WPLN News Archive; 09 Belcourt Tribute (Rebecca) 1 26 99; News Archive 1/8/99-2/5/99

that's because when i was a kid this fanfare was the most exciting to nine new ford signaled the start of a magical experience for the next two hours i could be anywhere on the rooftops of london with bert the chimney sweep or eastern roman chariot with judith and her if you grew up in nashville tennessee as i did there are four were three movie theaters which figured prominently in your moviegoing adventures the tennessee theater on church street in downtown nashville was the grand movie palace with its sweeping staircases glittering chandelier is an art deco decor however the tennessee theater closed down in the late seventies the last movie i saw there was a revival of fiddler on the roof and it seems entirely appropriate that my final cinematic experience in a shabby but still proud old movie house should revolve around such a bittersweet film another truly great movie house was the belle

mead theater on harding road i went there for the first time in the fourth grade with my fellow drowning scouts to see it's a mad mad mad mad world in cinema scope the screen was huge and i was one dazzled little nine year old girl i was to have many wonderful movie experiences at the bellamy theatre but one which truly stands out is saying lawrence of arabia on that and nor mystery when you're going into these games they hope to gain their freedom is as one born every minute i don't get them i'm going to give it the bill made theater was turned into a bookstore several years ago and while i mourn the loss of that wonderful movie house ablaze bookstore has kept as much of the memorabilia as possible to remind us of the stars who appeared there in its and their heyday

but the thing that i have the most wonderful memories to belcourt in hillsboro that it was the antithesis of the tennessee or the bail mean theaters a neighborhood movie house tucked into a side street with a small lobby and cramped restrooms but an enormous sense of camaraderie among its patrons i can't begin to count the hundreds of movies i've seen there for many years to belcourt was the closest thing to an art theater that nashville had and there are all lot of films especially foreign are avid guard which would have shown no closer than atlanta if it hadn't been for the bell court and you never knew who you were going to see at the bell court when jessica lange was living here during the filming of sweet dreams she's sam shepard were seen several times taking an afflicted the bell court when buffy sainte marie was in town she take a break from recording to catch a movie at the bill court to in fact i had one

of those experiences i attended a sneak preview at the billboard of traveller an independent film produced by and starring bill paxton he had two themes at the film's conclusion movie critic generally and i were discussing the film as we emerged into the lobby only to see bill paxton he couldn't wait to ask us what we thought we'd talk to him for about twenty minutes that is a special memory for me now i'd be less than honest if i didn't talk about some of the problems at the bell court the sound system was truly dreadful there for a while and the projectors broke down on a regular basis but in the last few years many of those problems have been corrected the bill court was showing some incredible films unfortunately people just we're going to build horse owners held on as long as they could but this thursday the theater closes its doors and put up a for sale sign film critic jim ridley speculates on the

reasons the bell court couldn't make it and his excellent cover story for the current nashville's saint i can add a little of what he said but i can echo at the bill court is a piece of our history it's a bit of what made this city special we have lost so much of that in recent years that it's frightening so let's hope someone will buy the bell court who understands why it is important to our community someone who can help and reclaim its glory days and if that happens well nashville buy a ticket and start making your own memories of the bill he won't be sorry for national public radio i'm rebecca bain