Comments on: Hollywood Sneak Previews

By: John Richardson

John Richardson — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:09:31 +0000

Avatar in 3d was well worth it's money ,2 for 20.I am going to see Alice and Wonderland at Carmcle in corvalis, Or.

By: Marianne Richardson

Marianne Richardson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:12:11 +0000

I am JEALOUS of all of you in the nicest possible way! Too young to have known the Saturday matinee or the Sneak Preview, I grew up in a world of mega-plexes where the Dolby-enhanced blockbuster soundtracks were an assault upon the senses. The only way I was able to share in this classic movie-going experience was through Matinee at the Bijou when it ran on PBS in the 1980s. Seeing the films in context (with the cartoons, shorts, serials and features)is what started my love of classic movies. That's why I hope they can get the show back on the air! Until then, I've got DVDs. Thank you Bob (and all of you!) for the neat glimpse at the mid-century theater experience.

By: Jerry Frebowitz

Jerry Frebowitz — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:38:25 +0000

Great memories! Sounds like fun growing up in Southern California. In Philadelphia, we had sneak previews too but no comment cards; at least none that I knew of. I remember when I was a kid in 1948, I saw Danny Kaye in "A Song is Born" on a sneak preview and probably the same year, "Miss Tatlock’s Millions" with Wanda Hendrix and John Lund. I can’t remember too many others but I could only see these with my parents because they were generally shown at around 8 PM and we also came in early to see the regular feature first, then already had a good seat for the sneak.

By: Jon Ted Wynne

Jon Ted Wynne — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:08:39 +0000

What a great article! Thanks, Bob, for your comments. This is PRECISELY the kind of memories we film lovers share. One of my earliest film memories (albeit not a sneak preview--we didn't have many of those in Winnipeg, Canada)--was seeing ZULU on the big screen. To this day there are aspects of that brilliant movie that haunt me. I loved your comments on BABY JANE as I saw it when I was quite young and it made an indelible impression. The great films and the great stars usually do! Take out the rate scene? Unthinkable! I know the studio received many letters of outrage over the film, which of course is tame by today's lack of standards. If only filmakers had progressed (in terms of content) only so far, then had the taste to know when to stop! Thankfully we have the classics to remind us what entertainment should be.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:23:40 +0000

Hey Bob, very nice piece on sneak previews and the Hollywood cinema scene in one of the best decades or so that Hollywood had to offer. I was 14 when we arrived to Hollywood in 1963 and very possibly the last movie I saw before leaving my home town in Pennsylvania was watching Bye Bye Birdie at the RKO Lincoln in Trenton, N.J. Ann- Margret knocked me over with her performance. Ms. Margret stole me away from my first screen love Hayley Mills from In Search of the Castaways(1962). But I did manage to see Hayley put her hand and footprints shortly there after at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. And the Chinese Theatre brought lots more cinema joy to us movie folk as you probably remember. They did first runs of some of the best James Bond films. I waited in line for at least an hour or more to see both Goldfinger(1964) and Thunderball(1965)amid the footprints of the Hollywood elite. And Westwood did wonders for my teenage friends and I when we took our girlfriends to see Romeo and Juliet at the Bruin Theatre back in 1968. So many just good old movies back then in Hollywood and the environs. Some of my really fun movie experiences were Nevada Smith(1966),36 Hours(1964), The Liquidator(1966)and Roman Polanski's first English speaking film Repulsion(1965)which I saw at the Hollywood Encore Cinema, an art house of sorts on Melrose just a hop, skip and a jump from the Paramount Studio gates down the street. Those were and now I'm old enough to say it...the good old days. Thanks Bob for reminding me.