Selected movie ads, 1932-33
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
Tag: imperial theatre
Farina in Toronto
Jamie Bradburn, that bon vivant over at Torontoist, uncovers a swell gem in today’s Historicist column. In 1932, four years after a gaggle of Toronto kids got to dress up like their favourite Our Gang characters on the stage of the Loew’s Yonge St. theatre, the real Farina (and his sister Mango, says the ad) paid a visit to our fair city. Also, be sure to check out Jamie’s great blog, the Silent Toronto-approved JB’s Warehouse and Curio Emporium. Continue reading Farina in Toronto
Mae West at the Cinematheque Ontario
“This picture will not amuse or interest children,” reads a March 10, 1933 ad for She Done Him Wrong. The Toronto Star‘s disclaimer was rather tame compared to the cries of indecency coming from various Catholic groups around the U.S. It’s often been said this film led to the formation of the Catholic Legion of Decency and the subsquent enforcement of the Production Code, whereby Hollywood would endure three decades of censorship. Tonight, the Cinematheque Ontario is showing She Done Him Wrong as part of “Under the Spell: Surrealism and the Cinema”. Rather than being eight screenings of Un Chien … Continue reading Mae West at the Cinematheque Ontario
The Imperial Drabinsky
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
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