Tivoli Theatre

Going to the movies in this day and age usually involves stadium seating, digital projection and most recently having entire meals served to you in your seat. It’s all making the movie going experience bigger and better, which causes ticket prices to get steeper.

            While many enjoy going to the Studio 35's and the Fork and Screens of the world, many people still prefer the small intimate setting of the Tivoli Theatre. On any given Saturday you will see people funneling into the Westport center building and up to the Tivoli’s ticket window.

The Tivoli plays mostly independent films and limited releases. This Saturday the matinee is Rabbit hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Elkhart, but I am not so much interested in the film as I am in sharing the movie going experience with George Elden. Elden, a retired school teacher comes to the Tivoli on a regular basis. “I love the lights that line the stairs up to the lobby…It reminds me of the way movie theatres looked when I was a boy.” Elden said struggling to the top. The lobby is small and lined with movie posters, and in the center sits one concession stand. “I can’t see a movie without Milk duds…its tradition!” Elden said leaving me in the dust. After Elden has gotten himself a snack, we head in to the theatre. By today’s standard, the theatre is microscopic, just two rows and one tiny screen. We take a seat close to the back and off to the right. “I am terribly near sighted, so I always sit a ways back. My wife Judy hated sitting too close anyway…so when Judy passed from cancer I just kept doing it.” When asked what attracted him to the Tivoli in particular, he laughed “I have to be honest. I wasn’t all that in to the artsy movies or for that matter some of the people they attract, but Judy loved them. We use to live in Ohio when we first got married and we would go see art house flicks all the time.” He pauses and fumbles in his pocket a minute. “I was going to show you her picture, but I guess I left it at home, but anyway she was the one that like them and I just liked what she liked.” As we chat just minutes before the movie starts, I see a handful of couples walk in, all of them over the age of 50. “See I’m not the only old fogy that comes down here!” Elden says to me in a loud whisper, that I am fairly sure everyone in the theatre heard. “I bet you all these guys got dragged here the same way that I use to. What they don’t know is that this is the kind of thing they are gonna miss one day.”

It’s show time. The lights dim, the projector clicks and Elden is completely engrossed. The movie chronicles the loss of a couple’s young son, and the way that they handle the grief. I find myself thinking of Elden who sits silently next to me staring at the screen, and feel regret for choosing this movie to accompany him to. When the movie ends and I ask him if he enjoyed it, he turned to me and said “there are different kinds of happy endings; I prefer the ones that are a little less realistic.