The Auditorium
The auditorium of the Fox is the most talked about area of the Fox as
it should be. The auditorium comprises an area 65,000 square feet
large. The auditorium was intended to simulate a Moorish courtyard at
night in Egypt. Rising from either side of the courtyard are huge
stonewalls with various sized windows from which light can be seen
coming from the faux rooms on the other side of the wall. Surmounting
each wall is a complex of guard posts and battlement windows.
The organ chambers are concealed in the walls as private balcony boxes
with heavy gold leaf screens in typical Moorish style. The walls are
connected in the front by an arched bridge that is illuminated by
lanterns, the bridge forming the proscenium arch. Everywhere realism is
carried to its ultimate. A plaster, concrete, and steel "draped canopy"
extends over the balcony that appears to be made of tent cloth. In the
center below the the proscenium arch sits the original Fox
Movietone speaker used to give sound to the first talking pictures.
Movietone was a system that William Fox owned the United States Patent
rights to and since this was a Fox theatre, it was
used instead of
the Vitaphone system. While the Vitaphone name is better known,
Movietone became the predominant system thanks to Fox Movietone
Newsreels that eventually was adopted by the industry and was used
until digital projection replaced celluloid film.
When the Movietone system was advanced a bit further, the speaker box
was not used in favor os a larger speaker system that sits behind the
screen which projects the audio through it. In order to keep the Fox's
capability of quickly converting from a movie stage to a performance
stage, those speakers were mounted under the main stage riser lift that
can be raise nearly 40 feet above stage level. The lift is raised up so
the speakers can be used, then dropped back down to stage level in a
matter of under 30 seconds when they are not needed. In 1953, when the
Fox received its auditorium renovation and it's CinemaScope screen,
multi-track audio was also added. In addition to the large center
speaker, several side and rear speakers were hung on the walls. The
cabinets are still in use today and are easily spotted along the walls.
In the late 1990s under the direction of the Fox's second Restoration
Director, Mary Catherine Martin, a change was made to the proscenium
arch. While the Fox's has great acoustics, some times the
sound has been less than acceptable. The main reason for this is the
traveling performances are required by Teamsters union requirements for
their own workers to use their own audio equipment. The Fox enjoys
being one of the largest theatric venues on the Traveling Broadway
Circuit. It can be more than twice or even three times the size of the
average performance hall. When these shows go on the road, their audio
equipment is set up to work just fine with these smaller halls, but the
Fox's huge size overwhelms the systems and the sound is not powerful
enough nor properly set up to deal with the Fox's unique acoustics, so
it often was less than adequate. In an attempt to correct this
situation, the Fox installed a new state of the art audio system that
the shows to connect into to aid it. Two large speakers were installed
right into the proscenium arch and given concealed speaker grills that
look like carpets that have been hung over the proscenium arch to air
out, be cleaned, or to dry. Ms. Martin explained that in antiquity,
this was a common practice, so the look was natural in a moorish
setting. She claimed to have photos of the Fox that showed carpets once
hung on the proscenium arch as she has placed them, although I have
never see any photo to back up that claim. Regardless, this is how
the proscenium arch is today.
Hanging from the proscenium arch are eight huge chandeliers.
If
you came to the Fox before 1991, you may remember that these fixtures
were not there before. Instead there were several odd-looking
chandeliers located on the proscenium arch and from the each side of
the canopy. You can barely see them in this photo taken for Life
magazine in the early 1960s. There's a wonderful story about this. As
you may know, the Fox opened its doors less than two months after the
great stock market crash of 1929 that ushered in the Great
Depression. Companies quickly found themselves out of business and a
many orders that had been placed prior to the crash were made were
never fulfilled. The Fox suffered from this problem and several items
needed for the theater were never delivered. The main chandeliers for
the auditorium were among those items. The original chandeliers were to
have come from the Sterling Bronze Company of New York but never
arrived. If you are familiar with some of the other Fox Theatres, the
same type of lamps were installed in the Fox Theatres in Detroit, St.
