Oswego 7 Cinemas

jukingeo on August 8, 2007 at 4:59 am

Nice article, Lost

They got a good shot of the marquee…especially the underside. The Norwalk has the same patterning, but is more elaborate. They have more lighting underneath as well.

JG

exit on August 24, 2007 at 11:58 pm

Additional detail about the divisions of the Oswego Theatre, from my own memory augmented by a report from a current local resident…

Seating upstairs and downstairs was originally in three sections, center, right and left, and there were four aisles, allowing access to each section from both sides.

The original Balcony was separated from the main floor by putting a wall up to the ceiling from the edge of the balcony. What used to be the front section of the balcony (about 4 rows) became a little pit with lights on the floor aiming upward at the curtains. Plain curtains on the front wall right and left. The screen, directly in front of the center seating section, had about a 3 foot platform in front of it and curtains in cream and burgundy stripes about a foot wide. Years later, when the Balcony was subdivided, they did not cut it down the middle. On the right side, just about a third of the balcony’s width was sectioned off, using a tiny portion of the original projection booth that was the rewind/cutting room when I worked there in the 70s. It already had a tiny window in it and that’s where the projector throws from. I was in there once for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, (1989) and was surprised that they fit a projector in that small space. I imagine the platter for it is in the main area of the booth, where the Projectionist’s Viewing window was. At that time i believe the two bottom rooms and the two side rooms had not been added yet.

The main auditorium got its own booth in the 1972 split. The downstairs booth was in the back of the center section, and went from the left center aisle to the right center aisle, and from the lobby wall to the edge of the balcony.

Two additional screens occupy the back of the main house, going from the left center aisle to the left wall, and from the right center aisle to the right wall. Both rear rooms extend past the Balcony overhang, one almost halfway to the main screen, the other not so much. Both have projection booths in the rear, that throw to screens toward the front. I would not be surprised to learn that the original seats are still in their original locations within the two back rooms, however since these rooms go straight to the wall on both sides, that means there is no longer access to the wall aisles of the main house from the lobby. It is very likely that a couple extra rows of seats were removed from the rear of the left and right sections of the main house to allow access to the wall aisles.

The last two screens are in an addition built onto the side, occupying about ¼ of what was an unpaved parking lot for as far back as I can remember.

Sound has been upgraded in the main house by simply hanging speakers on the walls, but the original screen (still tilted backward from the early days when the projector was upstairs) has not been upgraded or even touched, nor have the two sets of stage curtains been used in years. The mechanism for the rear stage curtains had broken by the time I worked there, so all I had to work with was three switches: front curtain, house lights and footlights. There were no dimmers upstairs or downstairs. I’m told the front curtain hasn’t been used in about 20 years.

exit on September 15, 2007 at 4:39 pm

Thank you Geo. I’ve got friends who still live there, and quizzed one extensively about the place. Also have some feelers out for pictures of Schine’s Oswego Theatre and the late Carrols' Oswego Cinema.

I’d love to hear from someone who has been in the Oswego Theatre lately, to see how accurate my description was, and what the new attached screening rooms look like.

Meanwhile for info about lost Syracuse area theatres, the Kallet Genesee and Kallet Shoppingtown, check out www.CinemaSightlines.com Neither theatre is listed on CT, but the Syracuse community is still mourning the Kallet Genesee, it was a recent topic in the letters page of the Post Standard.

jukingeo on October 4, 2007 at 7:18 pm

Hello Roadshow,

Nice to know that the Oswego is in good hands and someone is willing to properly care for the place. I know what it is like when a theatre gets in the wrong hands, the end results are usually hurtful for the theatre, the town, and all those that had high hopes that their theatre would be around for all time.

Perhaps movies will stick around a bit longer in Oswego. Still, I will keep a close eye on the place.

I wish my wife would think differently about moving because I really would have loved to go to Ohio and snatch up the Norwalk.

Geo

Roger Katz on February 18, 2015 at 10:10 am

In 1910 the Hippodrome Theatre is listed in the city directory at 138 W Second Street. It must have preceded the Oswego Theatre and subsequently have been demolished to make room for the new theatre.