El Capitan Theatre

Thanks for this beautiful theatre with a curtain. showmanship was part of the fun of going to a theatre and being a projectionist. the curtain was used as showmanship as well as the lighting on the curtain. in the winter I used red, orange, and yellow floodlights projected onto the curtain to simulate a warm environment when the outside winter winds and blowing snows were a brutal 10 degrees. I would project the coming attractions, concession stands popcorn/beverage offerings, then close the curtain. Then open the curtain a 2nd time to project the main attraction…it was ‘theatrics’ and showmanship. In the summer we used the Green and Blue floodlights to simulate a cool air-conditioned theatre environment. Outside temps were in the 85-90 degree range. I often projected new films to my friends in the afternoons before anyone else in town had seen them. One was “Valley of the Dolls” almost verboten due to its sex and drugs theme. in 2022 it would be merely PG.

PG rating.