'Maltese Falcon' Sunday at the Fox

As president of Friends of the Pomona Fox I'd like to publicly thank Bruce Guter at the Pomona Library who sent us an ad from the Progress Bulletin from November 24, 1941 showing that The Maltese Falcon originally played at the Fox on that date.

We hope everyone will come and enjoy this film on its 70th Anniversary.

[Ooh, that's a nice bit of info. Love the historical connection. -- DA]

Is there going to be a 5 question test here afterwards? Winner gets lunch at Flo's No. 2 ? :D

[Nice try, but no. -- DA]

I'm going. It will be my first time going the Fox Theater since I was a kid. The last movie I saw there was Lady and the Tramp back in the 1960's!

[You're overdue for a visit, Ms. Lois. -- DA]

No 5 questions Ted, but there will be door prizes. A heck of a lot for your $5. And popcorn and candy is WAY cheaper than at the local multiplex (of course in Pomona we don't have a local multiplex unless we go to La Verne, Claremont, Chino Hills, Ontario, etc.).

[Pomona doesn't even have a uniplex. -- DA]

You think that is sad, David! Montclair used to be the leader, in movie-theater fare, for this area--We had 18 screens, counting both indoor complexes and drive-ins. Now we are down to the Mission Tiki Drivein Theater. Booo!

The Fox Theater, was the main attraction, when I first lived in Pomona. The last two movies I can remember seeing there, with our children, were, "Mary Poppins", and "Tora, Tora, Tora".

[It's surprising that Montclair Plaza never developed a modern multiplex to replace the three (or was it six?) screens it used to have. -- DA]

If the Friends stick with Humphrey Bogart, for their next anniversary, may I suggest, "To Have and Have Not". My parents took me to town, to see that movie, for my birthday, in 1944, and we couldn't understand a word, because it was all in Spanish. Finally, about a half-hour into the showing, the usher came in and apologized--they had accidently, rented the spanish-language, version.

Wyoming was the sticks, and there was no other copy of the movie, and it was 23 miles to the next town with a theater. I think the making of, "To Have and Have Not", was when Bogart and Bacall met, and subsequently married. I still have not seen it.

[You should, Shirley. And you're right about their meeting. -- DA]

I think it was the economy that brought down all those plans. There were eight screens at the Plaza (the first two screens were eventually expanded to three); five at the adjacent, supplement complex (now occupied by Bally's); five at the United Artists Complex on Central, at San Bernardino; three at the Montclair theater on Holt, after it was expanded from one; and the two driveins.

(In the future, people will tell their grandchildren that, in the old days, they actually left the house, and went to town, to see a movie, where there were other people around.)

I viewed the "Ides of March" at the Mountain 14, a couple weeks ago, and there was an audience of five. I remember lines that were around the block, twenty years ago, at the Montclair Cinema, when "Driving Miss Daisy" opened, and at the United Artists Complex, when "Dances with Wolves" was shown.

I also surmise that the high cost of taking a family, let alone oneself, to the movies, is now as expensive as it used to be to attend live theater in LA.)