AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

http://www.newbevcinema.com

My favorite movie theater in the world has always been the New Beverly Cinema here in Los Angeles, where I've been going for over 15 years. It's the kind of place that's beat up really nicely, with crunchy seats and cheap candy. The kind of place where they put up an apology sign in the window when they have to raise the price. Sherman Torgan had been running it for nearly 30 years, and it was a wonderful place. He died Wednesday morning of a heart attack while riding his bike. I'm really sad, and I know a lot of other people are too.

Obituary:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-torgan21jul21,1,2652698.sto...

Sherman Torgan, 63; owner of New Beverly Cinema
By Mary Rourke, Times Staff Writer
July 21, 2007

Sherman Torgan, who turned an adult movie house in Los Angeles into
the New Beverly Cinema, an arty repertory theater that screens
classic, independent and foreign films, died Wednesday. He was 63.

Torgan suffered an apparent heart attack while on a bicycle ride in
Santa Monica. He was pronounced dead at St. John's Health Center in
Santa Monica, said Jeff Rosen, a longtime friend.

From the time "the Beverly" opened in 1978 with a Marlon Brando double
bill — "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Last Tango in Paris" — Torgan
did everything from plan the programs to work the box office.

His limited budget didn't allow for flashy decor. He said he would
rather keep ticket prices down than redecorate. Currently, general
admission is $7, less for students and senior citizens.

When Torgan took over the theater, he and friends tore out the runway
that had been used for erotic dance acts and replaced it with seats.
Over time all of the theater's 300 seats became battered, and the
projection room was "held together by spit and glue," said Rosen, who
sometimes was the theater's projectionist. Torgan acknowledged that
the place was "a little rough around the edges."

That look was part of the appeal for Torgan's clientele. Famous film
directors and actors turned up unexpectedly to see the movies.
Francois Truffaut once attended a screening of "Mildred Pierce," the
1940s film noir starring Joan Crawford. Eva Marie Saint was once in
the audience for "North by Northwest," the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock
thriller that featured her and Cary Grant. "She said she hadn't seen
the movie in years," Rosen recalled.

One patron, actor-writer-director Quentin Tarantino, organized a
Grindhouse Festival at the Beverly this year. The festival title
referred to the movie houses that used to "grind" away their
projectors, showing three features in a row. Among the many
"deliriously bad films" in the festival, Times arts writer Geoff
Boucher noted, were "Autopsy," "Jailbait Babysitter" and "Chinese
Hercules."

Revival, repertory and second-run movie theaters — the Vagabond near
MacArthur Park, the Fox Venice near the beach — came and went, but
Torgan's New Beverly Cinema remained. The rise of multiplex theaters,
the increasing number of classic film programs at Los Angeles museums
and the DVD industry cut into his business, but film buffs, students
and people in the movie business still sprinkled the audience.

"A lot of people got their film education at the Beverly," Rosen said.

Torgan was born in Philadelphia on June 18, 1944, and moved to Los
Angeles in the mid-1960s. After graduating from UCLA he moved to San
Francisco, where he worked as a location scout for movie production
companies. He returned to Los Angeles in the mid-'70s to be nearer the
studios.

He and two friends, Martin Ford and Donald Rappaport, opened the New
Beverly Cinema in 1978. A year or so later Torgan took it over, Ford
said in an interview with The Times this week.

Many patrons recognized Torgan on sight. He was slim and wiry with a
dark beard and a full head of hair in the early days of the theater,
when he was in his 30s. Later, he shaved off the beard but always kept
his weight down.

In recent years his son, Michael, worked with him at the theater.

Programming has been canceled through the weekend. Further plans
regarding the schedule will be announced on the theater's website,
http://www.newbevcinema.com .

"The theater was Sherman," Rosen said.

Besides his son, Torgan is survived by his wife, Mary, and a brother,
Marvin.

A funeral is planned for 1 p.m. Monday at Mount Sinai Memorial Park
and Mortuary, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles. For details, call
(800) 600-0076.