Cinema Treasures is a cinema Web site where you can click on "
Location," then on a state and town, and bring up a list of that town's past/present preservable movie theaters, or you can enter a name of a theater, bring up a list of every theater by that name anyplace in the world, and then click on a town, and then read a summarized history of a theater, plus blog messages, by those who wish to share memories of it.
Cinema Treasures was designed to promote movie theater awareness and preservation. It has done that, and is recording on its blogs the historical, cultural and social significance of the movie theaters and their design values, as well as the movies screened in them, memory by memory, by - you - collectively!
The thing about American movie theaters from all but the earliest days up into the TV period is that they were designed to cater to, and respect, the American patron - you - as if you were a prince/princess. At their best, and most were, they were palaces and castles and mansions and manors, where you were made to feel more than a guest; you were made to feel you were being given the place for your personal home. An effort was made to cause you to feel wanted, desired, catered to, possibly cultivated (on a take it or leave it basis), enhanced, glorified, engulfed in fantasy at times, enthralled, and exhilarated on a greater or lesser note.
That was before you left the concession stand. Having been set up for it, when you entered through the doors of the auditorium, you felt encouraged to give your enhanced mood over to imagination, and follow the dream of the screen story, with all its attendant little entertainments, - cartoons, shorts, previews, even newsreels (lest you feel you had left something at home).
Perhaps when Americans accepted the knighthood that came with patronage of these movie palaces, we reached a pinnacle of accepting ourselves worthy of this level of respect in the body politic. Yes, the theater operators did want our money; this society represented capitalism. But, by choice, or law, the operation earned its way by respecting you. Perhaps dismissed by some as gaudy and excessive, was it ever said the movie palaces were stressful and suppressive?
But Americans were willing to rationalize away our gift. Capitalism grew aggressive and demanding, and we accepted utilitarianism as a living standard. We taught ourselves to expect, but more to the point, to accept, less; to accept planned obsolescence, and throw-away values, to self serve at home, and disregard and tolerate the obliteration of ourselves as patrons of those
palaces. There, commerce framed our dream spaces for us in a safe zone. But we reneged! No wonder then that Americans began a journey to become reportedly the major users of recreational drugs in the world - in our personal homes; or in crevices and corners of clubs and mean streets in urban, suburban, and exurban America.
Denver currently has 28 theaters listed on
CT; 17-18 are closed/demolished - pretty good record compared to some larger cities. Chicago has about 475 theaters listed, with about 35 theaters open (granted some are cineplexes). Aurora has one historical theater down for two; Colorado Springs, four down for five, and Greeley, for four listed as preservable, all are closed and/or demolished. So much for forfeiting for grandchildren the respect we enjoyed as patrons in our own culture. It has been said motion pictures are the U.S.'s greatest export, an expressive invention of own culture.
Today commerce serves us with liens, rather than dreams. The palaces of respect gifted to us were closed, city after city, by the thousands; the buildings almost always demolished, eradicating any record of this high
show of respect for American patronage, which we abandoned.
Self-respect demands respect. We may re-introduce neon signage, better butter flavored popcorn, and federal grants to reclaim neighborhoods. How to re-introduce the level of respect to ourselves as was expressed in those movie theaters, which we bartered for breakable, and throw-away goods? Is the decibel level in a theater low enough for you? Is its aesthetic sense high enough? Does its product activate the acute senses, engage the spirit, enlighten and uplift? What do you require your places of culture represent in design in respect of you? Will grandchildren learn of commerce's squandered gift to you, and how will you explain it?