As the walls come down inside the former Starlite Theatre, longtime residents are looking back on the days when big-screen entertainment was just $1.50 a head.Long before the days of Garibaldi 5, kids, teens and adults turned to a barn-shaped building on Cleveland Avenue to catch a flick.The theatre closed in 1990 when moviegoers started to demand a more intimate cinema experience. But some residents such as Corinne Lonsdale still have fond memories of watching movies Starlite-style with just one screen in front of 250 seats.
"It was very primitive but it was a lot of fun," said Lonsdale, who noted the building was simply called the Star Theatre before the 1970s."I believe that it basically got good use by every age group in the community."
During the late 1950s, she was able to get behind-the-scenes knowledge of the theatre as an employee. Lonsdale sold tickets, worked the candy bar, ushered people to their seats and at the end of the night, swept up the litter left behind."When you worked there you did it all," she said. All, except sell popcorn. That staple treat was banned from the theatre.
"We didn't sell popcorn way back then because the operator said it was too messy to clean up after."She can still recall the buzz around town in 1959 when Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston came to town. Around the same time, mini-operettas gained popularity and theGilbert and Sullivan musical HMS Pinafore took to the screen.Working at the theatre had its downsides. Lonsdale said she would freeze in the small ticket booth where she had nothing more than a piece of wood to block a hole letting in the wrath of winter. "The wind used to blow right through it," she said.
Still, the $1 she walked away with at the end of each night was enough to buy the latest 45. Lonsdale said she would grab whatever record had hit number one that week.Those going to the Starlite would soon find their designated seating area. In a Historical Society high school reunion questionnaire, former resident Gerry Kristianson wrote, "The theatre had an informal but rigid segregation for particular groups. Young kids sat in the front five rows on the left hand side. "First Nations people sat in the rows immediately behind the kids. Older teenagers sat in the back four rows on the left hand side - the 'necking' rows. No one ever said this is where we had to sit, but I don't ever recall people not conforming to these 'rules.' "As a former usher, Lonsdale could confirm, saying moviegoers simply gravitated to their perceived sections.Wherever people sat, she said the important thing was keeping quiet, since movie volume wasn't nearly as loud as it is in current cinemas.
"You couldn't actually ever talk, sneeze or anything in that theatre or whoever was behind you couldn't hear what was going on." From the 1950s through to the 1970s the proprietor Sam Bonde let his wife keep cinema hubbub to a minimum, local resident Eric Andersen recalled in a recent letter to the Squamish Historical Society."I remember them both well. Mrs. Bonde kept order with all us kids at the Saturday and Sunday matinee film showings. No running around, yelling and screaming. She was strict!"This month, the old cinema, which was most recently home to the Howe Sound Business Centre is being torn down to make way for a residential and retail building.While tearing away at the old walls, Doug Horth came across a piece of wood that read "Jack Mahood November 1940".
Horth said he would like to find out more about the Mahoods to understand the theatre's background before it is gone for good.The drywall that once separated the candy bar and projection room is now littered along the floor of the building. The rest of the structure will come down when the snow melts.Anyone interested in salvaging the wood boards inside the building can contact Buzz at 898-5996.
