The last time I was inside the Rialto, the booth was as hot as an oven.
I decided to wait until the weather cooled down a bit. Sunday Oct.
4th was a cool day and I didn't have to teach my Sunday School class so
I decided to drive to the Rialto but that wasn't the only reason. My
good buddy Robert Starling was in town for a reunion. I haven't seen
Robert in probably 20 years and he met me at the theater. It was good
to see him and we caught up on the last two decades as we toured the
empty theater. I showed him the work I had been doing and he snapped
his camera all through the Rialto. All to soon Robert had to leave to
fly back to Salt Lake. As we parted he snapped one last photo of me in
front of the Rialto with the Bradley Theater in the background.
There is an old exhaust fan in the booth but the blades are bent and it
doesn't work. I decided to check it out. If I could get it working, I
could sweep and the fan would pull the dust outside. I stood on a
bucket to reach the fan and it looked like something was on the blades.
Carefully I bent the blades and saw a chunk of lead that looked like
it had been dropped into the vent pipe from the roof. I eased the lead
through the blades and removed it. Now I had the bend the blades back
into their original position. I turned the fan switch on and all I
heard was a small hum. I gave the blade a push with my finger and it
began to turn. Slowly at first and then it began to pick up speed. In
a minute it was turning as it should and seemed to be working fine. I
started sweeping and the fan carried the dust out of the booth. After
a good sweeping I thought I'd try my hand at mopping. I poured some of
my bottled water onto the dirty floor and began to scrub it. For a
moment it looked good but I began to realize that I was only making
mud. I couldn't use all of my bottled water so I did the best I could.
Now my mop was black and I had no way to rinse it. There's still no
water in the building so I just had to let the muddy floor dry and
it'll have to wait for water and a mop bucket.
I was still in a cleaning mood so I decided to tackle the balcony.
Sweeping up the plaster was dusty business so I moved on to the carpet.
The carpet cleaned up pretty good so I moved on to the stairs. Soon
the right stairway was looking clean. The banister was hanging down.
I found its bolts on the stairway and fastened it back to the wall.
The stairway actually looked presentable!
I made my way back to the booth to see why the 220 volt plug Reynolds
had installed next to the projector wasn't working. I checked it with
two different meters but still nothing. I flipped switches and still
nothing. In my frustration I even pushed one of the old generator
buttons on the wall. I jumped as the lights flashed and I heard a roar
from the next room that I had not expected to hear. The button had
started the old motor-generator that used to run the carbon lamps years
ago. I thought they had been disconnected! Instantly, I pressed the
stop button. I heard the whine of the motor as it slowly wound to a
stop. It must have had really good bearings in the motor because it a
long time to come to a complete stop. After I got over my fright, I
set to work tracing the wires from the 220 v plug. I opened an
electrical box and to my surprise the wires weren't connected to
anything! They just came to an end inside the box.
By now I was tired. I put a show tune CD on to play and I sat in the
balcony and listened to the music. I must have dozed off. I awoke and
the music had stopped. It was time to leave anyway. I gathered my
tools and loaded my truck. It's always a little sad to turn off the
lights and lock the doors. As I drove home I had a thought. If the
generator still works, why not hook it back up and use it to power my
carbon arc lamp? Now I have a new project for next time!
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 Addendum 3-21-2010 by John Gilbert
There's something about the old theaters in Columbus that keep
beckoning to me. Columbus is fortunate. Most towns and cities are
lucky to have even one surviving example of the movie places from
yesteryear yet Columbus has four; the Bradley, the Liberty, the Rialto,
and the Springer. I feel that there are too few who appreciate what
the downtown theaters once meant to Columbus. Columbus actually had a
theater district much like New York's Broadway. There was the Bradley
and the Rialto on Broadway. Across the street from the Rialto stood
the Grand and around the corner was the Georgia Theater. Flashing
marquees illuminated the night with names like Gable, Lombard, Bogart,
Hepburn, Garland, and so many more, once drew crowds to Columbus's
theater district. Today only two Broadway theaters remain and they now
sit dark and empty.
For the last year I've been helping Reynolds Bickerstaff try to and
breathe life back into the time-worn Rialto Theater. Again, there are
too few who see the need to cast a glance back over their shoulders for
a glimpse of the past as they charge headlong into the latest and
greatest. Still I go to the Rialto on my weekends to clean and do a
little restoration work.
On March 6th, 2010 I gave a tour of the Rialto to Jerry Kline and
Brenda Edwards of the Liberty Theater. We toured the Rialto and sat
and talked for a long while about what could be done to and with the
theater. We all agreed that there is nothing wrong with the theater
that money wouldn't fix but where to get the money? As we sat and
talked I told Jerry and Brenda that I had been the last projectionist
at the Liberty and my last day at the Liberty was January 1st, 1974.
That's when the Liberty closed its doors. Jerry asked me if I'd like
to see the Liberty. As quickly as I could lock the Rialto's doors, we
were off to 8th Avenue.
It had been many years since I had pulled up to and parked in front of
the Liberty. 36 years, two months and 5 days to be exact. Gone were
the many little stores and shops that once lined 8th Avenue. The
Liberty now stands alone surrounded by vacant lots. We entered through
a new building to the theater's left. Jerry explained that it is a
meeting hall with a full service kitchen that was built during the
theater's renovation. He showed me around the meeting area which was
nice but I was anxious to see the theater. In another moment we
started for a door that I felt would lead into the old Liberty. Jerry
opened the door and we stepped into the lobby of the theater. I
strained to see something familiar but try as I may, it was all new to
me. The lobby was much larger than I remember and I soon saw the reason
why. It had been expanded under the area where the balcony used to be.
"You might remember this," said Jerry as he opened a door with a
stairway leading to the sound booth.
"No. The stairs to the balcony and the booth were over here," I said
pointing to the opposite side of the room.
We climbed the stairs to the sound booth where Jerry showed me the
state of the art sound system.
"This must have been the projection booth," Jerry said.
I looked around for a moment.
"No. This was the balcony. The booth would have been about here," I
said pointing to an arbitrary spot in space and I went and stood in the
spot.
"Yep, it would have been about here."
We then went back down stairs and into the auditorium. Gone were the
side rows of seats. Now there was a single section of seats with isles
against the walls. Up to the stage we went. There were handicapped
lifts of either side of the stage which I felt marred the appearance of
the stage area but the ADA standards had to be met. As we toured the
back of the theater I spotted something that I was very familiar with,
two carbon arc lamp houses and pedestals to hold those lamp houses. I
wondered what they were doing there. Jerry felt that they were the
original projection lamps for the theater but I knew that the
projection equipment had been removed years ago. The lamps were in too
good of shape to have been left in a dark and wet building for decades.
Had it been the original equipment, it would have been very rusty. We
left the equipment and finished our tour. Jerry, Brenda, and I talked
for a few moments more and then we parted. I had found new friends.
On my drive back home I felt a little disappointed. There was really
nothing left of the Liberty from my era. Nothing remained of the
projection booth that had been the realization of my dream to be a
theater projectionist. There was nothing remaining to even evoke a
memory of those days when celluloid photo plays danced on a silver
screen. Notwithstanding, I am glad that I had visited the Liberty. In
my mind, I knew that I was in the same building where I had worked as a
20 year old. I know that those who now work and volunteer are proud of
the new Liberty. I am only a ghost from the past who had come for a few
moments to haunt the halls and auditorium and bid the Liberty I knew,
farewell.
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John Gilbert > Save The Rialto Theater Report 10/06/09