Internationally renowned film-restoration wizard Robert A. Harris, who has worked his magic on Lawrence of Arabia, Rear Window, The Godfather and others, on Wednesday called the Senator "a beacon of professionalism, showmanship and the love of cinema."
He wrote, in an e-mail, "The loss of the Senator would bring us one huge step closer to a place where people are viewing Lawrence of Arabia on their iPhones. We can only hope that those who control Baltimore's political arena understand the immense loss to the community if the Senator was forced to close it doors, and that they make every effort to move heaven and earth to keep it from occurring. "
No feature shown at the Senator ever degenerated into a visual smear just a little sprightlier than the TV commercials, quiz cards and concession ads that would precede the same movie at a chain theater. When the curtains parted at the Senator you knew you were going to see a movie the right way, with the projection bright and sharp and the sound clean.
Jim Healy, assistant curator of motion pictures at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y., contends that throughout film history, single-screen presentation has fueled the creativity and resourcefulness of exhibitors.
He pointed out Wednesday that Rochester is home to three operating single-screen theaters: "They offer a link to the not-so-distant past when moviegoers went to single-screen theaters and saw whatever was being offered. This meant that theater programmers had to work harder to please their audiences," which spurred them to program movies of a higher quality - in the process developing "very intelligent and discerning" audiences.
Can a city with the college base and cultural energy of Baltimore fail to support one single-screen theater when Rochester has three?
If the lights go out at the Senator, or if the theater is run without the zest and class that have become its hallmarks, there won't be another spot in the area to offer the heightened excitement that once defined what it meant to go to the movies.
The Senator has been a jewel in a tarnished metropolis. Let's hope that canny cultural entrepreneurs step up and make its preservation - and resurgence - a secular crusade.
