How long has the Bal Theatre been around?
Since 1945. In 1945 Rene
T. LaMarre and George Drummond purchased the land, the Theatre opened July 3rd 1946
How long have you had
the theatre?
Some would say forever (laughs) since 2008
I have been here a
few times to some of the movie screenings, it's really good to see older
films. We came here to see Indiana Jones, and to see it on the big screen is a
real treat. What other movies do you think you will have coming up this year?
We are definitely planning to do Mary Poppins this year, The Princess Bride was something we did a few years ago, it was a really big
hit. We are thinking of having a free
movie night as well so that it is open to everyone, it's not just about the
money. We need to make money to survive
but we want to have a free event and say come on down and enjoy the experience,
and hopefully come back for another show.
It's a real treat to
have a single screen theatre, so many could not compete with the multiplex and
have closed. Somehow the Bal
survived
I agree with you, even in San Leandro there were 3 or 4 of
them, there was the Delmar that was downtown, there was the State and of course
the BAL and another one. Back in the
40's San Leandro was rich with theatre, rich with entertainment they had a race
track it was really big and as you know theaters even though it is a single
screen and a single stage you got some live entertainment before a show whether
it was comedy or magic or something of that nature... then you got the movie. Then
the multiplex came, really all you got was the movie and no disrespect to it
but it was not the same.
Something that I try to tell my family and friends, like
during Christmas time all are rushing to get things for each other what I have
been trying to say the last couple of years is how about we have an experience
together, how about we create a memory that we all share that is a unified
memory of coming to the theatre and watching a show, seeing some comedy or some music together and making it more of
an experience. That's what I try to do here.
Have it be an experience. It's
not just about the movie, it's not just about the other entertainment. It's the whole collectiveness of being
together and get away from our phones and our iPads and have this experience.
You don't just do the
movie night, you have film festivals here.
Speak a little on that.
I have some great friends/volunteers, people who are really
into the vintage stuff. Sci-Fi Bob is a
good friend of mine he come through with vintage clips, film clips and even
brings is 16mm projectors and spins a few things that people have not seen since
the 40's, the 30's, 20's, whatever it
is. From the 70's 80's movie clips,
cartoon clips, really interesting cool stuff.
We may do a drawing before a movie starts. We read off a ticket and someone may win a
DVD or a T-shirt
You have Lord Blood
Rah here sometimes.
Lord Blood Rah, we have had Mr. Lobo
Mistress Misery
Absolutely, and of course Jon Stanley has been here a couple
of times. We have done some really cool Sci-Fi
and Horror stuff. We have done classic
films, we have even done a silent film night, Laurel and Hardy, 3 Stooges Night was really cool so just a
variety of different stuff and then live music, concerts. We have had great R and B acts we have had a
wide variety of stuff . Sometimes we are packed, sold out 2 shows 750 people
sitting in here, 750 people wrapped around the building down to Bancroft
waiting to get in. Really special. Warms my heart , gets me excited that
so many people (at times) are enjoying themselves.
Moving completely
away from the movies you have the live entertainment aspect and the charity
events that go on.
Every year we do the standup for Davis comedy which is amazing,
I think every year we have done it we have raised over fifty thousand dollars
in one night. We have had George Lopez.
Brian Copeland does a really fabulous job at hosting and even grabbing some of
the other local comedians. We have had
headliner like George Lopez, Dana Carvey, Louie Anderson it's amazing. It's amazing to see the diversity of the
people that come into the theatre, all walks of life, It's really a great
sample of San Leandro I mean you have every demographic, every age range and
they are all here sitting together and laughing together and raising money for
great non profits like Davis Street.
There are some great tribute artists out there. We are working on bring more tributes. The Fleetwood Masks, the Beatles guys, a
Journey Tribute band are coming. Working
on getting a Johnny Cash tribute show.
More R and B, also country artists.
Some other comedians, we have had Eddie Griffin. Doing more, having more events. We are a
counter based theatre so something is not necessarily happing every night or
every weekend but what we hope is that this year we will be able to do
more. Ideally we would like to get to 4
or 5 nights a week to where not just San Leandro residents but the whole East
bay knows that they can come to the Bal
Theatre. Whether it be for comedy, classic
film or for a live concert, or even a conference. We are planning to do this year a kids show
something that is children centric kind of like a Sesame Street Live. I have a children's character called Tommy
the Turtle that I have developed from years ago with sing-a-long cds, fully costume
character. Back when I was first doing Tommy in the late 80's early 90's there
was also the Dangerous Dinos who were from Castro Valley, I have gotten with
Dennis and talked about bringing it all togther . Then there is Lori and RJ, they used to be on
channel 2 and they were the intermission between cartoons on Saturday morning.
They were a big hit for a long time.
More fundraisers, more of everything, that's the hope. We need people to show up too. There are times where there is a handful of
people in the theatre, there are other times that it is packed to the gills and
I can't tell you what the rhyme or reason is that some folks don't come to
certain things and they come to others.
What's the best way
for people to find out what's going on and to follow you? Social media or
your
website
The website is first and foremost . Joining our email list, weekly we send out an
eblast that says what's coming. So that
would be top. Then Facebook, I know
there is instagram and twitter and the Bal Theatre has those. I am in the 40 plus crowd and we seem to be
on facebook more and as you know we don't have a full blown staff. This is a family operation, a family union,
we do a lot, we wear many hats.
Excellent! Dan I love
this place, it really is one of the treasures of San Leandro, Thank You
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