back to Niagara Falls Reporter archive
An important event -- one key to the success of Little Italy and Pine Avenue -- happened since we last rolled the presses. The porno theater at the corner of Pine Avenue and 19th Street relocated out to Connecting Boulevard in LaSalle.
Now don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against the raincoat crowd, but having a skin flick joint smack-dab in the middle of a family-marketed business district just wasn't friendly to the desired demographics.
A cinema featuring movies with titles like "Romancing the Bone," "Good Will Humping" and "Driving Miss Daisy Crazy" didn't exactly thrill the developers behind Little Italy or the Pine Avenue Business Association. I must admit that it was fun sport to sit outside the McDonald's at the City Market and watch scores of middle-aged men walk purposefully down Pine Avenue, only to make a sharp right cut into the theater in hopes of not being spotted by anyone from the P.T.A. -- if only Major League Baseball could find a way to recapture such drama. But I digress. What I really want to talk about is an idea, a plan for the theater that I believe is a bona fide home run.
The theater is the former Hippodrome. At one time, it was the centerpiece of Pine Avenue. During the era when men commonly wore suits and women dressed in gowns and pearls, the Hippodrome Theater bore witness to the major events that ultimately would shape our nation through the second half of the 20th century. Before taking in movies featuring such magnetic leading men as Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Edward G. Robinson, the patrons of the Hippodrome absorbed real drama, courtesy of the black-and-white newsreels that brought the war in Europe home to Niagara. It was an era of dramatic contrast. Hollywood glitz set against battlefront horror, theater spotlights to divert us from wartime rationing, and the sultriness of pin-up queen Rita Hayworth contrasted with the grittiness of everywoman Rosie the Riveter.
The Hippodrome thrived in the era of great American movie houses. Locally, there were the Strand, Cataract and Rapids theaters in Niagara Falls, and the Riviera in North Tonawanda. These were elegant, stately theaters, which featured intricate artwork along with full balconies and box seating.
I say we bring back the Hippodrome, restore it to what it once was. The good news is that there's a blueprint on how to do it: The Riviera Theater. Not too many years ago, the Riviera was in disrepair. A number of retired carpenters, electricians, plumbers and engineers formed a non-profit group and donated time, effort and materials to a full-scale restoration project.
Today, the Riviera is more elegant than it ever was and hosts many concerts, shows and other featured events.
With the proud history of unions and laborers in Niagara Falls, it shouldn't be too difficult to put together a team of retired professionals to tackle the job.
What do we do with the theater, once it's restored? Glad you asked. In the CNN Plaza in Atlanta, they have one movie screen that plays nothing but "Gone with the Wind" 365 days per year. The tourists love it.
Imagine then, if you will, a restored Hippodrome that features nightly showings of the 1953 classic "Niagara" starring Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten. Picture white search lights crisscrossing the night sky over Pine Avenue as a red carpet guides your entrance through the engraved-glass double doors that open onto an old-fashioned ticket booth. From there, red-uniformed ushers escort you by flashlight to your seats to await the show's opening.
The sounds of a Wurlitzer organ greet your ears as you settle into your seats with a tub of hot (real) buttered popcorn. A "newsreel" rolls in black-and-white film -- one that details the construction of the new casino and other related developments. The silk curtain then closes as a tuxedo-clad master of ceremonies steps up to an old-time radio microphone and announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Honeymoon Capital of the World and to its heartbeat -- the Hippodrome Theater. Tonight we'll be taking you back in time to show you Niagara Falls from a bygone era and to explore the powerful way in which greed can corrupt love between a man and a woman. So sit back, put your arm around the one you love and enjoy, as we present to you America's original blond bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, in 'Niagara'."
Anyone working in the downtown hotels will tell you that tourists are constantly asking what they can do in the evening after they've seen the falls. How exciting it would be for them to see Marilyn Monroe at many of the same sites that they themselves had just taken in earlier the same day.
In the winter months, the theater could showcase art films. Currently, Niagara County has no outlet for quality foreign films and many locals now make the trip to Main Street in Buffalo to see films outside of the Hollywood mainstream. The Hippodrome could cater to this crowd in the off-season months of the year to keep the cash flow rolling.
In the summer, Marilyn look-alike contests and classic movie trivia nights would provide Little Italy with the regional buzz that it is so far lacking. If the theater reopening were launched on Marilyn's birthday, for example, it would be the type of event that would draw national exposure, the type that gets Mr. and Mrs. Middle America into the Plymouth and headed toward Niagara Falls.
Nothing would please me more than to see a developer step forward and run with this idea. I don't even want compensation for coming up with it -- just name the balcony or box seats after me.
I just hope that someone picks up the ball soon and brings this classic of the silver screen to Pine Avenue, before the raincoat crowd is back watching some silicone-enhanced actress, who goes by the name Marilyn Moanmore, in a movie entitled "(Wet as) Niagara."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 16 2002 |