You know how people are supposed to go through all these stages of grief with the death process? Denial, anger, etc, etc. to a final acceptance? It's hard to say where the Senator Theater sits in this process, but if last night is any indication, denial is in full swing.
A couple of us -- Charlie Wittig, Dava Sentz, Gary Svehla, Gus Russo, and me -- went to the late showing of Horror of Dracula at the Senator last night, which no-longer-quite-the-owner Tom Kiefaber described as a donation from a private collector. There were many visible scratches in the print, but the color was bright and it was the Senator! This was only the second time I had ever seen a Hammer Dracula on the big screen, and if this turned out to be my final movie at this historic movie house, then Horror of Dracula certainly made just as fitting a send-off as The Godfather, which I saw last fall.
There were dozens and dozens of posters piled against the walls of the lobby, mostly selling for $20 a pop. There were also many promo t-shirts for sale -- Betts, you'll find some Star Wars shirts there -- but the hottest seller seemed to be piles and piles of the actual black aluminum marquee letters, which were going for $10 each. I was tempted to buy a couple of those, but wound up walking out with a very nice re-issue poster of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Kiefaber mentioned that there were a lot of "flea market folks" waiting at the door when the theater opened that afternoon, but what those folks didn't realize was that the best stuff wasn't coming out first, because they were putting out the most recent things, which would be on the top of the pile in their storage rooms. Kiefaber figures the oldest posters, etc. would be toward the bottom of the pile. Sure enough, when we exited the theater, the marquee letters had been re-stocked and there were fresh (well, fresher) t-shirts on the tables.
He also said they planned to show a few more movies in the next few weeks, with possibly another late feature. Senator fans (or just simply fans of movies) should take note.
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Saturday night was another ICS night at the Senator. John Weber, myself, Courtney, Norman, Jim, Sam, Rick and a friend of theirs was there.
ReplyDeleteThere are rumors that you can see some of us on channel 13 WJZ tv as we meander around and look at the stuff on the tables.
I will be stopping back in later in the week and am very tempted to make an offer on the 5 foot long Millinum Falcon that is up for sale.
I want to add the movie was fantastic on the big screen and I really enjoyed seeing it. Now, I am not a huge horror movie fan, I respect it and enjoy it but couldn't tell you when that movie came out of who was in it beyond General Tarkin. This was a classic that was shown in my house a lot, but I never really dug. My mind was changed when I saw it on the big screen. I can only hope they will show more like this.
Upon being reminded of this blog, here is an email I sent out to some... And yes, Mary and Betsy were on 13 WJZ! Betsy - weren't you interviewed on the parking lot at the Rotunda? I'll bet you go to the movies a lot!
ReplyDeleteAnyway - here is my take on The Senator...
Well, I must say there was a good size group of people in attendance this past Saturday night (ten of whom were from the ICS clan!). Sam and I arrived early to browse the memorabilia for sale. I made a couple of purchases and then we watched and waited as more people arrived and filed past. People took pictures, bought things, caught up with Tom and with each other. The entire evening had a bitter-sweet feel to it. Sweet because the movie was good. Bitter because of the circumstances surrounding the fate of the theater. We couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for Tom, his wife, and his son who were frantically gathering items from their storage archives to be sold. The air definitely had a ‘moving sale’ feel to it. Before the movie Tom spoke to us and thanked everyone for their continued support and reminded us that ‘it’s not over ‘til it’s over for the theater’ (although it sure felt like it was over!). He reminded us to check out the website for scheduling updates about similar classic movies. Hopefully there will be good ones showing this coming weekend!
Rick A.
The times, they are a-changin'. And sometimes an entity can't make the change. Just ask the dinosaurs. Sure, we movie fans appreciate the Senator as a grand example of art deco theater design. But your average movie goer these days has accepted the multiplex as a way of life. The movie operators have accepted that as the way to survive. Single run theaters that we remember fondly- The Patterson, The Colony, The Arcade, The Paramount- are long gone. It's amazing the Senator lasted this long. Sure, many years ago Kiefaber debated adding a wing to the Senator to show a second film. But he never had the money. It would've helped if he had bought out the block and razed it for parking. Patrons weren't comfortable with the idea of a parking lot a block or two away, even though he saw no problem with it. But he never had the money. While I would love to see the Senator remain a movie house, the problem is that it's not profitable to do so. Anyone who buys it probably knows that. Even with numerous bailouts and word that if we don't patronize it regularly it will go belly up, we didn't. It was like the same problem the American Auto industry is facing. They are offering something people don't want. I only wish I had the wherewithall to buy it and turn it into the ICS Clubhouse.
ReplyDeleteHendo
I noticed that the late features this weekend are concert films about the Talking Heads and the Grateful Dead, so I think I'll pass. However, I also read on the Senator website that the for-sale collection in the lobby is open daily, at least through April 19, and the variety of sale items is growing.
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