Paul Szmal: Good morning, 751. It's F-LX Morning, the Friday extravaganza, and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Smith Opera House and the Smith Center for the Arts. Suzy Monigan's here. Good morning.
Susie Monaghan: Good morning to you, Ted. How are you?
Paul Szmal: I'm doing well. Everywhere I go, I hear somebody raving about something they've seen recently at the Smith, so you're knocking it out of the park.
Susie Monaghan: It's interesting, this weekend we have sort of a highbrow film and a for-everybody film, starting with Joyeux Noël. This is a 2005 foreign film tonight. Tell us about that one.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so this is part of our 130th birthday celebration. The Smith turned 130 in October, and so we're celebrating by featuring films that are either from each decade that the Smith has been open or featured that decade. So we're in the 19-teens right now, so a little bit before film became really feature length. So we decided to go with a film about the 19-teens. So Joyeux Noël is about a true story that I think a lot of people know about, about the Christmas truce, Christmas Eve truce during World War I.
Susie Monaghan: Oh, yeah.
Paul Szmal: Both sides laid down their arms and played soccer and had schnapps and chocolates and got to know each other, and then the next day resumed shooting each other in the middle of the war. So it's an incredibly poignant story, won a ton of awards when it came out. So we decided to bring it back and understand that, as we all know, there are people all over the country and all over the world who wish they were home and can't be because they're serving the country in one way or another. So it's good to think about that at times like this when we're so focused on getting to the store and buying this and that, and other people, it's not so easy.
Susie Monaghan: Before we move on, I want to talk about supporting the Smith Center for the Arts, because I look at the prices on your website. I just bought some tickets for a major concert, and it was a whole bunch of money. And you are able to bring these terrific events to the Smith at a price that people can still afford. So talk about supporting the Smith so that can keep happening.
Paul Szmal: Thank you so much for recognizing that. Yeah, about half of our revenue comes from donated support, and it's so important this time of year when you're making those donations to think about the Smith. It's not rocket science. We need donated support to literally pay the insurance, keep the lights on, keep all our great people on our staff employed, and keep the place clean, well-maintained. So you can become a member. Memberships start at $60. All the information is on our website, thesmith.org. But you can also, you know, if $10 is more in your budget, we'd love to have that too. You know, again, go right on the website or drop by the theater anytime, put something in the mail to us. It's just really important to have that support at any level. And we really appreciate the people who do support us. It's been a great year for our membership program.
And one of the great benefits of membership is that you get to buy tickets a day before everyone else. So for shows like Old Crow Medicine Show that we're going to have in May or Los Lobos in March, you know, for those folks who are super fans to be able to jump on and get those front row seats, you know, that's an important benefit for them. So, but we love having members and, you know, thank you for noticing that, yeah, there's a pretty big gap between what we charge for tickets and, you know, what it really costs to bring a show on to the stage.
Susie Monaghan: All right, so that family film we were talking about is Tomorrow Afternoon at Two. It's sponsored by the Geneva BID. It's part of the Finger Lakes Film Festival, and that's the family Christmas classic, Elf.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. So come on down, wear your jammies. And we love having the kiddos down at the Smith always. But this is such a special annual thing that we do. And Santa will be there for, you know, a few minutes before the film starts and we'll be doing some giveaways. We're super excited about that.
So I did want to also mention that once you're through with the holidays and are looking for something to do, we have got a terrific event on January 18th, The Mark of Zorro. Yeah, with Nicholas Fairbanks, and it's got live musical accompaniment from the Cloud Chamber Orchestra. So this is a really special, one of a kind event. We have only done this twice that I know of since I've been there, and that's seven years now. So really, if you love silent film, you know, this is going to be a real swashbuckler and a great one to bring the kids to. But for anybody who loves those old films and, you know, it's really special to have the live accompaniment.
Susie Monaghan: I was trying to think if I've ever, I don't know if I've ever seen a film with live orchestra accompaniment. That's The Mark of Zorro, the 1920 classic. That's January 18th at two o'clock. So you get to take a little bit of time off for the holidays. And I always say, I rave about the variety of things you're able to put together, from things like The Mark of Zorro to another family favorite. I remember the Arrow with my kids and the Magic School Bus. Miss Frizzle.
Paul Szmal: Yep. Yeah, terrific series.
So we've got happening. Actually, the 10 o'clock is sold out, but the 1230, those are on school days, January 22nd. So it doesn't work if your kid is in school, but they might very much be coming anyway, because we've got a ton of kids from the region coming in. But you're right, and we're adding new shows absolutely every week.
Susie Monaghan: You were talking about support, and I did want to talk just briefly about the Sparkling Night at the Smith event, which this year is going to be February 1st. So that features sparkling wines from throughout the region, light bites. We're going to dig in this year with the fact that our founder, William Smith, was a spiritualist. So he believed that you could talk to the dead, and he actually held seances at the Smith on the third floor. And so we wanted to dig into that and play on that theme. So we're going to have some folks who do that sort of tarot and psychic things, but mostly it's about gathering with your friends and neighbors.
Paul Szmal: We've got to hold that thought, and we'll get back together again soon, because I'm almost out of time for this one. But we'll talk again real soon about great 2025 stuff, and thanks as always.
Susie Monaghan: Thanks, Ted.
