Movies, Movies, Movies: Summer at the Heights

A highlight of my summer thus far has to be going to movies at The Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. The theater is advertised as "the classic cinema experience". It opened in 1926 and is the longest continuously running movie house in the Twin Cities.

My grandma moved to Columbia Heights from Western Minnesota in about 1924. The McMahon family lived just a few blocks off Central Avenue on 40th Avenue, so she must have seen the theater go up. She didn't mention going to the movies very often as a kid, but it's cool to get back to her old stomping grounds this summer. My great-grandparents and a host of cousins are buried in St. Anthony Cemetery, down Central Avenue from the theater. So, in an odd way, I am returning to my roots this summer.

I've seen several first-run movies at the Heights over the last few years. I am not a big fan of the multiplex experience. They are too loud and I don't care for stadium seating and those rocking seats kind of make me motion sick. Most recently I saw the delightful Brooklyn at the Heights. It felt appropriate, seeing the film, set in the 1950s, in an old movie house. Mom, Regan and I are on a roll. So far we haven't missed a Thursday night show this summer.

My family has seen White Christmas several times over the holidays in recent years. That is a fabulous experience. I have seen the movie so many times (thirty? forty? more?) but there is something special about watching it in an old theater with crystal chandeliers on a snowy December afternoon (or evening). The theater is packed with other people who love the movie and/or love the season. People laugh out loud and it is always a great atmosphere.

In June, I saw Singin' In the Rain for the first time. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of musicals (other than White Christmas!) so I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. Even the part three-quarters of the way through the movie which seemed to be stuck in just to show off what a great dancer Gene Kelly was (duh...we don't need convincing!) Debbie Reynolds was adorable and Donald O'Connor's acrobatics mesmerizing. 

GREAT WOMEN OF COMEDY SERIES

The Women kicked off the Great Women of Comedy series on Thursday, June 30th. First time for me seeing this movie. Love Rosalind Russell, not a huge Joan Crawford fan, but all the women were great. The Heights site describes the movie: "Famously avoiding any male actors, George Cukor's The Women is a brilliantly acidic comedy about gossip, affairs, marriage, and, ultimately, how to endure a male-dominated world. Featuring a star-studded line-up of some of the best actresses of the era, including Norma Shearer, Paulette Godard, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, and, perhaps best of all, a young Joan Crawford (displaying all her talons), The Women is a fabulously entertaining comedy." HIGHLIGHT: The fab clothes!

Next up was Auntie Mame - the 1958 version with Rosalind Russell. My mom couldn't believe that I had not seen this movie before. I am not sure which I wish for more: To have had an Auntie Mame or to be Auntie Mame! My favorite line? Of course, "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving." Unforgettable movie. 

The hilarious Long, Long Trailer came next. I had seen this one on cable in the 1980s, then I watched it several more times on VHS. Mom had quite a library of taped old movies, and this was one of my favorites. Lucy and Desi are magic on screen. I was struck by how exquisite Lucille Ball was. The camera truly loved her. The theater was sold out for this showing, which added to the fun. 

The next film was The Awful Truth. It is my opinion that Cary Grant almost always steals the show, and he and Ralph Bellamy out-act Irene Dunne in this one. She had her moments (like when she poses as Grant's sister) but I wasn't impressed by her performance. As a "Great Woman of Comedy" I expected a little bit more.

And the final movie of the series? Pillow Talk. Of the five movies in this series, I think I laughed the most at this one. I had not seen it before and fell in love with it immediately. Doris Day was a joy to watch. She manages to steal the show, although she has stiff competition from Rock Hudson and Tony Randall. I had only seen Randall in the Odd Couple on TV. Thelma Ritter, as Doris Day's housekeeper, was perfect. Great chemistry, all around. Pillow Talk may just be one of my all-time favorite comedies!

My rankings for Great Women of Comedy series (#1 is my favorite):

5. The Women
4. The Awful Truth
3. The Long, Long Trailer
2. Auntie Mame
1. Pillow Talk



What's Next?

Well, this week at the Heights is the start of The Magnificent Obsessions of Douglas Sirk series. Over the next four Thursdays, this series " celebrates Hollywood's greatest practitioner of melodrama. Often relying on bold color, at times hysterical and overwhelming plots, and actors often considered more pretty than complex, Sirk was able to craft emotionally devastating films that were also supreme entertainments." (Heights website)

All That Heaven Allows is the first Sirk film showcased  this Thursday at 7:30pm. I will let you know what I think. I reckon this is going to be a different side to Rock Hudson...maybe just a little heavier than Pillow Talk!

Sis had the day off work today for Shavuot, so we took a little road trip to Stillwater. Thought we'd look around a little, then grab some lunch. But after we picked up some cool notebooks at the delightful Mara-Mi and some fudge at Tremblay's and sat by the river for a spell, we decided to split. Stillwater was seeming a little ragged, run-down and dirty.

Main Street -- Stillwater, MN

Unsure where to go next, we headed back to the Cities and ended up in our old neighborhood in South Minneapolis. Of course we had to drive by the house. There was NO ONE around on our street. Seriously not a soul. We had driven by the old place many times, but for the first time we parked and walked up the sidewalk a bit to check things out more closely.

The house looks great, except they painted it a bluish-grey, which is wrong. It is supposed to be white. It was white for over 85 years and it should have stayed white. It looks nice enough, it just blends in more, looks less special. I am not sure it was so striking on its own or if it was the contrast between the paint choice of our next-door neighbors. I remember telling people coming to my house for the first time: "Go to 41st and Wentworth, it's the big white house fourth from the corner...next to the green house." Don and Bev's electric green house is now beige. 

The lilies of the valley still line the depth of the house on the north side, along the path to the back, but the lilacs have all been removed from the south side. The house looks so bare and exposed. And they've added some sort of central air and ugly external duct work. The lilacs would come in handy to cover some of that up. Now there are just some hostas, or something. 

It was so quiet in the neighborhood. We remembered summer afternoons from our youth on Wentworth Avenue and: kids running through sprinklers in the front yard, playing tennis in the street, running games through neighbors' yards, shooting hoops in the backyard, digging up worms, riding bikes and just "playing". 

Sis said she felt like some septuagenarian recalling her childhood in the 1950s. We decided our youth was more like our parents' than kids today is like their parents'. I don't actually care about all that. When I go to the old neighborhood, it is all about my memories. They play through my head, not like grainy home movies (as you might expect) but like crisp, highly produced scenes. I don't see myself, but I know I am there.

To cap off our trip down memory lane, we had lunch at Harriet's Inn on 40th and Lyndale. Great spot, but hard to get around the fact that I am eating fish tacos and drinking a craft beer in the old Super America convenience store...

Harriet's Inn -- South MInneapolis

Summer Begins

Absolutely gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Minnesota. We had a delightful lunch at Admiral D's in White Bear Lake, followed by peach cobbler, tea and inspirtational conversation on the front porch of The Cottage. 

We discussed several summer road trip possibilities including Lanesboro, MN, Itasca and Mineral Point, Wisconsin. 

A few potential screenplays for Hallmark Channel movies were mapped out - fascinating story lines involving illiteracy, a one-hit-wonder, lost love and Vietnam,

Bernadette Peters as "Aunt Carol" a one-hit-wonder from the 1970s who is in danger of losing her crumbling lake-side estate, but instead of telling her niece who comes for guidance and inspiration of her financial woes, Carol takes off for Portugal, leaving her niece to pick up the pieces. An illiterate son of a Vietnam War veteran college English professor figure in somehow...

Great day today, and I look forward to many more like it this summer...