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Author Topic: Celebrities in your theatre! Richard C. Wolfe Master Film Handler Posts: 250 From: Northampton, PA, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 10-05-2008 11:12 PM                        I've been playing "Mamma Mia" for the past three weeks which stars Amanda Seyfried who happens to be from Allentown, Pa. My theatre is located a few miles from Allentown, so it has been conveinient for her family to come and see the picture here. Of course they have all seen it before when it first came out in the first runs, but have come back to see it again here. Over the past weeks there has been a steady stream of relatives, friends and neighbors. Last night her parents were in, and this afternoon her grandmother. Her father told be last night that he has watched the picture in both digital and 35mm, and while the digital was excellent, he still prefers 35. Of course what made me really feel good was that he said that the best 35 print and presentation that he has seen was at my theatre.(So much for those crappy old run down 2nd run theatres, lol)My sound, for those that wish to know, is DTS with a Dolby 650 processor. He and his wife, and it seems most of their family, took pictures of our marquee with Amandas name upon it. They agreed that it was probably the only place where they could get a picture like that as multiplexes never put star names up on their attraction boards. In regards to the original topic: Celebrities in your theatre! While I can't recall any movie stars, we did run the dailies for the original "Hairspray" when a part of it was filmed at nearby Dorney Park in Allentown back in 1987. John Waters and the crew was here every night for a week for those. As we are an old vaudeville theatre with stage facilities, we have throughout the 38+ years that I have owned the theatre presented all kinds of live entertainment. I have therefore met many personalities over the years that have played here. Some of them are: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Mellissa Manchester, Martin Mull, the members of Blood Sweat and Tears, KISS, AC/DC, The Tubes, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and many many more. One of the most amusing times I had was going down to the hotel at the end of the block and having dinner with the members of KISS. Not a person there recognized them as they were not in costume or makeup. My favorite though will always be Billy Joel. He was such a nice young fellow. He spent an hour or more in my office talking about his career, and how it got started. As I look back over my theatrical career, my only regret is that I didn't get anyone to take pictures of me with all of the artists that performed here. The only ones I have pictures with are Robert Fripp, Leon Redbone and Glenn Beck. It just didn't seem important at the time, but would be fun to show my grandkids if I had.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 10-06-2008 01:20 AM                     Back in the 60s when I owned and operated the Mission Theatre in Solvang, California Clete Roberts brought his kids to my theatre. For those of you who were not born then Clete was a well known LA news anchor. You may have seen him doing the b&w news type "M*A*S*H" programs.  |  IP: Logged Alan Gouger Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 501 From: Bradenton, FL, USA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 10-06-2008 09:11 AM                        Back in the 1980s we were standing in line to purchase tickets at a local movie theater in East Rochester and Milton Berle was in line right in front us. He was with a woman (Im guessing his wife) who had on a large hat with at least a 18" rim with flowers which looked completely out of place and outdated. My dad cried out "hi Uncle Milti" and shook his hand at which point everyone turned and saw who it was and he became the center of attention, I felt bad I think he was trying to remain under radar. He was in town performing at the east Rochester dinner Theater next door.  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 10-07-2008 01:59 PM                        Here's my celebrity list: Petaluma Washington Square 5 Elijah Wood The Guy From "Herman's Head" Peter Coyote Fairfax 4 Sean & Robin Wright Penn George Lucas Francis Ford Coppola Sofia Coppola Tiburon 3 Drew Barrymore Dan Rather Robin Williams -and my favorite- JOYCE DEWITT  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 10-09-2008 09:02 PM                     Crispen Glover live on stage this week  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-10-2008 12:51 AM                     Oh, sorry to hear that, Cameron.  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 10-10-2008 10:22 PM                     Tie his feet down, he likes to kick.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 10-20-2008 01:54 AM                     San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom dropped in unannounced to see a movie tonight at the theater I'm at. He let me take his picture after the show. >I must be doing a good job Hizzhonor dropped in AGAIN this week to watch another movie < [ 10-29-2008, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Jim Cassedy ]  |  IP: Logged Edwin Sheldon Film Handler Posts: 95 From: Mobile, AL, USA Registered: Sep 2006 posted 11-05-2008 05:20 PM                     When I worked for Kerasotes in the Chicago suburbs, we would get a lot of Bears players. It drove the staff nuts. I just yawned and went back to threading, as I've never been into pro sports.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 11-05-2008 05:42 PM                     Crispin Glover? Ouch... kicking is the least of your problems in dealing with that guy... lol. Hopefully it went smoother than our screening did.