Much to Show for It: St. Matthews’ Legendary The Vogue Theater

Feb 23

While the building once occupied by the Vogue theater is now retail space, legions of Louisvillians remember it as a place that shaped their youth and even their cultural viewpoint.

In this city, the Vogue is essentially legendary, at least for a certain group. From full-blown live productions of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” synced to the film itself, to the rotating midnight movies each weekend, to film festivals, those who ever went to the Vogue pretty much always went back to the Vogue. For many, it was not just once a month or every weekend, but a multiple-times-per-week proposition.

For some, it’s the first time they saw “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” or “A Clockwork Orange.” For others it was a place to see concert and rock films on the big screen, occasional classic silent films, as well as underground and foreign films that other theaters would never dare to show. Heck, Iggy Pop performed there.

As a regular at the Vogue myself during the 1980s and 1990s, some of my best memories are of seeing films like “The Warriors” on the big screen after having watched it for so long on the television in my parents’ basement. I remember seeing the bigger-than-life “Stop Making Sense” by Talking Heads there, and seeing films that freaked me out, such as “Liquid Sky.”

On many weekends, my friends and I, having no plans, would simply say, “Let’s just go to the Vogue.” Often, it didn’t matter what was on the screen; the atmosphere, along with a bucket of the theater’s delicious popcorn, was all we needed.

In fact, the theater created a sort of family of employees and regulars, an inner circle of sorts – one that wept when the projectors finally rolled for the final time and still mourns the loss two and a half decades later.

Read the full story at TownePost.com.