Cleveland Foundation FREE Cinema At The Square

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Thank you, Cleveland Foundation, for another great centennial gift to the community! We enjoyed seeing Singin’ in the Rain on August 23 , 2014, at the world-famous PlayhouseSquare. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first community foundation in the world, at the second largest theatre district in the United States and world’s largest theater restoration project, says a lot for Cleveland!

We were even on the big screen!

Details about the Cleveland Foundation's (@CleveFoundation) August centennial gift to the community of nearly 2,700 free tickets to each of five classic film screenings at PlayhouseSquare (@PlayhouseSquare) can be found on their website at: ClevelandFoundation.org/Cinema

View Informational Flier

Classic movies shown at PlayhouseSquare included:

1. Thursday, Aug. 21 – Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Friday, Aug. 22  – The Karate Kid
3. Saturday afternoon, Aug. 23  – The Sound of Music
4. Saturday evening, Aug. 23  – Singin’ in the Rain
5. Sunday, Aug. 24  – The Muppets Take Manhattan

Why Singin’ in the Rain?

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We decided to see Singin’ in the Rain since it has some history with us. When we were first dating, we went to another grand old Northeast Ohio theatre to view some classic films. We have fond memories of seeing a special double feature at the Akron Civic Theatre (@AkronCivic) of the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, and Singin’ in the Rain. If you know the stories, you will appreciate the connection between these classic films.

Another interesting fact about the day we attended Singin’ in the Rain was that it was Gene Kelly's birthday (August 23, 1912). It seemed fitting to celebrate the Cleveland Foundation's 100th birthday (the crowd sang Happy Birthday to the foundation before the movie) on Gene Kelly's birthday.

Cleveland Foundation + PlayhouseSquare Foundation = Rebirth!

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If you are interested in learning more about the world’s largest theater restoration project, we invite you to read these two articles on the Cleveland Foundation's special ClevelandFoundation100.org centennial website.

• 1973 Rebirth of Playhouse Square
• 1982 Securing The Playhouse Square Superblock

What happened in Cleveland was truly revolutionary!

Connor Palace

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Having been to the Palace Theatre many times, we were surprised when we received our tickets to see the name "Connor Palace." We want to thank the staff person that we talked to at the theatre who explained the new name, and @PlayhouseSquare for sending us a link wtih more information.

You can lean about the PlayhouseSquare capital campaign and the Connor Palace renaming in this June 20, 2014, press release:

• PlayhouseSquare to Advance its Legacy through $100 Million Capital Campaign;
  Connor Family Makes Lead $9 Million Gift, Largest Family Gift in PlayhouseSquare History.

2014 was the 17th Annual Cinema at the Square. If you missed this special Cleveland Foundation event, you can watch the PlayhouseSquare Cinema at the Square web page for information about next year's shows. Tickets in 2014 were only $5 each, and less with a FlixTIX pass.

Here is additional information about the 17th Annual Cinema at the Square:

The beautiful Connor Palace will once again return to its movie-house roots to host the 17th Annual Cinema at the Square, presented by Medical Mutual, featuring some of the most popular films from Hollywood’s Golden Era of the 1930’s up through the 1980's. All films are screened on a massive 20’ high x 47’ wide Hurley Super Glo projection screen; the largest non-Imax screen in Ohio! Grab your seat early and catch a nostalgic organ recital on our fully restored 1928 Kimball organ, plus a variety of short films and classic cartoons before each film. Get the complete retro cinema experience and watch your favorite films with friends and family the way they were meant to be seen.

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Tweets and Retweets

Here are our @sos_jr tweets and retweets. Much of the fun of being on Twitter is to see other what other people attending an event share.

#TCF100 & PlayhouseSquare

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It is exciting to hear that more is coming!

Thanks to #CLE for coming out this weekend to celebrate our Aug. gift to the community! Stay tuned Sept. 2 for the next announcement!

— Cleveland Foundation (@CleveFoundation) August 25, 2014

It has been such a great and busy year of centennial events! At the movie showing, it was announced that four more events are coming. We are excited!

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Stay up-to-date by following @CleveFoundation and the centennial #TCF100 hastag on Twitter.

We have attended the following Cleveland Foundation 2014 centennial gift events. Please read our blogs to learn about the events. Also, several of the blog posts have information about how the Cleveland Foundation fulfills its mission.

1. Saturday, February 22nd event: FREE! Great Lakes Science Center (plus our son, Mike, went to the Sunday, February 23rd, free day at Rock Hall)

2. Monday, March 24th event: Cleveland Foundation FREE Day at CIFF

3. Saturday, May 24th event: May Centennial Gift: Cleveland Foundation Day on Wade Oval

4. Sunday, July 20th event: Cleveland Foundation Day with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom (Only Julie attended, since the rest of the family was volunteering at Cleveland GiveCamp 2014 - 5th Year!)

5. In addition to this blog post about the August 21-24 centennial gift to the community of free movies at PlayhouseSquare, please watch for our next blog post which will include information about the August announcement of the gift of the Link Trail.

To learn more about our experiences at PlayhouseSquare, please see our blog posts:

1. Mon, Jul 16, 2012 - Ohio Blogging Association Theatre Tour with Playhouse Square Partners
2. Thu, Oct 11, 2012 - Cleveland West Side Market Centennial Festival & Playhouse Square
3. Mon, Mar 4, 2013 - Great Lakes Theater Social Media Night
4. Wed, Oct 9, 2013 - Great Lakes Theater Social Media Night - Sweeney Todd
5. Tue, Dec 10, 2013 - A Christmas Carol Social Media Night and Cleveland Winterfest
6. Wed, Mar 5, 2014 - Deathtrap! Great Lakes Theater Social Media Night
7. Thu, May 8, 2014 - Dazzle Cleveland!
8. Thu, Aug 14, 2014 - "Take a Hike" - Cleveland's Playhouse Square District

We are looking forward to more fun at PlayhouseSquare!