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Notes regarding the opening of the Williamson Theatre
January 19, 1925
The Winter Haven Chief
Wednesday, January 21, 1925
Front page entitled:
Williamson Theatre Section Main
Williamson Theatre, New “Movie Palace ”Opens
Center page beneath full frontal photo of building:
New Williamson theatre finest in South Fla.
Description of building shows fine equipment with
beautiful and convenient furnishings.
Building represents “Last Word” in Modern Theatre
construction; $20,000 Robert-Morgan Pipe Organ
is one of two largest in entire State;
Everything arranged for comfort and convenience
of the general public; Projection room well equipped.
The new Williamson Theatre is unique
in that its design is entirely different from that of any
other theatre in Florida. Located on East Central Avenue,
opposite the Beymer building, it has a frontage of 60
feet and a depth of 128 feet.The exterior is Rocbond stucco,
and the design is an adaptation of the Spanish.
In the center is the spacious lobby, 12 feet wide and 60
feet long, its walls of pearl gray. The box office is
located in the center of the outer lobby. Midway in the
lobby are the two double doors, the one permitting an
entrance into the building, the other serving as the
exit. The floors of the outer lobby are of brick and of
the inner lobby of tile.
Entering the spacious auditorium
from the lobby, one is immediately struck by the size and
the elegant furnishings of the big room. The ceiling
that rises to a height of 23 feet near the stage, and
decreases to a height of 12 feet in the rear, is of pearl
gray, as also are the walls.
In the ceiling are eleven half-domes
and along the walls are a dozen artistic light
brackets which furnish splendid illumination for the
building. In the ceiling is located the Grinell automatic
sprinkler system, which makes the building 100 percent
fireproof. Should a small blaze be ignited anywhere in
the building, the automatic system would instantly be
brought into service and the flame extinguished. There
is no spot in the building that cannot be reached by the system.
Also in the ceiling is located the ventilating
system. This consists of two American blower mill-type
fans, the fan in the front of the auditorium forcing the
air into the building, the rear fan providing the exhaust
which empties it of the impure air. This guarantees a
complete circulation at all times.
The auditorium proper is 60 x 100 feet,
and is unique in its arrangement.
It has a slope of 1 1/4 inches to the foot, which insures
each row of seats of being more than three inches lower
than the one immediately in the rear. This means that
the screen is at all times clearly and wholly in view of
the spectator from every nook and corner of the
auditorium. The rear sections of seats are over the Story
and Harris stores that occupy the front of the first
floor of the building in which the theatre is located.
The design is absolutely unique and is solely the
creation of A. S. Beymer, one of the owners of the
building, who thereby revealed his skill as a designer of
buildings in which every available inch of space is
utilized for some worthwhile purpose.
There are 1,000 opera chairs of polished pearl gray color,
with comfortable spring cushion upholstered seats of imitation
Spanish leather. The four aisles that separate the
different sections are covered with thick carpets of
luxurious pattern, especially made for the new theatre,
and corresponding to those used in the big Howard theatre in Atlanta.
Immediately back of the lobby railing are
four box-sections, each equipped with six wicker chairs,
which are destined to become eagerly sought after as
vantage points of observation where the utmost comfort
may be obtained in viewing the show. The railings are
hung with dark blue draperies of attractive design.
The auditorium proper ends in the orchestra pit, which
is 40 feet wide. Here is located the console of the
magnificent Robert-Morton pipe organ recently installed,
and said to be the largest in this part of the state.
The organ itself is located in chambers on either side of
the stage. The stage is 16 x 40 feet in size, and in
addition to the organ chambers is flanked on either side
by lavatories and dressing rooms of ample size.
Underneath the stage is the basement in which is located
the steam heating system, the property room and the
organists rest room.
The picture screen on the stage is
15 x 20 feet in size, the largest in the state. It is
especially made for high intensity arc projections. The
curtain that hides it from view during the day is of
henna with a gold border of Grecian design. The main
draperies of the stage are of dark blue and gold, and are said
to have only one counterpart in America -that in the
Hippodrome in New York. All draperies for stage and
auditorium were supplied by the Lee Lash studios of New
York. The stage is of sufficient size to permit the
staging of plays by the largest of vaudeville and stock companies.
