"And at a Deadly Pace........"

SENATE Theatre Harrisburg Newspaper Ad for IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 3-D! (1953)

The Senate screened the first Harrisburg runs of one of my favorites of the Studio Era, Universal International.

Including this science fiction classic which was originally screened in 3-D (and wide screen, as this newspaper ad breathlessly points out). Probably also with Stereophonic Sound, as the later video releases were in stereo).

This wonderful ad - PLEASE enlarge and read all the small print! - is from a 1953 scrapbook I found in a Pennsylvania flea market and brought all the way to California with me. It includes both newspaper and movie magazine advertisements but the real treasures are newspaper ads such as this classic.

"Thrilling! Startling! Tons of Fury!"

I always thought the Senate, with its futuristic electric eye door (see previous photo) and sleekly retro architectural look, was the ideal venue for this new '50s genre.

The Senate also screened THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON in 3-D, HOW TO MARRY MILLIONAIRE in CinemaScope, and Disney's '50s revival of FANTASIA in SuperScope. It also showed a re-issue of the legendary KING KONG which was a MAJOR event for little in-the-know fanboys of the era.

These were all, of course, the first screenings I ever saw of these films, and they (and the late, much lamented Senate) made a lasting impression.

"And this is how the story ran........"

****************************

For more of the OUTER SPACE story see this informative Monstrous Movie Music page about the film, it's evolution, and it's wonderful musical score:

www.mmmrecordings.com/Films/FilmOuterSpace/filmouterspace...

Monstrous Movie Music offers an excellent CD recording of the this terrific score.
http://www.mmmrecordings.com/Monstrous/monstrous.html

The SENATE Theatre: Entrance Doors & Electic Eye

PHOTO: "Lost Reflections" by Ross B. CARE
All rights reserved.

+ + + + + ++++++++++++++

FIRST in a Series of REFLECTIONS on the LOST Movie Theaters of HARRISBURG.

The DOORS of PERCEPTION..........

A classic Golden Age Art Deco cinema, the Senate was once centrally located on Market Square in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

This is a detailed shot of the beautiful entrance with two sets of mirrored doors and an electric eye device which automatically opened the doors on the right. My Kodachrome color transparency is dated March 1978.

You can also see a reflection of the stand-alone ticket kiosk in the mirrors to the right. On the back of the kiosk was a display window for 8x10 black-and-white movie stills from current and coming attractions.

On the other side of these doors was a small vestibule where tickets were taken and beyond that a modest lobby and the interior of the theater.

The Senate was razed around 1988. I was told that the mayor of Harrisburg took an ax to these classically beautiful Art Deco doors.

A generic big box Hilton Hotel now stands where this unique and historic venue once screened the films of Universal, RKO, Disney, and 20th Century-Fox.

The Senate was the last of the original downtown movie theaters left standing.

So much for historic preservation in Harrisburg.......

See also, Cinema Treasures:
cinematreasures.org/theater/16592/

ON THE BEACH, Part II

This is another shot of the bathing beach on City Island.

This shows the concrete beach with concrete steps in the background. Concrete, I assume now, so it would not wash away in the Susquehanna's frequent floodings and ice breakups.

To the right of the trees would have been the large, two-story bath house. As i recall it had a half-timbered, sort of Tudor look to it.

There was also a refreshment stand and an outdoor juke box on the back of the first floor and open to the beach.

For some reason I remember going there once when I was back from college and hearing Donnie Brooks' "Mission Bell" (1960) blasted across the beach over and over. Now I never hear that song without thinking of City Island and my Harrisburg and college days.

"My love is higher than a MISSION BELL,
Deeper than a wishing WELL!"

                                                      Photo from an Ektachrome transparency by Ross J. Care. All Rights Reserved.

This was an Ektachrome slide which had seriously redded out. It was also extremely grainy.
I did the best I could with it in Photoshop, but there's no comparison to the previous Kodachrome slide of me at the same location with the canoe.

On the Beach: Wags & I on City Island in the Susquehanna River

Photo from a Kodachrome Transparency by my dad, Ross J. Care. All Rights Reserved.

Fire? What fire?


City Island Bathing Beach in the Susquehanna River, Skyline of river front Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA on the east shore across the water. Late 1940s.


The bathing beach was on the north tip of City Island. It was a concrete beach which faced the southern flowing river which divided at the island.

A new bridge, the M. Harvey Taylor, was built across the river just north of the island sometime in 1952.

The rest of the island was rather wild and undeveloped. There were fascinating (and probably dangerous) ruins of a water works and, as I recall, some kind of reservoir in the northern middle of the island for many years. I very much regret never having shot photographs of these bizarre, atmospheric, and oddly poetic sites. The water works ruins would have been a great location for a horror movie!

Later there were also rock concerts on the island for a time and eventual, inevitable gentrification with the building of a new baseball stadium which I assume is still there.

But I think I liked the ruins better........ I sometimes still revisit a version of that quaint, regional archeological site in my dreams.

Apparently when this photo was taken there was a distant fire to which Wags and I are happily oblivious. But I still remember that artistic wooden canoe with its colorful decals.