I last saw Arthur Chandler in our shop in South Boston, Major Theatre Equipment. He was in to buy carbons for his his arc projector, it must have been around 2002, prior to that he would come in on a regular basis. I was sorry to hear of his passing he was a nice guy. The equipment in the Wolly goes way back, I know we replaced the screen years ago. The projector is carbon arc and I have no idea what type of sound system is in there.
Arthur had told me that the boiler needed to be replaced and that he was working on the roof the last time I saw him.
I grew up in North Quincy and would really hate to see the Wolly go the way of the wrecking ball. We have been involved in dozens of renovations on old theatres, the ones that seem to be doing the best are the ones that are set up to show movies as well as do live performances. Most of the old Vaudeville type theatres had fully functional stages with overhead rigging. As time passed and many of them were converted to movie theatres, They would build a frame in the proscenium opening and install a projection screen and some side maskings, all of the old rigging and many times the scenery would be falling down behind the screens.
If the Wolly could be renovated as a multi-use space, I think it would do very well.
I last saw Arthur Chandler in our shop in South Boston, Major Theatre Equipment. He was in to buy carbons for his his arc projector, it must have been around 2002, prior to that he would come in on a regular basis. I was sorry to hear of his passing he was a nice guy. The equipment in the Wolly goes way back, I know we replaced the screen years ago. The projector is carbon arc and I have no idea what type of sound system is in there.
Arthur had told me that the boiler needed to be replaced and that he was working on the roof the last time I saw him.
I grew up in North Quincy and would really hate to see the Wolly go the way of the wrecking ball. We have been involved in dozens of renovations on old theatres, the ones that seem to be doing the best are the ones that are set up to show movies as well as do live performances. Most of the old Vaudeville type theatres had fully functional stages with overhead rigging. As time passed and many of them were converted to movie theatres, They would build a frame in the proscenium opening and install a projection screen and some side maskings, all of the old rigging and many times the scenery would be falling down behind the screens.
If the Wolly could be renovated as a multi-use space, I think it would do very well.