|
SERIES: SAVING THE RIALTO THEATER, COLUMBUS, GA |
|
REPORT GUIDE: |
 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! |
John Gilbert > Save The Rialto Theater Report 10/06/09