Movie

The inaugural attraction at the Uptown will be “Cain and Mabel, ” Cosmopolitan Production, released by Warner Bros., and starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable. The presentation Thursday evening will be the Washington premiere of this new musical comedy.

The most modern type of projection and sound equipment have been installed in the new house, which will seat 1, 500 people in the orchestra, balcony and loges. Appointments throughout are the most modern available. Throughout the year, winter and summer, the Uptown will maintain an even temperature, the latest type of air-conditioning equipment having been provided.

Check out the trailer for “Cain and Mabel” below.

A great Washington Post details the chaos that ensued when the movie opened to the public in 1977 … and for some reason, it slightly reminds me of a scene out of Dazed and Confused (also great).

Time: A half hour before the 7:30 show.

Action: Moviegoers in cars frantically searching for parking spaces. A group of teen-agers near the end of the block-and-a-half line casually having a picnic on a resident’s front lawn as they wait for the movie to open. The Good Humor truck plying its way up and down the queue of people, tinkling out the allure of frozen goodies.

Close-up: discarded beer cars, burnt-out marijuana joints and McDonald’s hamburger wrappers.

It’s not a new motion picture under production yet, but if there is ever a sequel to that intergalactic spectacular “Star Wars, ” some of the residents of Cleveland Park would like to call it “Earthly Fallout.”

“It’s … it’s an invasion, ” says Marcy Schuck, a Cleveland Park resident who no longer recognizes her peaceful neighborhood since “Star Wars” started playing. “There are people, people crawling up the streets constantly. We’re constantly being awakened when people line up for the midnight show. My alley was blocked up once and I just wanted to scream and beat up the cars.”

Territorial imperative aside, however, [Ron] Hoffman did come home one time to discover a car blocking his driveway “I told my wife, ‘Hey, some clown is blocking the driveway.’ The funny thing is that it turned out to be a friend of my wife whose car was blocking the drive, a person who had just graduated from clown school.”