The night before the Uptown Theatre was shut down, Patrick Cross and Rich Gill packed up and took inventory. Then, as they do each week, they weighed what to write on the marquee.
"I'll Be Back" from "The Terminator" felt too obvious. Something inspirational? Never crossed their minds. In the end, they settled on a pair of movie quotes, snagged from "Clerks" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
"I Assure You We're Not Open."
"You're Still Here?" Space. "It's Over." Space. "Go Home." Longer space. "Go."
The tone — familiar, funny, irreverent — is typical of the Uptown's marquee, known for bantering with its Minneapolis neighbors. For decades, rather than simply posting a movie's title, star and director, staffers at the historic single-screen movie theater have been more likely to make a joke.
"Emma," the marquee asserted recently. "Based on the Hit 1995 Film Clueless."
For "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," it noted, "It's an Art Film."
"In this day and age of social media, everyone can be clever on Twitter in 280 characters," said Gill, the theater's lead assistant manager. "With a marquee, you only have 15, 20 words you can fit up there. That speaks to the cleverness of the people at the theater.