By Hannah Martin, News staff

Throw on your party hats and grab some popcorn because Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre turns 75 this year.
The non-profit theatre on Harvard Street, known for its historically wacky selection of independent films and documentaries, will celebrate its birthday in characteristically nostalgic, quirky style:’ with a host of classic films and special events.’
Teaming up with its retail neighbor in Brookline, the theatre will showcase the ‘Trader Joe’s Big Screen Classics Series’ ‘- a top film from each decade since their birth, hand-picked by patrons, registered theatre members and Trader Joe’s customers.’
Following screenings of ‘An American in Paris’ and ‘West Side Story’ in February and March, April will feature Woody Allen’s classic 1970 romance, ‘Annie Hall.’
Other celebrations include a midnight showing of ‘J. Cannibal’s Feast of Flesh VIII’ Saturday, April 11, and a discussion later that day of ‘The Singularity’ by creator, director and technology inventor Ray Kurzweil.’
This year’s Coolidge Award ‘- given annually to an outstanding film artist (like Vittorio Storaro and Meryl Streep in years past) ‘- will host internationally award-winning animators the Quay Brothers May 6 to 7.
While the Coolidge works as a kind of missionary of film culture, educating and promoting an understanding of movies, associate director Elizabeth Taylor-Mead said its role in the community has been ever-changing.
‘the Coolidge is the perfect mirror of the film industry and the role that film has played in American’s lives in the last 75 years,’ she said.
When the Coolidge opened its doors in the 1930s, it was a veritable ‘movie palace,’ Taylor-Mead said:’ an institution where people emerged in suits and gowns from chauffeur-driven limousines to see double features and newsreels. During the intermission they would give away cigarettes, cupcakes and china.
‘Something like 80 percent of the country went to the movies every single week,’ Taylor-Mead said, noting that today’s economic downturn has caused a similar rise in film popularity.’
‘It was a way that people had of reflecting their lives and having their stories told or [witness] the stories of the life they’d like to have,’ Taylor-Mead said.’
But in the ’80s, the Coolidge hit dire straits:’ the threat of demolition to make way for a shopping complex.’
The community refused, literally grasping hands to form a human chain around the theatre.’
‘It really meant something to them,’ Taylor-Mead said. ‘They saw it as a cultural anchor in the community and a treasure that they weren’t willing to let go of.’
After winning that battle, the Coolidge went non-profit, leasing the theatre from Harold Brown.’
Just two years ago, the Coolidge underwent major renovation ‘- a restoration of its timeless art deco features with the addition of modern conveniences like handicap accessibility, theatrical lighting, an expanded stage and resources for the deaf and hard of hearing.’
Film professor David Grotell said he supports independent theatres like the Coolidge, and recently took his Modern Film class there to see ‘Burn!,’ a 1969 Marlon Brando film, introduced by best-selling historian Howard Zinn.
Grotell said he was thrilled when he heard the movie, which was already on his syllabus, was playing at the Coolidge.’
‘Of all the places that show old movies, Coolidge has the biggest screen in Boston and, besides perhaps the Museum of Fine Art, it has the nicest screen facility in the country for revival theatres,’ he said.
Modern film students appreciated seeing ‘Burn!’ on the big screen, the way creators intended people to see it.’
‘Seeing it on the big screen instead of in class was like listening to a good song in headphones,’ said freshman English major Chris Bergenheim.’
Grotell said he supports the Coolidge’s work to keep old and lesser-known films alive.
‘There’s a bottleneck problem with distribution,’ he said. ‘A lot of international and independent films don’t get as much distribution as they once did. Some great films slip through the crack. What sets the Coolidge apart is that they do revivals and older movies and have special events like a scientist speaking at a film about science ‘hellip; I don’t know another theatre that does that. It’s kind of irreplaceable in that way.’
Corie Scibelli, a middler American Sign Language and human services major, has worked in the Coolidge box office for just over a year and she calls it ‘a college kid’s dream job.’
She raved about the Coolidge’s importance within college community.’
‘It’s great for kids who want to go out on the weekends but who maybe can’t go out to bars or don’t want to,’ Scibelli said. ‘It’s a place that you can go if you want to take someone out on a date to see a movie that you won’t see anywhere else, or maybe an old movie that you haven’t seen in a while.”
Ultimately, Taylor-Mead said, in a world of new technology the Coolidge strives to bring movies back to their essential form.
‘We don’t think there’s anything wrong with watching a movie on a hand-held screen,’ she said. ‘But it’s not the same experience as watching communally in the dark, with strangers, and having those communal experiences. That’s what we create, and I think that people who love movies appreciate that.’