The Real Deal

A clichéd term, granted, but one that applies so well to something I mentioned I would talk about at some point – our local movie theatre, housed in the historic Town Hall building. The theatre was originally used for showing vaudeville shows and other live entertainment, and switched over to showing silent films in the early 1900’s. It has been showing movies ever since. You climb a very old wooden staircase to the second floor, where you are confronted with an informal counter selling tickets, popcorn, candy, lemonade, and soda water with fresh cut lemon or lime. Popcorn refills are .25 cents. There is a movie trivia contest posted – you whisper or write down your answer on a piece of paper, and if correct, you get to buy two tickets for the price of one. Even though one could cheat by reading the question in advance and looking up the answer, no one ever does. In fact, I feel guilty whenever I use my free tickets – when I do, I buy extra popcorn to make up for it.

There are actually two theatres -- the larger one has the original stage, curtain, and a balcony. The smaller “screening room” is a lot more intimate. The theatre is known in the area for showing foreign language films (with subtitles – no dubbing, please!), small independent films, and other quirky movies you can’t find at the local Cineplex. But they also get many of the first-run, block-buster films as well, although one year there was a sign out in front of the theatre that simply said; “Not Coming, Not Ever, Rambo III”. Can’t argue with that. The overall experience of going to the Town Hall theatre is so perfect, that I am loathed at this point to ever go anywhere else – I try to wait for the movie to show up there, and if not, I’ll wait for it on DVD. It doesn’t hurt that it is a 5-minute drive away.

But by far the most wonderful thing about our theatre is the gentleman who runs it. He is always running free movie benefits on weekend afternoons for the boy scouts, the women’s club, etc and he lets various town associations and groups put up donation buckets. He is always first in line to make donations of free tickets for raffles, penny sales, and the like. He also runs the projector, and maintains the town clock up in the historic clock tower of the town hall. A remarkable man, and a remarkable asset to our small town.