Outside, the rain was relentless; inside the lobby of Los Angeles’ NuArt Theater, so was the cheer. At a sold-out March 6 premiere for the crowdsource-funded “Our T2 Remake,” a full-length parody of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” produced entirely with AI tools, the energy recalled Sundance circa 1995.
Among the supporters were Caleb Ward, co-founder of AI filmmaking education platform Curious Refuge and creator of last year’s viral AI short “Star Wars by Wes Anderson;” Dave Clark, who created another viral AI video with his Adidas spec and whose short film “Another” would precede the feature; Nem Perez, founder of AI storyboarding mobile app Storyblocker Studios and the director of “T2 Remake”; and Jeremy Boxer, the former Vimeo creative director who now runs consultancy Boxer and is the cofounder of community group Friends With AI.
With the audience seated, ready to applaud the AI creations, hosts Perez and executive producer Sway Molina...
Among the supporters were Caleb Ward, co-founder of AI filmmaking education platform Curious Refuge and creator of last year’s viral AI short “Star Wars by Wes Anderson;” Dave Clark, who created another viral AI video with his Adidas spec and whose short film “Another” would precede the feature; Nem Perez, founder of AI storyboarding mobile app Storyblocker Studios and the director of “T2 Remake”; and Jeremy Boxer, the former Vimeo creative director who now runs consultancy Boxer and is the cofounder of community group Friends With AI.
With the audience seated, ready to applaud the AI creations, hosts Perez and executive producer Sway Molina...
- 3/14/2024
- by Bill Desowitz and Dana Harris-Bridson
- Indiewire
In 1956 and 1964, respectively, Elvis Presley and The Beatles made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. This was a major opportunity for both acts as it broadcast them into the living rooms of millions. The show also provided Elvis and The Beatles with sizable paychecks. Both walked away with padded wallets, but which act made more money?
Both Elvis and The Beatles received big paydays for appearing on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’
In 1964, Beatlemania hit the United States in full force when the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. That year, they made three appearances on the show, with their first being on Feb. 9. Their performance drew millions of viewers and flooded the studio with requests from people who wanted to see them live. Per NBC News, they earned $10,000 for their three performances.
This was nothing compared to what Elvis made eight years earlier. While Sullivan initially didn’t want...
Both Elvis and The Beatles received big paydays for appearing on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’
In 1964, Beatlemania hit the United States in full force when the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. That year, they made three appearances on the show, with their first being on Feb. 9. Their performance drew millions of viewers and flooded the studio with requests from people who wanted to see them live. Per NBC News, they earned $10,000 for their three performances.
This was nothing compared to what Elvis made eight years earlier. While Sullivan initially didn’t want...
- 2/26/2024
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Hollywood has already been toying with generative AI video tools for film and TV production, but with varying results and an existential threat to workers in visual effects and other postproduction work especially.
So the promise and peril of Sora, Sam Altman’s newly-unveiled text-to-video technology from OpenAI that claims to create highly detailed visual scenes from simple text prompts dominated a discussion on AI and worldbuilding in film and TV at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.
Dave Clark, a Los Angeles director and early-adopter of AI tools represented by Secret Level, argued, rather than feel threatened, creators need to embrace AI technologies for content never yet imagined or realized. “This is game changing with what we’re dealing with. You shouldn’t fear your job. You should fear the person who uses these tools,” Clark argued.
The Sora system can seemingly produce videos of complex scenes with multiple characters,...
So the promise and peril of Sora, Sam Altman’s newly-unveiled text-to-video technology from OpenAI that claims to create highly detailed visual scenes from simple text prompts dominated a discussion on AI and worldbuilding in film and TV at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.
Dave Clark, a Los Angeles director and early-adopter of AI tools represented by Secret Level, argued, rather than feel threatened, creators need to embrace AI technologies for content never yet imagined or realized. “This is game changing with what we’re dealing with. You shouldn’t fear your job. You should fear the person who uses these tools,” Clark argued.
The Sora system can seemingly produce videos of complex scenes with multiple characters,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Lennon said that Elvis Presley grew to disappoint him. Before this, though, he idolized the American artist. Lennon listened to Elvis as a child and took early inspiration from him. After The Beatles met Elvis in 1965, Lennon sent Elvis a message to express how much he meant to him. Here’s how Elvis responded to his words.
John Lennon sent a message to Elvis Presley
In 1965, The Beatles met Elvis at his Bel Air home. They had been trying to meet him for a long time and finally succeeded.
“We were always in the wrong place at the wrong time to meet him, and we would have just gone round or something, but there was a whole lot of palaver about where we were going and how many people should go and everything, with the managers Colonel Tom and Brian working everything out,” Lennon said in The Beatles Anthology.
John Lennon sent a message to Elvis Presley
In 1965, The Beatles met Elvis at his Bel Air home. They had been trying to meet him for a long time and finally succeeded.
“We were always in the wrong place at the wrong time to meet him, and we would have just gone round or something, but there was a whole lot of palaver about where we were going and how many people should go and everything, with the managers Colonel Tom and Brian working everything out,” Lennon said in The Beatles Anthology.
- 12/4/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Bruce Springsteen took to his SiriusXM E Street Radio show From My Home To Yours, where he reconnected with some old friends and revealed his Mount Rushmore of rock bands.
In the podcast series’ 30th episode, Springsteen spoke with veteran musicians from the Freehold, New Jersey scene, including Mike Wilson, Mike Domanski, and Donnie Powell, members of the mid-’60s Freehold band the Legends, and Craig Caprioni, singer for the Rogues, Springsteen’s very first band.
At one point Springsteen posed the question, “After The Beatles, second favorite band? And we can’t count The Rolling Stones.”
After a short deliberation, Springsteen shared his list of favorite bands, saying, “It’s Beatles, Stones, Animals, that’s how my playlist goes, you know. But any Dave Clark 5 fans?” He later praised DC5 for making “great records” before segueing to the band’s 1964 single “Any Way You Want It.” Listen to the clip below.
In the podcast series’ 30th episode, Springsteen spoke with veteran musicians from the Freehold, New Jersey scene, including Mike Wilson, Mike Domanski, and Donnie Powell, members of the mid-’60s Freehold band the Legends, and Craig Caprioni, singer for the Rogues, Springsteen’s very first band.
At one point Springsteen posed the question, “After The Beatles, second favorite band? And we can’t count The Rolling Stones.”
After a short deliberation, Springsteen shared his list of favorite bands, saying, “It’s Beatles, Stones, Animals, that’s how my playlist goes, you know. But any Dave Clark 5 fans?” He later praised DC5 for making “great records” before segueing to the band’s 1964 single “Any Way You Want It.” Listen to the clip below.
- 10/10/2023
- by Bryan Kress
- Consequence - Music
Energy, enthusiasm and star power electrified the 2023 Children’s Cancer Fund “Light It Up” Gala, presented by Flexport, on Friday, April 21, at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.
Honorary Chairs Troy Aikman and Dak Prescott teamed up with Flexport CEO Dave Clark alongside pediatric cancer patients, survivors, and their families, for a night of fashion, a live auction and dinner and dancing. The evening and its generous donors raised more than $2 million to support pediatric cancer research and treatment programs at Children’s Health and Ut Southwestern. Heather Randall and Blake Stephenson chaired the gala.
The 2023 Children’s Cancer Fund “Light It Up” Gala started with a VIP reception and silent auction, followed by dinner and an inspirational fashion show that featured pediatric cancer patients modeling their bravery and fashions provided by Dillard’s. Reigning Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, Dak Prescott, made his debut as honorary co-chair alongside Troy Aikman,...
