CT The OT & The Cinemas You Saw Them In

I had a little moment this week as another building containing an old cinema (The Cineplex then The Anvil) was being demolished in my hometown of Sheffield and it hit me that none of the cinemas I saw the OT are left where I live. How about you people out there? What are your memories of the cinemas and do any of you have anything like this:

I almost certainly saw these showings. I also saw the triple bill showings of the OT, my dad brought sandwiches and a flask of Bovril to drink.

 

That's were I saw all three films and trailers in 1978, 1980 (Mark Hamill attended the premiere of ESB there, the SWFA fan club president and myself welcomed him, his wife and son at the airport) and 1983 - it's now a consumer electronics market and you can still find Star Wars there, but only the Special Editions...

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The top picture is how The Odeon looked back in the 80's. In the early 90's they moved to a brand new multi screen venue a couple of miles away. But this original venue is still open, its not a cinema anymore and its back to being a theatre venue. But the interior of the main auditorium has not changed other than being restored to its former glory. The main room was screen one and they also had 2 much smaller screens in other rooms. But the main auditorium was a beautiful venue to see a film back in the day and indeed still is for plays and shows. I have fond memories of my dad taking me to my Empire and Jedi here. The image of the huge Empire poster dominated the interior of the foyer with Vader looming over everyone is imprinted on my mind. Seeing a film in the dark in the cinema was a new experience for me and it just added to the whole epxerience with that film.

 

I saw all three of the OT movies for the first time at the late, lamented Menlo Park Twin off of Rt. 1 in Edison, NJ. I saw the original on the last Friday of June, 1977; TESB on the first weekend after release, and ROTJ on opening day.

 

Let's see, I saw the OT in cinemas when they were re-released in 1997. At that time, I was not yet 12 1/2 years old and we had just moved into the Park Lane house, where we lived until we moved from Dallas, TX to Arlington, VA. We went to go see it at the Cinemark 17 all the way down on Webb Chapel Road. We also saw TPM there as well.

 

So, I saw Star Wars on its day of release in Liverpool, here is a cutting from the Liverpool Daily Post on 30 January 1978, the day of the film’s premiere at the Odeon on London Road, Liverpool. I am in this picture somewhere in line

 

Here is a picture of that Odeon in Liverpool - I cant find a good image other than this old one (from the 50's I think). The building has been torn down now.

 

I was in the car at a drive-in, when my family first saw ANH in 1978. I was about a month or two old. I saw ROTJ for the first time at a drive-in, in Columbus Nebraska. The next time was at the Stockyards Cinema, in Omaha. I saw the SE's of ANH and ROTJ at Cinema III and TESB at King's 4, in Norfolk Nebraska.

 

Often I am quite thankful that I was able to see the OT in cinema's, as I was about 8 or 9 when the SE were released in the 90's. I remember seeing ANH in the Cineplex I still go to today, but my fondest memory was seeing back-to-back features of ESB and ROTJ in the drive-in with my parents and sister. Seeing those two movies with the feel of the drive in changed my life. I feel very privileged I got to see the OT on the big screen, even if it was the original and the pure feeling of the late 70's.

 

I saw them all in crappy little theaters, except for Star Wars (before the Ep IV thing), which I saw once on a huge, high quality screen. Still, super glad I saw them in the theaters that way.