Barco WDX-4K40s in vaudville Opera Boxes!

[Ryan Gallagher]

This was the madness we had to accommodate last night. Can't say I wish to repeat this experience. 200lbs each, 250 with the fly cages.

Even when we stole the entire crew for an all-skate, it's still only really possible to get 4 people around for the lift in most of the circuitous path it had to take. Used about 8 people so rotations could happen as needed.

Two Barco UDX 4K40s lasers carried up 3 flights of lobby and vom stairs, and then down two flights of narrow historical venue aisles, through a tiny hallway with stairs into the Opera Boxes. Rinse and repeat in reverse on the load out. On the load out we added span-sets to get better handles and leverage since in many places only two people barely fit at the ends of it carried in the vertical position.

IMG_6555.jpgIMG_6554.jpg

The show was a little too big for our room, slight programming fail. Travels with a front truss that would normally host these beasts, but not enough depth to use it in our venue with their dual cyc "V" configuration. We asked all the questions to the advance folks, but no response until they walked in the building and we had to punt. Better luck next time.

I wish our stage was rated for a forklift... cause we had a rental one yesterday... and with the long forks it actually would have reached to the lip of the lower box from the stage edge for shelfing the projector up there. Permanent motor points downstage of the proscenium could have been equally useful, either for their truss, or just as a lifting point closer to the opera box. The joys of historic venues!

Opera box as projection location was new to me, so thought I'd share my suffering. Worst projector carry so far except for the occasional 4K DCI brought in for a premiere carried all the way to the top with a hush box too. But at least we have a proper heads up and regular sized stairs for most of that carry when it happens.

[Jim Cassedy]

Did you have power up there? The few old-style opera boxes I've seen had no AC outlets.
( Electric outlet in the auditoriums in my 1916 venue are also sparse )

[Ryan Gallagher]

Did you have power up there? The few old-style opera boxes I've seen had no AC outlets.
( Electric outlet in the auditoriums in my 1916 venue are also sparse )

We have some 110v in the mezz, but these needed 220v and ran from a distro DSL. That part is relatively easy.

When we have a visiting cinema projector there is spare power in the booth. Until the advent of geometry correction these always went on a scaffolding platform in the upper balc, but now there are a few more options if we had better port glass for our spotlight positions.

[Frank Angel]

I worked in the Loew's Kings (circa 1930s) in Brooklyn, and I once opened up a wall outlet and saw the cloth covered, wire that was in there that fell apart just by moving the wire and I was scared me enough that no way was I going to even plug a 60 watt bulb into it. Even in our 2500 seater build in the early 50s, the rubber insolation can crumble pretty easily.

BTW, Ryan, that opera house is stunning -- very similar to the Loew's Kings here which was designed by Rapp and Rapp who did many of the Loew's "Wonder Theatres" in the 30s. After years of our efforts to get the theatre restored -- MANY attempts were made over the years to bulldoze it, in malls, bowling alleys, botiques and all manner of nonsense, but luckily, it was recently beautifully restored.
https://youtu.be/S0mWAjopkhQ?si=rEElkmmN5Q9cVOd8

[Jim Cassedy]

<edited> I worked in the Loew's Kings (circa 1930s) in Brooklyn,
and I once opened up a wall outlet and saw the cloth covered, wire that was in there
that fell apart just by moving the wire and I was scared me enough that no way was
I going to even plug a 60 watt bulb into it. Even in our 2500 seater build in the early
50s, the rubber insolation can crumble pretty easily.

Waaaay back some time in the late 1970's, while i was still living and working on Long Island,
I saw a PBS documentary on some UHF TV station called "The Kings Of Flatbush", and it
was that show which made me realize how much I loved old theaters, but didn't know it yet.
Is that the same theater you worked at? My parents, (who passed away in their 90's several
years ago) told me that it was one of the places they went on movie dates together.
There's a reasonably watchable copy of that documentary on You Tube, last time I checked.
I have trouble watching it, the same way I have trouble paging through my SF FOX Theater
book, because I get such a feeling of melancholy, and even an occasional tear in my eyes,
when I think about how many such places are gone. But I'm grateful that some of those
cinema palaces have survived, and that I've even gotten to work at a few of them in my
so called projection 'career'.

A while back, I had a friend who had managed to buy a house here in San Francisco,
which was probably built not too long after the 1906 earthquake. I had agreed to help
run internet cabling to some of the rooms for him, and while I was crawling around
under the house and in the attic running cables, he asked me if I could take a look
at the ceiling light fixture and switch in one of the bedrooms which he said was
occasionally flickering. Well, it turns out that a large portion of the wiring in that
house was from the original construction, and the wiring in several rooms, such
as that bedroom fixture, was actually done by pulling electric wires through the
old pipes that were used for gas lighting. The copper was old, brittle and oxidized,
and the insulation, which might have been cotton or some other cloth impregnated
with some preservative, crumbled as soon as you touched it. I told my friend that
it would be very unwise for me to attempt any repairs, and that he needed to call
in an actual, licensed electrician.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I worked in the Loew's Kings (circa 1930s) in Brooklyn, and I once opened up a wall outlet and saw the cloth covered, wire that was in there that fell apart just by moving the wire and I was scared me enough that no way was I going to even plug a 60 watt bulb into it. Even in our 2500 seater build in the early 50s, the rubber insolation can crumble pretty easily.

BTW, Ryan, that opera house is stunning -- very similar to the Loew's Kings here which was designed by Rapp and Rapp who did many of the Loew's "Wonder Theatres" in the 30s. After years of our efforts to get the theatre restored -- MANY attempts were made over the years to bulldoze it, in malls, bowling alleys, botiques and all manner of nonsense, but luckily, it was recently beautifully restored.
https://youtu.be/S0mWAjopkhQ?si=rEElkmmN5Q9cVOd8

If I'm not mistaken iWeiss is whom is orchestrating our planned historical restoration too. Although our theatre is not nearly as "grand" as the Loew's Kings in the video you shared... our lobby is not nearly as expansive. Ours was originally a "Majestic" named theatre and designed by John Eberson in 1915, later became a Paramount Pictures owned film cinema. It too almost became a parking lot or garage and was saved by a local effort and theatre company and became the mixed use live/film venue it still is today.

Interestingly Paramount Pictures took out the original opera boxes... they got reconstructed in it's first partial restoration decades ago. It wasn't too long ago that we got our "blade" restored too. I look forward to seeing what the full plaster and paint restoration is going to do to the old gal.

Aesthetically the one thing I wish was different is that most of the "high" decorative elements stop beyond the dome in the house... i'm not sure the exact reason, but once being a segregated venue in the south probably has something to do with it, upper balcony walls and ceiling feel kinda left out, and are way too boxy compared to the gorgeous curves and arches everywhere else.

[Paul Finn]

I have seen theaters built in the late 20s/early 30s with lead insulated wiring that was built into the cement and plaster structure of the building.

Paul Finn

[Ryan Gallagher]

I have seen theaters built in the late 20s/early 30s with lead insulated wiring that was built into the cement and plaster structure of the building.

Paul Finn

Most of our electrical has been redone in recent times. I can't speak for all the wall outlets scattered around FOH in the venue, but everything production uses is modern... ETC dimmer racks, modern service panels and disconnects... with one glaring exception in that there are some auxiliary booth circuits that still have a breaker panel with glass fuses. Those are probably not original, but still very vintage... I'm hopeful a redo can be part of the renovation.

EDIT: Also title correction: They were Barco UDX 4K40s as the road case states, I got it right in the body but missed on the OP title. ;-)