Last movie at Baltimore’s Senator Theatre under longtime owner Kiefaber
Above: “May the Force be with us all.” Moments before the final showing of a movie, under longtime owner Tom Kiefaber, at Baltimore’s iconic Senator Theatre. The film: “Star Wars: A New Hope.
People walked around the Senator Theatre in north Baltimore last night — for the last movie showing under controversial owner Tom Kiefaber — and seemed eager to soak up all those touches that made the place special.
One man leaned down to run his fingers over the sidewalk hand-prints out front. Dozens wielded cameras (and cellphone cameras) to record the marquee and deco details in the lobby. A mother and daughter posed for one another in front of a weather-beaten Yoda statue. Many brandished light sabers and sported brown Jedi cloaks.
They heard Kiefaber say, for the last time in his official role, those words that supporters found thrilling and detractors found irksome: “I’m Tom Kiefaber, and welcome to the historic Senator Theater.”
Many in the audience said they knew the plan was for Charles Theatre owner Buzz Cusack to continue showing movies in the theater but were worried it would not, under new probably “better” managers, ever feel the same.
“Yeah, the seats were lumpy and, look there’s a dog running around, that can’t be good for the carpet!” said Todd Longwood, of Towson, who came with his father to watch the final Kiefaber-era flick, “Star Wars: A New Hope.”
“But I have a lot of good memories of this place, it always felt special coming here,” Longwood said. “Is it going to be like that under the next guy?”
Kiefaber was front and center in the lobby and up front after the film. The standing-room-only crowd gave him a huge cheer. One can only imagine what was going through his mind after a year in which he and city officials engaged in bitter, highly public back-and forths, including Kiefaber’s recent threat (ultimately dropped) that he might not surrender the theatre’s contents. Eleventh-hour media coverage even included a paragraph in the Baltimore Sun on Kiefaber’s personal troubles — selling his house, his marriage breaking up.
On this evening, though, he was emotional but consistently gracious.
“We’ve felt kind of alone here in the past year or so,” Kiefaber said. “But we don’t feel alone tonight.”