O•S•C•A•R© - Old Ottawa South

Page 12 The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR July 2010
By William Burr
Meeting three of the brains behind
the new management at
the Mayfair, I found them all
very down to earth. They felt like guys
who you would find at a bar, enjoying
their Friday night pint. In fact, I had
run into Mike Dubué, general man-
Behind the Curtains at the Mayfair Theater
ager, at next door Quinn’s a few months
ago. He had stepped outside the theater
while a movie was showing. He recognized
me as a frequent Mayfair moviegoer,
and we had a good chat.
I also met Lee Demarbre, programmer,
and Petr Maur, design and graphics
manager.
There’s something about these
three men, all dressed in black clothes,
that’s also quintessentially film buff.
They speak of their theater like it’s a
baby, and happily describe their efforts
to play little-known new movies as
well as old hits like Indiana Jones. In
fact, the truth is that these are professional
filmmakers for whom the Mayfair
is a kind of passionate day job. Lee
Demarbre directs, Mike Dubué does
music, and Peter Marr makes the posters.
The other two Mayfair co-owners
are Ian Driscoll, who screenwrites, and
Josh Stafford, who also directs. It was
through the filmmaking community
that the five of them met.
One of their latest releases is called
Smash Cut. It stars Sasha Grey. When
I asked Demarbre who that is, his eyes
twinkled, and he gave me a “get ready
for this” look. It turns out Ms. Grey is
the world’s number one adult film star,
gradually working her way into mainstream
movies.
Smash Cut is the story of a man
who finds that real blood and gore --
like, really real, as in real dead human
flesh -- makes his movies sell better.
So he goes on a killing rampage.
Ms. Grey is a do-it-yourself
type detective who tries to track
him down. Demarbre’s work is the
kind that would play at the newly
inaugurated Saturday Night Sinema
at the Mayfair, which now occurs
on the last Saturday of every
month at midnight.
At that time, members can
enjoy a free screening of what Demarbre
likes to call “the world’s
most notorious, badass and banned
films.” Saturday Night Sinema is
a way to build more of a community
around the theater, as well as a
way for Demarbre to have fun with
a genre he is passionate about.
Demarbre is a true aficionado
of the movie theater. He travels
around North America, visiting
different theaters to see what he
likes. He sees movies that catch
his eye, and sometimes will be one
of the first or second persons to
ever play the movie. He also finds
deals. For example, the movie
seats in the Mayfair, all recently installed,
come from another theater
in Sarasota, Florida that recently
closed, that Demarbre scoped out
on eBay. He went down and tested
them by watching the movie Twilight
in them. “If I can last through
Twilight, then I think they’re good
enough seats.”
Truly, the new seats are a wonder.
My father never used to come
to the Mayfair with my mother, brother
and I because he found he could not
bear the old seats. I can assure him that
this problem is now fixed.
The three men tell me that in terms
of future plans, they would like to repaint
the ceiling, a dark navy blue, with
stars! They are also looking to acquire
a liquor license, and to acquire a brand
spanking new marquee and set of signs,
to replace the aging signage that exists
currently.
Financially, Demarbre tells me that
the Mayfair enjoyed a very good fall
winter and spring, but that the summer
months can be hard. Students leave,
and Old Ottawa South residents head
up to their cottages.
I was also surprised to learn that
in terms of negotiating with the studios,
the American big names such
as Paramount and Warner Bros. are a
lot easier to deal with than their Canadian
counterparts, Alliance, Mongrel
and E1. “I can get the attention of the
American studios. With the Canadian
studios, they rank me below the World
Ex [World Exchange Plaza].”
I had never known how the Mayfair
had come to be saved a few years ago.
I knew that it had almost closed, but I
didn’t know the specifics. Apparently,
John Yemen, one of the original partners
in Demarbre’s and Maur’s group
(but who has since moved on), had the
idea of designating the Mayfair as a historical
landmark. This prevented a hostile
bid from Shoppers Drug Mart, who
wanted to tear the place down and open
one of their signature stores.
Next month at the Mayfair, among
the less conventional titles you can
look forward to are Behind the Burly
Q, a documentary looking back at the
golden age of Burlesque, and Flooding
With Love for the Kid, an unauthorized
adaptation of First Blood, the original
novel by David Morrell that introduced
John Rambo. You’ll also find Copsey,
described on IMDB.com as the following:
“Realizing the urban legend
of their youth has actually come true;
two filmmakers delve into the mystery
surrounding five missing children and
the real-life boogeyman linked to their
disappearances.” At a glance, it sounds
vaguely reminiscent of the Saturday
Night Sinema.
While I may never make it out to
the midnight screenings of the “world’s
most notorious, badass and banned
films,” I’m glad to find that we have
such movie-crazy men running our local
theater.