-By Andreas Fuchs

“While Cinema City was cool and fun, it was also really old. It wasn’t suited to bring it up to the modern standard. While we are sad that [the old] Cinema City will no longer be a part of the Hartford community, we’re thrilled to be able to move it over.”
—Ben Moss, Bow Tie Cinemas, to The Hartford Courant

The July 22, 2010 closing of Cinema City marked the end of another classic cinema in Hartford, Connecticut.

Like every other city in the United States, Hartford has already lost countless movie theatres (for a sampling, check out CinemaTreasures.org: http://bit.ly/FJI1010bow1). But thanks to Ridgefield-based Bow Tie Cinemas (www.bowtiecinemas.com), the shuttering of Cinema City did not mark the end of era, but rather the continuation of something good and much beloved in a different venue. The 1972 four-screen art house was reincarnated, if you will, at the circuit’s Palace 17 & Odyssey Theater multiplex location, some six miles away. In honor of “this Hartford institution,” the old Cinema City received “its own dedicated and newly remodeled five-screen wing” there, hitherto named Cinema City at the Palace.

How do art and commerce mix? And how can you make such a move work? Film Journal International had the good fortune to be taken on a tour of both locations by Joseph Masher, chief operating officer of Bow Tie Cinemas. A dedicated member of the Theatre Historical Society of America and leading expert on local movie-house lore, he believes that although the original cinema will be torn down, “the property is going to a good use, as the site is redeveloped to become the headquarters of the city’s Green Water Initiative.” After the landlord sold the Cinema City property, “we had three options,” he elaborates. “We could either close the building and just abandon independent and art film altogether, or take over some screens at the Palace, or change the programming at our Criterion Cinemas at Blue Back Square.”

The latter West Hartford six-plex, another three miles from the 2000 Palace plex, opened in November 2007 and certainly didn’t need a change in formula. Plus, the parking is abundant and much closer at the Palace, which Masher says is particularly important for older guests that frequent Cinema City. Nonetheless, converting an entire theatre such as the Criterion would have proved easier. After all, “Cinema City is an institution,” he says, “and as with most art theatres, it has a very loyal and dedicated audience. As ’70s kitschy as it is, it has its very own homey charm.”

Knowing full well that a certain ambience was needed to differentiate the new offerings at the Palace, Bow Tie went all out to make its treasured customers feel at home in their new home. “We have taken an entire wing at the Palace—theatres 11 to 15—and redecorated it with new carpet, redone walls and updated signage throughout,” Masher says, surveying the first results. “The new auditoriums have stadium seating, bigger screens and a much better presentation. The old theatre only had two stereo screens and these are all digital sound now, of course. So it’s a much better experience.”

In a fitting homage to Cinema City’s storied past, Bow Tie “has taken some high-resolution photographs of the old location and detailed descriptions to tell its story”—now in framed displays on the Palace walls. “We are bringing many of the most cherished and recognizable elements from Cinema City over to the Palace.” Masher mentions “our very popular ‘You Be the Critic’ board where guests at the end of the movie write down their own little summary and grade the film ‘A’ through ‘F.’ We are also transferring management and staff so that there is a lot of familiarity with our customers.” Masher has also rescued at least one of the unique doors of the old City, where the auditorium numbers come together in a nicely sculptured work of door-handle art.

All this reflects the circuit’s appreciation of theatre history ( FJI March 2006). “Bow Tie Cinemas, formerly B.S. Moss Theatres, has been around since 1900,” Masher recounts. “And Cinema City has entertained Hartford since 1972. So, yes, there is a little bit of that history that we want to preserve. It is an important part of our tradition of Returning Style and Elegance to the Moviegoing Experience,” he says, quoting the circuit’s tag line.

Further building on the Cinema City brand and delivering upon the “at the Palace” promise, Cinema City is all over the Palace indeed. With the specific font and its signature blue color duplicated from the original Cinema City lettering, “there will be a separate area on the marquee for Cinema City titles,” he previews. “The entrance door closest to the newly instituted, dedicated Cinema City box office will have the same blue letters on it. Of course, tickets can be purchased at all stations, but we wanted to maintain more of that special feeling.” On the right side of the main lobby, opposite the Odyssey Theater, a former 15/70 large-format house that Bow Tie has been running with a Kinoton 35/70mm projector and has “big screen” plans for, Bow Tie found good use for an area where the former Palace owners, Crown Theatres, had videogames. “We’re converting the entire wall to a ‘Now Showing/Coming Soon’ poster gallery for the Cinema City attractions,” Masher enthuses. “Above the entrance to the wing, there is directional signage and, right above the separate concession stand, we have channel letters with the Cinema City font.” All that effort is well worth it, he definitely feels, “because it creates familiarity and continuity for our loyal customers.”

