Just so no one forgets there was a single screen theater in the Metcalf shopping mall up until around 1979. I think it was called the Metcalf Theater. It might have been a Mann Theater and while it was decent sized it was not near as big or nice as the Glenwood.
The reason the Glenwood did so well with Star Wars was that it held exclusive rights to that movie for the entire Kansas City area. Thus, it sold out nearly every show for many months. I doubt any NY theater would be granted an exclusive but I would'nt be surprised if a NY theater outgrossed the Glenwood.
I think we called him Smitty, but the projectionist around the time of Star Wars was an older man that had been there many years when star wars came around. God bless him for allowing employees to once in awhile sit in the theater when he screened new movies around midnight.
Few may remember but the larger theater at the Glenwood had a slightly curved screen.
The manager from 1979 was arrested in a sting operation for re-selling tickets around 1981 and he had been there quite a long time. I won’t name names but I doubt it was any poster in here since that manager was quite old back then. The plaza theater was a Mann Theater before it became part of the Dickinson chain. Other interesting facts about this theater was that it had tunnels that ran underneath the theater and it also housed upstairs dressing rooms on the south side that were accessed by stairs behind the stage. The stage itself was quite large and remnants of the pulleys and stage props existed at least into the late 70s.
The flood that the entire Plaza experienced in 1977 also affected the theater to some degree. About 2 feet of water was in the lobby and the entire basement was flooded. Through the foyer were steps up to the second theater (the old balcony) but underneath the foyer were steps leading down to the restrooms so there were some areas that patrons used which were completely underwater but not destroyed by the flood.
The Plaza was one of the last theaters around to use carbon arcs in the projectors. I believe they still used those in the upstairs projectors until the early 80s.
Steve Martin visited this theater unannounced when the movie the Jerk was playing.
I seem to remember the downstairs as having around 960 seats. I believe the last sell out for the larger theater was the Goodbye Girl on opening week-end,
It was not only the multiplexes that buried this theater but the change in business model away from exclusive rights to a movie for just one theater in all of the kc area. Once you had movie openings in multiple locations, sell outs in the larger theaters like the Plaza or the Glenwood were gone.
Just so no one forgets there was a single screen theater in the Metcalf shopping mall up until around 1979. I think it was called the Metcalf Theater. It might have been a Mann Theater and while it was decent sized it was not near as big or nice as the Glenwood.
The reason the Glenwood did so well with Star Wars was that it held exclusive rights to that movie for the entire Kansas City area. Thus, it sold out nearly every show for many months. I doubt any NY theater would be granted an exclusive but I would'nt be surprised if a NY theater outgrossed the Glenwood.
I think we called him Smitty, but the projectionist around the time of Star Wars was an older man that had been there many years when star wars came around. God bless him for allowing employees to once in awhile sit in the theater when he screened new movies around midnight.
Few may remember but the larger theater at the Glenwood had a slightly curved screen.
The manager from 1979 was arrested in a sting operation for re-selling tickets around 1981 and he had been there quite a long time. I won’t name names but I doubt it was any poster in here since that manager was quite old back then. The plaza theater was a Mann Theater before it became part of the Dickinson chain. Other interesting facts about this theater was that it had tunnels that ran underneath the theater and it also housed upstairs dressing rooms on the south side that were accessed by stairs behind the stage. The stage itself was quite large and remnants of the pulleys and stage props existed at least into the late 70s.
The flood that the entire Plaza experienced in 1977 also affected the theater to some degree. About 2 feet of water was in the lobby and the entire basement was flooded. Through the foyer were steps up to the second theater (the old balcony) but underneath the foyer were steps leading down to the restrooms so there were some areas that patrons used which were completely underwater but not destroyed by the flood.
The Plaza was one of the last theaters around to use carbon arcs in the projectors. I believe they still used those in the upstairs projectors until the early 80s.
Steve Martin visited this theater unannounced when the movie the Jerk was playing.
I seem to remember the downstairs as having around 960 seats. I believe the last sell out for the larger theater was the Goodbye Girl on opening week-end,
It was not only the multiplexes that buried this theater but the change in business model away from exclusive rights to a movie for just one theater in all of the kc area. Once you had movie openings in multiple locations, sell outs in the larger theaters like the Plaza or the Glenwood were gone.