It’s a gloomy time of year, with summer far behind us and winter dead ahead. For me, this is historically the time I start seeing more movies, although to be honest I’ve been a regular since the Civic went digital in June. But when the clouds get low and dark comes early, movies — the world’s favourite form of escapism — are a great antidote to seasonal doldrums.
Carroll (Coventry) Klein’s Civic Theatre memory comes from a long-ago summer, so in her case the dark-and-gloomy stuff was all on screen.
“The Civic was so much a part of our lives in so many ways,” she wrote. “The House of Wax was most memorable. It was summer, and we were living at the cabin. Not much could get me into shoes much less into town, but the folks wanted to go to see the movie so I went along.”
House of Wax, the 1953 horror film starring Vincent Price was a bit dark for young Carol, who, back at the cabin, needed company to get to the outhouse in the dark. “Every night for a week I had a mantra: it was only a show; it was only a show!”
The experience didn’t put a damper on Carol’s lifelong love of movies, however, and she was quick to buy a membership in the new Nelson Civic Theatre Society during the early days of our drive — and won the Save-on-Foods $500 gift certificate.
“Talk about thrilled!” she told us. “Support the Civic is my new mantra.”
Now, more than 2,100 of you support the Civic as members, but many still come to the movies and pay the non-member price. To sweeten the pot — we want everyone to join our club — we’ll start Monthly Member Mondays on November 18.
Members vote at civictheatre.ca from five choices for the classic you’d like to see. This month the theme is “Spaced Out! Inner States in Outer Space.” If you want to find out what scared the pants off Carol back in ‘53 House of Wax might just be on the list one day, but for this month, strap on your jet-packs.
There’s nothing scary about Rocky Horror Picture Show, unless fishnet stockings give you the willies. But Rocky is a great antidote for seasonal doldrums, especially if you like dressing up (prizes!). That screens tomorrow, Halloween night, at 9:30 p.m. So bring your heels, and get ready to do the Time Warp — again.
Every time I walk in the Civic and inhale that popcorn smell it’s a time warp for me, bringing me back to a childhood and adolescence full of movies (I saw Rocky Horror five time in 1975). It’s a safe bet that popcorn will always be there — with a nod to Nelson sensibilities we even offer nutritional yeast as a topping — but what else does Nelson want in the concession of your movie theatre? You can have a say here, too.
Concession renos are still a little ways into our future, but we can start to develop our concession offerings now. Is organic raw chocolate your thing, or is your mantra “don’t-mess-with-my Coffee Crisp?”
Drop your wish list in our suggestion box next time you’re at the movies, email mary@civictheatre.ca, or comment on Facebook at facebook.com/NelsonCTS — where you can vote on those MMM movies and otherwise chat about all things
Civic, where there is absolutely no place for doldrums.
Anne DeGrace is the past president of the Nelson Civic Theatre Society. Large Popcorn, Extra Butter runs every two weeks. If you have a Civic Theatre memory to share please email anne@civictheatre.ca. Find out about movies and more: go to civictheatre.ca.