Crowne Plaza in the Spotlight!
Friday, April 24th, 2009From small screen to big screen the Crowne Plaza has always held a place in the spotlight. Television history was made at the hotel on Sunday September 12, 1948 when WIVB Buffalo broadcast live from Niagara Falls with cameras positioned on the 11th Floor balcony. It was the first time Niagara Falls was shown on television, and marked the first international broadcast made in North America. Dignitaries from both sides of the border watched the broadcast on screens setup in the hotel’s Blue Room, as it would take another four years for the hotel to become the first Canadian hotel to install a television set.
It would take another 45 years for the hotel to make the jump to the silver screen. The 1999 hit “A Whole Nine Yards” featured Matthew Perry and Natasha Henstridge as they danced into happily ever after with the Falls as a spectacular backdrop once again capturing the view from the balcony.
Next time: The Crowne expands
Thanks for reading,
John Scott – General Manager
The Crowne’s most talked about brush with fame was playing host to Marilyn Monroe in 1952 while filming the movie “Niagara”. Today her picture hangs in the lobby, but at the time she was at the start of an infamous career and the Crowne was at the start of a Hollywood love-affair that would later include a silver screen cameo in the “Whole Nine Yards”