Haines His Way

Every single post must be celebrated as though it may be the last.

Look at you - being deep and profound!    

[a Brain reference - I've just been dying for an opportunity to use it! ]

And COMGRATULATIONS to YOU on your 6,850th MILESTONE POST!

Wow, singdaw has surpassed me?

I think singdaw's the postingest member ever! (In case you wondered, it's a compliment, kind of like "ginchiest"!)

The closest thing we had to a movie palace in Charlotte was the Carolina Theater which was the Cinerama theater here. I've written about it often. I saw many, many roadshow classics in that theater growing up in addition to the Cinerama offerings.

They have a small movie palace in Durham, also called The Carolina. I have a fondness for it because of all the great films I've seen there at the Full Frame festival. It's where all the big films (and ours) show.

The city approved a huge convention center and hotel built next to it. It looks like they chose to protect it and incorporate it into the complex, and did a very nice job of it. Good for them, and too bad more towns aren't as forward thinking.

I think singdaw's the postingest member ever!

It just means I don't have a life.    

And if my blathering on annoys anyone, just tell me to tone it down.  I won't be offended!    

And the inside of the Craterian. I think as a kid I didn't realize how beautiful it was.

The only true movie palace I ever went to regularly was Radio City Music Hall which was a must on every trip to New York through the mid-70s. After they stopped showing movies with a stage show, I lost interest in going there and haven't been there in years, aactually decades.

I was there for The Sword in the Stone (I think that was the movie) back in 1977 followed by the Easter Rockettes show

The other theater, The Holly, over on 6th Street.

But to know him is to love him.  I need to find a I *Heart* Jose t-shirt!

The "Mickey and Judy" box is supposed to be available as of TODAY!

I had an Amazon pre-order going back to July...the first time I saw they had it listed.

Last night, I visited the site, checked my account and was expecting to see that my copy was being prepared for shipping.

Instead, I was still able to cancel the order.

Been there before, I have.  And I feared that this ONE BOX I've wanted FOR YEARS wouldn't be shipped today or tomorrow...nay, might not BE shipped until, as I've done on a few selected (i.e., MUCH-WANTED) pre-orders, I screamed bloody murder when I discover they're offering it for delivery "tomorrow" if someone orders it in the next 5 hours under "one-day service."

So, I cancelled the order.  That's right.  CANCELLED IT.

For my reason, I selected "Did not ship fast enough."

Under comments, I wrote "This is a pre-selected item from last July and it should NOT have been possible to cancel as it should have SHIPPED YESTERDAY.  I choose to cancel and then reorder.  MAYBE I'll get it this week."

I then reordered it for one-day delivery.   It still hasn't shipped to my knowledge, but they need to get on the stick.  I want it NOW!

DR Ben, I seem to remember hearing a feature on NPR about movie palaces and they discussed one in Minneapolis.

DR Jose is the DEVIL!  I mean, Cookie Monster!  I mean, Enabler!  I mean, Temptress!

 

Looking forward to hearing your reaction to some of the things he plied you with!

I will do a full report on my first day in the Big Apple, plus a matinee review of The Brain, later. Gotta get ready to go do my Brainiac thing!

The movie palace I have the happiest memories of is The Paramount in Charlottesvile, VA.

I've gone to C'Ville several times over the past decade and was always saddened to see how hard the locals were struggling to raise the money and preserve it. I corresponded with the group that was working on it, sent them some cash, but I really felt like it was a goner.

So the TOD caused me to check up on it again, and lo and behold it's up and running! I am thrilled and will probably look for an excuse to go there soon.

This is where I saw many films that are discussed on this board, when I was in junior high school. And in the summers, we had "Milady's Movie Matinee" for the non-working wives and mothers. They showed films like SWEET NOVEMBER, PENELOPE, INSIDE DAISY CLOVER and other 60's era chick flicks and gave away prizes by local merchants.

I also didn't realize how beautiful it was inside. But I did notice that they had "love seats" in the back row so people who wanted to cuddle wouldn't block the view of the person behind them. As teenager, I was intrigued by that idea and hoped to have that experience myself, but we moved when I was in 9th grade.

Another reason to go back...and now I have someone to cuddle with!

Good Morning, all!   Break a leg today, Bruce.  All of you.

My three favorite theatres as a kid were the Fox, the Paramount and the Palms.  The Fox was very plain on the outside but an art deco wonder inside.  It had a rather faded glory to it by then, but while the other kids were watching the 3 Stooges during Saturday matinees, I was wandering around the theatre looking at all the gazelles and frozen fountains sunrays and lightning bolts.   It had a wonderful floating staircase in the lobby that made anyone feel regal to descend it.  It looked as if Fred and Ginger should be dancing on it.   The Fox is alas, now gone.  

The Paramount has been restored and is typical Spanish/Moorish design.  Not spectacular like the Fox.  BUT it did have moving clouds on the ceiling and lush red velvet drapes.  It was originally called the Orpheum, and the name has been restored to it as well.  It was the Orpheum, then the Paramount, then Nederlander bought it and brought in some big name tours in the 60's and 70's.  It then went dark,  then showed Mexican movies and then closed.  I'm glad it was saved (Musicguy oversaw the reinstallation of the pipe organ), but they should have saved the Fox instead.

The Palms was more mid-town and was built in the late 40's or early 50's.  Very moderne and minimalist, but I liked it.  I saw so many great movies there (which is probably why I have such fondness for it).  It managed to get most of the A list movies, and I was in heaven.

We also ended up at the Kachina which was a Cinerama theatre (How the West Was Won,  etc.)  It may have just been an extended screen  rather than true Cinerama, but it was good enough for me.  It was a three fold screen (like those backing boards for science fair projects) rather than curved, so it was always fun to watch the distortion.

There was another wide screen theatre, the Bethany West.  But that was mainly good for rolling down the ailses as a little kid.   It had no personality or particular design (even the Kachina had its ugly southwest motifs), but I saw some great movies there too.

There were two large movie theatres in Minneapolis but I never considered them "palaces" the way Radio City Music Hall is a "palace" and some of the other grand sites like the Roxy and The Fox. When I saw movies in the State and the Orpheum they were rather ordinary. I know now that since I've left Mpls both theatres have been renovated and returned (somewhat) to their former glory. Both theatres were stops in the 40s, 50s and early 60s for Broadway road shows. By the time I began seeing theatre Minneapolis had fallen off the road tour circuit but then in the mid-70s it seems, things began to change and shows began to filter back to the city. I don't remember seeing great movies in great movies palaces. I saw them in ordinary or nice places but no palaces for this poor, deprived child