Remembering the good old days

Some people remember when an evening at the movies cost only 25

cents. For those who do, but also for those who don’t, the Alex Film

Society kicks off its 12th season by resurrecting a popular era of

entertainment with its “Vaudeville Extravaganza” at 8 p.m. Saturday.

“Because the Alex Theatre was built as a vaudeville movie palace

in 1925, we thought it would be good to go back to its roots,” said

Brian Ellis, media spokesman for the society.

This is the sixth year the society will begin its season with a

vaudeville show. Vaudeville was a widely popular form of theater

entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that featured

an eclectic mix of stage acts like comedy, singing and dancing among

others.

Saturday’s event will feature timely music, tap dancing, lasso

tricks, juggling, acrobatics and magic. After the stage show, the

society will screen a short cartoon and newsreel, as was common in

those days, before showing the 1935 movie “Tit for Tat,” starring

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

“This is how people entertained themselves,” Ellis said. “You

could take your family and your kids for 25 cents and have an evening

of entertainment.”

The vaudeville evening is one of the society’s most anticipated

events, often selling about 1,000 of the theater’s 1,400 seats, Ellis

said.

“It’s a real opportunity to see [films] that aren’t screened

anywhere else,” he said.

But it’s also a chance to see unusual, live performing acts.

Svetlana Ivtchenko, 32, and Gennadiy Fedunov, 34, are a husband

and wife juggling-acrobatic team who will perform at “Vaudeville

Extravaganza.” They traveled with the Moscow Circus before coming to

the United States in 2002.

One of their most daring routines involves Fedunov holding

Ivtchenko in the air while she jumps rope on his palms and bounces a

ball on her head at the same time.

“People just clap and whistle and sometimes it looks like there’s

no reaction,” Ivtchenko said. “People are very impressed and they

don’t show any reaction because they’re very surprised.”

One of the features that distinguishes vaudeville from other stage

shows is the unique variety of its acts, said Chuck Burnes, owner of

Periwinkle Entertainment Productions, who helped book the vaudeville

line up.

“Every act has to be completely different from the other,” said

Burnes, who firmly believes vaudeville could make a comeback because

it’s so much fun.

He said the Alex Film Society’s presentation is the true

“old-style” and if someone has never seen a vaudeville show,

“Vaudeville Extravaganza” is a good opportunity to relive history for

the first time.

That’s a theme of the Alex Film Society, said Ellis.

“Our mission is to showcase films like they were meant to be seen,

as opposed to a DVD in a living room,” Ellis said.

Being able to see a film on 35 mm as it was originally screened

along with a vaudeville show are a big draws to area residents who

share an appreciation of nostalgia and the Alex Theatre is a perfect

venue because it too was renovated in its historic style, Ellis said.

“It’s not just a picture,” Ellis said of the Saturday night movie.

“It’s an event.”

FYI

WHAT: Alex Film Society presents “Vaudeville Extravaganza”

WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday

WHERE: The Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd.

COST: $12.50 to $19.50

CONTACT: (818) 243-2539