It is always a pleasure to welcome any significant contribution to
the weal of theatrical lore, and the 208-page volume "Cinema
Treasures: A New Look at Classic Movie Theatres" by Ross Melnick
and Andreas Fuchs, is certainly a fine 'treasure' of a chronicle of
the architectural treasures this book so well covers. In fact, it
is really two books in one, for it is first a meticulously
researched survey of the eras of movie exhibition, and secondly a
series of capsule descriptions of 30 notable examples of those
cinema treasures still operating. The two young men who bring us
this handsome, hardbound volume reflect some 35 years between them
of theatre research and operation, and thus their heartfelt
devotion to the genre is sincere, accurately related, and
enthusiastically delivered. The quality of prose shows skill beyond
their years.
The large book (12x10-1/2 inches) is printed on heavy, glossy paper
within black cloth covers with only the spine stamped in gold, but
the heavy paper jacket over it is a fitting cover since its full
front color image behind the title is of the Grand Lake Theatre of
Oakland, California, and this alone warrants one applying a plastic
film wrap in order to protect it. The image there shows the
auditorium of one of the survivors of the glorious days of the
movie palace and ironically shows on its stage a portion of the
grand house curtain of the long-lost and lamented Fox Theatre once
of San Francisco, and is thus a visual summation of the tumult of
loss and survival of two significant theatres into our day. This
sturdily bound coffee table book is heavy on illustrations with at
least one visual on each page, and most are in color, but this is
far more than a picture book!
The Preface and nine chapters describe in great and fascinating
detail the progress of the cinema in the USA in terms of the
technological, sociological, and economic timeline of this art
form, and the consequent effect of these factors upon the
architecture of theatres and cinemas that we have come to love.
This is not a book about theatre architecture per se, but its
extensive research in related topics is reflected in the 12 columns
of fine print on three pages which comprises the 550 end Notes.
Such a large total is unusual in a scholarly university
publication, but in a general market book like this, it is
astonishing, especially when coupled with the 148 entries in the
Resources listing. The only disappointment with this scholarly
aspect is the somewhat insufficient Index in which the absence of
many proper nouns, such as names of people and theatres mentioned,
can lead one to assume they are not to be found, and the careful
listing of all such is a basic for any volume wanting to be
regarded as serious research material. For example, the
little-known curiosity of "Screeno" is described on page 99, but
not listed in the Index. A theatre not insignificant to the lineage
of exhibition is the Alhambra in Milwaukee, which is discussed in
some detail on pages 19-21, but neither it, the location, nor its
proprietor, Herman Fehr (identified as Howard Fehr, at first, but
later corrected to Herman on page 33) are mentioned anywhere in
their 138-line Index. These are but a few of many such examples.
Given the careful end Notes and Resources listings, this reviewer
can only conclude that a more complete Index was offered, but the
publisher (accustomed to hobby books for the motor vehicle market)
declined to spend for more such supposedly nonessential pages.
In a sense, this work picks up where that landmark book of 1961:
The Best Remaining Seats, The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie
Palace by the late Ben M. Hall, leaves off. It repeats with
additions the survey of theatres that Mr. Hall did, but also
continues to our day through the eras of post war, single
large-format screens, the arrival of the multiplex, then the
megaplex and a discussion of a new trend that is starting to bring
a version of the luxurious movie palace back to us! Each of these
is given a chapter with a well-written introduction and essay, and
concluded with a box titled Curtain Call which is a needed
necrology of sorts that tells us the outcome of most of the
theatres mentioned in the text, some of which are listed there as
still with us in one form or another, along with their dates of
operation, addresses, and ID numbers on the CinemaTreasures web
site, for future reference.
Aside from the nine well written chapter heads, are the 30 profiles
of notable cinema treasures with us today, and these constitute
more than a travelogue to help one find a good place to see a movie
-- vintage or otherwise. Each one has several photos, modern and
antique if possible, arranged on facing buff color pages with the
notable history, features, and lore of each described and their CT
IDs given along with their web page addresses (URLs). Several movie
palaces are included here.