Interesting article, thanks for sharing it. I'm already aware how old movies are this unknown thing amongst most people of a certain age. I've been watching them for more than a decade and this past weekend was only the second time I had a friend who's not from the Internet and close to my age who actually watched an old movie with me. My roomate watched CASABLANCA last year but that's one of the only old films he likes and this past Saturday a friend and I watched MODERN TIMES together. He enjoyed it. I just wonder if that was the first time MODERN TIMES shared a double bill with AC/DC's LET THERE BE ROCK concert film, but I digress.
The part about the prestige movies being big events shown only in big cities upon initial release is interesting. This past weekend, my parents were telling me they went on a school field trip when they were 9 to see BEN-HUR, but they had to go all the way to New Haven, which was a half hour away. That was the only place in the area showing BEN-HUR, at least according to my parents.