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Easter at the movies: a time for reflection
Mitchum, Dean & Jerry, Cantinflas, Liz Taylor, Kung Fu Easter, and more!
Easter is not a holiday readily associated with high-volume moviegoing, but you wouldn't know it by these clippings featuring stars and cinema chains keen on having patrons making a pit stop at their local odeons on the way home from church.
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No matinees on Good Friday! Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1954. -
Kung Fu Easter! Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1975. -
Full-page ad for another one of Irving Berlin's holiday classics – this one in Technicolor and produced by the Arthur Freed Unit at M-G-M – Easter Parade. Vincente Minnelli the studio's first choice to direct, but acting on advice from her shrink, Judy thought it wise that the two not work together. Modern Screen, August 1948. -
Easter, just like I recall it from my childhood, minus the marshmallow-glazed ham and bustier. Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1942. -
Renoir at the Apollo, but the real joy to be had on Easter Sunday, 1939, was an in-person appearance at the Chicago Theatre by merry madcap Mischa Auer. If that wasn't enough bang for your buck, there was also the chance of seeing Bobs Watson being dragged through the streets of Dodge in Technicolor and on a 100-foot screen. -
Pamela and James Mason swing open the gates of their Hollywood estate (the former home of Buster Keaton, I might add) and throw down the welcome mat for dozens of Tinsel Town's finest to attend Modern Screen magazine's annual Easter Fashion Party. Shelly Winters was there, so was Deborah Kerr seated alongside the marvelous-looking Fernando Lamas and wife Esther Williams. And here's hoping Dana Andrews had a designated driver. Modern Screen, April, 1953. -
Try as they might, Disney Studios was never able to come up with a hare of their own to rival that of the boys at Termite Terrace. (Does one really want to spend more time with Roger Rabbit than they already have?) Year before Bugs Bunny eclipsed Mickey's fame, Uncle Walt tried his hand at cultivating cottontails with this high energy glimpse into the life of egg-coloring rabbits preparing for the holiday. The Film Daily, March 26, 1934 -
Another Hollywood Easter soiree this one at the home of funnyman Lou Costello and featuring Liz Taylor and a sleepier-than-usual Bob Mitchum and son, Jim. Modern Screen, May, 1946. -
Nothing says a joyous Eastertime quite like soft-core porn, Yakuzas, magnums, politically incorrect blaxploitation epics, and Quintaphonic (!) sound. Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1975. -
Six months after making their first screen appearance in My Friend Irma finds Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (and the 4 Step Brothers) in Chicago working exactly one block from the real Wabash Avenue. Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1950. -
Teen sensation, Lil' Ramesses, whose latest single, Gin & Jews, is currently climbing the charts. -
Exhibitors knew a spring planting of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons yielded a crop of dollar sign-blooming Easter lilies. Universal Weekly March 21, 1936. -
Spend 180 minutes of your Easter Sunday with this monumental all-star flop! Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1961. -
Lead the Easter parade of patrons to your box office with the help of National Screen Service. Film Bulletin March, 24, 1952. -
Technicolor never struck 70mm prints. As inviting at Techinrama 70 sounds, I'd just as soon catch a dye transfer print at my neighborhood cinema. Chicago Tribune March 29, 1959. -
George Reeves auditioning for a part in Donnie Darko. -
I was in the Loop on Easter Sunday, 1966, but unfortunately it was at the Roosevelt, not the United Artists. A week earlier my Hebrew school took us to see The Ten Commandments. The film made such an impression that I begged dad to take me again the following week. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have spent the day with dad at the UA watching Frankie Fane shatter the glass mountain called success. As David Elliott said, "Maybe your dad figured The Oscar just wasn't fun fare for a ten-year-old and, honestly, none of us were prepared for that masterpiece." Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1966.
Enjoy yet another irreverent holiday prowl through my external hard drive. A happy Easter to all and merry Pesach to all my Jewish readers.