On May 7, 1923, Toronto citizens gathered at various downtown and suburban theatres, including the Allen at Richmond and Victoria, to see silent film of the recent wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, oddly paired with A Royal Divorce, about the embittered union between Napoleon and Josephine. Continue reading A Royal Wedding and A Royal Divorce
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
“He loved to fight and fought to love. His dames, like his flags, were many and soon forgotten.” Ladies and gentlemen — my future epitaph. The above ad is from the Toronto Star, December 22, 1930. Also playing in Toronto that week: Lon Chaney in The Unholy Three at the Royce (Edwin/Dupont); John Barrymore in Moby Dick at the Palace (Danforth/Pape); Amos & Andy in Check and Double Check at the Belsize (still around, as the Regent on Mt. Pleasant Rd.); Bebe Daniels in Dixiana at the Runnymede (Bloor/Runnymede). As the year comes to a close, I’d like to thank … Continue reading Merry Christmas from Shea’s Hippodrome
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
by Eric Veillette In today’s Saturday Star, I write about the Danforth Music Hall’s upcoming 90th anniversary. On Tuesday, August 18, Heritage Toronto and the Riverdale Historical Society will be celebrating this milestone by unveiling a plaque in its honour. By recreating the events from nearly a century ago, the evening will also feature a silent film, Dollars and Sense, with live accompaniment. The Music Hall, originally known as Allen’s Danforth, remains one of the best examples of this former theatre empire. Other Toronto Allen survivors are the Bloor and Parkdale. The former – a popular midtown cinema until the … Continue reading The Danforth Music Hall Turns 90!
I present a fang-tastic ad for a Hammer Dracula triple-bill. Back before you could see Cats or some other Broadway schmaltz at the Elgin, some lucky film-goers spent an afternoon in September of 1978 watching Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and Dracula A.D. 1972. If Hammer wasn’t your thing (really?), there were plenty of other sights and sounds to take in that weekend: Nazi zombie flick Shock Waves opened at the Imperial Six: kids could see The Cat from Outer Space at the Bayview Village Cinema (“Children $1.50 Anytime,” says the ad): Omen II … Continue reading Dracula Triple-Bill at the Elgin!
Odeon Theatres had much to be thankful for in 1948, as their flagship theatre, the Odeon Toronto, was built near the corner of Yonge and Carlton. The mighty British cinema chain opened its new theatre – dubbed “The Showplace of the Dominion” – on September 9 with a premiere of Oliver Twist, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin. The Odeon Toronto, with 2300 green and gold seats, was an unconventional beast built at a time when most of the new theatres were modest in both size and extravagance. Its development signaled a near-renaissance of the Movie Palace, not seen since the … Continue reading Holiday greetings from Odeon Theatres
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