The Local is hosting an all-day concert in order to raise funds for the re-opening of the Revue Cinema, our own nonprofit, community run movie theatre. Musical guests include Odd Little Man, Jay Clark Reid, Chris Staig, Billy Heffernan, The Strip, Lara MacMillan, Derek Downham, Out Trip, Roman Tome, Greg Hobbs and more. From 2:00 pm to closing.

Tickets are $100.00 and are limited in number. Advance tickets are available at The Local, The Herbal Clinic & Dispensary, Dressers, Another Story Bookstore, The Dizzy Gastro Sports Pub, Planet Aid, and The Film Buff. All proceeds go to the Revue Cinema.

The following news release is from the Revue Film Society and is in support of their worthy fund raising efforts:

Realtor urges fellow agents to match his donation

Toronto, ON – July 9, 2007 – Realtor Matt Mysak has a challenge for fellow real estate agents in the High Park area: Match my donation. Mysak has contributed $2,000 to the campaign to save the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles Ave. “I consider it a landmark building in our area,” said Mysak, just before taking off on vacation. “All of the real estate agents who enjoy movies and love the area we live in, I think all of them should contribute. It’s always nice to give and not just to take.” Mysak has worked in the real estate business in Bloor West Village for 35 years. His firm, Matt Mysak Inc., employs six, including his son Joe.

The non-profit Revue Film Society, which will lease the cinema from new owners, must raise $60,000 in addition to funds donated last year to meet working capital demands, make necessary repairs and upgrade technology before opening. So far this summer, the society has raised $22,000. “We’re about a third of the way towards our objective,” says Rose Scheler, the society’s treasurer and one of the chief fundraisers. “Businesses have been wonderfully supportive. They see the Revue as unique and a valuable part of our community.”

Businesses making generous contributions to the Revue campaign include High Park Paints & Wallpaper; the coffee shop Alternative Grounds, which matched customer donations with a $1,000 cheque; video store The Film Buff; the blended restaurant Sue’s Thai Food/Vicki’s Fish n Chips; clothing shop Frock; English-as-a-second-language bookstore The ESL Shop; new ice cream store Bravo! Gelato; Whelan’s Gate Irish Pub; Sunrise Grill; Another Story Bookshop; The Herbal Clinic & Dispensary; Phila Optical; retro soda fountain and cafe Daddy O’s; clothing and gift store Dressers; Jitterbug Boy Footwear; Envoy Business Services; efficiency expert Pace Productivity Inc.; and Adelaide Testing Machines Inc.

John Anderson, owner of Morningstar, the clothing and furniture store on Roncesvalles, is pledging 10 per cent of furniture sales to the Revue campaign, while brother and sister team Melissa and Rupert Sexton, who own the Local Pub next to the Revue, are planning an August fundraiser.

The Revue Film Society expects to start leasing the cinema later this month. The transfer of ownership to the purchasers, local residents Danny and Letty Mullin, has been delayed for technical reasons.

The Society, meanwhile, has been preparing business and programming plans for the theatre. The goal is to have a cinema that will provide “an experience as diverse and dynamic as our community.”

The Revue Film Society thanks all of its donors and hard-working volunteers. Without them, the beloved Roncesvalles Ave. cinema would remain dark. To find out more about the Revue campaign, visit www.revuecinema.ca.

For more information, contact:

Rose Scheler, 416-533-6190,
rosescheler@yahoo.com

Ellen Moorhouse, 416-574-4483,
e_moorhouse@sympatico.ca

New owners Danny & Letty Mullin with jubilant members of the Revue Film Society (Hi, Roy & Susan!).
—Photo by Boris Spremo. From The Revue Cinema web site.

Yesterday, on June 12, 2006, the Revue Film Society (RFS) held a media event announcing the signing of a lease for the newly (and locally) purchased Revue Cinema. Yes, the Revue Cinema will soon be up and running and once again showing movies for our North Ronces neighbourhood (and the rest of Toronto). The new Revue Cinema web site states that August is the target date for opening its doors once again.

