saw Psycho on its opening day. Few remember that it was a wide release in LA - and the El Rey was the nearest theater to me. An unforgettable day. I saw other movies there, too, obviously, but Psycho was the most memorable.
Stumbley - I think you’ll get a kick out of the book - sorry the link isn’t clickable but just cut and paste it into your browser or search the title on Amazon in “Books” - and yes, the character of Preview Harvey is inspired by Preview Henry. I was a preview nut and saw him at all the previews and chatted with him many times. The studios adopted him - he was their good luck charm :) I just tried to imagine what his life might have been, but that part’s pure fiction as I didn’t know him beyond the previews. But the Village is as big a player in the book as the character - as are all the other Westwood theaters and other theaters around LA.
To Stumbley: I saw The Godfather on opening day. Right in front of me in line was - Fred Astaire. Yes, those were the days, but I began going to the Village in 1954 when they’d installed their Cinemascope screen. Saw so many movies there over the years, not to mention a ton of major studio previews. In fact, the Village plays a leading role in a book I DID write that came out a couple of months ago - which is all about a guy obsessed with major studio previews. The book is fiction, but it’s based on a real guy you’d probably remember if you worked any of the previews. I call him Preview Harvey in the book. My favorite sneak previews I saw at the Village were High Time, Experiment in Terror (it was Blake Edwards' favorite place to preview), Goldfinger several weeks before it opened and the greatest reaction I ever heard at a preview), The Party, Cabaret, Capricorn One - so many. Of course, the Village adorns the cover of Preview Harvey. https://www.amazon.com/Preview-Harvey-Bruce-Kimmel/dp/B0C4ZQL2QK/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_2?pd_rd_w=Pcttl&content-id=amzn1.sym.0250fb24-4363-44d0-b635-ac15f859c3b5&pf_rd_p=0250fb24-4363-44d0-b635-ac15f859c3b5&pf_rd_r=KS0JD309766CWTVENGMX&pd_rd_wg=uCzlo&pd_rd_r=06279317-0059-4386-9cd1-133cf5474568&pd_rd_i=B0C4ZQL2QK
“vindanpar on April 3, 2022 at 6:01 pm
WSS had its world premiere in NY’s Rivoli theater then had its Hollywood premiere at Grauman’s. When did it get to this theater? Even in LA I would think Grauman’s would have it exclusively first run.”
Grauman’s did have West Side Story exclusively first run for over a year. It never played the Village during its wide release, which began on February 6, 1963. During that release, it played the Picwood in Westwood (the Village was playing The Lion, which I saw there). In March, it moved from the Picwood to the Bruin, where it ran several weeks. It finally came to the Village for the 1968 reissue in September of that year. I saw it there then, too, after having seen it about fourteen times at the Chinese.
So, I’m guessing The Devil at 4 O'Clock or Naked Edge would have been the show prior to the final double bill. I’m actually shocked I didn’t go see the final bill – I saw Pepe at the Four Star and loved it and I saw Hand in Hand at the nearby Picfair and loved it, too. And now that I think about it, maybe I did see that final double bill.
Yes, definitely saw Devil at 4 O'Clock there and just a couple of months earlier I saw The Naked Edge there. So it closed after October 1961, maybe even in early 1962.
I’ve always thought the theater closed in 1960 but my memory is pretty infallible about where I saw things, and I could swear that I saw The Devil at 4 O'Clock at the Stadium – that film came out in October of 1961. Wish there were some way to check it, but my newspaper stuff starts in late 1961 and it’s gone by then. I do have a 1960 newspaper somewhere and I’ll try to find it. I’m just wondering if I didn’t see Devil at 4 O'Clock there where I would have seen it?
Yeah, I’m not sure why it says the late 1960s for when it became the Toho – I have four years' worth of newspaper movies sections from 1961 to 1964 and as someone points out it had become the Toho by 1963, possibly even earlier.
There is quite a wonderful audience at the DGA screenings, dctrig – they are respectful, do not use cell phones, do not munch nachos, and do not chatter and think they’re home watching TV. They are responsive and sort of everything the movie-going audience was when I was growing up. The End.
Um, I don’t have to be scientific to see what’s going on around me. And you don’t have to be a typical Internet pedantic twit – if you agree to disagree, leave it at that and move along. Eat some turkey. Have a cookie. Go to the cineplex and enjoy the ads, the texting, and the helpful cell phone illumination.
Here’s my research: Eyes. Ears. Brain. I don’t really need anything else. So, we can agree to disagree and I’m glad that the horrid behavior is either blind to you or not an annoyance. When I sit in a theater lit by cell phones I don’t need to be there.
Sorry, disagree completely – adults, and I mean young adults and older adults stopped going to theaters BECAUSE of the idiots and their nachos and talking and horrid behavior – then came cell phones and other devices and that was it for anyone who has respect for the moviegoing experience. I simply refuse to go to theaters other than seeing screenings at the DGA (where I’m a member) – where there are strict rules about no electronic devices used. I would love to go to the Village to see something, but not with a bunch of cretins who can’t go five minutes without checking Facebook. And I say that at my current age and I would have said it at nineteen.