Louis, and San Francisco. But in Atlanta, by the week of the grand
opening, there were no main lights in the auditorium and something had
to be done.
The house electrician took matters into his own hands. He went down to
the local hardware store and bought several large wash tubs. He cut out
the bottoms and punched decorative holes in the sides. He then mounted
electrical lights into the tubs and went about mounting them
in
the auditorium. They remained in use for over sixty years!
In 1990, the Fox secured chandeliers reproduced to look like the
originals. I do not know how they were able to recreate them but a best
guess would be the patterns were created from taking measurements from
the fixtures in the other surviving Fox Theatres. The metal frames of
the chandaliers were made in France while the stained glass and jeweled
accents were created at the Fox in its workshop. After several months
of hard work, they were mounted as the originally intended. Today, all
of the original washbucket lamps have been retired.
The atmospheric ceiling is a true wonder that gives a startling
realistic appearance of the nighttime sky. Stars twinkle in the
midnight blue sky while soft white clouds drift slowly past. I am told
the stars are placed in a correct astronomical pattern that one would
see if they were looking towards the heavens in Cairo, Egypt
in
the 1920s. The clouds actually move, which adds to the amazing realism
of the sky effect. This is one of the Fox's most wondrous effects, yet
so simply carried out. The stars are actually little 11-watt light
bulbs that are in a reflective lamp fixture that sits just above a
clear crystal that is mounted in the ceiling. Some flash on and off to
give a twinkling effect while others are constantly lit. The
"twinkling" effect is carried out by a time-tested disc that placed
between the bulb and its screw mount. As the lamp heats a peice of
metal in the disc distorts and its connection is cut off. It quickly
cools down and re-establishes the electrical connection. Discs like
this were used for decades in Christmas light displays.
There are 96 stars in the Fox's sky and as it so happened, when the Fox
opens, there just so happened to be 96 toilets in the building. This
gave rise to the inside joke that in the Fox "For every star in the sky, there
is a moon!"
The cloud effect is what really makes the sky effect seem so real. The
images of the clouds are painted on a mica disc that sits in a
Brenograph Junior projector located above the canopy towards the back
of the auditorium. The projected image of the clouds slowly rotates and
gives the effect of the clouds in constant motion. It takes
approximately 105 minutes for a cloud to travel full circle and about
45 minutes to traverse from one side of the sky to the other.
The original Brenograph Junior cloud projector was replaced with a new
device that uses new technology to project the moving clouds on the
ceiling. At the same time, the ceiling was restored and painted in
2004. Over a two week period, a scaffold was mounted to the
ceiling and as the performance schedule permitted, the auditorium was
draped in protective plastic as the painters repainted the ceiling.
This was the first time since the auditorium was constructed that the
entire ceiling was painted. At that time, the paint was a custom
mixture that used pure ultramarine pigment and buttermilk. Buttermilk
was used as a bonding agent, exactly like what is used in modern
latex-based paints. There are still records in the Fox's archive that
show bills paid to Atlanta Diaries for its daily deliveries of
buttermilk.
While Buttermilk was not used and the paint came right out of its
container, ready to use, there was one small problem. The paint used
was created for theatrical use which normally meant it was used to
paint sets, not large spaces such as the Fox's huge ceiling. Because of
that, it only came from the manufacturer in quarts. It took over 100
quarts to paint the ceiling! The Preservation Department states that
the new paint is the exact match of what was originally painted on the
ceiling, but I have reservations about that. It is claimed that because
of smoking, dirt, and age, by the time the ceiling was painted
in
2004, it looked a lot darker than it was originally.
I'm sorry, but while I am not an admitted expert, nor do I have
evidence to the contrary, I think the new paint has to be lighter than
what was originally there. Why do I think this? Well, since I worked at
the Fox for 17 years, I was in the auditorium quite a lot during
performances. I was also there as a child in the 1960s and I never
remember the sky being so bright as it is now. When the lights dimmed
and the performance began, the Fox's sky looked like a dark night sky.
Now, it looks "brighter" and not nearly as convincing as it was before.
