You’d be surprised at the objections we received from people (of all ages) to some of the films we showed during our 6 years up at the Lafayette. Had a number of people upset with us and walk out on The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Dr. Strangelove, Superman, Amadeus, Tarzan & His Mate, the James Bond films, and – amazingly – the Three Stooges and Cartoon festival (complaint for that one – “too violent”).
I don’t know how they will run the shows (re: organ, introduction), but I am very happy that they are having a film series up there now for three reasons. 1 – For the seniors who looked forward to the free films. 2 – The paying crowd which we had cultivated over the 6 years of our shows. 3 – For the venue itself, as the worst thing that could happen would be for the place be be neglected by its audience.
Schedule for the Spring “Big Screen Classics at the Cedar Lane Cinemas”:
3/11 – CASABLANCA
3/18 – A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
3/25 – GOLDFINGER
4/1 – BEYOND THE ROCKS (silent film with LIVE organ accompaniment)
4/8 – DR. STRANGELOVE
4/15 – JEZEBEL
4/22 – ON THE WATERFRONT
4/29 – IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD
Rhett – the town is unhappy about the loss of the program, for the obvious reason that it was something for them to give to the senior citizens. They had a meeting with the BCG people but, obviously, I don’t know what plans, if any, they made. I’ve heard directly from a number of patrons, some unhappy that we’re not there any longer and some happy that we’re continuing the series regardless of where.
Bolorkay – Thank you for your kind words. We (Big Screen Classics) are not running at the Lafayette any longer because Nelson Page (who ‘owns’ Big Screen Classics as a brand along with myself) is no longer affiliated with the theatre; that’s why we’re bringing the series to one of Nelson’s other venues. There’s no reason that BCG can’t schedule their own film series at the Lafayette.
As of now, they are still using the organ on Friday & Saturday nights with Jeff & John. Nelson also has both organists play at his Cedar Lane and Newton locations every week.
I appreciate you doing the legwork Howard, thanks. Current ownership of the business is with the Boston Culinary Group, they were in partnership with Nelson since 2007. Nelson’s affiliation with them ended in January 2009.
We started the classic series in February of 2003 with “It Happened One Night” and ended in December 2008 with “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Fitting, now that I think about it. Between the Saturday morning series, the three day film festivals, and other events, we showed over 250 classic film programs in those 6 years.
The lease at the Lafayette is very restrictive. There can be no modifications done to the auditorium, so there should be no worries that it will be split up.
Not yet, Fred. I’ll be getting some new photos of Cedar Lane and Newton Theatre this week and will be re-vamping the Big Screen Classics website with that information.
Nelson is no longer an operating partner at the Lafayette. His partners with the management company for the theatre have decided to move forward on their own with the venue. No politics, no acrimony in any way. We’d love to continue with shows up there, but that’s not in the cards right now. We look forward to 2009 with the Cedar Lane series as well as having other events in different historic venues in this area.
MariaMaria – Yes, My Summer Story was the movie, starring Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen and released in 1994. It was also known as “It Runs in the Family”.
Bill – Were they showing Che digitally as well? I have zero interest in the subject matter, so I don’t think I’ll be seeing it anytime soon. perhaps the Ziegfeld has the new 4K projectors?
MPol – that was most likely film grain you would have seen in 1976, there was no digital at that time (or you were seeing the perforations of the screen sitting that closely). Sadly, the 70s were the beginning of the end of well-photographed films and many films from that time were underlit and had very visible grain.
Digital projection, for the most part, sucks. Pixelation readily visible to the naked eye on anything over a 30 foot screen, a lack of the dynamic range in color compared to a properly made 35mm print, compression artifacts during fast-moving scenes, and an artificial digital ‘hardness’ to the image that is not present with organic 35mm (to say nothing of 70mm) film.
How’d it go? You picked a good movie and you’ve got some nice publicity about the opening, so I hope it’s been a success for you.
LIM –
Congratulations on the new venue – very cool way to open up.
Good luck!
Thanks, hotwaterbottle. We’ll be back in September for another round at Cedar Lane.
Rhett, please see my posts back on 2/13-14, et al.
