Book Description
For more than a century, movie theaters have provided the physical setting where motion pictures have delighted and transported audiences. While enough books about film, filmmakers, and movie stars have been written to wrap around the equator, the story behind the movie theaters – the buildings themselves - and the manner in which industrial, social, and artistic trends have informed its evolution has remained largely ignored. Cinema Treasures is an ambitious and marvelously illustrated history of the American movie theater from the early nickelodeons through today’s state-of-the-art megaplexes. The authors show how industry leaders, social, cultural, and economic change, and ever-evolving technologies have shaped the fabulous movie palaces, the cozy neighborhood theaters, and the multiplexes and megaplexes in which generations have experienced motion pictures. Each chapter details a period of movie theater history and celebrates the greatest remaining classic theaters that still show movies today, including stunning two-color page spreads featuring interior and exterior shots; a history of the theatre; memories from former staffers, patrons, or owners; theater specifications, including screen size, seating capacity, past owners, design features, and architectural style; a timeline listing important media, historical, and film events occurring throughout the theater’s existence; and visual ephemera like nostalgic and contemporary photographs and period ads sourced from the authors’ own collections, provided by theaters, and culled from archives throughout the United States. Each chapter also presents a "Curtain Call" list of great theaters that did not survive and, sadly, met the wrecking ball or were refurbished to serve a less glorious purpose. Together with evocative photography that brings the moviegoing experience to the printed page, and the insightful and entertaining accounts of an industry that evolved with a nation and world, Cinema Treasures is a must-have for movie lovers and film buffs who love the theater as much as the movie that’s showing.

SYNOPSIS

For more than a century, movie theaters have provided the physical setting where motion pictures have delighted and transported audiences. While enough books about film, filmmakers, and movie stars have been written to wrap around the equator, the story behind the movie theaters ￯﾿ﾽ the buildings themselves - and the manner in which industrial, social, and artistic trends have informed its evolution has remained largely ignored. Cinema Treasures is an ambitious and marvelously illustrated history of the American movie theater from the early nickelodeons through today￯﾿ﾽs state-of-the-art megaplexes. The authors show how industry leaders, social, cultural, and economic change, and ever-evolving technologies have shaped the fabulous movie palaces, the cozy neighborhood theaters, and the multiplexes and megaplexes in which generations have experienced motion pictures. Each chapter details a period of movie theater history and celebrates the greatest remaining classic theaters that still show movies today, including stunning two-color page spreads featuring interior and exterior shots; a history of the theatre; memories from former staffers, patrons, or owners; theater specifications, including screen size, seating capacity, past owners, design features, and architectural style; a timeline listing important media, historical, and film events occurring throughout the theater￯﾿ﾽs existence; and visual ephemera like nostalgic and contemporary photographs and period ads sourced from the authors￯﾿ﾽ own collections, provided by theaters, and culled from archives throughout the United States. Each chapter also presents a "Curtain Call" list of great theaters that did not survive and, sadly, met the wrecking ball or were refurbished to serve a less glorious purpose.

Together with evocative photography that brings the moviegoing experience to the printed page, and the insightful and entertaining accounts of an industry that evolved with a nation and world, Cinema Treasures is a must-have for movie lovers and film buffs who love the theater as much as the movie that￯﾿ﾽs showing.

FROM THE CRITICS

Los Angeles Times

Humble or grandiose, stand-alone or strung together, movie theaters are places where dreams are born. Once upon a time, they were treated with the respect they deserve. In their heyday, historian Ross Melnick and exhibitor Andreas Fuchs write in Cinema Treasures, openings of new motion-picture pleasure palaces that would have dazzled Kubla Khan ￯﾿ﾽreceived enormous attention in newspapers around the country. On top of the publicity they generated, their debuts were treated like the gala openings of new operas or exhibits, with critics weighing in on everything from the interior and exterior design to the orchestra.￯﾿ﾽ Handsomely produced and extensively illustrated, Cinema Treasures is detailed without being dull and thoroughly at home with this often neglected subject matter. Its title would have you believe it is a celebration of the golden age of movie theaters. But this book is something completely different: an examination of the history of movie exhibition, which the authors accurately call ￯﾿ﾽa vastly under-researched topic.

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