Thursday, May 27, 2010

OLD & NEW MOVIE THEATERS: A COMPARISON

Boy, I love to see movies on a big screen in a packed theater!
























It must have been great to see them in Technicolor, and in ornate vaudeville-style theaters that were like palaces inside. That's a Lego theater above. Every once in a while Lego knocks themselves out to make a toy that nobody can afford, but is very near a work of art.






































How different the Lego building is from minimalist modern theaters (above), which often look like banks or Walmart stores.  Some are amazingly featureless and stealthy. You could be standing next to them and  and never know it. In the case of the theater above, the designer thoughtfully wrote "Box Office" on the ticket vender's window just to let us know what it was.















I wish I could figure out why modern movie houses disposed of the marquee. It was sheltering and fun to look at, and it announced the theater's presence to the world. You could see it from the road and no doubt it seduced lots of drivers and walkers-by into seeing the films. Notice too, the film posters are out on the street where people can see them, and not concealed inside or in a side alley, like the ones in my neighborhood.

When I told this to my kid he rolled his eyes up and said that marquees were unnecessary since people get all the info they need online.  He said nobody goes to a theater on an impulse anymore. Maybe, I thought, but it couldn't hurt to scoop up the few that do.

Actually, some modern theaters do have marquees...sort of. Here's (above) an ugly one on a theater that looks like it was built in the 80s. It's mind-numbing and bland, and looks like a bank, but at least it puts its posters out front where people can see them. 



















Here's one current marquee style.  This example looks like it's outside, but a lot of marquees of this type are inside, over interior ticket windows. You have to go inside to see it. 


















Like I said, a lot of modern theater owners have dispensed with marquees entirely.  In this theater (above) the titles of the films that are playing are written on bumper stickers  high on the wall behind the ticket sellers.  If you crouch down low enough,  and use your hand to screen out the reflections on the tinted glass, you might discover what's playing and when.



























Don't expect to see mirrors in the restroom. If you're lucky the management might provide slightly reflective sheets of steel.  If not, then the walls will be bare.






































No more movie palaces. Just bare bones walls and seats.





I wish theaters would bring back usherettes.  They look good and besides, you can use usherettes to sell the outrageously priced candy to people in their seats.


20 comments:

Ian Merch! said...

I grew up with the 80s style "McTheaters," but when I'm in Chicago I've gone out of my way to see movies in the Music Box, a nice 80 year old theater in Wrigleyville. It was an amazing experience, and it's a shame that more theaters aren't like that.

Also they serve booze in the concession stand, which I have to say, is not a bad idea.

thomas said...

I remember when older theaters started to be subdivided, to fit more screens in. The screens and the spaces were so tiny, it felt little different from watching a film at home. But that's become the norm.
I guess this was in the early- middle 90's when it happened.

Its ironic how newer theaters and alot of architecture looks like LEGO, while LEGO itself, is doing more imaginative things.

Brubaker said...

Down where I live there used to be a theater downtown, called Varsity, that had marquee and everything. The building is still there, although it's no longer a movie theater (it's now a fitness center).

Here's the building in 1983:
http://tinyurl.com/32j2q4w

Here it is now:
http://tinyurl.com/33l7kke

The only working theater in town is, as Ian described, a "McTheater", but it does have a huge sign out that lists all the movies they're playing and they do put out posters outside the building. And the said theater also has a video (DVD?) store located right next door. I think the only reason the video store is still in business is because of the movie theater.

Here's a rather grainy picture of the said theater:
http://tinyurl.com/2wjkwgv

talkingtj said...

here in the bronx there are two very old movie theatres left standfing. one is the paradise, this was an opera house in the mid nineteenth century when edgar allen poe lived in the area. it was a movie when i grew up, filled with ancient arches, statues, balcony seats, curved stages, its one of the oldest buildings in new york, it was saved from destruction because of its historical value. the other is the american, built during the twenties, still showing current films, still has ushers and usherettes, a proper consession stand, the marquee is outside listing times for the showings, very nostalgic and current.its the only one i love going to.cant enter or leave til the movie is over! as it should be!

Steven M. said...

MAN!! I wish theaters were like before.

Severin said...

Internet... and I think cars are also largely to blame for the blandification of a lot of storefronts. More cars per family means less people walking, and in my opinion flashy storefronts are more likely to attract pedestrian traffic than drivers. Anyone who steps into a car is typically headed somewhere, not looking around for nothing in particular. Drivers also may not be entirely aware of their environment, since they are focusing on driving. Furthermore, if a driver did become interested in what a store had to offer, there would need to be adequate parking nearby.

Then there's the fact that more cars mean more people living further and further from where they work and shop, so it's not like anyone is about to step out their front door and go exploring on foot. Decorating a store's facade seems like a useless expense in a world where no one will walk by and see it.

I think that if you want to find evidence of what I'm talking about, look at architecture near places where people still walk around and compare it to places where there are no sidewalks.

Sorry for being such a downer! This is a topic that's been bothering me a lot lately, and I think your mention of theaters touches on it.

Anonymous said...

Too bad I had to grow up during the bland years of the late 1990s and 00s. I'm so used to going to these boring, bank-styled movie theaters, that I never thought about what movie theaters looked like decades ago. It's kinda of how drive-in theater are almost extinct. I think I've only seen a few in my entire life sadly.

