Byrd Theater Alcoves
by Jemmy Archer
Title
Byrd Theater Alcoves
Artist
Jemmy Archer
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Byrd Theater Alcoves
The Byrd Theatre was built by Walter Coulter and Charles Somma in 1928 in Richmond, Virginia as one of the Nation's Grand Movie Palaces and today is both a State and National Historic landmark. The 1300-seat Byrd Theatre, named after William Byrd, one of the founders of Richmond, is one of the nation's finest cinema treasures.
And unlike many opulent theatres that were built during the 1920s and 1930s in the United States, the Byrd Theatre has survived the past 80 years largely unaltered in appearance or function, operating almost continuously since 1928 as a movie theatre. The first movie shown at the Byrd on Christmas Eve, 1928, was Waterfront, a silent movie with sound added. This was a comedy with Dorothy MacKaill and Jack Mulhall. Patrons paid 25 cents for a matinee and 50 cents for an evening movie. Today patrons pay $1.99 for a movie.
The Byrd Theatre is an architectural treasure chest adorned with paintings, marbled walls, gold leaf arches, a richly appointed mezzanine, and some of the original patterned mohair-covered seats. The theatre was designed in the French Empire style by Fred Bishop, a Richmond architect. The decor was by the Brunet Studios of New York. An 18-foot, two-and-a-half ton Czechoslovakian crystal chandelier suspended over the auditorium contains over 5,000 crystals illuminated by 500 red, blue, green and amber lights.
Along the top of the auditorium's sidewalls in the niches are six hand-painted murals. The large murals on each side of the stage form a background to the opera-style boxes, which display a piano and harp. Everything in the Byrd Theatre is big although it may not appear that way. The two chandeliers in the alcoves are about seven feet tall while the main chandelier is 18 feet tall. The main chandelier was assembled on site. It would never fit through a door. All of the chandeliers have four light circuits, red, blue, amber and green. (The green only functions in the main chandelier) All of the other lighting in the theatre is red, blue and amber. The main lobby chandelier is over eight feet high with clear white bulbs.
The cinema visionaries who built and designed the Byrd outfitted it with two sound systems. One of these was Vitaphone, a relatively new sound synchronization system commercially developed by Warner Brothers. "The Jazz Singer," generally acknowledged as the first talking film, was recorded using this system. At that time, though, it was uncertain whether "talkies" would continue to be popular and a significant number of the films distributed were still silent so the Byrd also had a Wurlitzer Theatre organ. In 1953, the original 35mm Simplex standards were replaced by the current Simplex 35mm projectors, which are still used daily.
In 2004, Ray Dolby, who created the Dolby sound system, toured the Byrd and was so impressed with the theatre that he donated a Dolby Digital sound system, which was installed in 2006. Just as in 1928, the Byrd has state-of-the-art sound technology.
The design of Grand Movie Palaces in the 1920s and l930s was reminiscent of the opulent European Opera Houses and the Byrd was no different. No expenses were spared in its design and construction with a cost of about $900,000. In today's dollars that amounts to almost $11 million.
The Byrd Theatre Foundation is currently holding a major fundraising drive in effort to restore the Byrd Theatre to its former grandeur. 50% of proceeds from sales of Byrd Theater images will be donated to this effort. If you'd like to make a donation, go to http://feedthebyrd.org
Uploaded
April 14th, 2015
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