Park Ridge's Pickwick Theater To Close In January, Unless...

Above, Japanese suit actor Hurricane Ryu and yours truly outside of the Pickwick Theater.

The iconic Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, Illinois, that hosted many screenings for G-FEST over the years, will be closing next month unless a "knight in shining armor" comes to the rescue.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

For Park Ridge’s iconic Pickwick Theatre, the final credits will roll in January after almost a century of hosting moviegoers, its owner told Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press Tuesday.

Co-owner Dino Vlahakis, 63, said his family is closing the vintage movie theater, which has been losing money almost consistently since the onset of the pandemic; however, they hope a “knight in shining armor” will take over the operation.

The Vlahakis family has owned the 900-seat theater since 1967. It has stood in Park Ridge since 1928 after opening as a vaudeville house, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, according to information from the Park Ridge History Center.

Currently, Vlahakis said, the plan is for the Pickwick to show its last movie Jan. 8. He’s thinking the picture will be “Gone With the Wind.”

Hopefully, someone will step forward and save the Pickwick.

To read more, go here. 

Little Godzilla Suit

Above, the Little Godzilla suit in special effects director Koichi Kawakita's office in 2001. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The adopted child of Godzilla of the Heisei Series of Godzilla movies first appeared in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) as Baby Godzilla or, rather, an infant Godzillasaurus. Hurricane Ryu was the man in the Baby Godzilla suit.

The next movie, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) featured a little older Baby Godzilla, who was now called Little Godzilla. The above suit was worn by Little Frankie in that movie. While much improved over the Minilla suit of the Showa series, many fans thought this suit to be too cute to be convincing.

According to Wikipedia:

By the time of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Baby, who by now had grown to almost a third of Godzilla's height; (probably due to exposure to Godzilla's radiation). Now known as Little Godzilla, he interacted periodically with the human characters for a portion of the film, taking a particular liking to Major Yuki of G-Force and establishing a psychic bond with Miki Saegusa. Little Godzilla was injured and imprisoned in a cage of crystals by SpaceGodzilla upon his arrival to Earth and remained caged until SpaceGodzilla's defeat by the combined might of Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A.

The following movie, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), had Little Godzilla grown into Godzilla Junior. The suit looked like a younger version of the adult Godzilla, but with smaller dorsal spines. At least the suit wasn't such a cute one to be unconvincing. It was worn by Hurricane Ryu in the film.