“Before passing judgement on the cuts made to IMMMMW, it would be fitting to figure out how much of them were approved by Stanley Kramer. I understand that he cut the film from 210 to around 196 minutes.”
Since no one bothers to ever clarify this sort of misinformation, I’m happy to. This 210 minute version never played anywhere. It was not the film as released in any engagement, therefore is completely irrelevant to any discussion. It was a version he showed to some friends, after which he cut the film not to 196 minutes, but to approximately 192 minutes, and that 192 minute running time included the overture, intermission police calls, entr'acte and exit music. The actual running time of the film proper at that point was 177 minutes if you removed all but the film itself. At the end of the day, if one does the math with what was cut during the road show engagement and then what was further cut for general release, it really comes out to about twenty-four minutes of actual film that was cut.
Actually, Gary, you did not see the first “Smellorama” (sic) film at the Village. The competing “smell” films were Behind The Great Wall in AromaRama, which played for a week or two at the Four Star and then disappeared forever, and the real smell film, Scent Of Mystery in Smell-O-Vision, which played only one engagement in Los Angeles at the Ritz Theater on Wilshire. It died a quick death and has never been seen again other than in a smell free cut down version called Holiday In Spain that played a handful of engagements in Cinerama (it was reformatted for that process).
I am certain, however, that you saw some film that smelled at the Village, but not one in any smell process.
Great Behind The Great Wall ad – I was, of course, there and saw and smelled the film. And a few weeks later I was at the Ritz seeing and smelling Scent of Mystery.
I lived right off Roscoe near Sepulveda, and went to the Airport several times in the early 1970s. I remember seeing a reissue of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service there. Nice little nabe.
Different Leo. BTW, in case it hasn’t been answered, the Lido was not on the corner of La Cienega and Pico. On the northwest corner was and is a Bank Of America. There were then a couple of storefronts heading west on Pico, and then the Lido – the storefronts AND the Lido became the BofA parking lot.
I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the El Rey - that’s where I saw Psycho on its opening day. Few remember that it was a wide release in LA - and the El Rey was the nearest theater to me. An unforgettable day. I saw other movies there, too, obviously, but Psycho was the most memorable.
Stumbley - I think you’ll get a kick out of the book - sorry the link isn’t clickable but just cut and paste it into your browser or search the title on Amazon in “Books” - and yes, the character of Preview Harvey is inspired by Preview Henry. I was a preview nut and saw him at all the previews and chatted with him many times. The studios adopted him - he was their good luck charm :) I just tried to imagine what his life might have been, but that part’s pure fiction as I didn’t know him beyond the previews. But the Village is as big a player in the book as the character - as are all the other Westwood theaters and other theaters around LA.
To Stumbley: I saw The Godfather on opening day. Right in front of me in line was - Fred Astaire. Yes, those were the days, but I began going to the Village in 1954 when they’d installed their Cinemascope screen. Saw so many movies there over the years, not to mention a ton of major studio previews. In fact, the Village plays a leading role in a book I DID write that came out a couple of months ago - which is all about a guy obsessed with major studio previews. The book is fiction, but it’s based on a real guy you’d probably remember if you worked any of the previews. I call him Preview Harvey in the book. My favorite sneak previews I saw at the Village were High Time, Experiment in Terror (it was Blake Edwards' favorite place to preview), Goldfinger several weeks before it opened and the greatest reaction I ever heard at a preview), The Party, Cabaret, Capricorn One - so many. Of course, the Village adorns the cover of Preview Harvey. https://www.amazon.com/Preview-Harvey-Bruce-Kimmel/dp/B0C4ZQL2QK/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_2?pd_rd_w=Pcttl&content-id=amzn1.sym.0250fb24-4363-44d0-b635-ac15f859c3b5&pf_rd_p=0250fb24-4363-44d0-b635-ac15f859c3b5&pf_rd_r=KS0JD309766CWTVENGMX&pd_rd_wg=uCzlo&pd_rd_r=06279317-0059-4386-9cd1-133cf5474568&pd_rd_i=B0C4ZQL2QK
“vindanpar on April 3, 2022 at 6:01 pm WSS had its world premiere in NY’s Rivoli theater then had its Hollywood premiere at Grauman’s. When did it get to this theater? Even in LA I would think Grauman’s would have it exclusively first run.”
Grauman’s did have West Side Story exclusively first run for over a year. It never played the Village during its wide release, which began on February 6, 1963. During that release, it played the Picwood in Westwood (the Village was playing The Lion, which I saw there). In March, it moved from the Picwood to the Bruin, where it ran several weeks. It finally came to the Village for the 1968 reissue in September of that year. I saw it there then, too, after having seen it about fourteen times at the Chinese.
