University Theatre
100 Bloor Street W,
Toronto,
ON
M5S 1M4
100 Bloor Street W,
Toronto,
ON
M5S 1M4
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 62 comments
Really people. I’m an old movie theater obsessed as any of you but really get a life already! Stop the sniping.
I’m being nice to him. I wasn’t upset or angry or anything. It’s just that I got confused there.
then perhaps don’t respond to someone with ‘ Nice Try’ and bicker back and forth over something that really isn’t that important.. is it?
Oh, now I see. Thanks for correcting me MSC77!
And m00se, what is wrong with you? We are just correcting the situation, not fool around like little brats. We are not children!
Now children, knock it off. You’ll be sent to bed without a snack if you don’t behave.
Nice try, 50sSNIPES. I am not disputing Rivest’s claim that Oakridge Centre in Vancouver was Canada’s first THX theater. My point was both you and Rivest seemed to be under the mistaken impression that the University was Toronto’s first THX theater. You wrote you were “pretty sure that this [University] could be the first [THX] in Canada.” Not only was it not the first THX theater in Canada, it was not the first in Toronto, either.
And your math is wrong about the number of days between the Oakridge and Eglinton THX certifications. The run of “Cocoon” at the Eglinton upon becoming THX certified commenced July 5th (not June 21st when the film opened throughout much of North America) and you could have easily determined this had you bothered to check the Toronto 70mm Presentations article I linked to a few comments ago or by checking my “Cocoon: The North American 70mm Presentations” article.
Cocoon didn’t came out until a month, a week, and three days after the Oakridge Center 3 launched their THX system. So I’m pretty sure that rivest266 is right.
50sSNIPES and rivest266: Toronto’s first THX cinema was the Eglinton, certified during summer ‘85 for “Cocoon.”
No, the First THX system in Canada was the Cineplex Odeon Oakridge Center 3 opening on May 11th, 1985. Famous Players installed its THX system at the Imperial in Montreal and University here in Toronto in time for “Top Gun” in May 1986
Is this the first THX theater in Canada? I know the first THX theaters were in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Orlando, but I’m pretty sure that this could be the first in Canada.
This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in Toronto: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1956-Present”.
Is there somewhere to get a list of screen sizes of the Toronto closed theatres: the University, Hollywood 1, Hyland 1, York 1 Cinema (on Eglinton), Uptown 1 and Eglinton? In feet would work. Thanks.
Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The University’s 57-week run is mentioned in the piece.
1959 picture added to Photos section
1962 photo added via below link.
https://torontolife.com/city/life/remember-heritage-minutes-guy-creates-toronto-minutes/?fbclid=IwAR0a55a0SXXfCYuVTT0HxlWa6rr7ZtHlMqwadp79MqaHMw7PNZJ7wRKLlG4
Why not publish a book with the accurate information and make sure its in the libraries mentioned. That way the accurate information will be out there.
If you really want inaccurate information go to any historical society.
GilG, this is really disturbing that our libraries are being used to disseminate inaccurate information. What was your count for the number of errors in Mr. Taylor’s book?
Oh, and Chuck, I forgot to mention something about your comment about this book being on library shelves. The Toronto Public Library has 19 print copies in branches across their system (including one in the Reference Library), and e-book downloads. And the University of Toronto has 5 copies (one each located in Innis College, St. Michael’s College, Victoria and University Colleges, and The Robarts Library, the University’s main humanities and social sciences research facility. So this is why I’m so concerned about the dissemination of inaccurate information.
Chuck, Thank you for your comments. Much appreciated. I was surprised by jerryross’s post. I would have thought that anyone using this site would want the most accurate details possible. But in this particular case, I guess not. Very puzzling.
To the taunting jerryross: Why should Mr. Taylor get a break for putting out a book full of errors? If there is a more suitable medium for addressing the errors in Mr. Taylor’s book, please point the way. Otherwise, let’s applaud GiLG’s efforts at documenting them.
To both GiLG and chuckkahn: Come on people, get a life. Give Mr. Taylor and us a break.
I don’t think you’re being too hard on Doug Taylor’s book. Mistakes are mistakes, and it’s frustrating to see inaccuracies serve as ingredients in something people might use as an information resource. I wonder how many libraries are putting this book on their shelves for the consumption of poor unwitting readers. Mr. Taylor should have checked this website for clippings such as this ad for Lawrence of Arabia that lists the Carlton as the theatre: http://cinematreasures.org/members/coasternut/photos/125837
Also, here’s some link rot re-repair:
Main floor lounge of the University Theatre as depicted on the cover of the July 2, 1949, issue of Boxoffice.
The illustrated article about the University in the “Modern Theatre” section of the same issue:
first page
second page
The History Press is part of the Arcadia Publishing Company, which publishes mostly books of vintage photos with a little bit of text to pad them out. In my experience, most of their books do have at least a few inaccuracies, and some of them have many, and there are probably many more errors that I didn’t even notice.
Between them the two divisions of the company publish about 900 books a year, and their primary focus is not history but nostalgia, for which there is huge market. I don’t think their books will ever provide the degree of historical accuracy that one would expect from, say, a University press, though some are clearly better researched than others. Still, the pictures are nice to have, so I’m glad the company is publishing them.