ENJOY A GREAT MEAL AND HELP THE PRINCESS!

On Feb. 4th and again on March 3rd (2012), just present this flyer to your waitress and Ruby Tuesday (in Harriman) will donate 20% of the cost of your meal to the Princess Theatre Foundation! Just print the following flyer and give it to your waitress...that's all there is to it!

 

Ruby Tuesday supports local non-profit organizations through it's "Community GiveBack Program".  It's a great way to help the Princess raise money to buy things that couldn't be added to the restoration budget.   

PLEASE SUPPORT THE PRINCESS PROJECT!

THANK YOU RUBY TUESDAY!

FINISHING TOUCHES BEING MADE

I hadn't visited the Channel 15 studio in some time, so today, being a beautiful day, I stopped by to see what Matt was up to.  The whole studio floor had been replaced with new shiny tile!  The place really looked clean and spotless.

Matt has rearranged the place too!  There is a large conference table near the front door where he and his students gather for class.  The workstations are against the wall on both sides of the studio, and he tells me new chairs are coming any day.

Matt promised to send us photos of the new furnishings, plus of the new "set screen" that has been built, and will be painted.  This addition will give the students something to hang articles on for their in-house productions. 

The place seems so open now, and I remembered Muse and Gary saying that one day people will be able to walk down the street, look in, and see the studio in operation.  You can do that today!  There are around 20 students taking classes there now, and more to come.

You may also see these same students while out driving around area.  They go out and shoot raw "footage" and then come back to the studio to do their editing.  Matt also promised to send us some photos of the students on location, and he says he's already posting some on the Channel 15 Facebook page.  Check it out!

I updated this post to include a couple of shots Matt posted on Facebook, showing part of his class during a recent shoot.  Looks like lots of fun!

This is the most important part of the dream folks...our children having a place to learn the arts!  Do all you can to encourage and support them!

Up at the Princess, I found James and Adam working hard to finish up the marquee.  James told me that there will be yellow neon on the red badge; front and center of the marquee.  This should add another be splash of color for us to enjoy!

She's looking good folks...everything is painted and cleaned up inside.  I think all that remains is getting the new curtain and sound system up!  It's just another milestone that I've (we all have) been waiting anxiously on since the beginning.

Oh yeah, one last thing.  I found out today...the raggedy old awning hanging out in front of the Channel 15 studio will also be replaced soon.  That had been bothering me for some time!

We're getting very close to the opening folks!

HOW DO THEATRES GET THEIR NAMES?

Ever wonder how the Princess became known as the Princess Theatre?  That will be the subject of a WBIR "Why Do They Call It That?" historical segment on this Friday's "Live At 5 At 4" program.  Be sure to watch!

It just happens that I too had been wondering that very thing.  I found that there are over 5100 girls across the United States with the first name of Princess!  There are lots of names used that translate literally and loosely as "Princess".  Names like:

ADELA
AIDA

ALMIRA
CASSANDRA
DIANA

IMOGEN

LEIA
MILDRED
MIRA

RHIANNON
SABRINA

SARAH
TALULLA

URSULA

and even SURI (CRUISE)

The name Princess was considered the 901st most popular name out of the top 1,000 names for girls in 2010.

Even back in the 1800s (and probably further back), theater owners looked for names that would purvey a sense of wonder and grandeur.  Because Queen Victoria, and even later her fourth daughter, Princess Louise, was so popular worldwide, places where the royals lived were perceived as the grandest places one could possibly live or visit.  Therefore, owners tried to put this royal idea into the names of their theaters.  People coming to visit them had a preconceived notion that they were about to enter a grand place and expected them to live up to their names.

Princess, Prince, King, Queen, Palace, Royal, Regal, etc. all became popular names of theaters.  Even today there are theaters across Canada carry the name "Princess of Wales" for Diana.

Theaters are usually clad in gold, royal reds, greens, and blues, with beautiful artwork and ornate fixtures.  It's all about the feel of a beautiful palace where only a king, prince, queen, or princess could live.  It makes us feel royal and special just to be there...eating popcorn!
 

If you search for Princess on Cinema Treasures, you find there are 196 theaters and 1 in England called the Princess.  If you search on Cinematour, you'll find 337!  It was, and is, a very popular name for movie houses.

So, our Princess is not unique in name, but she is unique to us.  It is perhaps our fondest childhood memory...the very first time we were given a taste of independence and freedom.  For a couple of hours we were our own boss and could make our own decisions, and, in the meantime, we could have a few happy moments escaping into the story playing out on the screen.

Those moments, and later learning how to socialize with the opposite sex, is what makes our Princess unique.  To us, there is no other Princess Theatre!