FLICKS! (1983)

July 1, 2015 by PaulM Posted in History, Culture, Greater Lowell 2 Comments

Before Luna Theatre, before the Lowell Film Collaborative, there was FLICKS! (For Lowell Interesting Cinema KaperS!), a local film society that was popular in the early 1980s. The organization screened films, often at the Speare House restaurant on Pawtucket Boulevard (it was near the Dunkin Donuts, opposite the UMass Lowell Bellegarde Boathouse). Membership was $10 for a season. In those days, the old movie theatres in Lowell were closed. Mainstream movies were shown at the Rte. 3 Cinema with several screens in Chelmsford (Stop ‘n Shop is there now) and the Showcase Cinema complex in Lawrence, off Rte. 495. The Lowell cultural renaissance was in full swing by the early 1980s. The national park, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the University of Lowell Foundation performance series, Whistler House, and others offered many choices to cultural consumers. For FLICKS!, the 1983 Fall Season included the following:

Tues., Sept 20, Opening Champagne Party, 7.15 pm; “M. Hulot’s Holiday,” 8 pm.

Tues., Oct 4, “Gloria,” 8 pm.

Tues., Oct. 18, “The  Stationmaster’s Wife,” 8 pm.

Tues., Nov. 1, “The Great Gatsby,” 8 pm.

Tues., Nov. 15, “The Woman Next Door,” 8 pm.

Wed., Nov. 30, “The Year of Living Dangerously,” 8 p.m.

2 Responses to FLICKS! (1983)

  1. Paul Richardson says:

    Earlier, it was at the Olympia. I remember seeing Breaker Morant and Black and White in Color there – films you’d only normally see at the Orson Welles in Cambridge. (There, I’ve dated myself).

  2. Marina Sampas Schell says:

    That’s right. FLICKS started at the Olympia. I was a founding board member and, for many years , the projectionist. We borrowed two 16 mm projectors from the city library. For your $10 membership, in addition to 6 films (foreign or avant-garde) we’d add a short experimental film or animation and an opening free champagne party. I recall that for the showing of a German horror film at Halloween, everyone wore costumes. I also remember an uproar and some folks walking out when we showed a Jeanne Moreau film they thought was pornographic. The following show brought new members. Prior to FLICKS, there was the Renaissance Film Society created by the Santere (sp) brothers–also I believe at the Speare House.