To my eyes, it looks more fake than ever. Perhaps it's me, but that's
how I feel about it.
The Sunrise - Sunset system is almost as incredible as the stars and
the clouds. The device was not used for many years as it had fallen
into disrepair. No one knew about it until Joe Patten discovered the
machine sitting derelect in the Fox complex. It took three
years
of volunteer work by members of the I.B.E.W. and
Joe Patten to overhaul and restore the machine back to operational
status. It was debuted during the Fox's 50th anniversary party in 1979.
At first, only a slight golden-pink glow is observed over the eastern
corner of the courtyard wall. The glow increases in brilliance until
the ceiling is lit up with the light from a golden Sun (you do not see
the Sun directly). After reaching its apex, it begins to set
on
the western corner of the courtyard, behind the overhead
bridge in
a manner befitting the most gorgeous natural sunset.
I believe the way this system was originally intended to be used, the
auditorium would be in "full Sunrise" at the beginning of an event. The
Sunset would occur, putting the auditorium into darkness,
just
prior to the beginning of the performance. When the performance ended
or was about to end, the Sun would begin to rise and illuminate the
auditorium for the patrons to egress back into the everyday
world.
In material the Atlanta Preservation Center gave to its tour
guides that worked at the Fox, it was stated the machine
cannot
create the simulated effects of Fire, Rain, and Snow it used to do.
This seems utterly fantastic, nor have I ever heard
of such
effects until it was mentioned in that literature.From my time in the
70s, it was always referred to as "the Sunrise-Sunset Machine" and did
not do anything else.
Located above the balcony is a huge canopy. The canopy is one of the
Fox's biggest illusions. Like the rest of the surfaces in the public
areas, the canopy is made of Plaster of Paris. Exacting detail,
including mould stains, were painted on the canopy to make it look like
it was made of actual canvas. The edges of the canopy are also not
real, but made with plaster and wood. The canopy is not only
decorative, it conceals part of the inner workings of the Fox's magic
and serves as an integral part of the theater's remarkable sound
system. The auditorium was designed so that sound from the orchestra
pit would reflect up onto the proscenium arch above pit, project into
the canopy, return to the arch, and reflect down under the balcony. The
organ grills are positioned so that they fire into the balcony area for
the same effect.
Balcony
The balcony itself is a true architectural wonder. For years, it was
boasted that the balcony was the largest cantilevered balcony in
existence in the world, but in actuality, the balcony is not
cantilevered. It is however designed to actually bend and flex several
inches as it takes on the full weight of patrons that are on
it. During concerts such as the Rolling Stones in
1979, I
actually felt it move up and down as people danced to the rhythm of the
music. Unlike the downstairs seating, the seats in the balcony are the
original 1929 units and are kept in remarkably great
condition.
When the orchestra level seats were replaced with the replicas of the
originals, the balconies seats were re-padded and recovered with the
same material used on the new seats that replicated the original design
pattern. Prior to this, the balcony seats still had the
original
1929 material, although faded and worn from time and use.
The balcony is divided into four sections, the Loge, First Dress
Circle, Second Dress Circle, and the Gallery, each with six segments or
rows of seats. The Loge section is
considered the finest seats in the house and is comprised of the first
six rows of the balcony. They are set in a steeper angle than the rest
of the balcony to aid the view from the seats. The Dress Circles
compose the main body of the balcony and are composed of 19 rows of
seats with First Dress Circle taking the first 12 rows and Second Dress
Circle composed of the last 7. The Gallery follows up the rear
most seats of the auditorium with 3 rows of seats. In the 1980s, 125
additional seats were added tot the Gallery with the installation of
seats removed from the Loew's Grand Theater prior to it being razed in
1979. When the Loews Grand building burned in 1978, the Fox was able
to buy some of the equipment from the building since the fire did not
damage the theatre. The Fox bought the Grand's 35mm projection and
sound equipment from the Grand and some of its seating from the
auditorium. Some of the Grand's seats now reside on the right side of
the rear-most portion of the Gallery. You can easily distinguish these
chairs from the Fox's originals because they are distinctly different
and they do not have the ornate "FT" end caps at the end of each row of
seats.
