WHAT THE MOVIE PAGE USED TO LOOK LIKE (1961)

(click image to enlarge)

Here's a page from the Los Angeles Times movie page circa 1961 (I don't know whether or not they called it the "Calendar" section back then). The opening of The Innocents at the El Rey is notable (the El Rey still exists; it's now a live performance venue), and there are other interesting things to take in about this picture. But I love that ad for One Two Three, one of my favorite movies, and how it plays upon a rather melancholy image of Billy Wilder holding three balloons. It tells you absolutely nothing about One Two Three-- shouldn't at least one of them be emblazoned with the legend "Yankee Go Home!"? But seen simply as an unusual image, and as evidence of the emerging cult of the director as even recognized by the United Artists marketing whizzes, to say nothing of Andrew Sarris, it's kind of fascinating. Longtime Los Angeles residents will undoubtdly also have another sort of melancholy fun noting how many old theaters listed on this page, including drive-ins, are no longer in existence circa 2008 in this most movie-est of towns.