When it was operating as the Patio (and perhaps during the early Playhouse era) it was also a vaudeville house. When I worked there in the ‘60s it still had footlights, “X-Ray” borders, a vintage carbon arc spotlight, several sets of drapes, dressing rooms and an orchestra pit. The original square format movie screen (still there) was mounted on the upstage wall. It would be interesting to know who played there during that era ?
I did relief work with the union (local 224) for four years(65-69)while I was in the Air Force. I kept busy because I was willing to work anywhere – including the porn houses and art houses; places many of the FT guys' wives objected to. I wound up working many of the theaters in the area that no longer exist. The drive-ins are all paved over. If you were an archeologist from another planet you could find no solid evidence that any of these drive-ins ever existed. You can go to the AFI in Silver Spring and see a couple of Simplex with little 50Amp Peerless Arc’s in the lobby.
I’m not sure which one I worked at – I think it was the Sky Chief. It had a monster projection booth with water cooled arc lamps and a water jacket around the gate to keep the heat from melting the film. When you struck the arc, it felt like the whole neighborhood would dim down for a second……
I only worked the Naylor once, as a relief projectionist, in the early 70’s. It had an extremely high quality booth with Super Simplex XL projectors, magnetic sound heads, and a selsyn interlock for running dual reel 3D films.
I worked there as a relief projectionist from 1969 – 1972. The owners knew so little about theater operations that when they built it they put the projection booth in the corner at a 45 degree angle to the screen. It had to be hurriedly extended. The booth had a pair of broken down Simplex with no magazines. One day I came in to work and found them running nitrate film !!! The speakers behind the screen were Radio Shack metal horns. The place was often packed. It was difficult to do a changeover without getting high from the smoke wafting in through the port windows….
I worked there as a relief projectionist from 1965-1968. “Shorty” was the chief projectionist. Allen??, the owners son was the other projectionist. It showed foreign and “art House” films. Many films would be assigned viewing for U of F students. The booth was a standard RCA/Simplex configuration with Peerless arc lamps.
Projection and Sound were indeed superb. This was an early Phillips (Norelco) 70 mm installation. They had a chain hoist to help handle the big 70mm reels. Cliff Brigham?? was one of the projectionists there. I saw a 70mm release of the Cinerama feature “How the West Was Won” there.
I worked concessions at this drive in one summer (maybe 1965). The soft drink folks would come out and set the mix ratio (5-1) between the syrup and the soda water. As soon as they left, the manager would come in and crank the screws down to about 10-1. We made “pizza” by taking the crust and spreading 1 tablespoon of sauce across the crust. One day, I chastised the mgr. for wasting sauce. I showed her that if you rubbed two crusts together you could do two pizzas with only one tablespoon of sauce. She adopted the idea immediately !!
I flew down from DC and visited the Playhouse today, fully intending to make a good offer to purchase the property. Regretfully, I found the theater in such poor condition that, in my opinion, any theater renovation effort would likely be prohibitively expensive. My best guess would be on the order of $20M.
The bar folks appeared to have destroyed virtually everything that would have been of value in a theater renovation effort. The balcony risers and projection booth are gone. The main floor, stage, and orchestra pit are bastardized to accommodate the bar. (I have posted a picture.) The roof has been penetrated and evidences major water damage in several places. So, shed a tear and have a drink to the old Playhouse. She did her best, but her various owners neither respected her nor gave her the care she deserved. May she rest in peace.
Playhouse trivia….The curtain was indeed opened and closed by hand, when someone bothered. There were tape marks on the rope to show the proper masking positions, again if someone bothered to follow them…….
Is the building still for sale ?? Does anyone know how much and who the seller is ??
The Patio/Playhouse was originally a vaudeville house; with stage, footlights and spotlight, flyloft, orchestra pit, and dressing rooms. When the roof was put on, the building was air-conditioned; probably one of the first buildings in St. Pete to be so equipped. In the early days, the theater ran nitrate film. Its a wonder it never burned down. Bill Moore
The Playhouse was owned and operated by the Boardman family. They also operated the Royal theater in St. Petersburg. The Royal was the “colored” theater in town, an old un air-conditioned Quonset hut. The Playhouse was in financial trouble in the early ‘60s, unable to compete for first run films with the chain theaters. The Boardmans hung on, hoping that the freeway would be built through their property. In 1963, Boardman had managed to secure the exhibition rights for a little known film “Lilies of the Field”. He was running the film at the Royal when Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award. He quickly moved the film to the Playhouse where it ran SRO for four weeks, saving the theater financially and breathing new momentum into it for a few more years. If someone has an active plan to save this old theater, feel free to contact me.
