By: Barry Ernest
There are 25 of us here on this Wednesday: 16 women, five men, four youngsters. Blinds on all the north-facing windows are drawn tight. The only light in this room is from muted overhead fluorescents. The floors are hard linoleum, the walls a pale-yellow sheetrock, the ceiling suspended. A 115-inch diagonal screen has been manually lowered to reveal its vacant white face. It is five minutes before the 2 pm showtime.
“Been here before?” my neighbor leans over to ask.
“No. You?”
“Oh yes,” she says. “I’m a regular.”
A ‘regular’ she is, at the East Shore Cinema, found in the East Shore Area Library which is set up at this moment to be a theatre.
Snacks sit atop a nearby counter. We have individually wrapped modern candies, cold drinks, and plenty of the staple movie-time munchies: popcorn.
“Help yourself,” we’ve been informed.
All of us are sitting in anticipation of the movie of the month, a regular feature in a fun-filled atmosphere at this public library. Yet this venue is unlike any Regal or AMC. Here the admission is free. So too are the nibblies. You can’t beat that price.
As my neighbor begins to utter another word, the crowd is hushed by library staffers Jenna Cholowinski and Page Kanagy. The overheads go dark as we watch Sam Spade (aka Humphrey Bogart) flash onto that once blank screen in front of us. It’s a vintage black and white 1940s film noir, The Maltese Falcon.
“As a grade schooler, I attended movies at my library with friends and family and I loved it,” admits Todd Goclowski, co-manager at East Shore Area Library and a devoted movie buff himself. The African Queen and The Diary of Anne Frank are two films he finds most memorable. “I want to share that experience. Also, internet and streaming services are expensive, and I feel like our offering at least gives folks a way to get to a movie affordably.”
There’s a different movie each month at the East Shore Cinema. Their times and days vary as do the titles, ranging from classic to horror, romance to seasonal, something for every age group.
On screen, Sam Spade is at gun point. “If you kill me, how are you going to get the bird,” he reasons, the “bird” being the heavily-sought-after statuette of the film’s title. The scene erupts into noisy fisticuffs. My neighbor jumps, then laughs at her reaction. Someone shooshes her.
“There are several very different audiences that we aim to serve and our attempts with some groups may mean less numbers,” Todd explains. “I consider it a good crowd if we hit 12 or more, but I like the idea of being here for folks, even if it were only a handful.”
Showing feature films on a regular basis was a personal goal set by Todd this year. He recruited staff members Deanna Bowers and Page Kanagy to hash out the idea. “We agreed that monthly was a good rhythm and that presenting it consistently would be our best chance to build an audience,” he said.
Movies are not picked at random. Nor are they selected by staff or based on audience votes.
“Any movie we show has to be part of the list of licensed movies with the company we pay or contract with,” Todd said. “Unfortunately, we can’t show anything we want.”
“East Shore Area is not the only branch to show movies,” Todd pointed out, “but it is the only branch that regularly shows them. And I believe they used to show them only occasionally here, but not as a program like we do now.” A lack of available space seems to be a factor why movies are not routine at the other locations.
Upcoming movies are listed in advance at the library, on DCLS.org, and on its social medias. Registration is strongly recommended.
Coming attractions at the East Shore Cinema include “The Sandlot,” rated PG, a comedy about kids growing up in the ‘60s, playing backyard baseball, and dealing with a ferocious English Mastiff. That’s scheduled for Sunday, July 20, at 3 pm. In August, it’s Margot Robbie as the popular Barbie, rated PG-13. It has a showtime of Saturday, August 23, at 3 pm.
Back on screen, our current movie is ending. Sam Spade has put two-and-two together. Asked to explain the meaning of the treasured falcon, he delivers the poignant and immortal line, “It’s, uh, the stuff that dreams are made of.”
Credits appear and the lights return. People stand and stretch. My neighbor claps. Is that a tear in her eye?
See you at the movies!