Highlights
If you want to feel the enormity of a film on a gigantic screen or be transported back to Hollywood's golden age, catch a movie at Baltimore's treasured Senator Theatre. The 900-seat, single-screen theater plays 1940s jazz tunes before screenings of first-run and classic movies. The 1939 art deco movie house is an architectural gem with a two-story lobby adorned with murals and black and white photographs. A "walk of fame" on 70 sidewalk blocks in front of the theater has celebrity signatures, including Charles Dutton and Barry Levinson, and logos from movies such as "Liberty Heights," "Hairspray" and "Gone With The Wind." It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Senator has be...
If you want to feel the enormity of a film on a gigantic screen or be transported back to Hollywood's golden age, catch a movie at Baltimore's treasured Senator Theatre. The 900-seat, single-screen theater plays 1940s jazz tunes before screenings of first-run and classic movies. The 1939 art deco movie house is an architectural gem with a two-story lobby adorned with murals and black and white photographs. A "walk of fame" on 70 sidewalk blocks in front of the theater has celebrity signatures, including Charles Dutton and Barry Levinson, and logos from movies such as "Liberty Heights," "Hairspray" and "Gone With The Wind." It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Senator has been the site of local and national film premieres such as "Seabiscuit," John Waters' "Hairspray," "Diner" and "Primal Fear." Despite the local history, the theater is struggling to survive amid competition from larger multiplexes, financial troubles and limitations on screenings. It has escaped foreclosure several times. In 2001, the theater was part of a History Channel documentary about the preservation of historic sites. Waters and Tom Clancy shared their memories of the movie house. It was cited by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a prime example of the endangered "historic theaters of America." Tom Kiefaber, whose family opened the Senator, owns the theater on York Road across from Belvedere Square. Kiefaber also owns the Rotunda Cinematheque, a movie theater on 40th Street.
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Film schedule
SEPTEMBER THROUGH SEPT. 30 A Glimpse of de Kooning, National THROUGH OCT. 2 Movies, Motion and Media: Altered Perspectives, A Film Series, Stevenson SEPT. 16-30 MICA Maryland Film Festival Film Series, MICA SEPT. 6 Afghanistan on Film, National SEPT. 6-...Tags: Hippodrome Theatre, Rivers, Halloween, Culture, Alfred Hitchcock
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Civil rights tour; film on big four of Baltimore
Unisun EditorWould you like to learn about the civil rights movement on a tour with people who experienced it firsthand? Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., is leading such a tour, on a bus that will travel down from Pennsylvania through North Carolina, Georgia,...Tags: Government, Hollywood (Los Angeles, California), Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Sheila Dixon
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Govans/Belvedere Square
Special to baltimoresun.comIf you're not quite a city-dweller, but you hate to be too far from a lively nightlife scene, Govans is the spot to be. Situated between the city line and some of Baltimore's oldest suburbs, the neighborhood has plenty of dining, entertainment and...Tags: Federal Hill, Guilford (Baltimore, Maryland), Fells Point, Govans, Belvedere Square
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Insiders' guide to Mid-Govans
Special to the sunFounded as a residential offshoot to the busy York Road business route, Mid-Govans offered its earliest residents the ease of being within walking distance of area merchants, shops and churches. Today's residents still find those features inviting. "I...Tags: Roland Park, Government, Govans, National Government, Belvedere Square
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'The Wire' opens final season on home turf
Sun reporterCast and crew from HBO's The Wire, augmented by a few hundred friends, fans and family members, took over the Senator Theatre yesterday afternoon to mark the opening of the show's fifth and final season. Which made yesterday both a celebration and a final...Tags: Government, Maryland Film Festival, Film Festivals, John Waters, Newspaper and Magazine
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Recording a Baltimore legacy
Sun PhotographerThe foreclosure crisis faced by the Senator Theatre last February sparked my idea to photograph former movie theaters in Baltimore. In between other assignments, starting last spring, I scouted various locations around the city. I was startled to discover...Tags: Drug Trafficking, Photography, Nikon Corp
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Made in Maryland
Absolute Power (1997)
Clint Eastwood stars as the sensitive thief who can save the entire American political system from complete corruption. Too bad he wasn't around during the Reagan administration. Eastwood discovers presidential corruption during...Tags: John Travolta, Melanie Griffith, Linda Hamilton, James Earl Jones, Owen Wilson
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It's a free press when you own it
From the pecan cabinetry to the flagstone patio, no detail about the Roland Park charmer featured in The Examiner's real estate section goes unnoticed, but for this: The guy trying to sell the place, Examiner Publisher Michael Phelps. Phelps has been...Tags: Roland Park, Diseases, Freedom of the Press, Government, Real Estate Sellers
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Kiefaber pauses to consider the future
Sun ReporterExhausted but exhilarated, the owner of The Senator Theatre said yesterday he would immediately begin working toward long-term solvency for the landmark Art Deco auditorium, which came within hours of being auctioned off in a foreclosure proceeding. "I'm...Tags: Government, Financial and Business Services, Auction Service, Mortgages, National Government
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Doctor stars as tort victim
Sun StaffTowson obstetrician Carol Ritter spent two decades delivering babies, earning a reputation as one of Baltimore's top woman doctors. Then she got sued three times in 10 months. Now Ritter is one of Maryland's most visible physician activists. Like...Tags: Medical Specialization, Film Festivals, People, John Waters, Infants
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NC-17 rating fails to vex Waters
Sun Movie CriticJohn Waters must be one of the few film directors who can shrug when their work is declared off-limits to a significant portion of the movie-going population. "If anyone can take it, I can," Waters says, not as boast, but fact. Titled A Dirty Shame, the...Tags: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Stanley Kubrick, Hollywood (Los Angeles, California), Maryland Film Festival, Film Festivals
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Sold on Waters
Sun Movie CriticJohn Waters wasn't the most anxious person at last night's premiere of his new movie, the NC-17-rated A Dirty Shame. His father was. "I'm waiting very nervously," John Waters Sr. said, as he waited in the lobby of The Senator Theatre for his son's movie...Tags: Roland Park, Selma Blair, Hollywood (Los Angeles, California), Tracey Ullman, John Waters
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