Annette Hinkle's 'Sag Harbor: 100 Years Of Film In The Village' Pays Homage To Sag Harbor Cinema

In January 2017, just one month after the loss of the iconic Sag Harbor Cinema in a fire that wreaked havoc throughout Sag Harbor Village, locals were unsure of what was to become of the gaping hole on Main Street where the building stood as a theater since 1936.That’s when veteran East End journalist and East Hampton local Annette Hinkle was approached by Pauline Neuwirth, the president of the New York-based book design and production company Neuwirth and Associates. Ms. Neuwirth, in the process of developing a local publishing company called the East End Press, was looking for fresh content to publish. She discovered Ms. Hinkle through the “Media Mavens” radio show, a weekly conversation of Hamptons happenings with WPPB 88.3 FM personality Bonnie Grice and journalists from local publications. Ms. Neuwirth asked Ms. Hinkle, who had never written a book before, if they could work together on something about the cinema and the extensive history behind it.

Of course, Ms. Hinkle was happy to pay homage to the movie theater that was adored by locals and visitors for generations, but she had to get to the bottom of what was in store for the cinema’s future before she could begin. “Nobody really had any sense of what was going to happen with the cinema,” she recalled. “It was very much in limbo at that time.”

Together, Ms. Hinkle and Ms. Neuwirth reached out to April Gornik, artist and vice president of the Sag Harbor Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and enhancing the quality of life in Sag Harbor. “We learned there were hopes that maybe the cinema was going to be rebuilt as a nonprofit,” she said. That hope was enough to drive Ms. Hinkle to undertake the project.

“We started with the idea that something might happen, then it just caught a wave,” Ms. Hinkle said. As she worked on the book, titled “Sag Harbor: 100 Years of Film in the Village,” over the next four months, the cinema received countless sponsors and donations from many businesses and people including celebrities such as Billy Joel, Andy Cohen and Harvey Weinstein. Today, the Sag Harbor Partnership has surpassed $4 million in pledges toward the reconstruction of the theater.

Ms. Hinkle went to work on her love letter to the cinema keeping a goal in mind of finishing it in time for the Sag Harbor Partnership’s benefit party on Sunday, July 16. As a longtime local, she had no trouble finding a variety of residents to speak to who grew up visiting the theater and watching its history unfold. As she researched, the book started to turn into much more than just an ode to the cinema. “What it really started to become was a history of film in Sag Harbor since 1907,” she said.

“The book is interesting in that it looks at the transition of film in Sag Harbor even before the cinema,” Ms. Hinkle went on to say, noting that there were several vaudeville/movie theaters in the village before the cinema was created. “Then, the Sag Harbor Cinema we all know and love was built in 1936.”

She discovered that the cinema and its famed art deco neon sign were built by renowned theater designer John Eberson, and she was even able to find the original schematic drawings he made for the cinema. It was purchased in 1978 by Jerry Mallow, who continues to own the property, and Ms. Hinkle said he is credited with transforming it from a run-of-the-mill theater into an arts cinema featuring independent and foreign films.

Ms. Hinkle is hoping that the book will lead people to donate toward rebuilding the cinema. “Sag Harbor: 100 Years of Film in the Village” will make its debut at a signing with Ms. Hinkle hosted by village retailer Sylvester and Co. A portion of the proceeds from each copy sold will be given to the Sag Harbor Partnership to benefit the cinema.

Although the coffee- table book is chock-full of facts, narrative and photos, it is only a stepping-stone toward unveiling more history about Sag Harbor.

“I feel like we did well with the timeline we had, but really the book is just scratching the surface,” Ms. Hinkle reflected.

The book signing for “Sag Harbor: 100 Years of Film in the Village,” will take place at Sylvester and Co. on Main Street in Sag Harbor on Saturday, July 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. The Sag Harbor Partnership’s party for the cinema will be Sunday, July 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Long Wharf. For more information about the event, visit sylvesterandco.com.