et tu, balboa theatre?

Clearing space in my old school (ie circa 2008) phone, I uploaded to here (via my email server) this photo of Gary Meyer, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in August. I guess I am skirting copyright issues by drawing the circle around it and calling it fair use. I ended up in a very useful, inspiring and appreciated text-to-email conversation with Meyer, about the Varsity Theatre. He has an interesting view in that we was the founder of Landmark Theatres, and had a previous round of trying to save the Varsity back in the 1980s (for example, he advocated splitting the screen to keep it going but as a duplex; I advocate restoring it to some kind of flexible concerts, film programming mix, but keeping the options flexible for seating of up to 900 for assembly, and certainly not subdividing into upstairs/downstairs/retail and office; its a class A historic building, the rarest kind).

People continue to offer their ideas and support to my initiative to affect 456 University, which I call “The Last Picture Waltz 456”. For further example, my old neighbor back in PAUSD-district, west of 280, Los Altos Hills — where I lived for 25 of my 47 years — Pete Foley said Saturday that he had retrieved for me from his archive or attic the last program guide of the old Varsity. Again, my Horton Hears a Who theory of activism tells me that the more people who add their utterances to the cause, maybe eventually we will get heard.

Serendip, by the way, for people who read the headline to this post is the historic name of  Sri Lanka, and the source of the word “serendipity” meaning something good you find that you were not actually looking for, or a “happy accident”. (But not the accident in “It’s A Wonderful Life” wherein George Bailey in a drunken rage slams into a tree, not unlike the beleaguered “George” tree (huh?) at 900 Cowper; my only problem with IAWL is that the device of the angel is deus ex machina; I also liked the line “Down here money comes in very useful, bub” which I want to capture and mount for my friend Brian “Bub” Evans who teaches economics at Foothill; I digress).

Thanks, Gary, for your input to the problems of three or three thousand little people down here, which so far do not amount to a hill of beans.

Another quibble seeing IAWL again is that in the bizarro-other-world sequence, the Potterville sequence, jazz is depicted somewhat disparagingly, as it is in “D.O.A”. But I also liked the line somewhere in the film where Bailey (Jimmy Stewart for those just tuning in) calls Potter (the one-percent banker) part of a group of “small, scurvy worms”. (I wrote the accident phrase down on a flyer handed to me by Occupy activists, urging us to “move our money”, to smaller banks; I can update later).  “In the whole vast configuration of things I’d say you’re nothing but a scurvy little spider” search reveals.

Meanwhile Terry’s Thomas Aquinas coffee klatch believes that Jimmy Stewart was a General stationed at Moffett Field, who frequented JC Penny’s on Uni Ave; I will suss that and report. (edit to add, three minutes later: yep, amazingly, to me, he was a Bigadier General and then promoted by Ronald Reagan to General; that deserves even here a fuller telling, plus will send me to peep my David Thomson). Or see wiki.

edit to add: the Balboa seems to be rocking on in the free world; not sure what the change  is: http://www.balboamovies.com/ Gary sent me background on the site here, contacts with theatre preservation orgs in the Bay Area and general well-wishes, plus his name was given to city staff who were to report on the viability of renewing The Varsity Theatre.

Serendip is an ancient name for what is now modern day Sri Lanka, an island nation of 20 million people, and let me guess 5 million diasporics, including singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman. Here is wiki on the legend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Princes_of_Serendip

Oh there is more to the world than your philosophy, Horacio. (I will leave my fairly weak mis-quoting but add that it is from Hamet Act I scene V; reminds me that I was trying to explain “what’s the frequency, kenneth” at Chanukah dinner to my bro the engineer; that’s nine oblique or direct literary or art references here, plus a real tree and several actual places and people):

Gary Meyer (the article was July 21, 2011, by Peter Hartlaub with this photo by Chris Hardy)

Brian Evans

Bhi Bhiman

Jimmy Stewart

Terry Acebo Davis

It’s A Wonderful Life

Casablanca (“hill of beans” reference)

The Three Princes of Serendip

Hamlet

Julius Caesar (the “et tu” in the cutline)

The Last Picture Show

The Last Waltz

D.O.A.

Horton Hears a Who

Let’s see what 456 University looks like in 2012 as far as being worthy of anybody’s “A” game.