Before I really discovered the not-for-profit screening venues, and before VHS began to change things, for better or for worse, my intense film education happened at the Bloor Cinema, today called the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema.
It was the Madison when it opened in 1913. It became the Midtown in 1941, and somewhere along the lines it became the Eden. In 1979 it was renamed the Bloor and the the theatre, run by Famous Players at the time, shifted briefly from the mix of horror and soft-core porn that defined it for several years, with first fun films. By 1980 or maybe it was late 1979, Carm Bordonaro took over and began the formula of film classics, genre films and cult films: $1.99 admission or 99 cents with a membership. If I remember correctly, memberships were $5. At some point Carm left but returned in 1999. Prior to that, the Bloor became part of the Festival chain (was it a real chain? Or an alliance?) that included other theatres that played a big role in shaping my consciousness: the Fox, the Brighton, the Revue, The Kingway/Nostalgic, the Paradise, and the Royal. Discussions about films after at By the Way/Lick’n Chicken, Combo’s, Sneaky Day’s (on Bloor originally!), The Mug (and then J.J. Mugg’s), Greg’s, the schnitzel strip, Foodworks, Blueberry Bill, the GOOF and Griffith’s (after the Fox screenings), and so on.
Though I frequently went to the Bloor alone, Bloor-mates over the years, included Lisa (Shedden and Godfrey), Kim Dawson, Wendi Brklacich, Lori Brklacich, Sara Heinonen, Dave Keyes, Barry King, Craig Burgess, Stuart Ross, Lillian Necakov, Paul Della Penna, Mike Zryd, Kate MacKay, Robin Gibson… and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few.
Those were glorious years for me, and for many others of course. As I said, there were probably five solid years, from 1980 to 1985, where I practically lived at the Bloor. By the late 1980s, however the rise of VHS (and then all the technologies that followed) made going to the movies a less efficient way to consume vintage film fare. For myself, I eventually discovered the AGO, Harbourfront Centre, the Rivoli, the Funnel, the ROM, the Science Centre, the Euclid (briefly), the GAP/CineCycle, and of course, Innis Town Hall. By the time the Bloor’s significane had faded for me, I was programming the Innis Film Society, and eventually the Art Gallery of Ontario.
I saw films by these filmmakers at the Bloor. In most cases it was where I saw my first film by the director in question: Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen, Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Stan Brakhage (yes!), Kenneth Anger (yes!), Alan Pakula, David Cronenberg, Lindsay Anderson, Peter Greenaway, Stanley Kubrick, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Godfrey Reggio, John Huston, Milos Forman, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Tarkovsky, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ingmar Bergman, Loader/Rafferty/Rafferty, Ken Loach, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Michael Cimino, Bob Fosse, Terry Jones, Norman Jewison, Woody Allen, Sydney Pollack, Sidney Lumet, Luis Bunuel, Peter Bogdanovich, Jim McBride, Mike Nichols, Gillian Anderson, Paul Cox, Alex Cox
My own film, Brakhage showed at the Bloor in 1999, around the time Carm came to run it.
