Palaces of the Night: Canada's Grand Theatres

Rating:
Summary: A welcome story of Canada's contribution to theatres.
Review: Perhaps this review should be written by a Canadian who might know of more local theatres than does this reviewer from across the border, but I doubt even one of the author's countrymen would have found fault with this volume. Within this 8-1/2-inch wide by 11 inch high, by ½-inch thick softbound are 228 glossy pages with an abundance of photos to chronicle this pageant. And a chronicle it is, as we are taken within five chapters from the humble beginnings ("The Grand and the Not-So-Grand"), to that unique development in theatres: ("The Atmospherics"), to the apotheosis of it all: ("The Cathedrals of the Motion Picture"), to the 'soul' that made it sing: ("The Mighty Wurlitzer"), to the business end that both caused its initial prosperity, and finally its end: ("The Circuits") to bring us full circle to the 'High Tech' multiplexes of today.

This is not Mr. Lindsay's first foray into writing about his beloved theatres, since he preceded this book with another one: "Turn Out The Stars Before Leaving: The Story of Canada's Theatres" and that 1983 hardbound of the same size was a wonderful work in itself, but is out of print, and the publisher informs me that it is NOT likely to be again in print. That book had beautiful end paper photos with a montage of memorabilia in the front and a rare view of a pinrail and switchboard in the rear (the inside covers of the present volume are blank white). It had exactly the same chapters as the present volume, but many more full page photos that were a delight. A few of these same images are in the newer work, but I miss the sewn binding of the earlier book, for the glued "Perfect Bind" (a greater contradiction in terms could not be invented!) of the present softbound does not allow the book to lie open comfortably and the captions were done in a small, 6-point script typeface that is difficult to read, though this is no doubt the fault of the women who designed the book and not the author.

In the years between the two publications, Mr. Lindsay found many more photos to illustrate this book and a number of them occur in the center section of 14 pages in color, among which on page 131 is a photo of the lobby of the startlingly dramatic "COLOSSUS" in Toronto, a megaplex multiplex of 18 screens in the highest of 'High Tech' decor. Normally this reviewer equates High Tech with 'High Ugly' (as in the awful depredations done to the lobby of the former movie palace, the OSCAR MEYER in Madison, Wisconsin), but here the architects wanted to attract the youth crowd by making the vast lobby and candy stand look like a spacecraft had landed, and it seems they succeeded!

A number of items are reproduced from the first book so as not to be lost, including the Foreword by Mary Pickford. A full Index not present in the first book, makes this one the more valuable. The importance of such works as this can be seen by the current Petition to save the EGLINTON of Toronto, a modest 800-seat neighborhood cinema in Art Deco which is recorded by two photos in the book. That is what this book will best serve as: a record of all that has come, what they have saved, and what they have not saved. Mr. Lindsay's easy reading style helps one to attain the perspective needed to see such theatres in context and to therefore work to save what remains of our theatres heritage.