Tag: pantages theatre

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The Great Lloyd-Chaplin Popularity Contest of 1923

Eric Veillette

When silent film aficionados sit down in fine leather wing-back chairs to discuss silent comedy while indulging in fine brandy and cigars, the two contenders for greatest clown are invariably Chaplin and Keaton. But in April, 1923, Famous Players asked movie-goers to vote between Chaplin and another titan of comedy, Harold Lloyd. The results, posted below, show that Lloyd’s comedies were a force to be reckoned with. Here are the results, published in the Toronto Daily Star on April 9, 1923: 72, 087 theatre patrons voted in the Harold Lloyd-Charlie Chaplin Popularity Contest last week at the Hippodrome, Pantages and Regent … Continue reading The Great Lloyd-Chaplin Popularity Contest of 1923

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Farina in Toronto

Eric Veillette

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

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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