Tag: garth drabinsky

Toronto Cinemas3 Comments

The Westwood Theatre

Eric Veillette

The Westwood Theatre opened on February 28, 1952, with Ontario Premier Leslie Frost in attendance for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Located at Bloor and Islington, the 1000-seat movie house was one of several new Toronto theatres built to serve the urban sprawl of the post-war years. It was a rather toned-down affair when compared to the opulence found in other new downtown theatres like the University and the Odeon Carlton. Still, the 20th Century theatre, originally built as a single-screen house (later tripled) is an example of the later work of architects Kaplan & Sprachman, who designed the Eglinton and the Circle; … Continue reading The Westwood Theatre

Toronto Cinemas2 Comments

Extreme Usher: The Imperial Six

Eric Veillette

by Gerry Flahive I was a teenage usher. I don’t think anyone is going to make a feature film, a la FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, based on my early 1970’s adventures at the somewhat-forgotten, and largely-underrated palace of guilty pleasures, Yonge Street’s Imperial Six. But if they did, it probably would be called USHERETTES GALORE, or EXTREME USHER, or even MATINEE IDLE. And it would be the kind of movie that probably would have played at the Imperial Six. The kind of movie that wouldn’t even get made for the straight-to-video market today. On Friday, June 29, 1973, at … Continue reading Extreme Usher: The Imperial Six

Toronto Cinemas4 Comments

The Carlton

Eric Veillette

Whether old, new, palatial, grimy, spacious or downright claustrophobic, the closure of any Toronto cinema means one less place to see a film, and today’s closing of the Carlton Cinema is no exception. It’s not the first time a theatre has closed in that location, either. In 1974, the Odeon Carlton, a lavish post-war movie house, ended a 26-year run after screening Burt Reynolds in White Lighting. While discussing the Carlton’s demise with Colin Geddes a few weeks back, he noted that it also widens the gap of available cinemas on or around Yonge St. Excluding the Cumberland and Varsity … Continue reading The Carlton

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The Imperial Drabinsky

Eric Veillette

This week, the final curtain fell on a decade-old debacle in Toronto when former theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky was found guilty of fraud and forgery in an Ontario court. A modern day mogul, Drabinsky produced several staples of Canadian cult cinema like The Changeling and The Silent Partner; with Cineplex Odeon and Nat Taylor he built the first megaplex cinema; and after being ousted from Cineplex, he created Livent, a live theatre production company which not only produced the shows, it held licenses to the productions and also owned the theatres in which the shows were performed. Not since the … Continue reading The Imperial Drabinsky

Toronto Cinemas5 Comments

The Eaton Centre Cineplex

Eric Veillette

This week, we take a break from our usual musings over Art Deco and Atmospheric palaces and instead concentrate on a more recent phenomena — the multiplex cinema! by Jesse Hawken They knocked down the above-ground parking lot at the Eaton Centre a few years ago and with it, the late, not particularly lamented Cineplex theatre that was situated at the base of the parkade. The Eaton Centre Cineplex was the first mega-multiplex theatre in the world. There were 18 screens when it opened in 1979, expanding to 21 a few years later. When the place first opened it was … Continue reading The Eaton Centre Cineplex