MOVIES - Jan. 1, 1988

A Rhode Island theater chain is continuing to play the national anthem before rolling the feature film--in spite of growing protests to the practice. Since 1956, Stella Erinakes, a partner in the 20-screen SSC Cinemas of Rhode Island, has mandated the evening’s entertainment be prefaced with the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “Maybe we’re just patriotic,” Erinakes told the Providence Journal-Bulletin. “Freedom, I hope, means the same thing to everybody. I’d have to be a cripple not to stand up (for the anthem).” Others do not agree. “I think it’s completely offensive,” said Libby Isham of Newport. “I don’t think it’s right (for a movie theater) to have a military tone.”