Honorary Chairs Troy Aikman and Dak Prescott teamed up with Flexport CEO Dave Clark alongside pediatric cancer patients, survivors, and their families, for a night of fashion, a live auction and dinner and dancing. The evening and its generous donors raised more than $2 million to support pediatric cancer research and treatment programs at Children’s Health and Ut Southwestern. Heather Randall and Blake Stephenson chaired the gala.
The 2023 Children’s Cancer Fund “Light It Up” Gala started with a VIP reception and silent auction, followed by dinner and an inspirational fashion show that featured pediatric cancer patients modeling their bravery and fashions provided by Dillard’s. Reigning Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, Dak Prescott, made his debut as honorary co-chair alongside Troy Aikman,...
- 5/5/2023
- Look to the Stars
Rolling Stone‘s interview series King for a Day features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and singers who had the difficult job of fronting major rock bands after the departure of an iconic vocalist. Some of them stayed in their bands for years, while others lasted just a few months. In the end, however, they all found out that replacement singers can themselves be replaced. This edition features former Four Seasons singer Gerry Polci.
By the mid-Seventies, the once-unstoppable Four Seasons seemed like they were heading into oblivion.
By the mid-Seventies, the once-unstoppable Four Seasons seemed like they were heading into oblivion.
- 4/12/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
The White House went on the attack against Tucker Carlson over his segments that downplayed the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that they “agree with Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers … who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law which costs police officers their lives.”
Jean-Pierre also called into question Carlson’s credibility, saying that they agree with Fox’s “own attorneys and executives who have repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law that Tucker Carlson is not credible when it comes to this issue.”
She cited a 2020 NPR report, “You Literally Can’t Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say His Lawyers.” The was a report on Fox News attorneys’ defense of Carlson against a slander claim. In ruling in favor of the network,...
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that they “agree with Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers … who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law which costs police officers their lives.”
Jean-Pierre also called into question Carlson’s credibility, saying that they agree with Fox’s “own attorneys and executives who have repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law that Tucker Carlson is not credible when it comes to this issue.”
She cited a 2020 NPR report, “You Literally Can’t Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say His Lawyers.” The was a report on Fox News attorneys’ defense of Carlson against a slander claim. In ruling in favor of the network,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
In Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling novel Daisy Jones & the Six, an oral history of a fictional Seventies rock band that imploded at the height of its fame, we get conflicting accounts of how the band became known as the Six before the troubled Daisy joined as the seventh member. The surviving musicians disagree on specifics, but all concur that it had to do with there being six people in the group at the time.
In Amazon Prime’s adaptation, the pre-Daisy incarnation of the band has one fewer member.
In Amazon Prime’s adaptation, the pre-Daisy incarnation of the band has one fewer member.
- 3/1/2023
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
In 1964, The Beatles traveled to America for the first time, making Beatlemania a nationwide phenomenon. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had been successful in England, but they quickly became the most famous people in the world. Immediately before this unprecedented success, though, the band worried that their popularity was fizzling out. Critics thought they were a passing fad, which worried the band.
The Beatles | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images The Beatles were a success in England before America
In Oct. 1963, The Beatles went from a success story in England to a widespread phenomenon. They had reached the top of the charts, and everywhere they went, screaming packs of fans followed. Soon, they were the subject of nearly every news story in the country.
“From that day on, everything changed,” the band’s press officer, Tony Barrow, said, per the book The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies.
The Beatles | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images The Beatles were a success in England before America
In Oct. 1963, The Beatles went from a success story in England to a widespread phenomenon. They had reached the top of the charts, and everywhere they went, screaming packs of fans followed. Soon, they were the subject of nearly every news story in the country.
“From that day on, everything changed,” the band’s press officer, Tony Barrow, said, per the book The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies.
- 2/9/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Exclusive: NCIS: Los Angeles co-star Eric Christian Olsen’s Cloud Nine Productions (Woke) has sold four projects, two comedies and two dramas, at CBS.
The network is developing Family Insurance, a single-camera Latinx family workplace comedy co-written, executive produced and starring Al Madrigal; Mixed Signals, a single-camera romantic comedy from writer Liz Thompson inspired by her life, crime drama Peculiar from Js Mayank (The Fame Game) and Jeffrey Leiber (Lost), and an untitled legal drama. CBS Studios, where Olsen’s Cloud Nine is under a deal, is the studio for all four projects, which Olsen executive produces alongside John Will, with Anna Volain Jones as co-executive producer, for Cloud Nine.
Co-written and executive produced by Madrigal and Ryan Walls, who also have deals at CBS Studios, as well as Adam Lowitt, Family Insurance is a Latinx family workplace comedy revolving around Al Fuentes (Madrigal) who after separating from his...
The network is developing Family Insurance, a single-camera Latinx family workplace comedy co-written, executive produced and starring Al Madrigal; Mixed Signals, a single-camera romantic comedy from writer Liz Thompson inspired by her life, crime drama Peculiar from Js Mayank (The Fame Game) and Jeffrey Leiber (Lost), and an untitled legal drama. CBS Studios, where Olsen’s Cloud Nine is under a deal, is the studio for all four projects, which Olsen executive produces alongside John Will, with Anna Volain Jones as co-executive producer, for Cloud Nine.
Co-written and executive produced by Madrigal and Ryan Walls, who also have deals at CBS Studios, as well as Adam Lowitt, Family Insurance is a Latinx family workplace comedy revolving around Al Fuentes (Madrigal) who after separating from his...
- 11/22/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Lionsgate has acquired worldwide rights to Scrambled, written by and starring Leah McKendrick, who makes her feature directorial debut on the comedy, which just wrapped filming.
Produced by Jonathan Levine and Gillian Bohrer’s Megamix, along with Brett Haley and Amanda Mortimer, and executive producer Mariah Owen, the film stars McKendrick as Nellie Robinson, a broke, single 34-year-old, fresh off a breakup, who faces down an existential crisis when she decides to freeze her eggs. McKendrick wrote the script following her own egg-retrieval experience last year.
The ensemble cast includes Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino (Dave), Clancy Brown, Laura Cerón, Adam Rodriguez, Yvonne Strahovski (Handmaid’s Tale), June Diane Raphael, Noah Silver (Tyrant), and Sterling Sulieman (Station 19). The cast also includes Max Adler, Mimi Kennedy, Camille Mana, and Matt Pascua.
Produced by Jonathan Levine and Gillian Bohrer’s Megamix, along with Brett Haley and Amanda Mortimer, and executive producer Mariah Owen, the film stars McKendrick as Nellie Robinson, a broke, single 34-year-old, fresh off a breakup, who faces down an existential crisis when she decides to freeze her eggs. McKendrick wrote the script following her own egg-retrieval experience last year.
The ensemble cast includes Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino (Dave), Clancy Brown, Laura Cerón, Adam Rodriguez, Yvonne Strahovski (Handmaid’s Tale), June Diane Raphael, Noah Silver (Tyrant), and Sterling Sulieman (Station 19). The cast also includes Max Adler, Mimi Kennedy, Camille Mana, and Matt Pascua.
- 9/21/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Catch US If You Can is available to buy now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. To celebrate the release, we have a copy of the film on Blu-ray plus three more pop-music star vehicles courtesy of Studiocanal’s Vintage Classics range including Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday (1963) and David Essex in That’LL Be The Day (1973) and Stardust (1974).
