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Varsity Theatre Reminiscences
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:01 pm
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:01 pm
Haven't posted on TD in quite some time, so please let know if this thread is in the wrong place...I'm wondering whether anybody here ever spent much time at the Varsity Theatre back in the eighties when it was an art cinema house. My son is a mass comm student at LSU, and I suggested he pitch his editor (Legacy student magazine) an idea for a story on the place before it was a live music venue. His editor bit, and since I think I remember folks posting stuff here about old Baton Rouge landmarks and such, I thought I'd see if anybody might have a memory or two worth sharing for his story. My wife and I spent a lot of time at the Varsity, and have plenty of fodder for him, but, alas, his editor specified that he can not interview anybody he knows. Any old art/foreign film buffs out there who used to haunt the Varsity?
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Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:02 pm to koolmotor
Not so far back to the 80's, but their retro nights, circa 2004, were epic.
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:02 pm to koolmotor
quote:
My son is a mass comm student at LSU, and
Sorry to hear that. Hope you have a nice basement.
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:05 pm to koolmotor
All I remember is going to the midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show there (and I barely remember that as I was usually pretty drunk by the time we got there).
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:09 pm to koolmotor
I was there in the '90s, but it was a music venue by then...
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:10 pm to koolmotor
wasn't it a porno theater at one time?
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:14 pm to koolmotor
By the time I arrived @ LSU in 1971 the Varsity had become strictly a venue for foreign "art" films
Primarily that meant Swedish subtitled films that included nudity.
We would go drink 25 cent draft beer across Highland at the Library, then catch the late feature augmented by a bottle snuck in inside someones coat!
Had to be in bed @ Johnston Hall dorm room by 10:00 pm bedcheck , a regulation that led to my meeting the Dean of Men during my first semester !
Primarily that meant Swedish subtitled films that included nudity.
We would go drink 25 cent draft beer across Highland at the Library, then catch the late feature augmented by a bottle snuck in inside someones coat!
Had to be in bed @ Johnston Hall dorm room by 10:00 pm bedcheck , a regulation that led to my meeting the Dean of Men during my first semester !
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:21 pm to koolmotor
I recall going there when they held film fests. One month might be old westerns, another was alien/UFO themed. You'd buy a pack of tickets for the whole series. It was cheap. Many of those films I'd probably have never seen as a kid otherwise.
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:24 pm to koolmotor
There's a Facebook group called "Old Images of Baton Rouge" where you might find someone willing to tell you stories. 
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:40 pm to koolmotor
I remember going see Tori Amos play there in 1992. Place was quiet as a church during her entire concert - enforced by the staff.
Posted on 9/11/17 at 10:57 pm to koolmotor
Was this place a porn theatre where you could get a glory hole Beej? Im thinking it was.
Posted on 9/12/17 at 6:07 am to koolmotor
During graduate school in the late 60s used to see some of Russ Meyer's skin flicks there. Saw Vixen there and the Immoral Mr. Teas.
In law school in the early 70s, the movies were more raunchy - some actually pornographic. Those movies helped keep us out of trouble between classes.
In law school in the early 70s, the movies were more raunchy - some actually pornographic. Those movies helped keep us out of trouble between classes.
Posted on 9/12/17 at 6:50 am to koolmotor
I had high school friends that attended rocky horror picture show religiously
Posted on 9/12/17 at 7:06 am to koolmotor
My most vivid remembrance was watching "Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)".
I am told that I also saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wizards later on, but I don't remember.
I am told that I also saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wizards later on, but I don't remember.
Posted on 9/12/17 at 7:49 am to koolmotor
I saw the original Star Wars at the Varsity back in 1977. The line was outrageous, it went well down the length of the attached strip mall.
Posted on 9/12/17 at 7:50 am to koolmotor
I was at LSU in the late 70s. Besides drinking, catching a movie at the Varsity was one of the only entertainment choices for students who didn't have a car. By that time they were showing mostly second runs and a few foreign films. I remember seeing one foreign movie made in the 60s about a girl who went crazy and carried a dead rat around in her purse. Other movies I saw there included Halloween, The Incredible Melting Man, The Car, Rocky Horror.
My most memorable experience there was being hunkered down in my seat and seeing a huge roach crawl across the seat in front of me, backlit by the movie screen.
My most memorable experience there was being hunkered down in my seat and seeing a huge roach crawl across the seat in front of me, backlit by the movie screen.
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