I’m not sure where a Zardoz lobby card from the former Imperial Six on Yonge st. figures in the annals of Sean Connery memorabilia, but it will make a welcome addition to the office wall. If you stare closely enough, you can see the tear-splash of a minor who was denied entry into Cinema 3 by a power-hungry usher when it premiered at the Imperial Six on March 15, 1974. Continue reading Zardoz lobby card from Imperial Six
Since that gang of upstarts at the Toronto Underground Cinema are showing Death Wish III as part of their Seven Deadly Sins Film Festival tonight, I thought I’d share one of my favourite photos from the Silent Toronto archives. The Rio, no stranger to this site (here and here), in late 1987, three or four years before it flickered out altogether, showing Death Wish IV, The Lost Boys, Robocop and No Man’s Land. Admission, $4. Oh, Yonge St., where art thou? Continue reading Death Wish IV at the Rio, 1987
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
The above image is the cover for a 12″ record I dug out of the archives to share with you all. A benefit recording for the Evergreen Mission, behind these tough-looking chaps is the former Rio Cinema on Yonge St., which in 1985, when this photo was taken, was showing Chuck Norris in Missing In Action II, Cat People, and a selection of other films which ran continuously until 5am. The Rio was a 500-seat cinema located at 375 Yonge St. which now houses an adult video and toy store. One of the oldest flicker-houses in the city, it first opened … Continue reading The Rio in 1985
The Downtown Theatre by Hal Kelly “Going to the movies is my hobby. I go to other theatres, but the Downtown is my favorite. I like westerns, especially ones with Audie Murphy, but ANY good action or adventure picture usually gives me my money’s worth.” – Irvine Exley, 55, war pensioner The Downtown Theatre was located one short block south of Dundas at the north east corner of the largely vacant Yonge and Dundas Square right across from the Hard Rock Café. The closest thing to movie theatre in those parts now is that craptacular celluloid-free, all digital AMC 24 … Continue reading The Downtown Theatre
by Eric Veillette In the early days of the movie palace, it didn’t take much to get people into the theatres. The seats were always filled with beaming eyes staring at the latest antics of Mary Pickford or Buster Keaton. Despite jam-packed attendance, theatre managers liked to spruce things up a bit, and give patrons a little more than just a film and a newsreel. How about offering up a prize for grabs? A Saint-John, New Brunswick newspaper clipping I have from November of 1916, promoting Chaplin’s film Shanghaied, asks: “Boys and girls! Have You Sent Your Chaplin Essays in Yet? … Continue reading Hollywood Dreams at the Loew’s Theatre
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