Tag Archives: strand theater

Strand Theatre makes local history with screening of its first 3D movie

History will be made at the Strand Theatre in Old Forge on Friday, February 7 with the premier of The Lego Movie, the theater’s first film to be shown in 3D.

The three-dimensional capability came along with the theater’s total digitalization conversion, a process that has recently been completed.

The film will be available for viewing in two- and three-dimensional formats at varying times on the largest of the newer theater screens, according to Bob Card, Strand co-owner.

As an industry standard, tickets for three-dimensional films are two to three dollars more than regular films. However, as a thank you to the community for its support in the theater’s costly digital conversion process, 3D tickets will be priced at the same rate as the regular format.

Share Button

The Strand Theatre: An essay by Bella Beck

As soon as I walk through one of the four doors, the smell of freshly popped popcorn tickles my nose. I can almost feel it melting on my tongue. I can hardly keep my mind on the task of buying one of the color coded tickets while that smell is drugging me.

When I have finally managed to buy my ticket, and have safely stored it in my purse, I take a deep breath. It’s time to buy my snacks. I think about what kind of candy I will get, as I watch the popcorn pop in the big red machine, and wait in line.

When it is finally my turn to order, I don’t even allow the friendly person behind the counter to say, “Hello, what can I get for you?” and say in a voice that I swear isn’t mine, “One medium popcorn, with just a little bit of butter, one medium Sprite, and one of the large Sour Patch Kids.”

I think I will go mad, as I watch her slowly scoop the popcorn into the blue popcorn bag. It seems to take her ages, but at last she finishes, and moves on to fill a cup with ice and Sprite. Last of all, she slides open the case holding all the rainbow colored packages of candy, and pulls out one of the boxes of Sour Patch Kids.

Continue reading →

Share Button

Pointed Pine Quilters craft movie-themed quilt for Strand raffle

The Strand quilt by The Pointed Pine Quilters

The Strand quilt by The Pointed Pine Quilters

The Pointed Pine Quilters have produced and donated a quilt to be raffled for the benefit of the Strand Theatre’s “Go Digital or Go Dark” fund, which will help purchase needed digital projectors for the Strand’s four theaters.

Louise Watson, a Thendara quilter, brought the idea of showing support for The Strand to the quilters’ group, which agreed to create a quilt.

Claire Oehler came up with the idea of enlarging DVD images to 150%, which proved a perfect quilt square size.

Oehler chose classic films such as Casablanca and Gone with the Wind, and the contemporary films, Mama Mia, Lord of the Rings, Life of Pi and Star Wars. She enlarged and transferred twenty-five images onto fabric, then bordered each with black and white.

Watson and Oehler searched to find a black and white print fabric with an appropriate design for the quilt edges. The design is complemented by a print depicting uncoiled spools of film. Continue reading →

Share Button

ANCA kicks off campaign to save north country theaters

Old Forge's Strand Theater. Photo by Dana Armington

Old Forge’s Strand Theater. Photo by Dana Armington

Bob Card and Helen Zyma of The Strand Theatre in Old Forge, and Nick Rose of CAP-21 have been working together to raise funds to save The Strand and 10 other North Country theaters before the film industry’s mandatory digital conversion takes place this fall.

They have been working with the Adirondack Film Society and the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) to create a Regional Theater Alliance to help raise awareness and solicit donations to help offset the costs of the conversion.

Through their partnership, a fundraising campaign titled “Go Digital or Go Dark” has been created to help coordinate a community-based campaign as well as an outreach to major donors. ANCA’s foundation sponsors for the campaign are Adirondack Bank and Community Bank.

As part of the campaign, movie posters and donation boxes will be set up at each of the participating theaters. Also, an individualized promotional movie trailer created by filmmakers Aaron Woolf and TJ Brearton will be played in each theater prior to the start of films.

According to Card, the 10 participating theaters collectively need $1.5 million to make all the necessary changes. Through the campaign, theater owners are expected to raise 75 percent of their individual costs with ANCA helping to raise the remaining 25 percent. The ANCA funds will be distributed to the theaters through a series of grants. Continue reading →

Share Button

Kiwanis and Strand Theatre to offer free kids movie

The Kiwanis Club’s Bob Thayer Memorial Free Holiday Movie for Kids is set for Saturday, December 17 at the Strand Theatre in Old Forge.

Children ages 12 and under are admitted to the movie free of charge when accompanied by an adult who will also be admitted free. This year’s featured film will be “Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.” Continue reading →

Share Button

Film held over till next Tuesday: Restored Nuremberg film draws large crowds at Old Forge’s Strand Theatre

Sandra Schulberg, who restored her father, Stuart Schul-berg’s 1948 film, “Nuremberg: It’s Lessons for Today,” with co-producer, Josh Waletzky, screened the film at the Strand Theatre in Old Forge, September 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Schulberg, who addressed the audiences before and after each screening, said she was thrilled by the number of people who came to see the film.

The film, about the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi war criminals, was originally commissioned by the U.S. War Department at the end of World War II.

It was shown to German audiences after the war to show post-war Germany the necessity for a trial on crimes against humanity, but it was Continue reading →

Share Button
Justice Robert H. Jackson of the Supreme Court, the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Schulberg Productions

Restored Nuremberg film to play Strand over Labor Day weekend

Justice Robert H. Jackson of the Supreme Court, the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Schulberg Productions

Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today is a film about the Nuremberg Trial that was commissioned by the United States War Department at the end of World War II.

The film, which was not screened in American theaters until this year, will be featured at Old Forge’s Strand Theatre on September 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Sandra Schulberg, daughter of the late Stuart Schulberg who wrote and directed the film, will be present at all showings of the film to speak to the audience.

According to Sandra, the film premiered in Germany in 1948, two years after the trial of Nazi war criminals ended at Nuremberg.

But despite its U.S. backing the film was banned from American theaters for political reasons.

In making the film, her father, a Marine Corps officer at the time, and her uncle, Navy Lt. Budd Schulberg, who later wrote and won an Oscar for On the Waterfront, were assigned to locate and assemble the Nazi films that were presented as evidence in the Nuremberg courtroom.

The Schulberg brothers were under the supervision of movie director John Ford, commander of the OSS War Crimes film unit.

The OSS was the wartime spy agency and a precursor to the CIA.

Continue reading →

Share Button