The Almo Theater (theatre) was built by one J. H. Almos, a local boat builder. Its first sound was phonograph records synchronized (mostly) with the picture. I, and many of my friends (Don Hood, Vernon Herrick, et al, were projectionists when the theater was owned by George B. (Ben) White, Bill Haugen, and then Joe Lilquist. Its structure is still in place but no longer a shop of any kind. I started in the nitrate film days and can still smell the stuff. The whine of the DC generator for the arc lamps, the sputtering of the copper-clad arc rods, the smell of film cement using the Griswold splicer, adding cue marks to make changeovers…. etc. A world long gone. The curtain for the screen was hand-cranked from the ceiling of the projection booth, and many a hat and coat went sailing down the side of the auditorium when the curtains opened and someone had hung their garment on the cable.
The Almo Theater (theatre) was built by one J. H. Almos, a local boat builder. Its first sound was phonograph records synchronized (mostly) with the picture. I, and many of my friends (Don Hood, Vernon Herrick, et al, were projectionists when the theater was owned by George B. (Ben) White, Bill Haugen, and then Joe Lilquist. Its structure is still in place but no longer a shop of any kind. I started in the nitrate film days and can still smell the stuff. The whine of the DC generator for the arc lamps, the sputtering of the copper-clad arc rods, the smell of film cement using the Griswold splicer, adding cue marks to make changeovers…. etc. A world long gone. The curtain for the screen was hand-cranked from the ceiling of the projection booth, and many a hat and coat went sailing down the side of the auditorium when the curtains opened and someone had hung their garment on the cable.