Classic Films & Stars On the Carpet

Here is a video of Rheem Theatre owner Derek Zemrak shortly after his press conference earlier this week to announce plans for a Classic Film Hall of Fame at the Moraga theatre.

In the video, he talks about how the idea came to him of a hall of fame to celebrate pioneers and to capture memorabilia of the film era that is being neglected.

In the video, he says "the other day" — but he explained later that he was talking about a couple of months ago. As he was thinking about sprucing up the carpet of the Rheem Theatre for a March 23-24 appearance by actor Rita Moreno (who won an Oscar in West Side Story), Zemrak mused about putting hall of fame stars on the carpet.

See the NBC Bay Area report on Moreno's appearance. After a showing of West Side Story, Moreno — who lives in the Berkeley hills — did a Q&A with the audience and signed her new book, Rita Moreno: A Memoir.

The Rheem Theatre is launching the Classic Film Hall of Fame with an induction weekend May 10-12, with commitments from actors Mickey Rooney and Cloris Leachman to attend and be inducted, Zemrak said. Moreno is going to try to make the induction weekend May 10-12, Zemrak said, but she is now on a movie project in Europe.