Larry and I went to see a movie recently in one of the fully tiered small theatres of the Cineplex Cinema chains.  You can purchase tickets online or buy them onsite where the complex of 10-12 theatres has completely automated vending machines, even for food. (Upscale venues offer cocktails, drinks, dinner and dessert that can be delivered right to your ultra-comfortable reclining seats.) Entry areas are generally noisy, boisterous, full of flashing lights and game consoles. At the mid-week time that we chose however we were actually the only two people in our theatre! – but that’s never a worry since today’s running shows are never cancelled. As you wait for the feature film you watch continuous screen “entertainment”: advertisements, quizzes, trivia, and trailers of all sorts. Sound and visual effects are astounding.

As a young adult in the 70s, I remember standing in front of cavernous theatres in long lines that wound down the street and around the block, sometimes only to be informed as we neared the entrance that no seats were left. One of the largest drawing movies, and one that I watched only with a clique of comforting friends, was the highly controversial  and totally creepy “Exorcist” in the Palace Theatre in downtown Calgary.

The Palace, built in 1921 for silent movies, was indeed an enormous, palace-like affair with multiple balconies and over 2000 seats. When I was there, huge sound-absorbing drapes lined the walls. Movies consisted of several reels projected by a solitary person sitting high above and behind the crowd; occasionally a reel would break forcing us to sit patiently until it was spliced. In Grade 6, I went to massive city-wide School Patrol Movie Days in that theatre, incredibly crowded but a ton of juvenile fun. (As a 10-year-old patrol, I got to stop traffic with my handheld stop sign and bright orange strap across my chest as younger students crossed the street safely behind me. Today it’s an adult-only, paid job, no doubt because of liability.)

It has undergone enormous changes over time. Now designated a National Historic Site, it’s a completely modernized performance art theatre with standing/cocktail main floor space and balcony seats and suites above. Oh my.