These are memories from when I worked at my Mom and Dad's revival theater. (A revival theater is a movie house that plays classic movies the way they originally were shown...ON THE BIG SCREEN!) The theater was located in downtown Saratoga, California. This is a tribute to my Mom and Dad!!!
To get the feel of what it was like to work at the theater, I want to set an image into your mind: My Dad would go in front of the movie screen and chat with the audience...while he was doing this, he had his own entourage onstage with him. They were our pets...3 cats and a poodledachs dog named Pepperoni. They would meander all over the auditorium and lobby. People got to the point of feeding these animals their popcorn and assorted goodies. They also would enjoy having the pets jump on their laps and pet them. (Get the idea this was a friendly place?) Did I mention this happened with the pets while the movies were playing?
We gave away free coffee and cookies in the snack bar...where I worked. Would you believe it never hurt our snackbar business? We also would open doors for our patrons when their arms were full and usher them to their seats.
While the theater was open, we had movie stars attend, mostly after I left the theater...
Rick Baker is now an Academy Award-winning makeup artist in Hollywood, but when we knew him he was just starting out. He came in on Halloween one year and made me up as the vampiress from Mark of the Vampire with Bela Lugosi. People thought it was great! It was also very hard to get off...and it itched!! It was a nice pallor of green...all over my face...not a real fond memory... Rick Baker, however, was cool...and still is.
We had many midnight shows, and the good Doctor was the guest host. For those unintiated, Doctor Demento has a national radio program that features...um...unusual pieces of music, such as They're Coming to Take Me Away and gave Weird Al Yankovic his start. I really didn't get to know him very well...just a hello. He was very professional about the evening, though...he wanted to do his job and go home. He had the audience howling with laughter that night...
I'm not sure if I was there or not, and this really didn't happen IN the theater. My Dad was out driving in Saratoga, and did a sudden U turn. There on the sidewalk was Karloff, walking his dog. My Dad pulled over to say hello, and Karloff was very gracious and visited with him for a bit. My Dad was very strict about leaving actors alone and not getting autographs (from his days as a stagehand), so no Karloff autograph for us!!
OR to BRUSHES WITH FAME II