Tony Quirino died yesterday.  The great majority of you don't know who that is but for me he was a constant presence.  I can't claim to have known him well but he was always there when I was growing up.  Tony owned and operated the Crandell Theater in Chatham, NY.  The Crandell is almost the centerpiece of that little town.  It began life in the 1920s as a vaudeville theater but has for most of its life served as a movie theater.

Obviously, I'm a bit of a movie fan.  Okay, I'm obsessed with film and am working hard to become a filmmaker.  The roots of that obsession are in the Crandell.  Seeing Star Wars as a six year old was a formative moment in my life.  I saw it twice in theaters in its first run, once at a drive in and once at, you guessed it, the Crandell.  Tony sold us our tickets.  And he would sell me tickets to every other movie I'd see there until last year.

It's a family operation.  His parents owned it and passed it on to him.  He sold the tickets and was the projectionist.  His wife Sandy ran the concession stand.  And it was that way the whole time I was growing up.  When I moved back to NY in 2001 I was delighted to go back to the Crandell for a movie (probably The Tailor of Panama) and discover the place was pretty much exactly the way I left it.  

Even better, in the last ten years the Crandell had become home to the FilmColumbia film festival, which I rave about here every year.  Every October I move into the Crandell for 3-4 days, emerging with a huge smile, an empty stomach (you can only eat so much popcorn) and numb ass.  It's the highlight of my year.  Last summer it hosted the premiere of Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock.  The film was shot in the area, so it was a natural choice.  And I got a chance to meet Ang Lee as a result.  It's also where I met the great animator Bill Plympton.  He signed autographs for my kids along with little pictures.

Like I said, I didn't know Tony well.  But he was always around for all those great films that were such a massive influence on me.  For E.T. I sat in the balcony, in the very back row, right next to the projection booth.  There he was.  I remember my dad assuring me that Tony would get Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as soon as it came out.  And he did.  And I cried like a baby when Spock died.  I remember seeing Rocky 3 and getting so wound up when Rocky fought Clubber Lang that I jumped out of my seat and yelled at the screen.  Took a long time to live that one down.  I took my first date to the Crandell.  Made it to second base for the first time there too.  No, I don't remember the movie.  I was a bit distracted.  And now I'm grown up and taking my kids to movies there.

It's been a hugely important place for me over the years.  And that makes the guy who ran it that whole time special to me.  So with a very heavy heart I say goodbye.  It was always a dream of mine to show a movie I made at the Crandell.  Maybe that will still happen.  Sadly though, Tony won't be projecting it and won't be watching it.  That would have meant the world to me.  I never had the chance to tell him how much his place meant to me.  Goodbye Tony.  And thanks.