To make sure that the loyalists would know about the move and follow along with it, Bow Tie produced a video announcement that was shown during the pre-show in all their area theatres and posted on YouTube as well. “We also hired a local marketing firm to help with the transition,” Masher elaborates. “They provided us with a group of trained individuals to spread the word.” Later called the “Bow Tie Brigade,” “they were in our Hartford-area theatres every weekend and during peak periods during the week as well, handing out flyers to people and telling them about the new location and moving date, about the new films coming…”

For the proper send-off of the old Cinema City, Masher and his team selected The Queen and Life Is Beautiful, “our two most successful films.” Not only were the movies free on a first-come, first-served basis, so were popcorn and soda. Reactions during that sold-out parting night? “People are actually very excited about the move,” he contends. “While they do love the old theatre and, yes, we are encountering a lot of nostalgia, people are looking forward to the change. We have maintained Cinema City well, but the theatre has gotten a bit old and tired by virtue of its history.”

About the plans to end that history during the summer, Masher says, “We were a little bit flexible with the moving date.” Usually not the hottest time for art-house hits, this year proved otherwise, with Winter’s Bone, Cyrus, The Girl Who Played with Fire and others leading the way. “We decided on July 23 because Focus Features was very kind to us,” Masher confides, “and pushed The Kids Are All Right up in Connecticut. It was originally scheduled for Hartford one week later.” Bow Tie returned the favor by giving the breakout hit two of the five new screens. “Anchor Bay, as well, has been supportive by holding back Solitary Man until we were ready,” he continues. “Cinema City is very well-known in the distribution world as a very strong-grossing art house in the state. Some say the most successful between New York and Boston. All of the distributors that we have spoken to in preparation reacted very favorably.” For further proof, he quotes one executive as saying, “I think it’s a great idea. You guys always know exactly what to do.”

And with a dedicated fifth screen, “we’ll be able to offer our guests even more product,” Masher promises. In the old location, two auditoriums each with 400 and 250 seats had rather large capacities for an art house. “Cinema City was originally built as a first-run house,” Masher explains. “As the multiplexes sprung up around Hartford, that location was relegated to becoming an art house, basically. It was a very successful art house, but only on the very rare occasion would you actually fill one of those large auditoriums.” The new theatres range from 270 down to 180 seats, “making them good capacities for this product,” he opines.

As for edible product, the theatre will feature “our Bow Tie signature freshly popped popcorn with real butter.” According to Masher, the concession stand will also offer “equally fresh-brewed Seattle’s Best coffee and tea with a selection of pastries, cakes and other fine snacks. The candy choices will be a bit different too and include Ghirardelli Chocolates, Toblerone and more.” Although Bow Tie offers beer and wine at other locations such as Criterion New Haven (Conn.), Movieland at Boulevard Square (Richmond, Virginia) and Movieland 6 Schenectady (New York), they are not on tap for Hartford. Offering alcoholic choices as part of the commercial multiplex mix “is not even the issue,” he assures. Rather, “the reason why we do not do this at the Palace is that we just don’t have the room. To do this properly, you need a separate and dedicated café. And as big as it is, the Palace lobby and Cinema City wing could not accommodate the necessary space.”

But the local media have been most accommodating, and Masher thanks The Hartford Courant. “We’ve had some great press coverage in support of the move and our initiatives. They’ve always been good to us covering art-house films with reviews and the like.” A case in point is Courant reporter Jenna Carlesso, who was there for the very first shows. “Shortly before noon Friday,” she wrote, “Cinema City at the Palace began to fill with customers, several of whom referred to themselves as ‘regulars’ of the old Cinema City. Alvin Taylor of Bloomfield said he liked the new surroundings…[and] Terri Page was excited about the enhanced amenities.”

The very last word will go to Courant.com poster RickFromTexas: “I’m very glad to hear that Cinema City has found a new home, even if the new location isn’t right off the highway like the old one was. Saw a lot of really unique movies at the Brainard location, movies I couldn’t have seen anywhere else… My best friend and I used to reward ourselves with great coffee, excellent European candy, and great films there whenever we’d been working too hard and not having enough fun. Long live Cinema City!”