Category: Toronto Cinemas

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Allen’s Bloor Theatre

Eric Veillette

For over twenty-five years, Toronto concert-goers and Annex residents have known the building at 529 Bloor St. West as Lee’s Palace. But nearly a century ago, the Allen’s Bloor Theatre was one of the most luxurious suburban movie houses Toronto had to offer. The immaculately detailed 782 seat theatre held its premiere screening on March 10, 1919 with Cecil B. De Mille’s Don’t Change Your Wife, featuring Gloria Swanson. It was the first theatre to be built on that stretch of Bloor Street since the current-day Bloor Cinema, then known as the Madison, opened in December, 1913. Months later, the … Continue reading Allen’s Bloor Theatre

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You’re fired: Silent film musicians & the talkie revolution

Eric Veillette

To coincide with our upcoming Silent Sundays screening of Eisenstein’s pro-labour Strike on May 1, we examine how the arrival of sound pictures affected the livelihood of silent film musicians. The successful commercialization of synchronized sound films in the late 1920s was arguably the medium’s most important technological achievement since its invention. But often neglected is how the costly conversion to sound systematically put thousands of silent film musicians out of work. In Toronto, sound films first arrived at the Tivoli, at Richmond and Victoria Sts., when the Fox Movietone film Street Angel premiered on October 5, 1928. As Luigi … Continue reading You’re fired: Silent film musicians & the talkie revolution

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Elizabeth Taylor on the Loew’s marquee

Eric Veillette

With the passing of Elizabeth Taylor last month, here’s her name on the marquee of the Loew’s Yonge St. Theatre on October 3, 1952, opening day of the MGM Technicolor epic Ivanhoe, which also starred Robert Taylor and Joan Fontaine. When was the last time horses showed up to a Toronto film premiere? The Loew’s, located steps north of Queen on Yonge, opened on December 13, 1913 and was joined by the upstairs Winter Garden Theatre the following February. Fully restored in the 1980s and still operating as the Elgin & Winter Garden, the building’s current marquee is closer in … Continue reading Elizabeth Taylor on the Loew’s marquee

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The Parkdale Theatre: a passion den for teenagers

Eric Veillette

“This may seem drastic to you but I have seen the results of the work of some of these hoodlums,” wrote Ontario Censor Board and Theatres Inspection Branch chairman O.J. Silverthorne in 1953 after offering Famous Players some well-heeled advice on dealing with teen-age rowdiness at Toronto’s Parkdale Theatre. Located at Queen St. W and Triller Ave., the Parkdale was one of several theatres designed by C. Howard Crane for the national Allen chain of theatres. Premiering April 5, 1920 with the comedy Duds, it was Parkdale’s premier entertainment spot until the arrival of Sunnyside Amusement Park and the Palais … Continue reading The Parkdale Theatre: a passion den for teenagers

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Dinner and a movie at the Odeon Carlton

Eric Veillette

One of the few things missing in action when the Odeon Toronto (later Odeon Carlton) opened near Yonge and Carlton in September of 1948 was its much touted restaurant. Located on the mezzanine of the 2300 seat theatre, the Carlton Restaurant’s opening was delayed due to problems with existing theatre regulations. Bear in mind that in 1948, snack bars were not yet commonplace, so imagine the tizzy the Theatres Branch must have had when Odeon Canada proposed a spacious restaurant serving “light lunches, afternoon teas, evening dinners and late snack.” The first of its kind in Canada, the restaurant still … Continue reading Dinner and a movie at the Odeon Carlton

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Michael Gough, star of British horror films, dies at 94

Eric Veillette

Like many kids of my generation, my introduction to British actor Michael Gough was through his appearance as the butler Alfred in Tim Burton’s Batman, but the man also had a lengthy career starring in schlocky British horror films from the ’50s through the ’70s, many of which appeared on Toronto screens. My intention was to find an ad for Freddie Francis’ fantastic Trog, where Gough plays a scientist alongside Joan Crawford, but then I saw this great ad for Horror of Dracula opening at various 20th Century Theatres like the Downtown and the Midtown on June 24, 1958. In … Continue reading Michael Gough, star of British horror films, dies at 94

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The Bloor Cinema: What’s in a name?

Eric Veillette

Of the numerous Toronto movie houses built before World War II which are still in operation, none have undergone as many name changes as the Bloor Cinema, the venerable Annex institution which opened as the Madison in 1913. Since then, Toronto’s biggest second-run cinema has also been known as the Midtown, Capri, Eden and since 1979, the Bloor. While photoplays, movies – whatever you want to call them – have flickered away at 506 Bloor St. for nearly a century, the current building is far different from what people visited when it premiered the Edison two-reeler Alexia’s Strategy on December … Continue reading The Bloor Cinema: What’s in a name?

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Gloria Swanson in Toronto

Eric Veillette

Perhaps not the close-up Gloria Swanson had in mind when she called out her famous line in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, the above photo was taken during the silent star’s visit to Toronto in July of 1950 —  one of the 34 stops in her publicity tour for Paramount’s Sunset Boulevard. Although the film would not premiere in Toronto until the following month, Swanson’s two-day stop was a busy one. On Monday, July 3, she met with Mayor Hiram McCallum at City Hall, inspected the construction of the Yonge St. subway, visited Paramount’s Bond St. office, had tea at Eaton’s … Continue reading Gloria Swanson in Toronto

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Kodachrome slides, technicolor screens

Eric Veillette

The above Kodachrome slide (taken in 1987 by Alfred Holden) shows the terrazzo of the Danforth’s Roxy Theatre — originally known as the Allenby when it was built by Kaplan & Sprachman in 1935. Many Toronto theatres were captured in Kodachrome, some of the best residing at the City of Toronto Archives in the F. Ellis Wiley Fonds. Toronto has long held an interesting relationship with Kodachrome, something I examine in today’s Toronto Star. Astrid Idlewild, a McGill University urban planning student, has launched Kodachrome Toronto 1935-2010, a Masters project aimed at examining Toronto’s urban and cultural development through the warm … Continue reading Kodachrome slides, technicolor screens