Our first multiplex, 1980

From the Googled archives of the Ottawa Citizen comes staff writer Tim Harper's June 1980 article citing a unionized movie projectionists strike here in Ottawa that summer. You can find the full piece at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wu8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f-4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=977,123282&dq=mayfair+theater+ottawa&hl=en. What's really worth sharing is this great featured photo of the Elgin Theatre's old facade. Sure, its big orange letters are still there but the theatres and marquee are long gone and mostly forgotten.

The Elgin (1937-1994) became Ottawa's first multiplex movie theatre in 1947 when owner Nathan "Nat" Taylor (1905-2004) added a second screen inside, called the Little Elgin, and sold tickets to both through the same box office. Two years later in 1949, the Little Elgin hosted the inaugural Canadian Film Awards, the precursor to the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's annual Genie Awards.

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