Legendary British director John Boorman made his feature film debut with this cult musical comedy starring 60s pop sensation Dave Clark alongside The Dave Clark Five Band. Inspired by the huge success of The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night”, in the film the Five have been hired to appear in an ad campaign but during the filming of a TV commercial Steve (Dave Clark) absconds with the face of the campaign (Dinah played by Barbara Ferris) and they embark on a magical mystery tour across the country.
Please note: This competition is open...
Legendary British director John Boorman made his feature film debut with this cult musical comedy starring 60s pop sensation Dave Clark alongside The Dave Clark Five Band. Inspired by the huge success of The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night”, in the film the Five have been hired to appear in an ad campaign but during the filming of a TV commercial Steve (Dave Clark) absconds with the face of the campaign (Dinah played by Barbara Ferris) and they embark on a magical mystery tour across the country.
Please note: This competition is open...
- 4/11/2021
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features guitarist Shane Fontayne.
Bruce Springsteen just happened to be in the market for a new guitarist when he tuned in to Saturday Night Live on December 28th,...
Bruce Springsteen just happened to be in the market for a new guitarist when he tuned in to Saturday Night Live on December 28th,...
- 9/10/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Dave Clark, a 21-year veteran of Amazon, has been elevated to CEO of Worldwide Consumer. He succeeds Jeff Wilke, who plans to retire in the first quarter of 2021.
The tech giant revealed the news Friday in a brief SEC filing.
Clark, who was named SVP of Worldwide Operations in 2013, has spearheaded the company’s operational response to Covid-19. Initially staggered by the intense demand of homebound customers around the world, Amazon’s systems quickly reached holiday-season levels of activity at a time of year that is typically sedate.
Amazon added hundreds of thousands of workers and a fleet of delivery vehicles, among an array of other pandemic measures, and has seen its financial results surge. Investors have made the company’s stock one of the biggest winners of 2020, sending it up 80%.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, is by far the most public figure in the company’s top...
The tech giant revealed the news Friday in a brief SEC filing.
Clark, who was named SVP of Worldwide Operations in 2013, has spearheaded the company’s operational response to Covid-19. Initially staggered by the intense demand of homebound customers around the world, Amazon’s systems quickly reached holiday-season levels of activity at a time of year that is typically sedate.
Amazon added hundreds of thousands of workers and a fleet of delivery vehicles, among an array of other pandemic measures, and has seen its financial results surge. Investors have made the company’s stock one of the biggest winners of 2020, sending it up 80%.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, is by far the most public figure in the company’s top...
- 8/21/2020
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
When the news was released that Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson came down with coronavirus while shooting a film in Australia, it drove home that anyone, even one of our national treasures, wasn’t immuned to this horrible and rapidly spreading disease. One might presume that the celebrity couple had the option not to reveal that they had been hospitalized in isolation and were being treated abroad. But instead, they shared their diagnosis with the world.
They are now self-isolating at home and, of course, Hollywood’s Everyman is openly talking about his experience dealing with enforced solitude.
View this post on Instagram
Hey folks. Good News: One week after testing Positive, in self-isolation, the symptoms are much the same. No fever but the blahs. Folding the laundry and doing the dishes leads to a nap on the couch. Bad news: My wife @ritawilson has won 6 straight hands...
They are now self-isolating at home and, of course, Hollywood’s Everyman is openly talking about his experience dealing with enforced solitude.
View this post on Instagram
Hey folks. Good News: One week after testing Positive, in self-isolation, the symptoms are much the same. No fever but the blahs. Folding the laundry and doing the dishes leads to a nap on the couch. Bad news: My wife @ritawilson has won 6 straight hands...
- 3/26/2020
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
[Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Better Call Saul” Season 5, Episode 6, “Wexler v. Goodman.”]
Refusing to take no for an answer is just one of the many double-edged swords on “Better Call Saul.” You could argue that the show’s existence (and frequent excellence) is a continuous rebuttal to all those who argued that the very idea of the show was a mistake. In a way, many of the characters on the show have stuck around precisely because they refuse to be bowed by whatever system is trying to restrain them.
More from IndieWire'My Brilliant Friend' Review: Episode 2 Queries a Woman's Place in the Social Order'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 10 Review: A Reenergized Larry David Delivers Big When It Counts
Gus’ ongoing defiance of the Salamancas means that both his squeaky clean chicken establishment and his murky reserve remain impenetrable to outside forces. Mike trudges forward in whatever direction he can convince himself has value. Nacho...
Refusing to take no for an answer is just one of the many double-edged swords on “Better Call Saul.” You could argue that the show’s existence (and frequent excellence) is a continuous rebuttal to all those who argued that the very idea of the show was a mistake. In a way, many of the characters on the show have stuck around precisely because they refuse to be bowed by whatever system is trying to restrain them.
More from IndieWire'My Brilliant Friend' Review: Episode 2 Queries a Woman's Place in the Social Order'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 10 Review: A Reenergized Larry David Delivers Big When It Counts
Gus’ ongoing defiance of the Salamancas means that both his squeaky clean chicken establishment and his murky reserve remain impenetrable to outside forces. Mike trudges forward in whatever direction he can convince himself has value. Nacho...
- 3/24/2020
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
This Better Call Saul review contains spoilers.
Better Call Saul Season 5 Episode 6
“Emotion like that, you can’t fake it.”
“No, you can’t.”
Without trust, a relationship can’t survive. You can try to talk through issues, make concessions and commitments, and even demonstrate through action your willingness to change, but without the trust that the intention will hold, it’s all meaningless. Kim knows this the hard way. We see in a flashback in the “Wexler v. Goodman” cold open that Kim has experience being in a co-dependent relationship where she couldn’t trust the other person. Kim knew there would be difficulties being in a committed relationship with Jimmy McGill; she had no clue what she was in for once Saul Goodman entered the picture. Instead of being in on the con, she’s being conned right alongside everyone else, and even Jimmy can’t admit it will be the last time.
Better Call Saul Season 5 Episode 6
“Emotion like that, you can’t fake it.”
“No, you can’t.”
Without trust, a relationship can’t survive. You can try to talk through issues, make concessions and commitments, and even demonstrate through action your willingness to change, but without the trust that the intention will hold, it’s all meaningless. Kim knows this the hard way. We see in a flashback in the “Wexler v. Goodman” cold open that Kim has experience being in a co-dependent relationship where she couldn’t trust the other person. Kim knew there would be difficulties being in a committed relationship with Jimmy McGill; she had no clue what she was in for once Saul Goodman entered the picture. Instead of being in on the con, she’s being conned right alongside everyone else, and even Jimmy can’t admit it will be the last time.
- 3/24/2020
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
Update [1:15 p.m. Et]: Amazon responded to Oliver’s segment, claiming the HBO program declined the company’s invitation to tour one of its facilities.
“As a fan of the show, I enjoy watching John make an entertaining case for the failings of companies … But he is wrong on Amazon. Industry-leading $15 minimum wage and comprehensive benefits are just one of many programs we offer,” said Amazon executive Dave Clark in a statement. “We are proud of the safe, quality work environment in our facilities … But unlike over 100,000 other people this year, John...
“As a fan of the show, I enjoy watching John make an entertaining case for the failings of companies … But he is wrong on Amazon. Industry-leading $15 minimum wage and comprehensive benefits are just one of many programs we offer,” said Amazon executive Dave Clark in a statement. “We are proud of the safe, quality work environment in our facilities … But unlike over 100,000 other people this year, John...
- 7/1/2019
- by Ryan Reed
- Rollingstone.com
HMV
Being a staff member at HMV takes commitment. Commitment to watching a lot of films, playing a lot of video games and listening to a lot of music. In short, it’s the perfect kind of commitment and makes it seem like a dream job to most retail workers.