So, I’m guessing The Devil at 4 O'Clock or Naked Edge would have been the show prior to the final double bill. I’m actually shocked I didn’t go see the final bill – I saw Pepe at the Four Star and loved it and I saw Hand in Hand at the nearby Picfair and loved it, too. And now that I think about it, maybe I did see that final double bill.
Nope, closed in 1961 after The Naked Edge – within a couple of months.
Yes, definitely saw Devil at 4 O'Clock there and just a couple of months earlier I saw The Naked Edge there. So it closed after October 1961, maybe even in early 1962.
I’ve always thought the theater closed in 1960 but my memory is pretty infallible about where I saw things, and I could swear that I saw The Devil at 4 O'Clock at the Stadium – that film came out in October of 1961. Wish there were some way to check it, but my newspaper stuff starts in late 1961 and it’s gone by then. I do have a 1960 newspaper somewhere and I’ll try to find it. I’m just wondering if I didn’t see Devil at 4 O'Clock there where I would have seen it?
Yeah, I’m not sure why it says the late 1960s for when it became the Toho – I have four years' worth of newspaper movies sections from 1961 to 1964 and as someone points out it had become the Toho by 1963, possibly even earlier.
At the END it couldn’t function as a first-run house. It was a first-run house for decades.
It closed sometime in 1960. I was there at the final show.
That’s it.
There is quite a wonderful audience at the DGA screenings, dctrig – they are respectful, do not use cell phones, do not munch nachos, and do not chatter and think they’re home watching TV. They are responsive and sort of everything the movie-going audience was when I was growing up. The End.
Um, I don’t have to be scientific to see what’s going on around me. And you don’t have to be a typical Internet pedantic twit – if you agree to disagree, leave it at that and move along. Eat some turkey. Have a cookie. Go to the cineplex and enjoy the ads, the texting, and the helpful cell phone illumination.
Here’s my research: Eyes. Ears. Brain. I don’t really need anything else. So, we can agree to disagree and I’m glad that the horrid behavior is either blind to you or not an annoyance. When I sit in a theater lit by cell phones I don’t need to be there.
Sorry, disagree completely – adults, and I mean young adults and older adults stopped going to theaters BECAUSE of the idiots and their nachos and talking and horrid behavior – then came cell phones and other devices and that was it for anyone who has respect for the moviegoing experience. I simply refuse to go to theaters other than seeing screenings at the DGA (where I’m a member) – where there are strict rules about no electronic devices used. I would love to go to the Village to see something, but not with a bunch of cretins who can’t go five minutes without checking Facebook. And I say that at my current age and I would have said it at nineteen.
Nice to hear about the curtain being closed, my single biggest annoyance on the few occasions where I actually go to a theater anymore.
No, scroll up and you will see that their current attraction is on film.
That is pure conjecture on your part. Perhaps Mr. Scorsese asked for film, since he is a purist.
“Before passing judgement on the cuts made to IMMMMW, it would be fitting to figure out how much of them were approved by Stanley Kramer. I understand that he cut the film from 210 to around 196 minutes.”
Since no one bothers to ever clarify this sort of misinformation, I’m happy to. This 210 minute version never played anywhere. It was not the film as released in any engagement, therefore is completely irrelevant to any discussion. It was a version he showed to some friends, after which he cut the film not to 196 minutes, but to approximately 192 minutes, and that 192 minute running time included the overture, intermission police calls, entr'acte and exit music. The actual running time of the film proper at that point was 177 minutes if you removed all but the film itself. At the end of the day, if one does the math with what was cut during the road show engagement and then what was further cut for general release, it really comes out to about twenty-four minutes of actual film that was cut.
Actually, Gary, you did not see the first “Smellorama” (sic) film at the Village. The competing “smell” films were Behind The Great Wall in AromaRama, which played for a week or two at the Four Star and then disappeared forever, and the real smell film, Scent Of Mystery in Smell-O-Vision, which played only one engagement in Los Angeles at the Ritz Theater on Wilshire. It died a quick death and has never been seen again other than in a smell free cut down version called Holiday In Spain that played a handful of engagements in Cinerama (it was reformatted for that process).
I am certain, however, that you saw some film that smelled at the Village, but not one in any smell process.
Great Behind The Great Wall ad – I was, of course, there and saw and smelled the film. And a few weeks later I was at the Ritz seeing and smelling Scent of Mystery.
I lived right off Roscoe near Sepulveda, and went to the Airport several times in the early 1970s. I remember seeing a reissue of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service there. Nice little nabe.
Different Leo. BTW, in case it hasn’t been answered, the Lido was not on the corner of La Cienega and Pico. On the northwest corner was and is a Bank Of America. There were then a couple of storefronts heading west on Pico, and then the Lido – the storefronts AND the Lido became the BofA parking lot.
I also saw two Doctors there – Dr. Zhivago and Doctor Dolittle.