Guild Gobbles Don Pancho's

Chapter 14
The Guild Gobbles Don Pancho’s

Then, on Wednesday, 19 March 1975, there was a change. Movie, Inc., bought Donald Pancho’s in March 1975 (for $25,000?) and switched largely to second-run programming to complement its repertory programming at The Guild. First, though, there had been a battle, the details of which I have never been able to discern. From what I can gather, Movie, Inc., forked over the $25,000 to Madowhy, which then refused to vacate the premises. The sale was denied and that was followed by a $326,800 lawsuit. Then, suddenly, without explanation, everything was fine. Madowhy moved out and Movie, Inc., moved in.

Sunday, 16 Mar 1975

Movie, Inc., tried to shake off the Madowhy reputation by listing the edifice as The New Don Pancho’s. Unexpectedly, it began its programming with Flesh Gordon, a softcore spoof, and I doubt that did much to shake off the reputation of the previous management. Oddly, and, yes, I vaguely remember this, this is also when Movie, Inc., briefly took over booking for the Hoffmantown Theatre. From my memory, that endeavor was not in the least successful. Art-house programming never works in sprawling suburbs, but, hey, at least it gave me the chance to see The King of Hearts sometime in late April 1975 at a hole in the wall just a 20-minute walk away. No need to beg for a ride. I had called the Hoffmantown ahead of time to ask what the rating was and the young gal who took my call said “G.” Having heard that it was a rollicking laugh-out-loud comedy to compare with the best of the Marx Brothers, I was looking forward to it, but then I immediately saw that it was not really a comedy. It was a gentle fairy tale. It took me a few minutes to adjust my mood for it. Yes, there were a few chuckles, but it was quite moving. Good movie. I had never seen anything remotely like it before. Or since. It remains a one-of-a-kind. Anyway, now that Donald Pancho’s was in Movie, Inc., hands, I had no further qualms about returning. Was that a mistake?

To the best of my knowledge, the Hoffmantown was advertised together with Movie, Inc., only for a week:

Wed 19 Mar 1975

Nonetheless, even when they were advertised separately, a few bookings were almost certainly made for Hoffmantown by Movie, Inc.:

08 Jan 1975 – 14 Jan 1975: Pink Floyd
15 Jan 1975 –18 Feb 1975: The Groove Tube
19 Feb 1975 – 04 Mar 1975: Harold and Maude
05 Mar 1975 – 18 Mar 1975: Flesh Gordon
19 Mar 1975 – 01 Apr 1975: The Three Stooges Follies
25 Apr 1975 – 01 May 1975: King of Hearts
and possibly a few other bookings as well.

I remember walking past the Hoffmantown early one day, before opening time, and pondering the poster in the window:

I was somewhat curious about this, though I had (and still have) zero tolerance for the Stooges. Good performers, yes, but abysmal material. I had not seen any of Buster’s Columbia shorts, though I understood that they were unendurably horrid. Vera Vague, though. Who on earth was Vera Vague? She never worked with Buster, as far as I know. According to IMDb, this feature anthology consisted of several shorts: Yes, We Have No Bonanza (Three Stooges, 16½ min.), Violent Is the Word for Curly (Three Stooges, 18 min.), You Nazty Spy! (Three Stooges, 18 min.), Nothing But Pleasure (Buster Keaton, 17 min.), Strife of the Party (Vera Vague, 16 min.), Batman (chapter 1, 26 min.), and America Sings with Kate Smith (9½ min.). Two hours?!

Under the name of a projectionist (Ernie), Movie, Inc., fronted for Pat Baca in booking at least a few hardcore movies for his other cinemas, which made me, oh, just a tad bit suspicious. Just a bit. Just a little bit. Yeah. After the legal battle, I would not have thought Madowhy Corp. and Movie, Inc., would have been on speaking terms, but they were. I don’t imagine that they were happy about being on speaking terms, but I don’t know. I’m confused. Then one of Pat Baca’s hardcore houses got a print that the projectionists did not understand: The image was squeezed. Baca called Movie, Inc., for advice, and the owner explained what anamorphic prints were, and, so I heard, gave him a pair of anamorphic lenses! I never found out what “gave” meant in this context. Handed him? Loaned him? Sold to him? Donated? That made me even more suspicious. Anyone involved in any way, howsoever vague, with movies in Albuquerque understood at least a few basics, and one of those basics was that there are some people — and some organizations — we were just supposed to keep away from. Someday, I’ll tell the only story concerning this topic that I know. (Patrick Charles Baca, born 17 Mar 1948, was no relation to City Council President Patrick Joseph Baca, 19 Mar 1927 – 26 Nov 2014, with whom he was at loggerheads.)

