Silent Photoplay Forum

This one is cool, on the same page as Jean's poem. I like it because of all the names of the photoplays included.

That was a bit of work!

Those pesky ladies! Isn't it funny that many things women do to look pretty are really for their own benefit?

Man, women's hats and/or hair blocking the screen was really a big issue back then, wasn't it? I guess most theaters then didn't have a sloped floor putting the screen at a good angle to avoid that.

donnie wrote: ↑

Sun May 21, 2017 3:34 pm

I guess most theaters then didn't have a sloped floor putting the screen at a good angle to avoid that.

Yes, I think that the flat floor type was common in theaters of play and stage till even the 80s. We have a performance center here that was redone in the 80s, and it is like that.

I know the Fox Theatre in Atlanta has a steeply sloping floor, and it was built in the '20s, but that may have been an exception to the rule, or maybe only the big movie palaces had them. Probably a lot of the earliest theaters were converted from buildings of other original purposes.

That's interesting!! I may be going to Atlanta in August. I have to find that theater to see. Have you seen it? Does it retain an old look?

Yes, it was built in the 20's and has been kept pretty much the same—still has the original theatre organ. It is in an Arab/Moorish style of architecture—kind of a Rudolph Valentino-ish thing, I guess.
My wife went there a few weeks ago to see Norah Jones. I haven't been there in many years.

Wow! Is that a personal picture? Beautiful. We will at least drive by there to see the outside when we go.

No, not a personal photo, it was online. It's been such a long time since I was there, I couldn't remember exactly what it looked like. Don't know that there is too much to see from the street.

I always wanted to hear the theatre organ in there. I think theatre organs are fascinating. I remember the first time I heard a recording of one, I was surprised at how different it sounded from a church organ. Here is an interesting video in which the organist at the Fox is talking about playing it. I could never in a million years do something like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYqOlIaPKY