We already have a post on the site way back re: Montreal Movie Theatres,including old pics of most of them,including the Savoy of course.but in today;s Gazette is a short article on the old Imperial ,it is still around today being used as an art festival or something. Man we had some cool old buildings in our day,too bad they were not all saved. The following is the article from todays Gazette.
The Imperial Cinema is one of Montreal’s last surviving movie palaces.
Opulent theatres like the Imperial proliferated in the city starting in the early 1900s and were designed to present vaudeville acts at affordable prices — the plush 2,000-seat facility on Bleury north of Ste-Catherine was billed as “The People’s Pleasure Palace at Popular Prices.”
But by the 1990s, many of the original movie palaces had been torn down or turned into multiplexes. That’s why it made headlines in the Montreal Gazette on Feb. 1, 1995, when Famous Players cinemas donated the Imperial to the Montreal International Film Festival.
At the time, Famous Players president Joe Peixoto said the gift marked the centenary of the movie industry and the 75th anniversary of Famous Players.
It also reflected the fact that the Imperial had become a white elephant, closed for weeks on end. The hope was that the festival would return the facility to regular use. The Imperial would become a showcase for vintage movies and gala premieres, film fest head Serge Losique told our reporter.
Unfortunately, since then the film festival itself has fallen on hard times. In August 2017, creditors were about to foreclose on the heavily mortgaged cinema when Québecor mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau stepped in, investing $5 million to take over most of the Imperial’s debt and ensure the continued existence of the film festival.
This photograph by John Mahoney shows the Imperial in its splendour around the time of the Famous Players gift.
2 comments:
There were indeed some beautiful theatres on St. Catherine Street in the 60s and 70s. It takes me back to a Van Morrison concert that I went to with the lovely lady who is still in my life, thankfully. It was very early 70s. A friend was a student at Dawson College. Dawson was bringing in Van the Man for their winter festival. My buddy called me offering to get me tickets to Van’s concert. I jumped at the opportunity and my Jojo and I enjoyed a great concert. The concert was in one of those old theatres on St. Catherine but I can’t recall which one. Magical night.
BobB
Whenever a new Star Trek movie was coming out in the 80's, they'd always play them at The Imperial...great old joint!
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