A word must be said about the $20,000 pipe
organ which is the crowning glory of the beautiful theatre.
The instrument was built at Van Nuys,
California, and represents the “last word” in organ
construction. It is of the three-manual type and
contains several thousand speaking pipes. The organ is
controlled from the console that is located in the orchestra pit.
Twelve lowres, or shutters, control the
volume of the organ, these lowres being operated from the
console by the organist either singly or multiple,
thereby giving balanced expression to the organ. The
stop keys are arranged on double rows on each side of the
console, insuring ease to the organist in manipulating to
blend the various tones.
The organ combines the orchestral tones with the true
church organ tones. All the instrumental tones found
in the largest organs are part of the equipment.
The vox humana is the nearest
approach to the human voice yet devised, the effect being
a full chorus singing. There is also a complete set of
chimes, and a xylophone, both manufactured by
J. C. Deagan Company of Chicago.
But the great theatre would
fail to serve its purpose were only the matchless
decorations and the great organ considered. Back of its
success lies the projecting room, from which the pictures
are hurtled across space to do “their stuff” on the
silver screen. The equipment of this room is of the most
modern type. There are two Powers 6 B., projectors, of
the latest improved type. The motor generation installed
supplies direct current to the arc. The General Electric
high intensity arc in use is the late 40s invention used
exclusively in motion picture work, as it delivers the
most powerful light of any arc known. It is the only one
of its type in the state. The screen has been made
especially for use with this arc. The light is very
powerful but is so blended with the screen as to make the
pictures pleasant and restful to the eye and gives a
perspective of the picture such as is given by no other light.
The theatre is equipped with a ladies rest room,
which is to be found on the left side of the projection
room, and with amens room at the extreme right of the
projection room. The manager’s office, which is thoroughly
quipped for the conducting of the big theatre,
is next [to] the projection room on the right.
The exits from the theatre are located on either side of
the stage, leading into the alley. They are equipped
with an automatic opening device which yields the minute
the door is touched, causing the double doors to open
quickly and permitting an easy and rapid exodus from the
structure. This makes it impossible for an audience ever
to be imprisoned within the walls of the theatre.
The great theatre, with its beautiful exterior, its majestic
interior and its great organ and modern equipment is a
monument to the enterprise of the builders, W. H. Mann,
A. S. Beymer and their associates, and F. E. Williamson,
manager of the theatre, who has installed the organ and
all other equipment and has leased the big house for a
term of years. Under the latter’s efforts, the Grand
Theatre has become one of the finest and most widely
known movie houses in the south, a nd his experience as a
manager of modern play houses insures the new
“Williamson Theatre” of immediately entering the front
rank as a premier moving picture house.
In considering a building of the size and beauty
of the Williamson Theatre
and the Mann building, in which it is located, due
recognition must be paid the firm whose skill and
capability made the finished product possible. The
structure was begun in August 1924, the Seymour-Craig
Company; of Winter Haven, being awarded the contract.
This enterprising firm immediately put W. F. Randolph in
charge as superintendent and turned a force of 30 - 50
men on the structure. The storerooms in the structure
were completed early in the fall, and occupied in time
for the winter trade. The entire structure measures 125
x 128 [Mann Building and Theatre] feet, showing the
magnitude of the project. The finished product is one of
the handsomest buildings in south Florida and a credit to
the enterprise of its [owners]. That progress was made
is [atribute to the] builders and the ability of the
Seymour Craig company to compete successfully with the
largest construction firms in Florida in the erection of
modern office and business blocks. While this is the
largest single project turned out by Seymour-Craig Co.,
the past year they have completed a number of other
buildings of only slightly less importance, alist of
which are given elsewhere in this issue.
(Misplaced type in the original publication necessitated
a rewrite of this last paragraph. B. Gernert)
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