While you love every second of it though, it’s not without its pitfalls and problems. Some days the fine line between being a super-professional retail employee and the laid back Empire Records layabout that most of your customers expect is a very difficult one to walk, but you power through because you’re a juggernaut of dedication to the cause.
Without you, who would give the public the recommendations they need to ensure that they can make the most of water cooler time at work? You’re a bastion of consumer culture in everything from movies to t-shirts and your word is law.
Being a staff member at HMV takes commitment. Commitment to watching a lot of films, playing a lot of video games and listening to a lot of music. In short, it’s the perfect kind of commitment and makes it seem like a dream job to most retail workers.
While you love every second of it though, it’s not without its pitfalls and problems. Some days the fine line between being a super-professional retail employee and the laid back Empire Records layabout that most of your customers expect is a very difficult one to walk, but you power through because you’re a juggernaut of dedication to the cause.
Without you, who would give the public the recommendations they need to ensure that they can make the most of water cooler time at work? You’re a bastion of consumer culture in everything from movies to t-shirts and your word is law.
- 6/11/2015
- by Michael Park
- Obsessed with Film
By Lee Pfeiffer
In the wake of unexpected critical acclaim for director Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night in 1964, studios scrambled to emulate the success of that first feature film starring The Beatles. Over a period of a few years, many bands found themselves top-lining major feature films. Most were mindless exploitation films, a few others more ambitious in their goals. Fitting snugly into the latter category was Having a Wild Weekend (released in the UK under the title Catch Us If You Can.) The film represents the only movie starring the Dave Clark Five, one of the more popular bands to emerge during that marvelous era in the 1960s when Great Britain shed its post WWII doldrums and came to dominate international pop culture. The band was one of many who rode the coattails of The Beatles to the top of the charts, but they had their own...
In the wake of unexpected critical acclaim for director Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night in 1964, studios scrambled to emulate the success of that first feature film starring The Beatles. Over a period of a few years, many bands found themselves top-lining major feature films. Most were mindless exploitation films, a few others more ambitious in their goals. Fitting snugly into the latter category was Having a Wild Weekend (released in the UK under the title Catch Us If You Can.) The film represents the only movie starring the Dave Clark Five, one of the more popular bands to emerge during that marvelous era in the 1960s when Great Britain shed its post WWII doldrums and came to dominate international pop culture. The band was one of many who rode the coattails of The Beatles to the top of the charts, but they had their own...
- 3/9/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Sixties, Tom Hanks' ten-part documentary series on CNN, is slated to start this May. But last night saw the debut of "The British Invasion" episode, presumably to capitalize on the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The hour kicked off with the Beatles arriving in the States, and as familiar as that story is, we'd pay to see a documentary just on that week: every moment is golden, from the interviews with hysterical fans to the Elvis impersonation by Ringo Starr. Then, armed...
- 1/31/2014
- Rollingstone.com
London — Bass player Rick Huxley, one of the founding members of the Dave Clark Five, has died. He was 72.
Clark announced Huxley's death Tuesday, saying the news was "devastating."
Huxley played on the band's signature hits from the era when they briefly rivaled the Beatles in popularity. They were part of the British invasion that included the Rolling Stones, The Kinks and other bands.
Their best-known songs included "Bits and Pieces" and "Glad All Over." They enjoyed a large following in the United States after appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Sunday night television show that also introduced the Beatles to American audiences.
The band, with a middle-of-the-road pop rock sound, was known for drummer Clark's driving beat and exuberant vocals. But it faded after several years when harder-edged bands such as Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Doors rose to popularity. The Dave Clark Five broke up in 1970 after 12 years together.
Clark announced Huxley's death Tuesday, saying the news was "devastating."
Huxley played on the band's signature hits from the era when they briefly rivaled the Beatles in popularity. They were part of the British invasion that included the Rolling Stones, The Kinks and other bands.
Their best-known songs included "Bits and Pieces" and "Glad All Over." They enjoyed a large following in the United States after appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Sunday night television show that also introduced the Beatles to American audiences.
The band, with a middle-of-the-road pop rock sound, was known for drummer Clark's driving beat and exuberant vocals. But it faded after several years when harder-edged bands such as Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Doors rose to popularity. The Dave Clark Five broke up in 1970 after 12 years together.
- 2/13/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Musician Rick Huxley, one of the founding members of 1960s chart stars The Dave Clark Five, has died at the age of 72.
The bass player, who joined the group in 1958, performed on hits such as 'Bits And Pieces' and 'Glad All Over'.
Huxley died yesterday and the group's leader and drummer Dave Clark said the news was "devastating".
Rick Huxley (far left) performing with Dave Clark, on drums, and his other bandmates at the height of their fame
The band was famously at the forefront of the British invasion of the Us charts in the early 60s, appearing on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' hot on the heels of The Beatles.
Huxley's death leaves two original members of the band surviving - Clark and guitarist Lenny Davidson.
The group scored a number one with 'Glad All Over' in January 1964, and twice went to number two - with 'Bits And...
The bass player, who joined the group in 1958, performed on hits such as 'Bits And Pieces' and 'Glad All Over'.
Huxley died yesterday and the group's leader and drummer Dave Clark said the news was "devastating".
Rick Huxley (far left) performing with Dave Clark, on drums, and his other bandmates at the height of their fame
The band was famously at the forefront of the British invasion of the Us charts in the early 60s, appearing on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' hot on the heels of The Beatles.
Huxley's death leaves two original members of the band surviving - Clark and guitarist Lenny Davidson.
The group scored a number one with 'Glad All Over' in January 1964, and twice went to number two - with 'Bits And...
- 2/12/2013
- by PA
- Huffington Post
We all know Ira Deutchman, but for the record, Ira has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and in their respective times, helped define the independent film business. Currently Deutchman is Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures, a New York-based digital exhibition company. He is also a Professor of Professional Practice in the Graduate Film Division of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, where he is the head of the Producing Program. He is also active in Art House Convergence and wrote this inspirational blog for them. It inspired my own reminiscence which was quite fun to do. It will go up tomorrow. I hope my readers enjoy this. If it inspires you, I will publish yours here as well.
Posted on October 3, 2011 by Ira Deutchman
I grew up in movie theaters. At a very young age, my mother started bringing me to matinees and later we would pile the family into the car and head to the local drive-in for double features. In my adolescent and teenage years, the fact that my family moved around so much meant that I had few friends. I spent all my spare time in movie theaters. By the time I went to college, movies were my life. I used to pride myself on the fact that I could name the theater where I saw every film I’d ever seen.
On a recent trip to Chicago, I walked around the Loop–the site of many of my most formative movie moments–and was astonished to see how little was left of what was one of the most beautiful movie theater districts anywhere. It made me very sad, but motivated me to write this piece about the movie theaters for which I have the fondest memories. They are in chronological order according to where they fit in my life.
The Park Plaza Theater in the Bronx was most likely my first movie theater experience. It was only a few blocks from where we lived, and this is where my mother first exposed me to movies. I remember the matrons in their white suits and flashlights trying to keep the kids–who were required to sit in a separate section unless they were accompanied by parents–quiet. The first movie I actually remember was a film that terrified me at the time. It had images that stuck with me throughout my life, even though I couldn’t remember what film it was. It was only as an adult that I realized that the movie I had seen was “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
Loews Paradise, also in the Bronx, was a magnificent place. Even as a kid, going there to see a movie was a special occasion. I remember being on a shopping expedition with my mother to Alexander’s (right across the street from the Paradise) and seeing banners and posters for ”Tom Thumb” with Russ Tamblyn as the little guy. I became obsessed with seeing that film, until my parents finally gave in and brought me to see it–even though it would have been cheaper to wait for it to play in a closer neighborhood theater.
