Color or Black and White Movie Marquee is the Talk of Madison

MADISON, CT – While there are certainly more important issues confronting Madison residents the one issue that is striking up more conversations around town is the LED movie marquee at the Madison Art Cinemas.

It is certainly the talk of the town – and there seems to be two distinct camps. One believes the marquee should be allowed to shine its bright color lights – which is did for the first few weeks it was lit up – in violation of town zoning regulations.

Others believe the sign should be in the black and white lettering (as it now is) that was originally approved. We at Patch have decided it would be fun to post both photos - COLOR and BLACK and WHITE - and let you decide which you like better.

Some miss the color sign.

As a Madison resident told this Patch reporter who was photographing the black and white sign on Wednesday, “What’s the big deal? I like the color lights. It brings some pizazz to downtown.”

But the marquee now displays the more boring black and white letters, which is what Director of Planning and Economic Development David Anderson said was what the Planning and Zoning Commission approved.

Theater owner Arnold Gorlick told the PZC that it was his intention to have that type of sign but the sign company told him to only way to comply with that directive was to purchase fully color sign – which he said came at a cost of $30,000, not the $8,000 he originally envisioned the sign would cost.

Once the sign was installed, Gorlick said he no longer had “control over the marquee” and he apologized to the commission for the misunderstanding.

Anderson stated that it wasn’t zoners problem the issues that Gorlick had with the sign company – that it was simply the PZC’s responsibility to enforce regulations.

The PZC directed Gorlick that if he wanted the sign to to continue to display movie shows in color – then he needed to return to the PZC with an amended application seeking such approval.

In the meantime, the marquee sign is now flashing the more understated, black and white lettering.

So, check out the two different photos below.

Photos by Jack Kramer