With the revival of the theatre as a movie house, the RFS is also once again in fund-raising mode as they need to raise around $60,000 for essential start-up costs. While the RFS will now hire industry professionals to run the Revue as a non-profit corporation and fully expects the business to sustain itself, there is a still a lot of work to do before it is up and running. One project, dear to NorthRonces.com, is the rebuilding of the Revue marquee which collapsed this past winter.

Today, there are a number of news reports about yesterday’s announcement and most of them focus on the feel good story of the local couple, Danny and Letty Mullin, who purchased The Revue for $975,000 (negotiated down from the $1.275 million asking price) and are, in turn, leasing it to the RFS. The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail offer similar accounts of Mr. Mullin’s working class, rags-to-riches, community philanthropism.

Three cheers from NorthRonces.com for everyone involved, especially the community-minded new owners and our friends with The Revue Film society.

NorthRonces.com thought it appropriate to promote this letter from comment to full fledge post, as it expresses the most concrete hope for the Revue continuing as neighbourhood theatre as we have heard for a long time. This optimism, a result of the persistent work of the Revue Film Society, is especially welcome after the loss of the theatre’s marquee last week.

Yes it was a shock to lose the Revue Cinema marquee. Such nostalgia. But I’m just letting you know not to worry as we are well on ourway to re-activating the beautiful Revue Cinema. We *will* be seeing films there again! Please keep in touch through:

http://revuefilmsociety.org 

Daria Stermac
founding member of the Revue Film Society

While NorthRonces.com rushed out with digital camera in hand, due to technical difficulties the photos are still inside the camera. Luckily the Torontoist has linked to a number of shots of the poor old thing just before she was cut up and scooped into a bin.

[NB: By "cut up" I refer to the fact that the owners had the large "R" from the centre of the marquee, as well as the two neon "Revue" signs from either side, cut out of the wreckage and set aside for possible future restoration. Hopefully, these pieces will serve in the reconstruction of the marquee as a whole.]

Breaking (Sad) News! The historic marquee of the Revue Theatre crashed to the ground sometime late Sunday night/early Monday morning. At first glance, it appears that snow build up and water retention was too much for the old structure to handle. The marquee was well-known for collecting rain water and releasing it at a slow drip on the heads of unwary passerbys.

The process of finding buyers or leasors who were willing to operate the theatre as a neighbourhood cinema has been a long process. As far as NorthRonces.com is aware, the building is still owned by the McQuillan’s and still sought after by the community supported Revue Film Society. What implications this catastrophe has for the fate of the historically protected building is presently unknown. The big question that needs to be answered is will the marquee be replaced (and, I guess, who is responsible)? Stay tuned…

It has been a while since we have heard—or seen—any official updates concerning the fate of the Revue Theatre. Neither the owners of the building, who wish to divest themselves of the property, nor the Revue Film Society (RFS), the community group who has been pursuing the rental or purchase of the Revue in order to maintain it as a working neighbourhood cinema, have felt the need to the let the general public know what is going on.

Unofficial word is that the theatre had been conditionally sold to a private party, who in turn, had begun new negotiations with the RFS. Just recently, however, it is believed those conditions have not been met and that the Revue has reverted back to the original owners, the McQuillans. Where this leaves the future of the theatre is, once again, unknown although gossip about an LCBO Liquor Store will not go away.

NorthRonces.com is sure that million dollar real estate transactions that involve heritage buildings, private owners with at least a small sense of community obligation, and a neophyte nonprofit organization driven only by a love of local cinema, are difficult to resolve simply and, obviously, quickly. NorthRonces.com is also aware that none of the parties involved has any responsibility to inform the public of why a treasured landmark has sat sadly quiet going on five months. However, an empty Revue Theatre offers little to the street and business life of this end of Roncesvalles Avenue, so it would be nice to have some communication, from someone, about what the future may hold.