Saturday, July 29, 2006

Documentary Update

My apologies for being so long between posts, but I've been busy--with new materials that have come in for the film project.

First off, Mr. Bob Fridley, of Fridley Theatres and Video, sent me a wonderful box of photos, clippings, ads, and articles from his personal collection--including rare shots of the Capri, Varsity, River Hills and Riviera, and the Lincoln/Holiday. I've been busy scanning and animating these items, and the results thus far have been really exciting for me. And Mr. Fridley has invited me to visit him when I'm in town this August, which should be a real treat.

Mr. Bob Meza, of NBC (heck, just a mile or so away from the Technicolor office in Burbank), has graciously allowed use of his theater photos, most of which cover the demolition of the Riviera and River Hills on--of all dates--September 11, 2001. Smaller versions of these can be seen over here on the Cinematour site.

Last and not least, the wonderful people at Wetherell Ericsson Architecture were gracious enough to dig up a complete set of blueprints for the Hiland Theater that the firm made back in 1938 when it was still the Wetherell-Harrison partnership. These are astounding to see on a number of levels--the detail, the craftsmanship, even the hand-lettered material (with the striking diagonal O's) is something to see. (These plans refer to the second, Moderne-style Hiland at 423 Euclid that exhibited from 1938 to 1967, not the previous house at 3602-6th that opened in 1923 and ran until the second version was constructed.)

I will continue to make posts, and offer a bit of this new material now and then, but there's a lot of work to do still on the doc itself. Please be patient--I promise it will be worth the wait!

And, as ever, if you should happen to stumble on any materials, please let me know--it's likely they will make it into the film somehow!

3 comments:

Liz said...

I am searching up and down for a way to contact Mr. Bob Meza. He photographed a theater my parents met at 50 years ago. It has since closed and it is the only one I can find. If you have his contact info will contact me? You can find my contact info on my website. Thank you so much.

Lori said...

I have a few pictures from the late 70's, early 80's of the River Hills/Riviera if you are interested. They aren't great, but they are pictures of the theatre intact. They were taken when Charlton Heston was in town to promote The Mountain Men. I also have some from when the Jazz Singer and 9 to 5 were playing.

Mark said...

Lori-
Yes, I would love copies/scans, if you could send! (Or hard copies, if you prefer!)

Liz-
I hope I got back to you about Bob. He's here in Burbank.

Both of you: please contact me at: lostcines@earthlink.net