Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

   Hollywood and Americana intersect once again in a metaphoric Hollywood-and-Vine moment in time. AMC Theaters has announced that it would show CNN’s election-night coverage in 50 theaters in the United States — designating a red and a blue theater in each of 25 cities. And, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain in Texas is planning for election-night events as well.

   AMC was hoping to attract civic groups to its theaters. Allowing customers to self-select into separate theaters for their preferred candidates should reduce the potential for conflict. The Alamo is relying on event hosts (in patriotic costumes) to set the tone for the evening. The hosts are also responsible for channel selection. If it’s a cliffhanger, AMC is leaving it to the theater managers to decide how late to go, citing interest not just in the presidential election, but in local elections as well.

    AMC is not charging, but is asking people to join its Stubs loyalty program to reserve a seat for election night. Alamo theaters would most likely charge a nominal fee to guarantee a reserved seat, and then give customers a voucher for food and drink. Wow, an evening of election returns with movie theater popcorn, Bon-Bons, and Junior Mints. The Texas chain also plans to offer campaign-themed drink specials: the Canadian Passport (Canadian whiskey, maple syrup, and bitters), and Political Punch (gin, Swedish punch, and lime juice), both $9.

   Gathering with a crowd to watch election-night returns is by no means a new pastime. In 1944, an estimated 250,000 people gathered in Times Square to wait for election results outside the New York Times building. Many Broadway shows have planned not to compete with the real drama that will play out this evening. The Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall will also be dark. Hamilton, about the Founding Fathers, will run a performance as normal.

   If watching returns is not your idea of fun, may I recommend classic cinema about fictional presidential campaigns, such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Best Man (1964), and The Candidate (1972)

   Remember to go vote and have a safe-and-sane evening on Election Night in America.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 at 12:30 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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