Another memory that sticks with me is when I went to see a Jerry Lewis film at the Paradise–I think it may have been “The Bellboy”–with a neighbor who used to babysit for me. She was a huge Jerry Lewis fan and, throughout the film, she was laughing so hard, she kept hitting me.
In the early ’60s, my family moved to the south side of Chicago. My neighborhood movie theaters were only a short walk from where we lived. Almost every weekend, I went to see whatever was playing at those theaters. There was theHamilton and the Jeffery,both on 71st Street, and theChelton on 79th. Since this was before the ratings system, there were many films coming out that I wanted to see that had been designated as “adults only,” so I was prevented from seeing them without my parents. Fortunately, every Sunday the Chelton had a special kiddie matinee for 25 cents admission. As the kiddie film was ending, if you hid out in the men’s room, you could wait until after they cleared the theater and stay to see the adult film that came afterward. So every Sunday, I dragged my brother Larry to the Chelton and for a quarter (he got in free), we saw such “adult” films as “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” “Fate is the Hunter,” and “Goldfinger” (which my parents were furious about my having seen once they saw the provocative poster). They had no idea that I was in the process of reading all the James Bond books, which were far racier than the films.
Another neighborhood theater was the Avalon, which was a huge movie palace and as magnificent as the Paradise. When something played at the Avalon, it was well worth walking the slightly extra distance to see it there. The Avalon mostly played big event movies after they completed their downtown roadshow runs, like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “West Side Story.”
One day, I heard that the Avalon was one of a dozen or so theaters in the Chicago area that was going to have a special screening of “Having A Wild Weekend,” and that the Dave Clark Five were going to appear in person at the theater. Apparently, the promoters had timed things so that the group could appear at each of the theaters where the film would be playing that day. The big show at the Avalon was a Saturday morning matinee. I got in line early, and was shaking with excitement when I realized that I would indeed get in. There were more than 2,500 seats and the place was packed. A man came out on stage and announced that the group would be making its appearance before the film, and would be there momentarily. The crowd started to scream. Moments later, the Dave Clark Five marched out on stage, and the place went wild. There was a scuffle near the stage and the next thing we knew, the five of them had left the stage. The lights went off and the movie started. The next morning, it was in the newspaper that one of the group had suffered a broken wrist in the “near-riot” that ensued at the Avalon.
After awhile, I began to get impatient waiting for new movies to make it to the neighborhood theaters. I was also old enough to go to the Loop by myself, either by taking the Illinois Central train or, in good weather, riding my bicycle along Lake Michigan.
The theaters in the Loop started running shows at 9am, sometimes with no one in the audience. Many years later, when I was already in the film business, I was told that the Chicago projectionists union was one of the strongest in the country, and that the projectionists had to be paid for the full day whether there were shows or not. So most of the theaters simply opted to go ahead with the shows. This was great for me, since I could get there early and see films that would have been difficult to get into later in the day.
There were many gorgeous theaters in the Loop, but I had two favorites, The United Artists and the Woods. They were both grand movie palaces and had long histories that were completely lost on me at the time. All I cared about was that they were showing the latest, greatest movies. And they knew how to market them. The theaters tried to outdo each other in terms of the special displays they created for the films that were playing. The entire fronts of the theaters were covered by photos and posters for the films. The marquees screamed out whatever sensational lines they could think of to entice people into the theaters.
Of the many films that I saw at the Woods, one of my fondest memories was seeing “A Hard Days Night” the week it opened. The place was packed with screaming kids. I was way up in the balcony. When the Beatles began singing a song, the entire audience clapped along.
My recollection is that a lot of the films that played at the Woods were horror films or thrillers. I recall seeing a few William Castle films, some of the Edgar Allen Poe adaptations by Roger Corman and, in 1967, “Wait Until Dark,” for which they advertised that all the lights in the theater would be turned off for the last few minutes of the film. I can never remember being so scared in a film.
At the United Artists, I recall stumbling into an early morning showing of ”A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” not knowing anything about the film other than the strange title. I laughed so hard that I went back several more times to see it.
Right down the block from those theaters were the Cinestage and the Michael Todd. These were the more prestigious theaters, where you could see the latest blockbuster roadshow releases–in many cases a completely different (longer) version of the film than would be released in the neighborhoods. At these theaters I saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” (several times) and ”The Sound of Music” (several times), among many more “event” films.
In 1967, we moved again, this time to Highland Park, in Chicago’s north suburbs. My theater of choice was the Edens Theater, which was visible from the Edens Expressway. Unlike all the previous theaters, the Edens was not an old theater. It was a modernist masterpiece and a state-of-the-art facility that frequently had exclusive runs of films for the entire North Shore. Since it was a single-screen theater, hit films would settle in and play for long periods of time. One day I went to see “Bonnie and Clyde” at the Edens; I believe that was the moment I decided I wanted to make movies some day. I’m sure the massive screen and the incredible sound at the Edens added to the experience. I went back and saw “Bonnie and Clyde” at least five times, and since I didn’t have my drivers license yet, each time I saw the film one of my parents had to drive me. One day, as I was settling into my seat in the nearly empty theater, my Dad suddenly sat down next to me. I must have looked shocked as he said to me,” You keep coming to see this film so much, I decided to see what it is you like so much.” Throughout the film, he kept looking at me, wondering what kind of pervert he was bringing up.
A year or so later, my uncle was visiting from out of town, and took me to the Esquire on the north side of Chicago to see a film that he had read was all the rage. The Esquire was a beautiful deco palace, and one of the nicest places to see a film in Chicago. I would go there many times over the years, the last time being for the premiere of “Hoop Dreams” decades later. The film was “Easy Rider,” and it was on a double bill with a foreign language film that I can’t remember. They also showed a short called “De Duva (The Dove),” a great parody of early Bergman (It’s available on YouTube). My education continued.
A couple of years later, we moved again, this time to Paramus, NJ. The most spectacular local theater was the Stanley Warner Route 4. It started as a single-screen 2,000 seat theater, added a second screen in the the mid-70′s and eventually was carved up into little pieces. I practically lived at the theater all through high school. One memorable experience was trying to get in to see “Woodstock” and being turned away because I was too young. It looked to me like they were turning away the entire interested audience.
I also spent a lot of time at the Bergen Mall Cinema, which was the local art house. Here I saw such films as “Women in Love,” Fellini’s “Satyricon,” “Zabriskie Point,” and numerous films that were distributed by Cinema 5, a company that I would end up working for a number of years later. It was eye opening, and contributed to my radicalization in my teenage years. This theater may have been a shoebox in the middle of a suburban mall, but it was responsible for expanding the horizons of the youth of Bergen County. [Interestingly, I can't find any decent pictures of either of these two theaters.]
Then it was off to Chicago again, where I went to college. In Evanston, where the Northwestern campus was located, there were two downtown theaters, the Varsity and theValencia. They were both smaller movie palaces, but by the early ’70s they were in bad shape, mostly showing grindhouse films. That didn’t mean that I didn’t check them out. Given the recreational bent of the times, hanging at those two theaters could be a lot of fun.
However, the real action was in Chicago, and there were theaters showing films for every taste. The Carnegiewas the fancy art house, playing the latest foreign language films that were being written about in the New York Times. It was architecturally undistinguished and shared the same building with Mr. Kelly’s night club and a large parking structure. But the presentation was first class.
