Manlius, N.Y. — Nat Tobin and Eileen Lowell agree on this: when they leave their hometown theater to new owners it will be the audiences they will miss the most.
The Manlius Art Cinema, for the first time in 30 years, will be operating under new ownership next week.
Tobin started running the theater on April 1, 1992. “Life is Sweet,” by director Mike Leigh was playing then, Tobin said.
Tobin bought the theater as a second-income but in time it became much more.
“Basically it was a financial need,” he said. “I quickly came to love the theater so much it became my primary income and my primary love.”
But after decades of selling tickets, working the concessions counter, introducing movies to audiences and running the projection booth, Tobin, 74, and his spouse Lowell, 72, have decided it’s time for someone else to take over.
“We’re getting older. We don’t have the social media skills that a younger person might have, and it’s the realization that this is what is best for the theater,” Tobin told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard Tuesday.
The new owners of the theater at 135 E Seneca St. come from A.W. Wander, a restaurant just down the street from the theater. A.W. Wander is owned by Dan Chapman and Joe Ori. They take over next week and intend to continue to operate the cinema, Tobin said.
After nearly 104 years in operation, the 200-seat, 100-feet-long-by-17-feet-wide theater is the oldest cinema in Onondaga County. And it’s gone through big changes since Tobin became the owner.
In 1992, the theater was still using two vintage drive-in projectors from the ‘40s in the booth. The operation has since become digital, expanding what Tobin and Lowell can play.
Moviegoers watch The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Manlius Art Cinema in Manlius, N.Y., Friday, April 18, 2014. Kevin Rivoli | krivoli@syracuse.com
But the place the theater has in the Manlius community and the kind of people coming to watch the movies stay the same. They’ve become a “theater family,” Lowell said.
“We have tried to bring thoughtful movies, entertaining movies to people who appreciated them,” Lowell said.
The kind of movie that made an audience think and spurred thoughtful discussions were the ones the theater strived to play, Lowell said.
“It’s the movies that made people come back and talk about the next time because it occupied their thoughts and their feelings,” Lowell said.
The movies were largely independent and foreign-produced. The one played on the theater’s 100-year anniversary was fitting. “Cinema Paradiso” is a movie about a movie theater in a war-stricken Italy that shows the relationships and imagination a cinema can prompt.
Nat Tobin and Eileen Lowell have been running the Manlius Arts Cinema for 30 years.
Tobin said the transition away from the theater is a tough one. He and Lowell don’t have any immediate plans when they enter retirement next week, though he said he hopes to do some traveling and catch up on the vacations they couldn’t take before.
“It’s been our pride for 30 years,” Tobin said. “I’m very proud to be associated with it and position it for the future.”
Both Lowell and Tobin said they will miss their audiences the most.
“It’s been a joy and a privilege to bring that movie experience to a community,” Lowell said. “And the theater has become community for a lot of people.”
Staff writer Fernando Alba covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, question or comment? Reach him: Email | Twitter or at 315-690-6950.