Great post, Eddie!

Allen said...

Wow I remember the old movie theater I used to go to as a kid. It looked a little bit like that third picture of yours. The one that says "Visual Power show". It was a little bit toned down since it was a small city, though it had the posters on the outside and everything. Inside, it was great. There were only about 2 screens but they were HUGE. I went to see all the Disney movies there as a kid. But then they shut it down, cause of rats. For years it just sat there abandoned, still with some old posters trapped in their frames. I always hoped someone would renovate it and make it alive again. The place was within 7 minute walking distance of FOUR schools of varying age ranges. To me it seemed like a sure thing to get the kids to see movies or something. Now its a Walgreens.

Sorry, I just hate it that everything in my town is becoming so bland. It was nice remembering the old theater.

Alex said...

The town I'm from used to have a very nice theater until the 70's. the interior was made to look like a garden, with trees and frescos on the way up, and a ceiling of stars. They turned it into a parking lot.

That said, that got people to preserve the other theater in town, but they don't use it for movies anymore. There's a few drive ins still in business and a old theater that plays really bad 60's Terrytoons. At least the guy tries.

What I'm wondering, how is this whole "digital projection" thing that the multiplexes are pushing going to affect the local single screens? The local ones usually pick up a film a little while after it's popular. But it everything is direct digital, I can see that putting a hit on the independents. Not that I know anything about theaters... just saying.

FriedMilk said...

Whenever these old theaters close down, they just sit sad and abandoned for years. It's a lost opportunity. I don't often go to movies, but when I want to see one, I'm 10 times more likely to go out and see it at a nice place like the Sunshine Cinema than at a crappy place in a strip mall. It's for the same reason 3D has become trendy for films nowadays...seeing it at a nice theater makes it more of a spectacle. It's not because I grew up with movie palace style theaters...god knows the theater in New Dorp where I saw my first movies was a dump.

Brubaker said...

"and a old theater that plays really bad 60's Terrytoons"

Well, it's nice that some theaters still play cartoons. What kind of sixties Terrytoons? The early directing efforts from Ralph Bakshi (Sad Cat, James Hound)?

Anonymous said...

"There's a few drive ins still in business and a old theater that plays really bad 60's Terrytoons. At least the guy tries."

You're very lucky. I'd take a bad Terrytoon over most of the animation being produced today. That in itself is amazing.

Jorge Garrido said...

Eddie, where do you get that picture I took of myself in the bathroom of the Cineplex I work at?

Zoran Taylor said...

Technically not a movie theatre, but a nice piece of my hometown to drool over: The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

coolhand said...

there are still a couple older theaters where i live but one of them has been converted into a music venue. another one still shows movies and is well known for being a very typical "old school" theater. it is really great to watch movies in, but going to the theater has become a little bit of a pain in the ass in an age where every movie is at your beck and call from home. regardless i am with you on this one and wish old fashioned movie theater mentality would come back. also drive ins. that would be an interesting thing for you to post about as well in accordance with this post...just saying.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Aaargh! Once again I didn't write what I meant to say. I love old theaters, especially the beautiful ones like Zoran posted about, but what i'd really like to see is innovative modern designs that are as good as the best old movie houses used to be. I just couldn't find any examples. Maybe I should have referenced the best new live-performance theaters.

Sound technology is so good now, and so cheap, that there's no excuse for any theater to have less than great sound.

Alex said...

Don't know if anyone's reading this by now, but about those 60's cartoons... Yeah, it IS pretty neat to see them on screen, but considering what the guy could run it's kinda disappointing. I don't remember ever seeing anything from Bakshi up there though.

The same theater runs a lot of late Walter Lantz cartoons and they're about the most depressing things ever. Bad jokes, bad art, and almost no animation. It reminds people why cartoons where phased out of theaters in the first place.

Brubaker said...

Alex,

True, alot of the sixties theatrical cartoons are terrible (the less said about the Daffy and Speedy cartoons, the better). Although there are gems.

I'm probably one of the few people (other than Jerry Beck) who love the sixties Paramount cartoons. The ones made under Howard Post (who recently passed away), Shamus Culhane, and also the small handful from Ralph Bakshi (check out "Marvin Digs" if you can). Not all are great, but not all are awful either. And I have a soft soft for the DePatie-Freleng theatricals, produced up to the late '70s, amazingly.

That said, nobody should be subject to the Paul J. Smith Lantz cartoons. I don't think anyone could survive a marathon of the Beary Family cartoons.

melina bee said...

I love old movie theaters. One of the best things about Portland, Oregon is that nearly every neighborhood has kept and still uses its old (20s, 30s) movie palace, marquee and all. It really lends a wonderful vibrancy to the community (esp. since most of those theaters serve beer and 3$ tickets) and really makes going to the movies an escape.
I think they are less fancy/ornate today, not just b/c of trends in architecture, but because with more and more virtual reality type escapes out there (internet, etc) the full on effect of the theater is not "needed."
this post features one of the best I've ever seen, in San Luis Obispo

pappy d said...

Liquor licences could save a lot of old theaters!

In decaying neighborhoods, they'd draw a better class of drinker who can pay admission to the lobby. This benefits the local economy: first the panhandlers (guys on a date are the best marks) who'll be replaced by competing coffee shops & a place that serves lobster mac&cheese after bar closing-time.