Interesting that the pre-code chiller
Murders in the Zoo (1933) gets a name change on this marquee at Saint John, New Brunswick's Imperial Theatre. Saint John has always been a conservative town, maybe the word "murder" was too lurid to put up in lights.


Thankfully for Maritimers,
the theatre still stands, I'm heading that way for a solo show by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy on Saturday. Saint John is my mom's home town (also home to Louis B. Mayer, Walter Pidgeon and Donald Sutherland), and it'll be a treat to finally see a show in this lovingly restored venue. When I was a kid, the place was used as a church by the "Full Gospel Assembly" and I was bummed I couldn't see shows there, although there were two other movie theatres on the same square. My grandmother and great aunts told me stories about some of the acts they saw there, including the First World War musical comedy troupe the Dumbells. Supposedly Houdini and Jolson also appeared there, but I haven't seen any proof of that.