Jeff T.
Yelp
I came here for the first time in probably 30 years tonight, to watch The Neverending Story with my brother and two of his kids. I bow to Celestine for making this possible, and thank the good people of the Warnors Center for being gracious hosts.
The Warnors Center opened in 1928, and that reality, made plain throughout the facility, is both a blessing and a curse. The elaborate decorations of the walls and ceilings, the presence of a balcony with a velvet padding at the rail, the love and care put into fine detail... it's impossible to find any more; it's just not done in modern theaters, and it truly is both beautiful and wonderful. On the flip side, the chairs are very narrow and not very comfortable, calling back to a time when people were generally thinner, and less demanding of their backrests and legroom. One of the seats my nephew tried to sit in literally had a spring popping out of it. Also, we sat off to the right, and a large speaker intruded into the viewing area.
The evening started with a concert of live pipe organ music by a volunteer musician - again, a charming advantage of an old facility, because where else are you going to find a pipe organ? - which was not only performed flawlessly, but completely from memory, as he had no sheet music in front of him. Then one of the facility staff picked up the microphone to welcome us and remind us of some of the great places to eat and drink around downtown -- when was the last time you went to Edwards or Maya and a representative of the theater came out and addressed the audience? That was another touch, both classic and classy.
The movie began, the projector perilously perched at the front of the balcony, and it was, of course, a wonderful little fantasy film, as it has always been. The crowd was very responsive, with lots of applause and cheers when things went well for our heroes.
Then the movie suddenly paused, and it was intermission. This is one old-timey ritual I could do without. I know Warnors is in a neighborhood where it's tough to make a business go and maybe they depend on additional concession sales, but I prefer my movies to proceed uninterrupted, especially when they're only 90 minutes long in the first place.
In the end, this was a great presentation in a classic and historic building, but it really was pretty uncomfortable to sit there all that time.