Repertory cinema was all over town, most notably at theBiograph and at thePlayboy at Clark and Division, which my college roommate referred to as the “center of the world.” The Biograph, of course, is world famous for being the place where Dillinger was killed after seeing a movie. The seat where Dillinger sat that night was painted gold so that patrons could find it easily. There was something special about seeing a film from the ’20s or ’30s in a setting that was so authentic to that time.
The Playboy was nowhere near as atmospheric, but it’s programming was something else. By day, the theater was an art house, playing the second tier art films that couldn’t get bookings at the Carnegie. But by night the Playboy became Chicago’s best repertory house. They called it the “Playboy All-Night Show,” and it was a different double feature every night, starting at midnight. One night it would be two Marx Brothers films, the next night two Ken Russell films, the next night, two by Antonioni. It was like someone was programming my Netflix queue, only in a movie theater. You can imagine my many bleary-eyed mornings, trying to stay awake through classes after having sat through two amazing films that ended at 4:00 am or later. (Yes, that’s Roger Ebert posing in front of the Playboy.)
After college, I ended up moving to New York City. I got a job with Cinema 5, which owned and operated most of the classiest theaters in Manhattan. It was a dream come true. Every Friday, the office manager would come by everyone’s desk and hand them 4 passes to any of the theaters, with an expiration date of the following week–use it or lose it. No chance of that for me. If anything, 4 passes were hardly enough, and I took to asking around for passes that others weren’t using.
The theaters were well-kept to the point of obsessiveness. I would be asked to run over to a theater to make sure the bathrooms were clean. The presentation was classy and always top-notch.
My absolute favorite of the theaters was the Plaza, which was the most atmospheric. I experienced some of the earliest examples of the coming American Independent movement at the Plaza, including “Hester Street,” “Pumping Iron,” “Harlan County USA” and others. Since the Plaza was right around the corner from the Cinema 5 office, we had our acquisition screenings there, so I spent many a morning drinking my coffee and eating my bagel in the first row of the loge section of the theater, screening some movie that we might be interested in acquiring. After awhile, the theater manager permitted me to park my bicycle in the theater when I rode it to work.
I always loved Cinema 1 and 2 on Third Avenue. It was before they had carved it into a third theater, and before it was allowed to get run down. It was a glittering example of a thoroughly modern movie theater, eschewing curtains for a black fabric strip that would come down from the ceiling before each show to mask the proper screen ratio. I used up a lot of those Cinema 5 passes at these theaters. When I started working there, Robert Altman’s “Nashville” was just beginning a record-setting run at Cinema 2. I had already seen the film once at the Esquire before leaving Chicago, but now I had the chance to see it over and over again, and I did. I probably saw the film 20 times in my first six months working at the company.
Another favorite was the Beekman. It was an art deco jewel, and probably the most beautiful movie theater that I’d ever seen that was built to be a movie theater. Woody Allen also loved the Beekman, and typically insisted that his films open there. I recall seeing “Love and Death” many times at the Beekman.
But I didn’t spend all of my time at the Cinema 5 theaters. I still had a taste for older films and frequented Dan Talbot’s New Yorker, and the Thalia, both of which were in the neighborhood where I lived. This was the golden age of double features, and the New York rep houses were trying to outdo each other in the cleverness of their programming.
In the years since, as my career led me to do business with many of the theaters I grew up with, I never lost my fondness for them. But one-by-one, just about all the theaters I have mentioned disappeared. The Thalia still exists, but the original parabolic floor has been straightened out and there is no longer any fixed seating. Cinema 1 & 2 have spawned a 3rd screen that has wrecked the perfect symmetry of the other two. The Biograph has been renovated and is being used by a theater company. The Esquire was cut up into smaller theaters many years ago, and now sits empty. The Avalon also sits abandoned. The Paradise is still there and has recently been partially restored, but it’s mainly used for events. All the rest are gone.
If you enjoy this subject, you owe it to yourself to check out the Cinema Treasures web site. I found many of the photos used in this piece on that site under a Creative Commons license. Full photo credits below:
Photo Credits:
Park Plaza: NYCago.com
Loews Paradise: Brad Smith, Cinema Treasures
Hamilton: Nick Coston, Cinema Treasures
Jeffery: Senorsock, Cinema Treasure
Avalon: Ira Deutchman
Woods: John P. Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
United Artists: John P. Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
Michael Todd: John P Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
Edens: Didi, Dim Beauty of Chicago
Esquire: Ira Deutchman
Varsity: Ira Deutchman
Carnegie: David Zornig, Cinema Treasures
Biograph: Norman Plant, Cinema Treasures
Playboy: Tim O’Neill, Cinema Treasures
Plaza: William, Cinema Treasures
Cinema 1&2: Dave-Bronx, Cinema Treasures
Beekman: Patrick Crowley, Cinema Treasures
New Yorker: MovieswithDad, Cinema Treasures This entry was posted in Film and tagged Bronx, Chicago, Highland Park, Movie Theaters, New York City, Paramus. Bookmark the permalink. ← Master Class: Independent Film Financing Let River Rest in Peace → 5 Responses to Movie Theaters I’ve Known and Loved Sydney Levine says: October 3, 2011 at 8:57 pm
I love this! I’ll try to do it…just the photos. you write better than I
Jordi Wijnalda says: October 3, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Wow, Ira – this really hit home for me. No, I have not experienced any of this first-hand myself, but it once again reaffirmed for me that a different decade might have been better for me… In some ways, at least. Thanks a lot for sharing this!
Juliet Goodfriend says: October 5, 2011 at 10:10 am
Ira, your memory is as awesome as your love of, and history in, films and theaters. Thanks, for the memories..da dah da dah da daah, etc (I can’t even remember the lyrics!).
Juliet
DanZee says: October 5, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Unfortunately theaters bear the scars of the ups and downs of the movie industry. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, you had huge theaters showing films continuously to large masses of coming-and-going people. The television age shifted that to films you couldn’t (yet) see on TV, such as long-running “event” pictures or a constantly changing schedule of foreign and repertory films. During the 1980s, the film studios revved up production again using independent producers (and their money) that shifted theaters to a multiplex design of more screens but smaller “box” theaters. The older theaters were abandoned or cut up, and even today theater owners skimp on building maintenance. Just as the old movie palaces have met the wrecking ball, throughout the 2000′s multiplexes have been plowed over for newer restaurant-themed superplexes. And at some point, even they will be replaced with something different. It’s all a cycle.
Carl Spence says: October 11, 2011 at 3:30 am
The timing of this article is fortuitous as we are re-opening a 85 year old movie palace – the uptown cinemas from October 20th in Seattle. It has the original single screen with the addition of two smaller stadium auditoriums that were added next door in the mid-80s. We are currently restoring the 50s marquee and getting the place ready to open in a short amount of time. Very exciting times in Seattle for movie going!
Posted on October 3, 2011 by Ira Deutchman
I grew up in movie theaters. At a very young age, my mother started bringing me to matinees and later we would pile the family into the car and head to the local drive-in for double features. In my adolescent and teenage years, the fact that my family moved around so much meant that I had few friends. I spent all my spare time in movie theaters. By the time I went to college, movies were my life. I used to pride myself on the fact that I could name the theater where I saw every film I’d ever seen.
On a recent trip to Chicago, I walked around the Loop–the site of many of my most formative movie moments–and was astonished to see how little was left of what was one of the most beautiful movie theater districts anywhere. It made me very sad, but motivated me to write this piece about the movie theaters for which I have the fondest memories. They are in chronological order according to where they fit in my life.
