Hollywood Gothique
LA Cinema Gothique

Tribute to New Beverly’s Sherman Torgan

Just got this from the American Cinematheque, which will be holding a tribute to the late owner of the New Beverly Cinema this Sunday…

  • Sunday August 19, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, FREE ADMISSIONSherman Torgan was one of the shining lights in repertory film exhibition in Los Angeles, an unsung hero and one of the last of the independents. He was a guy who loved movies, knew a lot about movies (all different kinds of movies) and loved to share them with others at his theatre, the New Beverly Cinema. Sherman was a good friend of the American Cinematheque and would always stop in and chat with us when he dropped off his calendar schedules at the Egyptian. We occasionally circuited prints between our theatres when we had dates of the same films booked close together. Like many others who still enjoy seeing movies on the big screen (where they were meant to be seen), all of us here at the Cinematheque gradually got to know and love Sherman. He will be sorely missed.

    The Cinematheque will not be screening a film at the memorial. But we will be hearing from numerous friends and associates of Sherman’s, who will offer short testimonials relating their fond memories and experiences of him and the New Beverly.

The New Beverly was not by any means exclusively devoted to fantasy films, mystery movies, and sci-fi cinema, but they did show a lot of them – some artsy stuff like MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and some sleazy stuff like their monthly Grindhouse Double Bill. So genre fans may want to stop in and pay their respects to the man who did so much to keep these movies on the big screen.