Here is some video my dad and I took on Saturday at the movie theater. I ran the trains during the Matinee and put it back into it's automated state for the evening show while I scooped popcorn behind the concession stand. There were 1070 people there for the evening showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" (a record) and there was a line across the orchestra pit to see the trains. I think it was very popular. One guy told me he goes to the theater this time of year specifically to see the trains. The layout will be up for one more show and then will be taken down the second weekend in January.Music in the video, with the exception of the first song played during the still photos, is being played by a couple different organists on the theater's 1928 3/10 Barton Theater pipe organ (original to the building and the reason the theater is still open). For information about the theater itself you can read about it at our website: redfordtheatre.comEnjoy watch?v=8 elz2Zqy2I&feature=channelvideotitle
Santa Fe,
Thanks for posting the video; it was a joy to watch, especially during the Christmas season. I'm glad the theater had such a great turnout. Who wouldn't want to watch a great movie and toy trains in the same night?!
Joe
Thanks
I think I'm going to work on it next year too, possibly with the help of another member to make it bigger. I have a set of O-72 curves coming for Christmas so we'll have more options when it comes to what equipment we can run. My biggest locomotives (Williams 773 4-6-4 Scale hudson and Lionel Lionmaster SD80 diesel) will run on my O-36 curves but there are some clearance issues on the current layout for them so I'm somewhat limited in my choices.
Two of my favorite things are trains and theater organs (and old buildings on top of that) so it was really great for me. Tons of kids by it the whole time I was there, and a lot of adults and older people too. They all enjoyed it.
Enjoyed your videos. We grew up going to the Redford Theatre back in the 50s. I think it was a dime or a quarter, on Saturday afternoons. Sometimes the balcony was closed, but we would sneak up there, and make out with the girls up there. I remember seeing the movie April Love, with Pat Boone at the Redford. There used to be a candy store right next to the theatre, called Jims Sweet Shop. Around the corner on Grand River was a big Kresges store. Across the street was a Cunninghams drug store. Our boy scout troop had meetings at Redford Presbyterian church, over on Redford road, just off Grand River. I went to Redford High School.
I still have the Lionel 5 car freight set I got for Christmas 1948, along with the 1948 Lionel catalog. In 1951, I got the F3 diesel set for Christmas. Glad to see the Redford threatre is surviving. The last time I was there was 20 years ago, to see The Sound of Music. Sat in the balcony like old times.
hobo9941 Enjoyed your videos. We grew up going to the Redford Theatre back in the 50s. I think it was a dime or a quarter, on Saturday afternoons. Sometimes the balcony was closed, but we would sneak up there, and make out with the girls up there. I remember seeing the movie April Love, with Pat Boone at the Redford. There used to be a candy store right next to the theatre, called Jims Sweet Shop. Around the corner on Grand River was a big Kresges store. Across the street was a Cunninghams drug store. Our boy scout troop had meetings at Redford Presbyterian church, over on Redford road, just off Grand River. I went to Redford High School. I still have the Lionel 5 car freight set I got for Christmas 1948, along with the 1948 Lionel catalog. In 1951, I got the F3 diesel set for Christmas. Glad to see the Redford threatre is surviving. The last time I was there was 20 years ago, to see The Sound of Music. Sat in the balcony like old times.
20 years ago it probably wasn't restored yet. It now looks pretty much how it did before WW2 when all the japanese themed stuff was painted/removed. There are some changes that were made that have been made to look original, but aren't really.
I always enjoy hearing stories from people who went there back in the day. I love going and volunteering there, mainly at the concession stand. One day I want to learn how to play the organ, but I've got some work to do before then :D.
Cool video, great job with the layout.
Bill T.
Jake, Thanks so much for setting up the layout. I was at the showing on Friday night with several friends and we had a great time along with the rest of the huge crowd. It was a full evening of fun. It started with a half hour concert by the Silver Strings Dulcimer Society (I was one of the 23 performers on stage), then a half hour organ concert on the wonderful Barton Organ, introductions by the announcer, a Tom and Gerry Christmas cartoon, the movie "It's a Wonderful Life", intermission with the trains running and the tree lighted, a raffle drawing, the rest of the movie, and huge applause at the end. What a wonderful time. This is what movie theaters were like in there heyday. Tons of people were constantly around the train layout and admiring it. I loved the winter theme and with 2 trains and a trolley running, there was lots of action. The homemade movie theater and Ford Motor building were also a great addition. I hope that you will be around next year to set it up again.
The theatre was somewhat restored, along with the organ in the late 80s, although it is a work in progress.
http://redfordtheatre.com/timeline/index.htm
They've been using the organ since the 60's and possibly before when they were doing organ concerts at night and the theater showed their movies during the day. Our group (MCTOS) bought it in the 60's and started showing their "Classic movie series" in the 70's to keep up the theater. The organ console was restored in 2003(?) and the lobby was restored not long after. Right now they're working on getting enough money to re-carpet the whole building with an oriental style carpeting (real expensive to ship from Asia). The lobby was still wood paneled and had a drop ceiling when I went there quite a few years ago (I'm 16, so not that long ago really).
We just had "It's a Wonderful Life" a week ago and that was our groups record of 1070 people for the Saturday evening show. It beat out "To Kill a Mockingbird" by 10 people. Our group hasn't had that theater that full for our own show since we've had the theater so we're still doing good. We've had a lot more advertising and public exposure recently when one of our members took over that side of things which has helped a lot.
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