That Old Theatre Magic

by Thomas M. Pender

I love going to movies.  Renting and buying DVDs are nice and convenient methods, but the experience of going to the show, buying tickets and junk food, and shushing other people (or being shushed) is another kind of fun that I treasure.  Even more, I love the experiences you can’t get anymore, unless you seek them out and find them in places not widely known.

I love the older theatres, built in the first half of the 20th Century, and I love drive-ins.

The Fox Theatre (also known as “the fabulous Fox” by locals) was built in 1928 in the heart of downtown Detroit.  It was fully restored in 1988, and listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1989.  I had heard of it for years growing up in the suburbs, mostly as a venue for concerts, but I was only inside the Fox once.  I went with a friend to attend a special showing of Citizen Kane in 1991, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the classic film’s release.  At the end of the 1980s, we had come to love the film after numerous viewing on VHS, and we were excited to see it up on the big screen for the first (and quite possibly, the only) time.

The outside of the Fox is brightly lit with lively lights, and seems to belong more on a Broadway avenue than Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, where (at least in 1991) it was situated among abandoned and decaying buildings.  As flashy and loud as the outside looked, the inside was pure class.  With just over 5,000 seats, it is the largest movie theatre I have ever been in.  The intricate wood moldings are still present and fully restored, as are the balconies, and it still has a 2,700-pipe organ, which was playing as we entered.

No one builds anything like this anymore.  No one carves anything for theatres or puts in velvet seat covers these days.  It’s sad in a way, but it also makes these existing buildings treasures.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, I discovered the Orpheum Theatre.  Closed now, it was a “dollar show” second-run movie house when I lived down the street in 1999.  Being inside the theatre was an exploration in itself.  With two screens on the main floor, you climbed a steep staircase to get to the third screen room, and another to reach the fourth.  Fire hazard and handicap accessibility issues aside, it was a great deal of fun to get to the show, as well as see the show itself, at the Orpheum.

A few years ago, I experienced something I hadn’t since I was a teenager: the drive-in movie.

Not only does Atlanta still have the Starlight Six Drive-In, built in 1949, but due to the weather, it’s open year-‘round!  You can bring in your own food or visit the Snack Bar, and choose from six pairs of first-run films to enjoy.  The only things missing for the full nostalgia feel are the speakers.  Modern technology has allowed the film soundtracks to be broadcast in stereo on FM radio.  (Each screen has a different frequency.)  It’s an easy thing to sacrifice the nostalgia once you hear the film in stereo as loud or soft as you care to play it.  According to drive-ins.com, it is one of only 368 operating drive-ins in the country.  At its peak in the 1950s, there were between 4,000 and 5,000 screens up in the U.S.  In the ‘70s and ‘80s, there were at least four drive-ins in my hometown area.  If you haven’t been in decades, or if you’ve never been, get to a drive-in at least once.  You can search for the closest screens at www.drive-ins.com, and find the best place to share a new (or old, depending on how you look at it!) experience with your loved ones.

I love viewing DVDs at home, but I truly hope these and other venues like them last forever.  (P.S., somebody open the Orpheum back up!)