NYC’s LAST SINGLE-SCREEN CIMEMA SHUTS ITS DOORS FOR GOOD

After 71 years, New York City’s last remaining single-screen cinema, The Paris, has closed its doors.

The 581-seat theaters was one of the oldest art-house cinemas in the country and was the last remaining single-screen cinema dedicated to first-run platform release movies in the U.S..

Social media pics show a goodbye note posted on the theater’s window saying that says the Paris’ lease has ended.

Rumors that the theater was set to be shuttered were circulating this summer.

The theater was a major art house contributor, responsible for nearly 9% of the total domestic gross for its last run film, Pavarotti, the Ron Howard documentary.

The New York Times wrote over a decade ago that the theater’s survival was among the 

“Great mysteries of New York life.” 

It’s prime real estate next door to Bergdorf Goodman, across from the Plaza Hotel and Central Park, owned by real estate mogul Sheldon Solow, who took a hands-on interest in the theater after he assumed control in the 1990s. No one knows what the billionaire’s plans are now or exactly what led to the theater’s closure.

Back in 1990, the theater’s managing director told the Times it was “obvious” he wanted to transform it into retail use.

Another Solow-owned theater, The Beekman on the Upper East Side, has just closed too. The farewell message posted on that theater’s window is identical to The Paris, according to Vanishing New York.

So, for New Yorkers, the cliché didn’t hold true:

We won't always have Paris.

126 RARE APOLLO MOON LANDING IMAGES UP FOR AUCTION (YOU'LL NEVER GUESS HOW MUCH?!)

Here’s your big chance to own a piece of American space exploration history (pre-Space Force). An extremely rare 70 mm positive film roll from the camera of Apollo 11-- the first spaceflight that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 -- is up for grabs right now.

The Hasselbladfilm roll contains 126 photos from the moonshot mission taken by Armstrong and Aldrin during their exploration. They include moments from inside the Lunar Module Eagleright before Armstrong stepped off the spacecraft, his first photo after taking his famous first steps, Aldrin standing next to the American Flag ... and his legendary "Moon Man" image with his mask showing a reflection of Armstrong.

According to the auction house, RR Auction, the film roll was acquired from Terry Slezak, a member of the Manned Spacecraft Center‘s lunar receiving lab. He was in charge of processing the film brought back from the Apollo moon landings.

The auction is live now and ends on June 20 … and it’s estimated to take in around $8,000. Seems like a steal to me. (Wonder if you own the film positive, if you can make print editions to sell, hmmm…?)

Terry Slezak with moon dust on his hands from one of Apollo 11’s film canisters.

(Photos, NASA; via TMZ)

INSTAGRAMMER @PALETTEMANIAC SHOWS RANGE OF COLORS USED IN ONSCREEN IMAGES

The Instagram account @PaletteManiac shows a “love for colors” using screen grabs from film, TV, and videos. Underneath the image is the color palettes employed and they are all gorgeous.

Wes Anderson movies, of course, get a LOT of love here because of all current director, his movie story boards have a clear idea of a scenes look and use of color and often entire films have a chromatic theme.

Following the projects like Movies in Color, Palette Maniac says,

“the idea is not original.”

But DO they get it right and credit the director and often the other creatives involved. Here are some below, but follow the account to find out the origins and you may be inspired to created a look, interior or your own visuals.

(Top photo, screen grab; via MyModernMet; T/Y Paul)

DESPERATELY SEEKING $100,000 FOR MADONNA'S "SUSAN" JACKET...

Julien’s Auctions’s Music Icons sale is offering all sorts of goodies. Elvis Presley’s empty prescription bottles are right up my collecting alley (I have a bounced check from Courtney Love!) But what's more 80s than the embellished cropped tux jacket Madonna (& Rosanna Arquette) wore in Desperately Seeking Susan? And its $80-100,000 estimate seems perfectly reasonable if your last name is Ciccone or Winfrey.

