Page Sixty-Nine - Alphie's Night Out: A Tale of Two Tickets

 

Here's a fun little story.

Sometime in the 1970’s, Alphie drove two people to see a movie at the Von Lee theater in downtown Bloomington Indiana, and you’re wondering how I know.

During Alphie’s tear-down (six years ago!), I found two halves of two cinema tickets in his console, and because I throw anything away, I kept them.  Yesterday, I found them again and got curious...

Laying the right half of ticket number 00427 over the left half of ticket number 00428 (hence I brilliantly deduced that Alphie had two people on board), gave me the name of the theater chain, “Kerasotes Theatres” (French spelling no less), which I sent out into the internet ether.  Wikipedia tells me that Kerasotes had “957 screens in 95 locations in California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, and Wisconsin at one point.” 

Two tickets overlaid to make one, impressive detective work, no?

Under the chain’s name, it says “Von Lee #2, Bloomington In.”  Back the interweb, three of the 957 screens were at the Von Lee where Alphie ferried his crew to a movie on screen #2 sometime in the 70’s.  OK, the “sometime in the 70’s” is a guess based on the $1.50 admission, which also fits the time when Alphie still prowled the streets. (And Kerasotes didn't own the Von Lee until 1976.) Someone laid out $3 for the entertainment that night, afternoon?

Alphie had a 1979 Illinois license plate somewhere in the boot or a box, but since Illinois didn’t attach any meaning (still doesn’t I think) to the letters and numbers on their plates other than to identify the vehicle and its owner, I can’t tell where in Illinois he was registered.  Illinois shares a border with Indiana, so it’s plausible that Alphie crossed state lines to take in a flick.  Anyhoo...

Back to the web for some information on the Von Lee theater:

Von Lee Cinema
517 E. Kirkwood Avenue,
Bloomington, IN 47401

The Von Lee in the 70's, judging by the cars

Here's what the web had to say:  “Built in 1928 as the Ritz Theatre by local investors, it was renamed Von Lee Theatre and reopened in 1948 by the Vonderschmitt Theatres chain.

A spacious single-screen cinema now converted into three smaller auditoriums, the theater rests on the border between historic downtown Bloomington and the Indiana University campus.

Purchased in 1976 by Kerasotes Theaters, operations were suspended on May 28, 2000 as the company built two multiplexes in the city, making the historic cinema expendable to their operations.

Now owned by the City of Bloomington, the Von Lee Cinema has been the center of various community efforts to reopen or otherwise "Save The Von Lee", and it has also since been designated a historic site.

However, it has remained dark and the auditorium has been demolished. Offices have been built on the site, while the front section of the theatre serves as a restaurant.”

Per Wikipedia, “After Kerasotes the theater, it faced the wrecking ball. There was a quick response from City Council member Chris Sturbaum to save the history of the Von Lee building.  He lobbied the community to save it and developed a plan to do so.  For many weeks after the first notification of demolition, Sturbaum set up a display about the history of the Von Lee and its significance to Bloomington. He even began to show movies in front of the closed building. Eventually the plan worked and the Von Lee was kept intact.”

The Von Lee preserved with the new offices

All this from two old ticket stubs someone tossed in the console 40ish years ago, you just never know.  That's why I never throw anything away!