Playhouse
Operators of Princess Cinemas purchase 105-year-old Playhouse Theatre
Waterloo cinephiles buy Hamilton theatre
HAMILTON — The screen of an old movie house on Sherman Avenue North in Hamilton will flicker back to life at the direction of a pair of longtime independent cinephiles from Waterloo.
John and Wendy Tutt, the operators of Princess Cinemas in Waterloo, have just closed a deal to buy the Playhouse Theatre near Barton Street East.
The cinema, which is believed to have opened its doors in 1913 with silent films and vaudeville, will be the oldest movie house in Hamilton once it starts showing films again by midsummer.
“The fact is it’s a real architectural gem. We feel really honoured and excited to be able to preserve and restore this beautiful building,” Wendy Tutt said.
The Tutts bought 177 Sherman Ave. N. from City Kidz charity for $630,000 after their friend Terry Odette, a Hamilton-based filmmaker, sent them the listing in September.
Odette will have an ongoing role in the operation of the Playhouse with Jacob Tutt, John and Wendy’s son.
Odette, whose movies include “Fall” and “Heater,” said the Tutts are the right players to reopen the movie house. “These are the people who have kept independent cinema alive in Canada ... They’re the perfect people to take this on.”
Princess Cinemas in Waterloo has shown independent films since 1985, offering first-run movies that otherwise wouldn’t make it to town.
Right now, for instance, the German thriller, “In the Fade,” which won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress at Cannes, is showing at the Original Princess. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” parts of which were filmed in Hamilton, opened up at the newer Princess Twin well before it hit the mainstream theatres here.
“What we do there is what we want to do there,” John Tutt said.
The plan is to show independent films seven days a week with matinees, evening and late-night showings. Tickets for Princess members in Waterloo are $8 and $12 for nonmembers.
Wendy Tutt said she was impressed with the Cotton Factory, a large repurposed former industrial site with artist studios, workshops and other entrepreneurs, up the street.
The Playhouse will be a welcome addition to the area, says Rachel Braithwaite, executive director of the Barton Village BIA. “It’s a very big tourist attraction ... I really see it filling that gap.”
When the Playhouse reopens in midsummer, it won’t be the only old movie house in town. A charitable group has been busy working on the 1930s-era Westdale theatre on the far west side of the city near McMaster.
Odette, who is from Kitchener, believes Hamilton has a movie house deficit. “There’s room for lots more cinema in this city.”
Locals drive to Waterloo, Guelph and Oakville to catch films that don’t make to Hamilton’s multiplexes, he says.
For a time, the Playhouse’s staple was pornography. But it also holds an important place in the history of organized labour in Canada. In 1946, Stelco workers voted to walk off the job there, igniting a strike that saw employees push for better wages, a 40hour work week and union contributions. The Playhouse has a tired look from outside, with its vintage sign hanging over the sidewalk. Inside, it opens up with a splendrous high ceiling ribbed with floral plaster motifs. Originally, there were about 600 seats and a wooden floor. A concrete floor and cast-iron seats were put in during a 1950s renovation.
The Tutts plan to starting pulling out the small, uncomfortable seats in March (there will be a seat giveaway for nostalgic fans) and replace them with about 300 larger, comfier ones.
A new screen will be built across a reduced stage and a new projector will be installed in the upstairs booth. New sound systems will mount the side walls and back.
Wendy Tutt says the Playhouse is of a disappearing vintage. “There’s maybe a handful in Canada that are this old, but ones with this kind of detail, the plaster work intact, it’s so rare.”