When it was operating as the Patio (and perhaps during the early Playhouse era) it was also a vaudeville house. When I worked there in the ‘60s it still had footlights, “X-Ray” borders, a vintage carbon arc spotlight, several sets of drapes, dressing rooms and an orchestra pit. The original square format movie screen (still there) was mounted on the upstage wall. It would be interesting to know who played there during that era ?
Hi,
I did relief work with the union (local 224) for four years(65-69)while I was in the Air Force. I kept busy because I was willing to work anywhere – including the porn houses and art houses; places many of the FT guys' wives objected to. I wound up working many of the theaters in the area that no longer exist. The drive-ins are all paved over. If you were an archeologist from another planet you could find no solid evidence that any of these drive-ins ever existed. You can go to the AFI in Silver Spring and see a couple of Simplex with little 50Amp Peerless Arc’s in the lobby.
Hi Douglix,
I’m not sure which one I worked at – I think it was the Sky Chief. It had a monster projection booth with water cooled arc lamps and a water jacket around the gate to keep the heat from melting the film. When you struck the arc, it felt like the whole neighborhood would dim down for a second……
Hi Mike,
There was a drive in on 210 outside the beltway. I worked there briefly as a relief projectionist in 1970. Do you know the name ??
I only worked the Naylor once, as a relief projectionist, in the early 70’s. It had an extremely high quality booth with Super Simplex XL projectors, magnetic sound heads, and a selsyn interlock for running dual reel 3D films.
I worked there as a relief projectionist from 1969 – 1972. The owners knew so little about theater operations that when they built it they put the projection booth in the corner at a 45 degree angle to the screen. It had to be hurriedly extended. The booth had a pair of broken down Simplex with no magazines. One day I came in to work and found them running nitrate film !!! The speakers behind the screen were Radio Shack metal horns. The place was often packed. It was difficult to do a changeover without getting high from the smoke wafting in through the port windows….
I worked there as a relief projectionist from 1965-1968. “Shorty” was the chief projectionist. Allen??, the owners son was the other projectionist. It showed foreign and “art House” films. Many films would be assigned viewing for U of F students. The booth was a standard RCA/Simplex configuration with Peerless arc lamps.
Projection and Sound were indeed superb. This was an early Phillips (Norelco) 70 mm installation. They had a chain hoist to help handle the big 70mm reels. Cliff Brigham?? was one of the projectionists there. I saw a 70mm release of the Cinerama feature “How the West Was Won” there.
I worked concessions at this drive in one summer (maybe 1965). The soft drink folks would come out and set the mix ratio (5-1) between the syrup and the soda water. As soon as they left, the manager would come in and crank the screws down to about 10-1. We made “pizza” by taking the crust and spreading 1 tablespoon of sauce across the crust. One day, I chastised the mgr. for wasting sauce. I showed her that if you rubbed two crusts together you could do two pizzas with only one tablespoon of sauce. She adopted the idea immediately !!
I flew down from DC and visited the Playhouse today, fully intending to make a good offer to purchase the property. Regretfully, I found the theater in such poor condition that, in my opinion, any theater renovation effort would likely be prohibitively expensive. My best guess would be on the order of $20M. The bar folks appeared to have destroyed virtually everything that would have been of value in a theater renovation effort. The balcony risers and projection booth are gone. The main floor, stage, and orchestra pit are bastardized to accommodate the bar. (I have posted a picture.) The roof has been penetrated and evidences major water damage in several places. So, shed a tear and have a drink to the old Playhouse. She did her best, but her various owners neither respected her nor gave her the care she deserved. May she rest in peace.
Hello Historic Gal: I was hoping to hear from you… Bill
I tried the number above but the person answering did not know anything….any other lead on the building ??
Bill
Playhouse trivia….The curtain was indeed opened and closed by hand, when someone bothered. There were tape marks on the rope to show the proper masking positions, again if someone bothered to follow them…….
Is the building still for sale ?? Does anyone know how much and who the seller is ??
The Patio/Playhouse was originally a vaudeville house; with stage, footlights and spotlight, flyloft, orchestra pit, and dressing rooms. When the roof was put on, the building was air-conditioned; probably one of the first buildings in St. Pete to be so equipped. In the early days, the theater ran nitrate film. Its a wonder it never burned down. Bill Moore
The Playhouse was owned and operated by the Boardman family. They also operated the Royal theater in St. Petersburg. The Royal was the “colored” theater in town, an old un air-conditioned Quonset hut. The Playhouse was in financial trouble in the early ‘60s, unable to compete for first run films with the chain theaters. The Boardmans hung on, hoping that the freeway would be built through their property. In 1963, Boardman had managed to secure the exhibition rights for a little known film “Lilies of the Field”. He was running the film at the Royal when Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award. He quickly moved the film to the Playhouse where it ran SRO for four weeks, saving the theater financially and breathing new momentum into it for a few more years. If someone has an active plan to save this old theater, feel free to contact me.