Not-too-shabby cellphone image (click to enlarge).
The bright blue ticket caught my eye from across the room.
Part of the Plainfield Public Library's 'Plainfield: Gone But Not Forgotten' exhibit opening Monday evening, it was a ticket for a Beatles event in Plainfield.
The Beatles? In Plainfield?
I had never heard a word.
The date on the ticket -- Tuesday, August 11 -- was intriguing, but there was no year. Checking with an online perpetual calendar (ain't the Internet neat!) revealed the year had to be 1964.
The Strand Theater, with marquee, March 2002.
The venue? The Strand Theater, at that time one of the screens of the prestigious Walter Reade Theaters.
The occasion was not a concert (though this was the year of the Beatles' national tour), but a preview of the mock-documentary 'A Hard Day's Night' (see IMDB or Wikipedia), which opened nationwide on that date.
Quite a deal for such an event, though its world-historical significance probably escaped Plainfield's then-cultural watchdogs.
Sadly, the Strand foundered over the years. By the time I arrived in 1983, it was showing porn movies, then was reborn as a combination concert venue and rented church space.
In the mid-1990s, as part of a consortium of arts and culture organizations that won a $100,000 grant from AT&T to develop a cultural plan for the arts in Plainfield, I was part of the team that assessed the feasibility of the Strand becoming a regional performing arts center.
It was estimated by the consultant that it would take $5 million just to get the theater in shape, and more for an endowment to provide underwriting support. Sadly its stage had been replaced by a poured concrete platform (no good for dance troupes!), the sound system was in need of replacement and the 1,400 seats would need to be refurbished and recovered. It was also felt that with NJPAC coming online, the possibility of it being a 'feeder' center would be inhibited by projects under way at that time in Rahway and East Orange.
Lacking a commitment by the city, the property owner, Quasim Quasim, a courtly Palestinian-American who was a Middlesex County College professor, eventually sold the theater to Indian entrepreneurs who tried to turn it into a regional Bollywood cinema house. This went well for a while, but also eventually foundered.
The most recent owner dealt a final blow to the theatrical roots of the building by tearing off the old marquee and completely gutting the interior.
Entrance to the building now seems to be mainly through the fire escape doors along the alley beside the building, which are propped open during business hours and with a few people lounging on chairs in the doorway.
Sad fate for a once magnificent Plainfield cultural icon.
You will want to check out the exhibit for more 'lost but not forgotten' Plainfield treasures.
Footnote: Walter Reade bet badly that he could fill his elegant but cavernous theaters by running European art films, suffering a financial crisis over the gamble. Famously, he backed Michelangelo Antonioni's 1967 movie 'Blow Up', which effectively rendered censorship moot (see interesting background here). He attempted to recover from the art film move by introducing 'Aromarama', in which scents were pumped through the theater's air conditioning system. For some reason, it never took off.
PLAINFIELD: LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
An Exhibit of Photographs and Ephemera
August 24 through October 17
Open Reception: 6 PM, Monday, August 24
(Open during regular Library hours)
Anne Louise Davis Gallery
Plainfield Public Library
Park Avenue and 8th Street
An Exhibit of Photographs and Ephemera
August 24 through October 17
Open Reception: 6 PM, Monday, August 24
(Open during regular Library hours)
Anne Louise Davis Gallery
Plainfield Public Library
Park Avenue and 8th Street
-- Dan Damon
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6 comments:
I wasn't living here for the heyday of the Strand. But similar movie theaters where I spent my childhood years underwent similar demises. A few (I'm talking the Albany/Troy area in NY), had some success in renovation and revival. But I think it's a hard venue to maintain in urban areas. The suburban multi-plex theaters did in the more history-laden places like the Strand.
I was very saddened when they took the marquee down. Even though I've lived here less than a decade, I took a lot of photos of the marquee during some special events held there. Now the building looks horribly ugly.
Jackie -- Hope you'll make the opening tomorrow, would be glad to chat.
Also, the Library might be interested in getting prints of your photos of the marque as part of the ongoing effort to document Plainfield. Talk with Joe Da Rold at the show.
I know you're not dying to know this, but so what. In about 1976 I saw an "Aromarama" film at the Waverly theater, West 4th and Sixth Ave. It was Robert Downey Sr's follow up to his Greaser's Palace, which of course was a follow to his Putney Swope. I have no idea what it was called, but it somehow featured red beans and rice. And he called it "Smellorama".
Actually, the link on 'aromarama' takes you to the smell-o-vision article in Wikipedia, which discusses the whole idea and what films were made.
I read the Wikipedia article, I read Robert Downey Sr's bio and filmography, and I now think I must have imagined the whole thing. I thought it happened, but there's no Wiki-evidence.
No Wiki-evidence doesn't mean a thing didn't happen.....
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