May 23, 2003|By Chris Kaltenbach | Chris Kaltenbach,SUN MOVIE CRITIC
Senator owner Tom Kiefaber's passion for historic movie houses has earned him another round of national kudos, with the National Trust for Historic Preservation giving him its 2003 "Business Leadership" award.
Kiefaber, whose grandfather Frank Durkee once owned a chain of some 40 Baltimore-area movie houses, has spent more than a decade fighting to keep the 64-year-old Senator - the last of those theaters still under family ownership - open. That hasn't always been easy, given the frequent cash-flow problems inherent in running a single-screen theater in this age of the megaplex. And Kiefaber's struggle has been exacerbated by film-booking practices that tend to freeze out the independent theater owner and Baltimoreans' apparent preference for suburban movie houses. (The Senator is one of only three mainstream theaters operating in the city.)
But he has persevered, turning the Senator into a local and national jewel. One rating of American movie theaters ranked it as one of the best places in the United States to see a movie, second only to Hollywood's El Capitan.
His efforts have also jibed nicely with the National Trust's focus on preserving America's historic places. He has worked closely with the group's leadership, and when the nation's historic movie houses were included on its 2001 list of most-endangered sites, the Senator was used as a prime example of what the trust says is so worth preserving.
"Tom has been one of the loudest voices," trust officials said in a statement announcing the award, "speaking against the anti-competitive factors that are causing the beloved main street movie houses across the nation to be converted for other less desirable uses, or torn down completely."
Marx classic at Charles
A Day at the Races, the Marx Brothers' second film for MGM and the last of their classic comedies - there would be moments of genius in their later movies, but nothing as sustained as this - will be tomorrow's offering at the Charles' Saturday Revival Series.
Released in 1937, Races stars Groucho as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a horse doctor summoned from Florida by the imperious Mrs. Upjohn (Margaret Dumont, whose constant torment at the hands of the Marxes should make her a candidate for sainthood) to save a run-down sanitarium from foreclosure. The rich Mrs. Upjohn, you see, is a hypochondriac of the first order, and Dr. Hackenbush - an M.D. of unparalleled skill, to her mind - is the only doctor who will agree that her continuing survival is nothing short of a medical miracle.
Of course, Hackenbush doesn't know the first thing about treating humans, much less running a sanitarium. But maybe things can still work out, provided a horse named High Hat can win the big race and the winnings can be used to pay off the creditors.
In addition to Groucho as an M.D. (the kind who would send Hippocrates spinning in his grave), Races features Harpo as a jockey and Chico as a racetrack tout who also works for the sanitarium, plus Maureen O'Sullivan and Allan Jones as the young lovers who benefit from the Marxes largesse. Among the classic scenes are Groucho examining Mrs. Upjohn in the presence of a real doctor, Groucho and Chico trying to decide which horse to bet on and the climactic horse race, as Groucho and Chico do everything they can to give Harpo and High Hat the upper hand.
The sharp-eyed among you may want to watch for Dorothy Dandridge, later Oscar-nominated for Carmen Jones, as one of the singers during a racially outdated (and, to modern eyes, offensive) musical number.
Show time is noon tomorrow at the Charles. Admission is $5.