Elvis Presley Triavil Prescription Pill Bottle, EST, $4,000-6,000

The sale will be held at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC, Saturday, May 21. The lots are on view there today through Friday. For more backstory on the movie check out this post I did to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the cult film. Kids, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a MUST-SEE.

Embellished cropped tuxedo jacket designed by Santo Loquasto and worn by Rosanna Arquette and Madonna in “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985). Also seen in her “Into the Groove” music video. EST: $80,000-$100,000

JOSEPH FIENNES WILL PLAY MICHAEL JACKSON ESCAPING 9/11 WITH LIZ & BRANDO?!

Diversity in Hollywood was just dealt another casting oddity. In 2001, one of the strangest road trips in history (allegedy) took place. Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando drove from New York to Ohio in an attempt to get home following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It’s being made into a movie starring –are you ready?– Joseph Fiennes as Michael! Stockard Channing will play Liz and Brian Cox is Brando.

Details of the improbable trip emerged in 2011 in Vanity Fair. The story goes; 

Jackson invited the pair to his concert at Madison Square Garden. Following the 9/11 attacks, when air travel to and from New York was cancelled, the trio rented a car and began their quest back to California. “They actually got as far as Ohio – all three of them, in a car they drove themselves,” claimed a former employee of Jackson. Brando apparently insisted on stopping off at various fast food restaurants en route.

But one of Taylor’s ex-assistants told VF that the actor stayed behind in New York, visiting Ground Zero and praying in a church.

After being originally announced in December, Fiennes has now described the script as “a challenge”, adding,

“It’s a fun, lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it’s rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships.”

On the surface, casting a white actor as Michael Jackson isn’t much of a stretch, all Fiennes has to do is stay out of the sun for the look. But it seems there are scores of good African-American actors out there that would jump at the chance to play the King of Pop. Usher, are you pissed? Amy Poehler? Oh, why not throw your hands in the air. Wheee!

(via The Guardian)

ED WOOD'S "GLEN OR GLENDA" LOOKS EVEN MORE BIZARRE IN TODAY'S REAR VIEW

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton posthumously gave Ed Wood, who some called the worst director ever, the fame he never had in life. Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role as Bela Lugosi. We get to see the real Ed, in the 1953 film, Glen or Glenda. It was an exploitation film written, directed by, and starring Ed Wood, and then-girlfriend Dolores Fuller, played by Sarah Jessica Parker in Burton’s film. The original title, I Changed My Sex!is often given as Glen or Glenda?. It’s so crazy backward and bad that it might have seemed funny to audiences up until recently. It’s just been a week but Caitlyn Jenner‘s Vanity Fair cover has already done so much to sensitize today’s world to transgender issues – but in the fifties, it was open season on anything and anyone different. You can see the trailer below, and whole film here. Watch.

QUEER/ART/FILM: LEA DELARIA PRESENTS HITCHCOCK'S REBECCA

If I had known about it ahead of time, I would have invited you, really. My old pal, James Lecesne had an extra ticket and it was being shown as part of a Queer Art Mentorship program James is involved with – more on that in another post. Anyway, last night Orange Is the New Black‘s Lea Delaria presented Hitchcock’s Rebecca at the IFC Center in New York. Queer/Art/Film asks artists to screen a movie that was influential to them. Lea’s mother screened the film for her when she was just 10 saying, “You’re going to LOVE this movie!” – and she did. If you are familiar with the film, the goth presence, with SERIOUS lesbian undertones (and overtones), Mrs. Danvers is one of cinemas most indelible villains. At the Q & A afterward with Lea along with Aaron Rosen and filmmaker Ira Sachs (who made Leave the Light On, and is debuting his new film at Sundance this weekend, Love Is Strange) discussed the film why it was so influential, among other things. Watch the clip below of the famous bedroom scene and you may see why it’s still being talked about 70 years later at a queer film series. Check out their upcoming film series here and you can see Lea as Big Boo on Netflix, anytime.

Ira Sachs, Lea Delaria and Aaron Rosen discuss Rebecca for Queer/Art/Film at IFC in New York City