Sunday, January 06, 2013

TheTheater, The Theater, What's Happened To The Theater?

"Other than that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?" So goes the punch line that lives on without a joke. If it seems obscure to you, perhaps a few lines to connect the dots: Mrs. Lincoln would be Mary Todd Lincoln, whose husband was Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president. Mr. Lincoln met his untimely end while sitting in a private box at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. He was shot and killed by the assassin, John Wilkes Booth. It would be my guess that, since she was already a somewhat nervous person, Mrs. Lincoln probably declined any future trips to the theater. The notion that she would have an opinion on "Our American Cousin," the play the First Lady and her husband were watching when everything changed forever, is the ridiculous part. Get it?
If this explanation of the obvious seems completely unnecessary, you will forgive me, since it wouldn't seem wasted on the owners of the Century 16 movie theaters in Aurora, Colorado. Cinemark, Incorporated sent a letter to the parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the twelve people killed in the July shooting at that same theater back in July. They were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the theater reopens on January 17. Sandy Phillips, mother of one of the victims, said she would like the theater where her daughter was killed to be demolished, though she acknowledged that it was unrealistic to expect Cinemark to give up the rest of the building.
But on with the rest of the surrealistc: What feature do you suppose the friendly folks at Cinemark might have in store for the grieving friends and families? "Django Unchained?" "Jack Reacher?" Or perhaps "Zero Dark Thirty?"  In this case, I don't think "Bambi" would bring them out to the theater. How about renting a bulldozer instead?

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