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The Regent was revamped by TIME CAPSULE consequence were made, because
adding film-editing suites. The concept The Garden, Pittsburgh Amdur stoutly refused to change the
allows filmmakers to walk out of their appearance of the building that meant
booths on the second floor into the so much to him’, the Library of
main cinema and see what their efforts Congress record says.
look like on a big screen. The late 1960s and early 1970s
When not booked for post- were tumultuous times in Pittsburgh
production, locals appreciate being able and other urban centres and the
to walk down the street and watch a Garden’s new owners had trouble
cheap, second-run flick. filling it. When it showed the X-rated
Deep Throat in 1972, audiences
Massachusetts
The Brattle Theater, Harvard increased from 30 to 300 per showing,
Square the manager of the time told the local
paper.
If this toney repertory can't make a
The District Attorney ended the
go of it - the theatre made famous for
film’s run nine days later, but the
its Humphrey Bogart seasons during
Garden’s life as an adult theatre had
Harvard Uni. exam times - what hope is
begun. As a porn house there was no
there? How good is this? A 92-year old
Battling a financial deadline, cinema left virtually unchanged from real maintenance of the building;
management has raised half the money its earliest days, and now a dream study patrons didn't care what it looked like.
This indifference helped to preserve it.
to pay off a $500,000 debt. Ivy Moylan for conservation architects. It’s the
and Ned Hinkle, the wife-and-husband Garden, on Pittsburgh’s north side, in a The Garden will likely be used as
team who run the theatre as a non- neighborhood marked by blight and some kind of theatre or arts space,
profit, have the nous which impresses crime. though exact plans are not yet known.
donors. In the years before it turned to X- Despite all the bad images porn movies
“We had a 300 percent increase in rated films, the policy of the Garden brought to the North Side, they might
the number of donors,” says Moylan. was so ‘straight-arrow’ that its second have saved the Garden from the
“If a person who makes an average owner, Bennet Amdur even refused to wrecking ball.
living is willing to give $100 or $250, show Frankenstein. CONCLUSION
that’s a significant gift, to them. Now It was only after his death in 1970 What can we learn from this
we're turning to people who are more that adult films played for more than 30 overview? It tells me that screen
traditional donors and asking them to years there - and on the consciousness showmanship and passion is still alive
make an equally significant gift for the of visitors. in the States, though just like here, not
same goal.” Translation: Like the Uni. always in the hands of the most
With the Garden reclaimed after a
does, target those with deep pockets. influential people.
six-year court battle, residents hope to
California look at the theatre and its history with Individuals get truly passionate
Lark Theater, Larkspur pride. about particular theatres, but the critical
mass to make a difference is not always
Excitement about the theatre is
warranted - original layout, seats, out there; just like here. ★
lighting and Art Nouveau fixtures - a
handsome, 1,000-seat, second run
theatre. Spelling is accurate rather than
The Garden was built by a steel- consistent. Thus ‘theater’ (US spelling)
industry scion and banker named Park. is used in a name, but ‘theatre’
He chose architect Thomas H. Scott, (Australian) is used elsewhere.
who gave him something better than a
Nickelodeon: a two-story theatre faced
with glazed terra cotta tiles, a building
The fate of the Lark (1936) will be fit for the ascendant entertainment
determined in about a month when the form. The Garden always catered to
nonprofit group that runs it is scheduled the ‘carriage trade’.
to complete the purchase. If the money Park named the theatre as a pun on
doesn't eventuate, the theatre will close. his name. Soon after the doors opened
“Our clock is ticking,” said a Bennett Amdur became its manager,
spokesperson. “We really need to get eventually buying the building in 1924.
the word out. As a nonprofit, if you It became the pride of his life.
own your own building, you are in a Amdur was obsessed with his
better position to apply for grants.” This theatre's history, making only slight
month (June) Larkspur children became renovations in the late 1920s and
fundraisers, selling home-made cookies overhauling the projection booth in
from outside the theatre. 1954. ‘No other alterations of

30 2007 CINEMARECORD