Hitchcock's "The Birds" at Redford Theatre wsg Tippi Hedren

[Thruster315]

Tippi still looked absolutely amazing. Damn. I hope I look that good when I get to her age.

[Kathleen]

A great evening at the Redford!!!

Tippi Hedron was in good form...seemed to really enjoy being there!! It was a sold-out show, complete with a couple of Tippi-lookalikes resplendent in their iconic green suit adorned with birds and blood spatters!!

Kudos to the Redford Theatre volunteers for all their hard work!!

Doesn't Tippi look terrific??!?! She is 82 years old.

[stromberg2]

Damn, Dare I say, she's hot!

Stromberg2

[Wesley Mouch]

Damn, Dare I say, she's hot!

Stromberg2

I think she's looking better than her daughter, Melanie, who's now 55!

[p69rrh51]

My vote for an eastside venue. An image taken this afternoon.

[Kathleen]

The Grillmaster and I had a our first official date at the Civic Theatre....many moons ago!!! I believe we saw Futureworld. Sure would love to see it as a functioning theatre as the east side's complement to the Redford Theatre!

[dmike76]

I went on Saturday night and it was the first time I've been inside the theater and the first time I saw The Birds. Awesome experience. They said that it was the first time in over 20 years that the theater sold out. Tons of families were there.

[SMRJim]

Went on Friday night. There were a few empty seats, but not many. Seems like that would be a great place for concerts. One of my favorite scary movies as a kid, still love it. Funny how so many things go right over your head when you're younger. Tippi was great, looks great and seemed to enjoy talking about the movie, Hitchcock, etc. I was surprised to see she's 82, I figured since that was her first movie she would have been in her early-mid 20s when it was filmed, but she was 33. She did a great acting job considering she hadn't been an actress before that [[maybe she'd done plays?). She and Suzanne Pleshette had almost identical voices - they even threw that into the movie, where Melanie [[Tippi) picks up the phone at Annie's [[Suzanne) house and she has to tell the person it's not Annie. Really enjoyed the experience. My first time at The Redford, and I grew up about 3 miles east of there! I'll be back.

[Kathleen]

We attended the VIP Reception ahead of the Saturday evening show. During her talk, Tippi noted that she went straight from modeling [[she was signed with the Eileen Ford Agency) to this movie. Never did any stage or television prior to making The Birds.

[SMRJim]

We attended the VIP Reception ahead of the Saturday evening show. During her talk, Tippi noted that she went straight from modeling [[she was signed with the Eileen Ford Agency) to this movie. Never did any stage or television prior to making The Birds.

I'm impressed that she was as good as she was with no previous acting experience. She had quite a role to play. Much more than what most first-timers would have to deal with as far as the expressiveness that was required. I've seen quite a few experienced actors who aren't nearly as good.

[Kathleen]

Tippi said that Hitchcock and his wife Alma acted as her drama coaches.

[Gistok]

Interesting thing about the Redford, Detroit's only surviving "Atmospheric Theatre" [[where the impression is that you are sitting in a courtyard somewhere open to a blue sky that darkens to a night sky when the lights go dim)... is that it is the only Japanese atmospheric theatre in the country that I am aware of.

Spanish, Italian and Mediterranean atmospherics are found in abundance, and Chinese, middle and far eastern Asian theatres exist... but this was the only Japanese atmospheric theatre that I have ever come across. That was fine until Dec. 7, 1941 [[Pearl Harbor)... when much to the horror of the house management, a quick "remodeling" to remove anything "Japanese" from the Redford became a quick necessity.

Luckily, much of that was a mere repainting of the interior, and that is one of the least damaging things to do for future restoration work.

We are very fortunate that the Redford still survives, and will hopefully thrive many years into the future. Neighborhood single screen movie theatres are a dying breed, not only in Detroit, but in cities and towns across America. This rare relice of the silver screen era deserves to be saved, but much more... to be patronized!

[dmike76]

I made the comment on Saturday that it's too bad that there aren't more of these theaters. I had such a great time listening to the organist, checking out the decor, and listening to people talk about the history of that place. I hope it stays open for a long time. I'll definitely be attending again.

[56packman]

The Redford is poised to stay open for a long time to come, thanks to the hard work of the volunteers who are devoted to the theatre. This past weekend was an exciting one for us at the Redford, Miss Hedren added an element of "real Hollywood" in glamor and old-time class that drew our first sell out crowd for a movie since the early 80s. We have been in the retro-cinema business now for 38 years, and have been operating our bi-weekly movie series since 1978. I was one of four young men who established that movie series as a way to pay the monthly bills of the theatre, I was the "kid" of the group at 19 years old, the oldest was 25. This weekend marks the launch of our 2012-2013 fundraising campaign "Starway to the Stars" in which we need to raise $150,000 by May 1st, 2013. We have already raised $188,000 ourselves, we earned it one donation, one weekend show at a time.
Please go to the link on our webpage and look there for details. Times are tough in Detroit, no one knows this more than we do, but any and all contributions are gratefully sought.


http://www.redfordtheatre.com/donate/

I played the organ Friday night, and gave the presentation about the fund raising campaign. Know that 100% of your donation goes to the project, we have no overhead, and you are supporting the last regularly open neighborhood movie theater in Detroit.

[Kathleen]

I played the organ Friday night,

We missed you on Saturday night!!!

[56packman]

I had a gig with the 18 pc. Big Band I play with, couldn't do both!

[gnome]

56, ... how does the piano slave thingy work? Enjoyed the show on Saturday and had the honor of sitting next to a lovely lady.

[56packman]

It is a regular old [[1920s vintage) player piano, there is a pump that creates vacuum for it to operate on, and inside there are 85 electromagnets that energize when the organ relay [[a 1920s air and 12V electric operated steampunk-ish "computer" ) send power for that note, the electromagnet opens and allows one side of the piano tracker vacuum "circuit" to vent to atmosphere and that causes the note or notes to play. This is an electrical "interface" to do what the holes do on a piano roll when it plays. With the organ hook-up you can play more notes than any one piano player could, as you can play the same notes at three different octaves at a time.

[Kathleen]

I had a gig with the 18 pc. Big Band I play with, couldn't do both!

Well, we certainly understand that!! Dave actually blocked out the date so that he could attend with me!! And it was well worth it!!

Enjoyed the show on Saturday and had the honor of sitting next to a lovely lady.

Thank you, kind Sir!! It was a pleasure to take in the show with you and your Mrs.

[gnome]

K- Sorry about fighting the sandman, but I drove in from Chicago just before the show and was dog tired. I really should have gotten a double espresso - with an espresso chaser - from the Java House when I had the chance.

56P- thank you 'splainin the piano, not sure I follow all that, but am I correct in thinking that there are 88 separate hoses that lead to 88 solenoids which in turn operate 88 different switches? Are all the works under the floor because that upright is not very large ...

For those who don't know, the Redford has a great old Barton organ that raises and lowers and is a big part of the unique fun at the Redford. The Barton is in the orchestra pit in what would be stage left and the piano is stage right.

[56packman]

gnome--sort of. The vacuum motor is in the basement and there is a 2" hose that feeds Vacuum to the piano, everything else is inside the case of the piano. The solenoids take an electrical signal from the organ, everything from that point on is vacuum operated, it's purely mechanical in that respect. There is a small bellows for each key, when supplied with vacuum it collapses rapidly, causing the key to play. There is additional vacuum/mechanical "logic" valving that turns vacuum on and off to those bellows.

more info here if you want to read more: http://www.pianola.com/ppworks.htm