The Park Plaza Theater in the Bronx was most likely my first movie theater experience. It was only a few blocks from where we lived, and this is where my mother first exposed me to movies. I remember the matrons in their white suits and flashlights trying to keep the kids–who were required to sit in a separate section unless they were accompanied by parents–quiet. The first movie I actually remember was a film that terrified me at the time. It had images that stuck with me throughout my life, even though I couldn’t remember what film it was. It was only as an adult that I realized that the movie I had seen was “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
Loews Paradise, also in the Bronx, was a magnificent place. Even as a kid, going there to see a movie was a special occasion. I remember being on a shopping expedition with my mother to Alexander’s (right across the street from the Paradise) and seeing banners and posters for ”Tom Thumb” with Russ Tamblyn as the little guy. I became obsessed with seeing that film, until my parents finally gave in and brought me to see it–even though it would have been cheaper to wait for it to play in a closer neighborhood theater.
Another memory that sticks with me is when I went to see a Jerry Lewis film at the Paradise–I think it may have been “The Bellboy”–with a neighbor who used to babysit for me. She was a huge Jerry Lewis fan and, throughout the film, she was laughing so hard, she kept hitting me.
In the early ’60s, my family moved to the south side of Chicago. My neighborhood movie theaters were only a short walk from where we lived. Almost every weekend, I went to see whatever was playing at those theaters. There was theHamilton and the Jeffery,both on 71st Street, and theChelton on 79th. Since this was before the ratings system, there were many films coming out that I wanted to see that had been designated as “adults only,” so I was prevented from seeing them without my parents. Fortunately, every Sunday the Chelton had a special kiddie matinee for 25 cents admission. As the kiddie film was ending, if you hid out in the men’s room, you could wait until after they cleared the theater and stay to see the adult film that came afterward. So every Sunday, I dragged my brother Larry to the Chelton and for a quarter (he got in free), we saw such “adult” films as “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” “Fate is the Hunter,” and “Goldfinger” (which my parents were furious about my having seen once they saw the provocative poster). They had no idea that I was in the process of reading all the James Bond books, which were far racier than the films.
Another neighborhood theater was the Avalon, which was a huge movie palace and as magnificent as the Paradise. When something played at the Avalon, it was well worth walking the slightly extra distance to see it there. The Avalon mostly played big event movies after they completed their downtown roadshow runs, like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “West Side Story.”
One day, I heard that the Avalon was one of a dozen or so theaters in the Chicago area that was going to have a special screening of “Having A Wild Weekend,” and that the Dave Clark Five were going to appear in person at the theater. Apparently, the promoters had timed things so that the group could appear at each of the theaters where the film would be playing that day. The big show at the Avalon was a Saturday morning matinee. I got in line early, and was shaking with excitement when I realized that I would indeed get in. There were more than 2,500 seats and the place was packed. A man came out on stage and announced that the group would be making its appearance before the film, and would be there momentarily. The crowd started to scream. Moments later, the Dave Clark Five marched out on stage, and the place went wild. There was a scuffle near the stage and the next thing we knew, the five of them had left the stage. The lights went off and the movie started. The next morning, it was in the newspaper that one of the group had suffered a broken wrist in the “near-riot” that ensued at the Avalon.
After awhile, I began to get impatient waiting for new movies to make it to the neighborhood theaters. I was also old enough to go to the Loop by myself, either by taking the Illinois Central train or, in good weather, riding my bicycle along Lake Michigan.
The theaters in the Loop started running shows at 9am, sometimes with no one in the audience. Many years later, when I was already in the film business, I was told that the Chicago projectionists union was one of the strongest in the country, and that the projectionists had to be paid for the full day whether there were shows or not. So most of the theaters simply opted to go ahead with the shows. This was great for me, since I could get there early and see films that would have been difficult to get into later in the day.
There were many gorgeous theaters in the Loop, but I had two favorites, The United Artists and the Woods. They were both grand movie palaces and had long histories that were completely lost on me at the time. All I cared about was that they were showing the latest, greatest movies. And they knew how to market them. The theaters tried to outdo each other in terms of the special displays they created for the films that were playing. The entire fronts of the theaters were covered by photos and posters for the films. The marquees screamed out whatever sensational lines they could think of to entice people into the theaters.
Of the many films that I saw at the Woods, one of my fondest memories was seeing “A Hard Days Night” the week it opened. The place was packed with screaming kids. I was way up in the balcony. When the Beatles began singing a song, the entire audience clapped along.
My recollection is that a lot of the films that played at the Woods were horror films or thrillers. I recall seeing a few William Castle films, some of the Edgar Allen Poe adaptations by Roger Corman and, in 1967, “Wait Until Dark,” for which they advertised that all the lights in the theater would be turned off for the last few minutes of the film. I can never remember being so scared in a film.
At the United Artists, I recall stumbling into an early morning showing of ”A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” not knowing anything about the film other than the strange title. I laughed so hard that I went back several more times to see it.
Right down the block from those theaters were the Cinestage and the Michael Todd. These were the more prestigious theaters, where you could see the latest blockbuster roadshow releases–in many cases a completely different (longer) version of the film than would be released in the neighborhoods. At these theaters I saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” (several times) and ”The Sound of Music” (several times), among many more “event” films.
In 1967, we moved again, this time to Highland Park, in Chicago’s north suburbs. My theater of choice was the Edens Theater, which was visible from the Edens Expressway. Unlike all the previous theaters, the Edens was not an old theater. It was a modernist masterpiece and a state-of-the-art facility that frequently had exclusive runs of films for the entire North Shore. Since it was a single-screen theater, hit films would settle in and play for long periods of time. One day I went to see “Bonnie and Clyde” at the Edens; I believe that was the moment I decided I wanted to make movies some day. I’m sure the massive screen and the incredible sound at the Edens added to the experience. I went back and saw “Bonnie and Clyde” at least five times, and since I didn’t have my drivers license yet, each time I saw the film one of my parents had to drive me. One day, as I was settling into my seat in the nearly empty theater, my Dad suddenly sat down next to me. I must have looked shocked as he said to me,” You keep coming to see this film so much, I decided to see what it is you like so much.” Throughout the film, he kept looking at me, wondering what kind of pervert he was bringing up.
A year or so later, my uncle was visiting from out of town, and took me to the Esquire on the north side of Chicago to see a film that he had read was all the rage. The Esquire was a beautiful deco palace, and one of the nicest places to see a film in Chicago. I would go there many times over the years, the last time being for the premiere of “Hoop Dreams” decades later. The film was “Easy Rider,” and it was on a double bill with a foreign language film that I can’t remember. They also showed a short called “De Duva (The Dove),” a great parody of early Bergman (It’s available on YouTube). My education continued.
A couple of years later, we moved again, this time to Paramus, NJ. The most spectacular local theater was the Stanley Warner Route 4. It started as a single-screen 2,000 seat theater, added a second screen in the the mid-70′s and eventually was carved up into little pieces. I practically lived at the theater all through high school. One memorable experience was trying to get in to see “Woodstock” and being turned away because I was too young. It looked to me like they were turning away the entire interested audience.
I also spent a lot of time at the Bergen Mall Cinema, which was the local art house. Here I saw such films as “Women in Love,” Fellini’s “Satyricon,” “Zabriskie Point,” and numerous films that were distributed by Cinema 5, a company that I would end up working for a number of years later. It was eye opening, and contributed to my radicalization in my teenage years. This theater may have been a shoebox in the middle of a suburban mall, but it was responsible for expanding the horizons of the youth of Bergen County. [Interestingly, I can't find any decent pictures of either of these two theaters.]
