Confessions of a teenage usher


York grad Gerry Flahive’s article on the “guilty pleasures” of coming of age as a teenage movie usher 30 years ago at Toronto’s Imperial Six appeared in the Toronto Star July 4. Wrote Flahive: “I don’t think anyone is going to make a feature film, a la Fast Times At Ridgemont High, based on my early 1970s adventures at the somewhat-forgotten and largely underrated palace of guilty pleasures, Yonge St.’s Imperial Six. But if they did, it probably would be called Usherettes Galore, or Extreme Usher, or even Matinee Idle. And it would be the kind of movie that probably would have played at the Imperial Six.” Flahive (BA ’78), now a successful film producer for the National Film Board, also mentions he met his future wife amid the plush and popcorn.



York grad featured in Fringe


An article on “Women of the Fringe”, Eye Weekly July 3, highlights the work of York theatre grad Jessamyn Needham, whose co-production of Girls! Girls! Girls! runs as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival until July 13. Needham (BFA ’02) produced the show in concert with other York alumni from the theatre program. Girls! deals with the balance between sexual empowerment and promiscuity.


On the air



  • On CBC Radio’s “The Current” July 2, political economist and social scientist Professor Daniel Drache spoke about why Mexico has not taken over as the United States’ main trading partner, and on the future of Canada-Mexico trade relations. Drache is also the associate director of York’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.