NONFICTION - Jan. 26, 1992

TICKET TO PARADISE: American Movie Theaters and How We Had Fun by John Margolies and Emily Gwathmey (Bulfinch Press: $29.95; 144 pp.) Should anyone care to dispute the fact that the moviegoing experience has declined over the past decades, this amiable book is further proof of the glories that used to be. Filled with crisp color photographs (many of the theaters since torn down) taken over a 20-year period by cameraman Margolies, “Paradise” not only shows the great and gorgeous variety of facades that theaters once boasted (above, the Butterfly Theatre in Milwaukee, Wis.) but also adds the sweet reminiscences of the likes of an ex-box office girl and a former silent-film projectionist. All in all, a wistful postcard from the past.