Rory –
You’d be surprised at the objections we received from people (of all ages) to some of the films we showed during our 6 years up at the Lafayette. Had a number of people upset with us and walk out on The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Dr. Strangelove, Superman, Amadeus, Tarzan & His Mate, the James Bond films, and – amazingly – the Three Stooges and Cartoon festival (complaint for that one – “too violent”).
I don’t know how they will run the shows (re: organ, introduction), but I am very happy that they are having a film series up there now for three reasons. 1 – For the seniors who looked forward to the free films. 2 – The paying crowd which we had cultivated over the 6 years of our shows. 3 – For the venue itself, as the worst thing that could happen would be for the place be be neglected by its audience.
Good luck with the show!
Schedule for the Spring “Big Screen Classics at the Cedar Lane Cinemas”:
3/11 – CASABLANCA
3/18 – A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
3/25 – GOLDFINGER
4/1 – BEYOND THE ROCKS (silent film with LIVE organ accompaniment)
4/8 – DR. STRANGELOVE
4/15 – JEZEBEL
4/22 – ON THE WATERFRONT
4/29 – IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD
The website at www.bigscreenclassics.com will be updated with this information over the weekend.
Hello,
We expect to announce the complete lineup by tomorrow. Just waiting for one final title confirmation to arrive.
Monday’s holiday probably delayed their getting their info out on time.
Universal made the HD transfers shown last year on the various Voom HD channels. How would these transfers compare to the Emerging Pictures transfers?
Wow – that restoration look amazing.
Rhett – the town is unhappy about the loss of the program, for the obvious reason that it was something for them to give to the senior citizens. They had a meeting with the BCG people but, obviously, I don’t know what plans, if any, they made. I’ve heard directly from a number of patrons, some unhappy that we’re not there any longer and some happy that we’re continuing the series regardless of where.
Bolorkay – Thank you for your kind words. We (Big Screen Classics) are not running at the Lafayette any longer because Nelson Page (who ‘owns’ Big Screen Classics as a brand along with myself) is no longer affiliated with the theatre; that’s why we’re bringing the series to one of Nelson’s other venues. There’s no reason that BCG can’t schedule their own film series at the Lafayette.
As of now, they are still using the organ on Friday & Saturday nights with Jeff & John. Nelson also has both organists play at his Cedar Lane and Newton locations every week.
Not every one, but close to it. Thanks.
I appreciate you doing the legwork Howard, thanks. Current ownership of the business is with the Boston Culinary Group, they were in partnership with Nelson since 2007. Nelson’s affiliation with them ended in January 2009.
We started the classic series in February of 2003 with “It Happened One Night” and ended in December 2008 with “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Fitting, now that I think about it. Between the Saturday morning series, the three day film festivals, and other events, we showed over 250 classic film programs in those 6 years.
The Lafayette continues its first-run status. The BCG web page for the Lafayette is here:
View link
Rhett –
The lease at the Lafayette is very restrictive. There can be no modifications done to the auditorium, so there should be no worries that it will be split up.
Not yet, Fred. I’ll be getting some new photos of Cedar Lane and Newton Theatre this week and will be re-vamping the Big Screen Classics website with that information.
Hi, Rhett.
Nelson is no longer an operating partner at the Lafayette. His partners with the management company for the theatre have decided to move forward on their own with the venue. No politics, no acrimony in any way. We’d love to continue with shows up there, but that’s not in the cards right now. We look forward to 2009 with the Cedar Lane series as well as having other events in different historic venues in this area.
MariaMaria – Yes, My Summer Story was the movie, starring Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen and released in 1994. It was also known as “It Runs in the Family”.
Bill – Were they showing Che digitally as well? I have zero interest in the subject matter, so I don’t think I’ll be seeing it anytime soon. perhaps the Ziegfeld has the new 4K projectors?
MPol – that was most likely film grain you would have seen in 1976, there was no digital at that time (or you were seeing the perforations of the screen sitting that closely). Sadly, the 70s were the beginning of the end of well-photographed films and many films from that time were underlit and had very visible grain.
Digital projection, for the most part, sucks. Pixelation readily visible to the naked eye on anything over a 30 foot screen, a lack of the dynamic range in color compared to a properly made 35mm print, compression artifacts during fast-moving scenes, and an artificial digital ‘hardness’ to the image that is not present with organic 35mm (to say nothing of 70mm) film.
Not a theatre.
Standard definition DVD? On a theatre screen? Too bad…