Galesburg’s historic Orpheum Theatre — with its gilded plasterwork, velvet curtains, and a grand crystal chandelier — will now be able to screen a wider range of movies with the recent installation of a digital projector.
Andrew Driscoll, executive director of The Orpheum, said The Paramount Theater of Charlottesville, Va. initially looked to sell the projector. The Orpheum was interested in it, and raised $5,000 through anonymous donors, but the projector was worth approximately $70,000
So Driscoll told them the Orpheum would not be able to purchase the projector.
“A few months later, they got back and said they've talked about it and they decided that they were going to go ahead and donate the projector as long as we pay for the shipping and everything to get it to us from Charlottesville,” said Driscoll.
The funds raised locally were then put towards the packaging and shipping costs.
“This projector is consistent with what you would see at the AMC theater. To have something that is going to be that quality here in a venue like the Orpheum that has such a rich history in film, that then brings in the opportunity for us to show more current movies in a much better visual quality than we had before. It's just amazing,” said Driscoll.
The projector's debut
The Orpheum will debut its new projector with the Over the Rainbow Movie Series, featuring “The Wizard of Oz” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 16, and “Wicked” at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17.
“The lyric in ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ that dreams that you dare to dream really do come true... and this was a dream of ours to have a projector like this that has come true,” said Driscoll.
The Orpheum will now be able to screen a range of films on its 40-foot screen, with premium video and audio quality.
Blessing another organization
Driscoll said The Paramount has a staff of nearly 20, while the Orpheum has a staff of five.
“They were able to take this resource that was no longer of great use to them and be able to bless another organization, which is just, it's amazing,” said Driscoll.
He connected with The Paramount through the League of Historic American Theatres, with support from former Orpheum board member Karen Cates.
The projector is a Christie CP4220 4K DLP Digital Cinema Projector, and includes a GDC server, pedestal, and Dolby Digital Cinema Processor.
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