As you may notice, there is a wall that separates the Gallery from
Second Dress Circle. This is where we touch the dark
history of
the Fox. The Fox
was one of only four theaters in the Atlanta area that allowed people
of color admittance, but like elsewhere, that admittance was
segregated. The upper portion of the balcony, called the Gallery, was
literally walled-off from the rest of the balcony seating. A second
box-office for people of color was built into the base of one of the
integral fire escapes. If you were a Black man or woman that wanted to
see something at the Fox, that was where you'd purchase your ticket,
then you had to walk up the fire escape steps to the very top
to
get to
the door that accessed the Gallery. You were not permitted into the
other portions of the Fox and because of that, there were a single set
of spartan restrooms with no lounges in the rear of the Gallery for you
to use. There was also no concession sales for patrons of the Gallery
either! There were a pair of restrooms located directly off the Gallery
directly under the projection booth. Notice I said restrooms and not
lounges as they were nothing more than rooms for you to go to in order
to relieve yourself. Function, no luxury. They are not decorated in any
way and very basic restrooms.
When the Supreme
Court ended segregation in the 1960s, the "Colored" box office was
closed and the side ends of the brick wall were torn down and
a crude step-up added to allow people
access to the Gallery via the Dress Circle. The step-up to get into the
Gallery is rather steep and I find it quite odd that with all the work
and improvements performed on the Fox, nothing has ever been done to
improve the access points into the Gallery. The one thing I will say
about the segregated Fox is
at least the people that had to watch movies in the Gallery had
some of the best seats in the house as I love to watch a movie from up
there. There's plenty of room with a spectacular view of the stage.
Music never sounded so good up there!
Orchestra Level
Since this is a cyber tour of the Fox, we can move magically about.
Let's magically travel from the upper portion of the auditorium down to
the main floor of the auditorium. From left to right, it is divided
into five groups of seats; Right, Right Center, Center, Left Center,
and Left. Those are divided front to back as being Orchestra and Rear
Orchestra. In 1953, the original seats were removed in order to put in
larger, more comfortable chairs. This reduced the seating of the
auditorium by several hundred seats. In the mid-1980s, the Fox was
closed for a month as those seats were replaced with reproductions of
the original seats to return the Fox back to its original compliment on
the main floor. It took so long because the concrete floor had to be
partially torn up and re-cast in order to put back the correct number
shelves needed to accomodate the increase in rows needed. Once all the
concrete work was done, new ventilation ducts had to be
installed on the floor. The Fox's auditorium fresh air vents are
located on the floor, under the seats. New "mushroom domed" vents had
to be installed under where the new seats would sit. Finally, the new
seats had to be assembled and bolted to the floor. The air blows out
from under the orchestra seats and is vented out from the auditorium at
several other locations higher-up in the auditorium.
A little more than half of the downstairs level sits under the balcony
and cannot see the stars. In place of the stars, they see several large
stained glass lights that are fixed in the ceiling of the balcony. In
recent times, these have been joined with many small spot lamps that
illuminate the underside of the balcony before performances and more
importantly during clean-up time.
You may have noticed that there are brass plaques on many of the
seats in the auditorium. In 1990, the Fox had a fundraising event in
that people could "buy" a seat in the Fox. You'll find names of note
and everyday people adorning the seats, including the names of
long-term members of Friends of the Fox, the volunteer restoration
organization I was one of the first members of FOF and even though it
no longers works with the Fox, the core group of FOF still meet on a
quarterly basis to this day.
Stage Area
Looking forward, the stage is very large, even by modern standards but
is rather shallow. It spans 128 feet wide is just 35 feet deep from the
rear wall of the Fox to the rear edge of the orchestra pit. This
shallowness has been explained by one researcher of the Atlanta Fox
that it was felt since there was an orchestra pit, the stage would only
be used for Shrine functions, choral groups and the like. It was not
envisioned the Fox would host plays or other now-common theatrical
productions that would require a deep stage space. Despite the
shallowness, most events at the Fox have been able to work around this
minor consideration.