Then it was off to Chicago again, where I went to college. In Evanston, where the Northwestern campus was located, there were two downtown theaters, the Varsity and theValencia. They were both smaller movie palaces, but by the early ’70s they were in bad shape, mostly showing grindhouse films. That didn’t mean that I didn’t check them out. Given the recreational bent of the times, hanging at those two theaters could be a lot of fun.
However, the real action was in Chicago, and there were theaters showing films for every taste. The Carnegiewas the fancy art house, playing the latest foreign language films that were being written about in the New York Times. It was architecturally undistinguished and shared the same building with Mr. Kelly’s night club and a large parking structure. But the presentation was first class.
Repertory cinema was all over town, most notably at theBiograph and at thePlayboy at Clark and Division, which my college roommate referred to as the “center of the world.” The Biograph, of course, is world famous for being the place where Dillinger was killed after seeing a movie. The seat where Dillinger sat that night was painted gold so that patrons could find it easily. There was something special about seeing a film from the ’20s or ’30s in a setting that was so authentic to that time.
The Playboy was nowhere near as atmospheric, but it’s programming was something else. By day, the theater was an art house, playing the second tier art films that couldn’t get bookings at the Carnegie. But by night the Playboy became Chicago’s best repertory house. They called it the “Playboy All-Night Show,” and it was a different double feature every night, starting at midnight. One night it would be two Marx Brothers films, the next night two Ken Russell films, the next night, two by Antonioni. It was like someone was programming my Netflix queue, only in a movie theater. You can imagine my many bleary-eyed mornings, trying to stay awake through classes after having sat through two amazing films that ended at 4:00 am or later. (Yes, that’s Roger Ebert posing in front of the Playboy.)
After college, I ended up moving to New York City. I got a job with Cinema 5, which owned and operated most of the classiest theaters in Manhattan. It was a dream come true. Every Friday, the office manager would come by everyone’s desk and hand them 4 passes to any of the theaters, with an expiration date of the following week–use it or lose it. No chance of that for me. If anything, 4 passes were hardly enough, and I took to asking around for passes that others weren’t using.
The theaters were well-kept to the point of obsessiveness. I would be asked to run over to a theater to make sure the bathrooms were clean. The presentation was classy and always top-notch.
My absolute favorite of the theaters was the Plaza, which was the most atmospheric. I experienced some of the earliest examples of the coming American Independent movement at the Plaza, including “Hester Street,” “Pumping Iron,” “Harlan County USA” and others. Since the Plaza was right around the corner from the Cinema 5 office, we had our acquisition screenings there, so I spent many a morning drinking my coffee and eating my bagel in the first row of the loge section of the theater, screening some movie that we might be interested in acquiring. After awhile, the theater manager permitted me to park my bicycle in the theater when I rode it to work.
I always loved Cinema 1 and 2 on Third Avenue. It was before they had carved it into a third theater, and before it was allowed to get run down. It was a glittering example of a thoroughly modern movie theater, eschewing curtains for a black fabric strip that would come down from the ceiling before each show to mask the proper screen ratio. I used up a lot of those Cinema 5 passes at these theaters. When I started working there, Robert Altman’s “Nashville” was just beginning a record-setting run at Cinema 2. I had already seen the film once at the Esquire before leaving Chicago, but now I had the chance to see it over and over again, and I did. I probably saw the film 20 times in my first six months working at the company.
Another favorite was the Beekman. It was an art deco jewel, and probably the most beautiful movie theater that I’d ever seen that was built to be a movie theater. Woody Allen also loved the Beekman, and typically insisted that his films open there. I recall seeing “Love and Death” many times at the Beekman.
But I didn’t spend all of my time at the Cinema 5 theaters. I still had a taste for older films and frequented Dan Talbot’s New Yorker, and the Thalia, both of which were in the neighborhood where I lived. This was the golden age of double features, and the New York rep houses were trying to outdo each other in the cleverness of their programming.
In the years since, as my career led me to do business with many of the theaters I grew up with, I never lost my fondness for them. But one-by-one, just about all the theaters I have mentioned disappeared. The Thalia still exists, but the original parabolic floor has been straightened out and there is no longer any fixed seating. Cinema 1 & 2 have spawned a 3rd screen that has wrecked the perfect symmetry of the other two. The Biograph has been renovated and is being used by a theater company. The Esquire was cut up into smaller theaters many years ago, and now sits empty. The Avalon also sits abandoned. The Paradise is still there and has recently been partially restored, but it’s mainly used for events. All the rest are gone.
If you enjoy this subject, you owe it to yourself to check out the Cinema Treasures web site. I found many of the photos used in this piece on that site under a Creative Commons license. Full photo credits below:
Photo Credits:
Park Plaza: NYCago.com
Loews Paradise: Brad Smith, Cinema Treasures
Hamilton: Nick Coston, Cinema Treasures
Jeffery: Senorsock, Cinema Treasure
Avalon: Ira Deutchman
Woods: John P. Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
United Artists: John P. Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
Michael Todd: John P Keating Jr, Cinema Treasures
Edens: Didi, Dim Beauty of Chicago
Esquire: Ira Deutchman
Varsity: Ira Deutchman
Carnegie: David Zornig, Cinema Treasures
Biograph: Norman Plant, Cinema Treasures
Playboy: Tim O’Neill, Cinema Treasures
Plaza: William, Cinema Treasures
Cinema 1&2: Dave-Bronx, Cinema Treasures
Beekman: Patrick Crowley, Cinema Treasures
New Yorker: MovieswithDad, Cinema Treasures This entry was posted in Film and tagged Bronx, Chicago, Highland Park, Movie Theaters, New York City, Paramus. Bookmark the permalink. ← Master Class: Independent Film Financing Let River Rest in Peace → 5 Responses to Movie Theaters I’ve Known and Loved Sydney Levine says: October 3, 2011 at 8:57 pm
I love this! I’ll try to do it…just the photos. you write better than I
Jordi Wijnalda says: October 3, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Wow, Ira – this really hit home for me. No, I have not experienced any of this first-hand myself, but it once again reaffirmed for me that a different decade might have been better for me… In some ways, at least. Thanks a lot for sharing this!
Juliet Goodfriend says: October 5, 2011 at 10:10 am
Ira, your memory is as awesome as your love of, and history in, films and theaters. Thanks, for the memories..da dah da dah da daah, etc (I can’t even remember the lyrics!).
Juliet
DanZee says: October 5, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Unfortunately theaters bear the scars of the ups and downs of the movie industry. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, you had huge theaters showing films continuously to large masses of coming-and-going people. The television age shifted that to films you couldn’t (yet) see on TV, such as long-running “event” pictures or a constantly changing schedule of foreign and repertory films. During the 1980s, the film studios revved up production again using independent producers (and their money) that shifted theaters to a multiplex design of more screens but smaller “box” theaters. The older theaters were abandoned or cut up, and even today theater owners skimp on building maintenance. Just as the old movie palaces have met the wrecking ball, throughout the 2000′s multiplexes have been plowed over for newer restaurant-themed superplexes. And at some point, even they will be replaced with something different. It’s all a cycle.
Carl Spence says: October 11, 2011 at 3:30 am
The timing of this article is fortuitous as we are re-opening a 85 year old movie palace – the uptown cinemas from October 20th in Seattle. It has the original single screen with the addition of two smaller stadium auditoriums that were added next door in the mid-80s. We are currently restoring the 50s marquee and getting the place ready to open in a short amount of time. Very exciting times in Seattle for movie going!
- 3/26/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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