Cinematic Days Gone By

Regular readers here know that there is a recurring theme of my childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, where I developed a love of movies at our two local movie palaces.  The RKO Proctor's and Loews are both gone.   But, so are many others.

So, when I got a screening invitation to April Wright's new documentary, "Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace," I went in a flash.  And, so did many other movie theater enthusiasts.   All of us lamenting days gone.  

April Wright's film is a labor of love.  It systematically details essentially the history of movies in America.   From the early nickelodeon days to the 1930s and 1940s when Hollywood studios owned movie theater chains and built those opulent cinema palaces.   Then the diminishing movie audience as a result of the new fangled television set in the 50s.   And, then sadly, the demolition of many movie palaces in the 60s and 70s as patrons ran to the suburbs and rodents ran to the cities.   

All the while, these stories are told via one vintage photograph after another.  Each would provoke another tear in the audience, including me.  The talking heads in the documentary are all folks who have devoted their lives to saving the local movie palace.  One of the people is the lady, a Radio City Music Hall dancer who refused to let that place close in 1978.   Sure, it's still with us and no longer showing flicks.   But, as she says in the film, "maybe one day."

By the conclusion of "Going Attractions," I was depressed and angry all at the same time.  There were so many palaces down in Manhattan which my family made special trips to.   All gone.   Shame, shame, shame on the city of New York for not preserving this rich history and multiplex of memories.  I'm going to spotlight them again in an upcoming Sunday Memory Drawer.

But so many other memories have gone down the proverbial drain.  There was a Q and A after the screening that including Ms. Wright, a movie theater preservationist, and the guy who shepherds the website "Cinema Treasures," which has been the source of so many photos on this blog.   The panelists were peppered with questions as the same emotion of depression and anger had been instilled in all of us.   The mark of a great documentary.  I even offered my noble assistance to the guy who runs a movie theater preservation society.   We need to keep those palaces that still exist alive and well.   

It was noted by all that Los Angeles has done a good job at doing this.  But who knows how long that will last?  For instance, Netflix is allegedly going to be taking over the famed Egyptian and Aero Theaters, which have been the centerpiece of the classic film programming from the American Cinematheque.

With one last shot of sadness, it was mentioned that the very theater where this film was screened, the Ariya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills, might have a short shelf life.  Its parent company, the Laemmle chain, is currently in talks to be taken over.  It was fitting that "Going Attractions" included a shot of it in the final five minutes.   

If you have at least one memory of seeing a film in a movie palace, please check out "Going Attractions - The Definitive History of the Movie Palace."  And there's more you can do.   If you have a choice of seeing a current film at the local AMC or a restored movie palace, please, please, please...choose the latter.

LEN'S RATING:  Four stars.

Dinner last night:  Smoked sausage and onions.