In the 1960s and â70s New York, film buffs and cineastes like my wife and I used to go regularly to Upper East Side art theaters like the Paris, Cinema 1 and 2, the Beekman, the Plaza, and the Sutton owned by Donald Rugoff.
We knew little or nothing about who he was, except that his father owned a chain of theaters in New York that he took over, but we loved those sleek, upscale theaters â many of them purposely designed and located in the blocks around Bloomingdaleâs Department store. It was a wealthy area with a very high grossing potential.