The big picture

Last week's posts included two which took me back to my days working at a movie theater. It was called the Fine Arts, although it was neither of the two illustrated above. And this off-campus venue was, when I look back, as much part of my college education which my job helped to pay for. Week in , week out, we showed the masterpieces of world cinema. My efforts to promote some of our films gained for me a Meritorious Showmanship Award for ballyhoo, (yes, such was the jargon of those who called themselves Exhibitors, i.e. cinema operators). And, sure, I was using down-and-dirty stunts to pull in an audience but it never struck me that using the most base of tub-thumper tricks was in any way iconoclastic - this was tub-thumping for Fellini, for Godard!

Anyway, the Fine Arts was a cool little cinema, with a loyal audience who felt good about the place and enjoyed the fact that we served free coffee in the lobby. Yup, free coffee! (Not espresso, that hadn't descended from the Gaggia machines in the Pasolini films on the screen to the streets of North Dallas in the late fifties, not quite).

There are signs that a personalized cinema experience may be coming back as we learn from the interview below.