With the curtain open, 96 feet of stage can be revealed to the
audience. It is one of the widest performance stages in America. Most
Broadway shows that play at the Fox use about half of the stage area.
For those shows, the curtains are partially drawn to cover the area not
used. This is required because most performance troops have
sets
that are tailored for an average size of the auditoriums they perform
at. This is usually about half the size of the Fox's stage and
their sets can't be expanded out to take advantage of all the extra
room. The stage floor is divided into two main sections with four minor
sections having their own elevator lifts. At the very front of the
stage is the Orchestra Pit. It is comprised of a main orchestra section
with a separate center riser that can be individually raised or lower.
To Stage Left is the Moeller Organ that is permanently mounted to its
own riser. Should it be required, there is a floor section that can be
mounted over the organ to conceal it that gives additional flooring to
the Orchestra Pit. A 150-member symphony can be set up to perform in
the Orchestra Pit and the lifts are powerful enough to raise
and
lower it while fully loaded. As it is called an orchestra pit, as the
name infers, it is designed for the musicians performing on it to be
performing while that portion of the stage is in a lower position to
that of the main stage. This is also what the acoustics of the Fox were
designed for. The orchestra would be performing essentially in the pit
and the sound would be reflected straight up and out of that area. The
sound would then reflect off the proscenium arch and up over
the
balcony. It would be reflected once again into the canopy and be sent
back down towards the proscenium arch. This time, the sound would be
reflected once more, but downwards under the balcony towards the
orchestra level seating. Besides the obvious visual reasons, this is
why sitting in the Loge and Balcony are so desirable to be seated
there. I should mention the Fox is world-renown for its acoustics and
to that, architects that designed the Kennedy Center in
Washington
D.C. came to the Fox to study its acoustics in an attempt to replicate
those properties into their new auditorium.
Directly behind the orchestra pit is the main performance area of the
stage. It has one large center lift that contains the theater's Altec
Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers. The center lift can rise
approximately 20 feet above the stage floor to place the speakers
directly behind the motion picture screen. Each lift can be lowered 40
feet into the stage basement or raised several feet above
footlight level.
In 1953, the operators of the Fox installed a giant CinemaScope screen
prior to the presentation of "The Robe". It was the easily the largest
CinemaScope screen it the Southeast, if not in the United States. It
required a 35-horsepower motor to pull it into the stage loft and to
drop it back down. The screen was removed from the Fox in 1970 and was
replaced by the current flat screen. There are other lifts that can
raise and lower curtains, backdrops, and other stage decorations into
the loft. By using the various lifts and platforms, the stage can go
from a live performance setting to it full motion picture configuration
in just a few of minutes.
The stage is complimented with a series of different curtains. The most
ornate curtain is one that depicts the tales of the Arabian Nights. It
is made out of a highly reflective material and is studded with faux
gemstones. It is the most photographed of the Fox's curtains. The next
curtain is the large red and gold velour curtain that is used most of
the time during performances. There was another curtain that I have not
seen. I am told it was a velour curtain with shiny accents that were
made of several panels that were sewn together on the Fox's stage
before it was eventually hung. I am told it took 4 days to hang the
curtain into place. This curtain was referred to as the "Dress
Curtain" that was used for big important events and replicates the look
of the curtain shown in the picture taken of the stage in the 1930s.
All of the curtains that were hung in the Fox when it opened have
suffered from the effects of age. Unlike a lot of modern curtains, the
Fox's curtains were made of totally natural organic materials. They
were extremely heavy and over the decades, gravity has been a big enemy
to them. As the materials age, they get more fragile and the weight
begins to destroy the places where the curtains are hung. The original
dress curtain was removed well before 1975 because of this and was
removed from the Fox and relocated to the farm were the
original
orchestra seats were sent to. Upon inspection, the curtain
(like
the seats) was too badly deteriorated to be used for anything more than
a template to copy the ornate patterns from.
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