Friday, April 6, 2007

Keeper of the Lights


The Heights Theatre on Central Avenue Northeast stands as the last of its kind among megaplex towns. If those gigantic 18-theater mini cities turn movie-going into a nacho-cheese Olympic event, then the 80-year-old Heights makes film-viewing a magical and cherished tryst.

Chandeliers hang like teardrops in the auditorium. A grand piano greets guests in the lobby. And starting tonight, the Beaux Arts theatre is showing The Lives of Others, the winner of the best foreign-language Oscar, and a film that Variety says "grips like a boa constrictor." Oy!

Equally as charming as the Heights is the theater's monthly email newsletter, The Heights Lights, written by Georgia Gould-Lyle. She is a trivia queen, a film buff, a history expert, a sweet-recipe creator, and a provider of endlessly fun, heartwarming, and thought-provoking bits of wisdom. And she's one of those people who embraces life so hard it squeals. Along with the Heights' extensive and eclectic film offerings, the newsletters include reviews, quotes (Goethe, Orwell), poems (e.e. cummings), birth dates, notable "this day in history" moments, and yummy and unique recipes like the Norwegian Prune Whip.

When we signed up for the newsletter, we received only this wonderful little missive and affirmation in return: "Succeeded." Indeed we did. Because moments later our inbox dinged with our first newsletter, which held this lovely springtime oath from Sir William Watson: April, April/Laugh the girlish laughter; /Then the moment after, /Weep the girlish tears.

Heights Theatre, 3951 Central Ave. NE; http://www.heightstheatre.com/
Monthly newsletter (Heights Lights) by Georgia Gould-Lyle: http://www.heightstheatre.com/heightslights.cfm

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