Film lovers, unite! Classic Cinema Club plans for growth

A group of cinema lovers – cinemaniacs, they call themselves now – had this neat idea a couple of years back.

We’ll get together the first and third Mondays to watch a classic movie, then talk about it after.

From that basic plan sprang the Classic Cinema Club, which will mark its two-year anniversary with its first event at the WTA’s Gateway Theatre.

The Monday, Sept. 10 celebration will feature a retrospective on the legendary Lucille Ball and the screening of one of Ball’s early movies.

Doors at the Gateway will open at 6 p.m. The program begins at 7 p.m.

There is no admission charge. The Classic Cinema Club is encouraging attendees to make a contribution to the non-profit Wayne Theatre Alliance.

The cinemaniacs will have to get accustomed to all the extra room at the Gateway. which can seat 120, or roughly five times the 20-25 people who somehow crammed themselves into the living room of Classic Cinema Club co-founder Jimmy Overton for past screenings.

“One of main goals with this is to share the Classic Cinema Club with the larger community,” Overton said.

The club has a 120-person email list, said another club co-founder, Paul Sanders.

“We’ve had lots of discussions about a way to expand this,” said Sanders, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Wayne Theatre Alliance, which operates the WTA’s Gateway Theatre.

The Gateway seemed a natural fit for the Classic Cinema Club, which wants to move its twice-a-month movie nights to the theatre space full time.

“This will allow us to involve a larger number of cinemaniacs, so to speak, to help us expand even further into the enjoyment of the movie experience,” Sanders said.

Overton, for his part, sees the Classic Cinema Club and the Gateway being a natural fit.

“We want to share that with a larger group of people in a nice facility such as the Wayne Theatre Alliance’s Gateway. This gives us a chance to do that. It gives us a chance to support Downtown Waynesboro, to support the Wayne Theatre Alliance and the important work that they’re doing to revitalize the artistic community in town. We’re very proud to be a small part of that,” Overton said.