From September 13, 1955, a Universal double-bill featuring Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy and This Island Earth playing at various 20th Century Theatres, including the Downtown and the Westwood. Source: Toronto Daily Star. Continue reading Abbott & Costello at the Downtown Theatre
Here’s a selection of goings-on in Toronto cinemas from 1932-33. In the early ’30s, a quarter got you Cagney, Jolson, Swanson and something known as a “death kiss.” Continue reading Selected movie ads, 1932-33
Editor’s note: We take a break from our usual diet of Hogtown Hard-tops and head north to Timmins, Ontario. Growing up in Northern Ontario, where there wasn’t much to do, I would often rush home after school on a Thursday, grab the Timmins Daily Press and see what films were premiering the next day at the Victory, a Famous Players house built in the 1940s. Once a vibrant city with several large movie theatres, the Victory was all Timmins had to offer by the mid-1980s. My family went to the drive-in more often than the cinema, but my earliest movie-going … Continue reading Newspaper ads & the Timmins Cinema Six
More Halloween fun, this time an ad for Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers from the Toronto Star, June 1972. The film starred the sultry Ingrid Pitt, and I’ve put up an interview I did with her at the virtual haunt for my old zine 32 Elvis Movies. Continue reading The Vampire Lovers at the Yonge Theatre
With Halloween but a day away, here’s a photo of the Allenby Theatre’s lobby in 1936, showing Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead, with Gorilla Man, Snooper Service and Night Watchman as b-pictures. The gimmick on the poster (“Blow on this spot — If it turns GREEN, you are too weak to…”) is typical of that era, and was probably tongue-in-cheekly enforced by a tuxedo-wearing cinema manager. By the time The Walking Dead reached the east-end cinema in July of 1936, it had already played several Toronto theatres, including the Aster, the Kenwood and the Madison (now the Bloor), where … Continue reading The Walking Dead at the Allenby Cinema
If this were sometime in the early ’70s, I’d be spending the witching hour on the Danforth, catching a bunch of Midnite Movies at the Music Hall, then known as the Titania. But hey, those days are long gone, so whataya gonna do for your midnight kicks? Thankfully, Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival is right around the corner. Learn a little more about this year’s selections at the official Midnight Madness Blog! Continue reading Midnight Madness Looms!
by Eric Veillette Since tomorrow is the first day of the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear, I thought it’d be fitting to share this ad featuring the premiere of Universal’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi. The film opened on Friday, March 18, 1932 at the Tivoli, which was then owned by Famous Players Canada. It was also host to many early Universal horror films, beginning with Dracula in April, 1931, followed by Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Invisible Man . A real bevy of classic films were playing in Toronto that week. At the Oakwood, you could … Continue reading Murders in the Rue Morgue
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