Save The Englewood Theatre

Here's a glimpse at Independence, MO cinema history that's in peril and desperately in need of fans who might be able to help preserve one of the most iconic buildings standing in a city to our East. Take a look:

Funds sought for purchase of Englewood Theatre

The desire to raise funds for the purchase of the Englewood Theatre was met with a passionate response when Tammy Parsons, CEO of the West Ind.

Comments

  1. Buyer beware. Wade Williams pretended to sell the Aztek Theatre in downtown Shawnee to a wonderful little foundation started by a lovely couple for much the same purpose. $250,000 or so. But he got a secret better offer, and yanked that first sale out of their hands and went with the second buyer for around double the price. That was 2 years ago. It's still not open. Not sure if you can still search archives of defunct ShawneeDispatch.com. Someone can find those stories. The initial buyers were much like you. Rose colored glasses. I believe the second buyers' group did figure out the parking issue. Because you can't have a business without parking. All those promises of cooperation may disappear when things get busy. Get written contracts!

    For the record, Wade Williams has cheated me twice out of $200. ( And my sister in law, also $200.) He orders work, you do it, and then he refuses to pay and says, "This should be your civic contribution to me for saving this building." (He's a millionaire-ish, owner of the greatest collection of horror films in the world, all on....VHS! Plus 14 cats at last count. Banned as a commenter on KCStar for posse comitatus style rants that make Trump look like Gandhi.)

    Call me at 913 962-1100, and I will give you a lawyer you should talk with before you do this. And do not get all dewy-eyed that you complete this contract without a total inspection plus the costs. Others will tell you, he's a bit of a greedy grifter. And you are his first bait.

    You have a sweet idea, but TED talks are a dime a dozen now, and that will not save this building or put it on the map or even cover the AC bill. The Tivoli closed. The market for indie theatres is a dinosaur. There's no Hollywood product. Think twice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aztec. With a c.
    sorry.

    Wade is a mean irrational bully with a turf of orange-dyed hair on top of his mean head. Loves to taunt, and make "little people" jump through hoops to kiss his ass. About 10 years ago, he also threatened the Shawnee Park and Rec Board, and the city, that if MY painting of the Aztec, appeared in the Shawnee 150 calendar, he would never complete renovating or opening the theatre.

    (I had been selected by a juried committee, as the artist to paint the Aztec for a commemorative calendar. I made a sensational painting, including not just research but 50 actual hours painting the 2 x 3 foot canvas. With a wrap-around sidewalk feature, and little toy people lined up at the box office to see Gone With the Wind, which opened there in 1939.

    The Shawnee Dispatch reported the bullying. The Park Board chairman, Donna Sawyer, fell for the threat and removed the painting from the calendar as well as the celebratory ceremony.

    Well, still no movies there! And likely never will be.

    Despite the City of Shawnee also pouring at least $35,000 in free windows and doors. Wade refused to fill out the grant requests for the giveaways. But the city manager, whose office looked out on the deteriorated facade, buckled. Dispatched Paul Chaffee, Planning Director to fill out the damn forms FOR Wade, and submit them IN HIS NAME WITHOUT HIS SIGNATURE!!! --so the city could keep handing him free checks annually as part of a beautification of downtown Shawnee.

    Independence, you're the next mark.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tracey can paint?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, Tracy paints.
    And makes monumental sculptures, including a Stonehenge out of post rock from Hayes,
    featuring limestone pillars with fossils, from 9000 years ago when Kansas was a sea.

    And Tracy was the founding president of the Kansas City Artists Coalition.
    Has been in a couple of art shows, and working on a new one later this year: with the theme "Hang on America", at a local BMO Harris Bank.

    And is coaching art students at KCAI in how to market their work.

    And is a member of CST2019.com, an international online tribe of artists and makers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And she was in the first class of seven interns for the National Endowment for the Arts, in 1973, in WDC. Returned to KC to write grants for arts organizations.

    ReplyDelete
  6. what did i just read

    ReplyDelete
  7. Smiling Jack5/3/19, 11:49 AM

    Tracy, are you saying Kansas was under water as recently as 9,000 years ago?
    (Physically, I mean, not financially and intellectually.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's what I was told.

    Now feel free to research and educate me fully.

    To me 9000 years does seem like a long time ago.
    To the far right make-wrong Christians, hell, that would be 3000 years before the world was "created"!!

    So please, enlighten me--
    I'm not obsessed with being accurate about this.
    And I'm happy to amend any future statements.

    Being right is the tunnel with no cheese.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Smiling Jack5/3/19, 12:16 PM

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    MAP(Western Interior Seaway during the mid-Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago)

    The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that existed during the mid- to late Cretaceous period as well as the very early Paleogene, splitting the continent of North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. The ancient sea stretched from the Gulf of Mexico and through the middle of the modern-day countries of the United States and Canada, meeting with the Arctic Ocean to the north. At its largest, it was 2,500 feet (760 m) deep, 600 miles (970 km) wide and over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long.

    And that's why the limestone fossils contain no fish, but only Crinoids, Molluscae and rarely primitive seaweed.

    But of course, this is all illusionary, the Earth was created that way by some Cosmic Jokester to fool us mangy monkeys into thinking there was such a thing as "Science", and we could understand an All-powerful Entity's motives .

    ReplyDelete
  10. What HE said.
    Thank you, Smiling Jack.
    It's settled.
    I will get this all tattooed upon my opposable thumb. At least the Wiki link. or a bookmark on TKC leading to you.

    And true, none of the fossils on my post rock are fish.
    They are what my neighbor kids and I call seashells.
    Not sure if thhose are Crinoids or Molluscae--but you tell me. The latter I'm guessing.
    I passed alot of my classes with Cliff's Notes, as is evident here.
    Again, thanks!

    I stand, upright--and corrected!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Smiling Jack5/3/19, 12:30 PM

    Crinoids are the little round things that sort of look like stacks of thick Necco Wafers, and Molluscae are - well, Seashells.

    Sorry to have wandered so far off topic, and no harm meant, I was just amused at the concept of Kansas under water, what with the farmers griping about the drained Aquifer and all.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So anyway ... fascinating fact is city approved lotsa TIF for theater Plex out at east39th street across from indep center. A truly legendary group of dumbfucks at Indy city staff and council to TIF farflung sprawl on Greenfields to compete against a main Street type district (Englewood area) business. Thanks,
    Radish

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

TKC COMMENT POLICY:

Be percipient, be nice. Don't be a spammer. BE WELL!!!

- The Management