Movie, Inc., had already won its battle against the Art Theatre Guild of America, Inc., and now, with the purchase of Donald Pancho’s, it definitively won the war. Not only had it defeated the enemy, it occupied the territory and booted the old rulers out — with a vengeance. The old rulers? Do I refer to Madowhy? No. Not at all. Movie, Inc., was okay with Madowhy. Movie, Inc., took it out on the Art Theatre Guild of America, Inc., for what reason I cannot know. Surely there was some nastiness beginning back in April 1972 when The Guild muscled in on Donald Pancho’s territory. And that nastiness must have escalated to stratospheric heights in January 1973 when Donald Pancho’s returned fire by muscling in on The Guild’s territory. I wish I knew what really happened. Anyway, as I heard from the owner’s mouth a few years later, Movie, Inc., enjoyed taking over cinemas that had been with the Art Theatre Guild of America, Inc., chain. He remarked that Movie, Inc., made them “more successful.”

Here is my collection of calendars. Unfortunately, there are gaps. I created an ugly document to replace one of the missing calendars, which I guarantee you was quite attractive. Click on the images to enlarge:

28 Feb 1975 – 24 May 1975	30 May 1975 – 31 Aug 1975	01 Sep 1975 – 30 Nov 1975	03 Oct 1975 – 15 Nov 1975
21 Nov 1975 – 31 Jan 1976	28 Nov 1975 – 23 Feb 1976	06 Feb 1976 – 17 Apr 1976	23 Feb 1976 – 03 May 1976
23 Apr 1976 – 26 Jun 1976	04 Jun 1976 – 26 Aug 1976	02 Jul 1976 – 11 Sep 1976	27 Aug 1976 – 28 Nov 1976
26 Nov 1976 – 23 Dec 1976	29 Nov 1976 – 18 Feb 1977	19 Feb 1977 – 14 Apr 1977 For 15 Apr 1977 – 04 Aug 1977, click here.	06 May 1977 – 02 Jun 1977
03 Jun 1977 – 25 Aug 1977	26 Aug 1977 – 17 Nov 1977	18 Nov 1977 – 09 Feb 1978	10 Feb 1978 – 04 May 1978 This one is missing from my collection; so I reconstructed it
08 Apr 1978 – 23 Apr 1978	05 May 1978 – 27 Jul 1978	27 Oct 1978 – 18 Jan 1979	19 Jan 1979 – 12 Apr 1979
13 Apr 1979 – 05 Jul 1979	13 Jul 1979 – 04 Oct 1979	21 Jul 1979	24 Aug 1979 – 30 Aug 1979
05 Oct 1979 – 03 Jan 1980	04 Jan 1980 – 03 Apr 1980	04 Apr 1980 – 03 Jul 1980	04 Jul 1980 – 02 Oct 1980
03 Oct 1980 – 26 Dec 1980	02 Jan 1981 – 02 Apr 1981	03 Apr 1981 – 02 Jul 1981	03 Jul 1981 – 24 Sep 1981
02 Oct 1981 – 07 Jan 1982	15 Jan 1982 – 29 Apr 1982	30 Apr 1982 – 27 Jul 1982	23 Jul 1982 – 14 Oct 1982
15 Oct 1982 – 06 Jan 1983	07 Jan 1983 – 31 Mar 1983	01 Apr 1983 – 23 Jun 1983	16 Sep 1983 – 08 Dec 1983
For no reason apart from my compulsion to document the past, I wrote some notes about some of these showings. You don’t want to read them. Really, you don’t. This is only for future historians, 200 or 500 years from now, who want to get an idea: Memories.

Continue to the next chapter.