Subject:
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The History of Building Movie Palaces.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build
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Date:
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Thu, 27 May 1999 15:32:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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729 times
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Last week I met some of my fellow Michigan AFOLs in Ann Arbor for lunch,
and brought along an incomplete Theater building (Movie Palace) that I
was building. They really like my Notched Arch Art Deco design. This
was one of 2 Movie Palaces I am in the process of building.
Movie Palaces are an American invention, that took the glories of
European Opera Houses and combined it with American vaudeville (live
stage acts) and Hollywood movies. The greatest of these movie palaces
were built across the USA and Canada from 1913 to about 1930. Some of
the largest have over 5000 seats, and were enormous temples of
entertainment. (Marcus Loew, the famous New York movie palace mogul
said "We sell tickets to Theatres, not movies". ) Usually they had an
office building attached to the front (street side) of the building,
with a large auditorium on the back. They were of 3 major types - 1)
Palace, 2) Temple, 3) Atmospheric. The Palace type copied all the
glories of European Baroque, Rococco, Renaissance and Neoclassic
styles. The Temple style copied the oriental styles of Asia (India,
Siam, Cambodia, China, etc.), as well as European Gothic and Romanesque,
and Middle Eastern styles (Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian,
etc). These theaters looked like religious buildings. The Atmospheric
style of theater had an auditorium whose ceiling and upper walls were
plain, and painted a sky blue. The side walls of these theaters looked
like building fronts that made you feel like you were in a courtyard.
When the lights went out, the ceilings gave off an evening sky look, and
even small lights were set into the ceiling to resemble stars.
Now why am I telling you all this? Because Movie Palace structures
don't need a lot of windows to build in LEGO. That means that they are
pretty easy, even for those of moderate means. You need a few windows
for the front of the building (the office part), and that's all. The
majority of the building (the auditorium), require absolutely no windows
whatsoever. Just some exit doors. The plain walls can be decorated
with some different colored bricks, with patterns made into the
brickwork (stripes, columns, etc).
Since most LEGO collectors have a lot more bricks than they do windows,
a Movie Palace would be an easy way to build a large building without
worrying about running out of windows.
For inspiration on Movie Palace designs, check your library or
bookstore. Famous authors who wrote picture books about moie palaces
are:
Ben Hall - "THE BEST REMAINING SEATS"
David Naylor - "AMERICAN PICTURE PALACES"
Finally, I love Movie Palaces because I have live most of my life in or
near Detroit (spent my first 5 years living in Germany) and Detroit has
one of the greatest surviving collections of old theaters in the world
(11 movie palaces downtown). And I also give theater tours once or
twice a year.
At some point in the future, I may sponsor a LEGO building contest with
a "Movie Palace" theme.
Again, off on a tangent.....
Gary Istok
P.S. If anyone is interested, here is the world's largest surviving
Movie palace - the 5174 seat Detroit Fox Theatre (in a Siamese-Byzantine
"Temple" style):
http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/preserve/phissite/foxtheat.html
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