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 11-05-2008 07:51 PM                     quote: Edwin Sheldon When I worked for Kerasotes in the Chicago suburbs, we would get a lot of Bears players. It drove the staff nuts. I just yawned and went back to threading, as I've never been into pro sports. Same kind of thing in the Seattle area, although I am a sports fan (I just don't freak out about the people; they probably don't want a ton of exposure, esp when just seeing a movie w/ wife and kids). As such, I've helped some players from the Seahawks and Sonics as well as former Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson right after he got fired and former Husky football coach Rick Neuheisel right after he got fired as well. I truly can't stand the latter; he's simply a weasel, awful person.  |  IP: Logged Robert Crabtree Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Largo, FL Registered: May 2008 posted 11-07-2008 02:18 AM                     I didn't get to see him myself, but Chris Rock came to our theatre to see Hancock. And way back when, John Travolta came in to see Wedding Crashers. We used to get lots of Hulk Hogan and family, but not lately.  |  IP: Logged Tony L. Hernandez Expert Film Handler Posts: 158 From: Windsor, CO, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 03-24-2009 08:54 PM                     Well I'm not sure if my stories go in this thread considering our famous people have been asked to come rather than just stopping by to see a movie. At my arthouse in Boulder, we have had many, many celebrities over the years since we started in 1941. Two that stand out in my mind since I've been there was when we had Terry Jones out (of Monty Python fame) about 2 years ago to introduce our screening of "The Life Of Brian" and do a Q&A after. Just this last Monday (3/16), John Cameron Mitchell came out for a showing of "Headwig and the Angry Inch" to do a Q&A after the film. One of the highlights of that was this following story: After I ran the film, Mr. Mitchell was doing his Q&A when the battery died in our wireless mic. I immediately ran down to the front of the theater and swapped out the batteries for him. When I went to hand it back to him, he said "Thank You!" and gave me a huge hug...right in front of the 400 and-some people who were in the close to over filled theater. Although I always keep a very professional demeanor when at work, it was all I could do to keep from fainting right on the spot! There is another story I will tell although it may not be of as much interest since I sadly cannot remember the man's name or what exactly he had to do with the film's production. About a year and a half ago, we had a screening of "Parallax View" (1974). It was about 30 minutes before showtime and I was at the bench building up the next day's feature. When I'm working in the booth before the shows, I usually leave the door open and if I see anyone peeking in, I invite them up for a tour. On this particular night, I saw an older gentleman peeking in the booth and as usual, invited him up for a tour. I went through the whole song and dance and at the end of the tour commented that he was in for a treat since that night's print was a new, archival print. He then said something along the lines of, "well I'm glad it is. I'm so-and-so and this is my movie". Turns out that he just happened to be in town and saw his movie was showing so he decided to come. I want to say he was either the director or producer but I'm not sure. About ten minutes before showtime, I was standing out front of the theater when my boss came walking up. He asked me how I was doing and I said "good and guess who's here!" When I told him he said "WHAT?!?!?" The look on his face was priceless. The gentleman was very,very kind and agreed to introduce the film and do a short Q&A. At my historic first run house up in Estes Park,CO,(The Park Theatre)it is rumored that Clark Gable stopped by once in the 1930s to ask for directions. Weather or not that is true, I'm sure that theater has had more than it's share of celebrities who have quietly slipped in to watch a movie considering that Estes Park is a huge tourist destination and the theater has been showing movies since 1913.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 03-24-2009 11:06 PM                  Countless "B" level celebrities over the years; or "Z" level with Dustin Diamond, who was a regular at the AMC Fullerton 10 in the mid 90's. Probably the biggest "name" celebrity to attend one of my theatres was Kobe Bryant. He rented out an auditorium to watch a film with one of his kids. However, he was barely visible during the visit; entering/exiting through the back exit doors, communicating through an assistant, etc. We had no contact with Kobe, but his assistant was very polite and considerate. Interestly enough, I've found that the pseudo celebrities and want-to-be Hollywood types tend to be much more "difficult" than those that are actually famous. The "big names" I've encountered usually want nothing more than to get in and out with the least amount of hassle. Their less famous counterparts are the ones who feel the need to make a big deal out of who they are (example: Dustin Diamond always felt the need to request a manager and introduce himself as "Screech", expecting us to roll out the proverbial red carpet).  |  IP: Logged Tony L. Hernandez Expert Film Handler Posts: 158 From: Windsor, CO, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 03-25-2009 12:48 AM                     Couldn't Agree with you more, Christopher. I've run many films for some VERY high end celebrities and people, all who have been very polite and friendly. That said, I've also run many films for pseudo celebrities/filmmakers, many who have treated myself and our staff like  |  IP: Logged

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