Most Wednesday nights at the Elsinore Theatre down town, they show old movies. It’s a beautiful old place.
View of mural on back:
View of interior:
My favorite place to sit is in the mezzanine. This is not to be confused with the balcony above it. We sat in the mezzanine last night with a good crowd for a viewing of The African Queen on the big square screen, just as originally intended.
I was recently given a DVD of The African Queen and I watch it often on my lap. Seeing it on the big screen with a congenial audience is a totally different experience. There was lots of laughing and clapping. There was both when Miss Rose Sayer, after navigating the rapids says to Mr. Alnutt, “I never knew that a mere physical experience could be so exhilarating.” And at the end, there was an enthusiastic round of applause.
Neither Susan, Valerie or Bruce had seen it before. It came out in 1951 and I went with my mother and my aunt to see it. I was eight then. I liked seeing all the animals. About forty years later, I saw it on video and laughed my head off when I remembered that at the age of eight, I had been mystified why, after disliking each other so much, Rosie and Charlie woke up one morning and suddenly seemed to be great friends. Film directors used to leave so much to the imagination in those days. Lots of fading to black or panning to the sky. I even remember that I couldn’t figure out why they wanted to get married before being hanged.
Nowadays, when kayaking un-scouted areas and finding that our passage requires a little portaging or hacking through some reeds, I like to say, “It’s the Ulanga.” I like to paddle with people who get that.
