The Tuesday Night Movie Gang has evolved from a group of friends gathering together on a weekly basis to watch a movie to an inspiring tradition that is keeping the art of film alive.
It all started back in 1957 when the late Ken Foley, Kenhorst, a part-time theater projectionist at the Rajah Theater, Reading, would show movies with his home projectors. Don Westley, who was age 16 at the time, also worked as a projectionist part-time at the Rajah. He became good friends with Foley and the two formed a bond over their love of films.
Once Westley purchased his own home in Sinking Spring, an in-home theater was of course the main requirement. He built a separate building to house his projection booth and would screen movies for himself and friends. The gang has gained traction, expanded and has had eight solid members who have shown up week after week over the past 30 years.
“It used to be Thursdays,” he said. “We would run a movie, we didn’t care what the movie would be. It was the camaraderie of getting together.”
At their current apartment at The Heritage of Green Hills, Shillington, Westley and his wife, Doris, are equipped with a room dedicated to his love of film. Walls filled with framed movie posters, photographs of film legends and other memorabilia make it the perfect getaway for any movie buff. Prior to their move, the Westleys were fortunate to be able to have their new home built to accommodate their interests complete with a movie room. The room is solidified with sound-proof walls for the ultimate theatre experience and is the perfect home for his 500+ collection of movies of all platforms including 8mm, 16mm, 32mm, Beta, LaserDisc, VHS and DVD.
Today, Westley does not run film himself.
“I transferred my home collection to DVD,” he said. In his home theater, Westley screens movies directly onto the wall. “I don’t want a flat screen. That’s television, not a movie.”
Members cross a wide range of ages; Westley is now the oldest member of the group. He is no stranger to showing films. As his hobby developed, his goal was to bring films to the public and would show movies at local playgrounds, swimming pools and parks. For the playgrounds that did not have their own screen, Westley would hang a screen on the side of his van for the showings of movies on 16mm film. His makeshift movie showings were often held multiple nights a week, complete with helpers and an audience. The playground screenings lasted until the end of the 1980s.
Westley also hosted the First Annual Cruise Night at the Movies in 1996 at the Pagoda skyline, offering movie lovers a special twist on the drive-in.
Today, Westley alternates movie screenings with long time movie gang member Kevin Gratz, Douglassville. Gratz was “always interested in movies as a little kid.” As an eight-year-old, Gratz attended Westley’s movie showings at the Welshire Pool, Reading, where a life long friendship was formed. Inside his impressive Douglassville home, Gratz’s converted basement is a movie-lovers paradise. The basement is complete with a home theater and lobby filled with memorabilia, a popcorn machine, full bar and framed movie posters that line the walls.
Behind the rows of movie theater seats that sit upon a theater-theme carpet, a projection booth houses two original projectors from The Majestic Theatre, Mount Penn. The theater operated from 1939 to 1984; Gratz acquired the projectors, circa 1938, in 1987.
Every year, the movie gang hosts a special showing of White Christmas on 35mm print specifically for the scratches, blips and nuances that the film version provides.
“We’ve seen it in Blu-ray and it was perfect,” Westley said, but the high-quality is not what they are looking for.
Although theaters are now doing away with film, for Gratz, film will “always be a niche medium.”
The “organic medium” offers a high-quality experience with printed pictures on film. “That’s part of the beauty of it,” he said.
The Tuesday Night Movie Gang continue to meet regularly, viewing one new picture per week.
