John Gilbert > Save The Rialto Theater Report 6/08/09

Report 6-08-09

It's no fun getting up at 7 AM on a Saturday morning but June 6th was
well worth it. Melanie and I had breakfast with several contributors
of the Columbusgeorgiaonline.com site. At 9 AM we moved to the Rialto.
I was pleased to see the new front which is now finished and gives new
life to the old theater. We entered the dusty building which hadn't
changed from my last visit. I gave a tour of the lobby and showed our
little group where the concession stand and ticket booth were. We then
went into the auditorium and took in the spaciousness of the large
empty room. I explained that vandals had torn the screen and water had
damaged the ceiling and floor. I even went and turned on the basement
lights but only our friend Brandon ventured into the bowels of the
theater. We next moved to the balcony to get a birds eye view of the
auditorium. Then I lead everyone to my favorite room, the projection
booth. There I turned on the music but only the booth monitor worked.
I'd have to check out the problem with the main speaker later. In a
few moments Reynolds Bickerstaff climbed the stairs to the booth.
Everyone started asking him questions and climbed back down to the
balcony. While they did this, I started the projector and ran the last
few feet of film through the it, showing it onto the screen so my
guests could see a picture on the screen.

While everyone talked in the balcony, I set to work taking the feed arm
off the projector. I had a new and better one that I had brought from
home. It only took a few minutes to change the arm and I joined my
friends in the balcony. I asked if anyone had any ideas that we might
consider for a fund raiser so work could continue on the Rialto. We
knocked a couple of ideas around but shortly I had to leave. Melanie
had to drive to Eufaula, AL for a family reunion.

We spent several hours at the reunion and drove back to the Rialto.
Melanie's mom, dad, and sister stopped by to see the theater on the way
back to Stockbridge. After they left I had one more task I wanted to
tackle. Why weren't the ceiling lights working in the auditorium? I
found a working bulb and shoved it into my pocket and started up the
ladder to the attic. I had seen some kind of a cat walk on one of my
visits and I figured that's how they must have changed the lights back
in the day. The attic was very dark as I held my flashlight in my
teeth and climbed over a very dusty air conditioning duct and squeezed
between a row of 2X4 studs and onto the cat walk. The cat walk turned
out to be a 10' long 2X8 supported in the middle by a thin metal strap
that tightened as I walked along the plank. I was wondering if it
would hold my 220 lbs as the strap tightened to the point I could pick
a tune on it. I made it past the first plank and onto the second one.
Again the bouncing board strained under my weight, supported in the
middle by that thin metal strap. I imagined what would happen if it
snapped. I'd hit the plaster lathing which I knew wouldn't support my
weight and I'd crash through the ceiling to the auditorium floor below.
I tried not to think about it. The next moment I reached the third
plank where I could see the first ceiling light fixture. I walked
along that plank until I was above the fixture. There was a board on
the rafters and I was hoping that it would also hold my weight.
Carefully, I stepped down and stooped down and lifted the reflector
from its holder. I turned ot over to see a floodlight glistening in
the dim light of the flashlight I held in my teeth. I unscrewed the
lamp and reached into my pocket and pulled out the light bulb and
screwed it in. It lit up! The auditorium lights were all burned out.
I had flipped all the switches I could find and the problem was that
all of the bulbs had burned out over the last 35 years. I had no other
bulbs with me so all I could do was retrace my steps along the cat walk.

I left the attic, hot and dirty and raced to the auditorium and there
it was, light shining from the fixture in the ceiling. Somehow it gave
warmth to the dark auditorium. It was time to drive back home but I
know what will happen on my next visit. The Rialto will be filled with
light!

by John Gilbert, Columbus, Ga

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