A look inside The Roth Rialto: The home theatre of Mark Roth.
I thought it would be fun to share these views of my home theater with my fellow film collectors. The Roth Rialto isn't very large. It's more along the lines of a comfortable screening room where the notorious "Rialto Regulars" gather on the first Friday of each month for screenings of classic films. My wife, Linda, a wonderful person, is actually willing to put up with this nonsense.
The setting is intimate, but it's the real deal with a projection booth, leather chairs, a few posters and surround sound for the occasional DVD or Laser Disc show. The vast majority of our screenings are 16mm with a fair amount of Super 8. The view above shows the window to the projection booth with the Elmo 1200 projectors set up for a Super 8 show. 16mm shows are handled with a pair of B&H 2592's for projection at 18 or 24 fps.
Additional seating is in the form of cozy leather chairs that tilt and swivel to face the screen. One "Rialto Regular", who shall remain nameless, finds these chairs great for napping. In a pinch, folding chairs are available and, of course, seating is always available in the balcony (the basement stairs!).
As seen above, a retractable 8 foot screen is pulled down to cover the wall unit.
Here are a few views of the projection booth. Above are the two Elmo1200 projectors set up
for Super 8. Notice the 1600 ft. capacity take-up reels. At right is a view of one of the
film racks storing 16mm shorts and feature films. All of the films are stored here and the
booth is humidity controlled.
And here, at last, are the "Rialto Regulars". A handsome group of young athletes to the last man!
The Rialto Regulars
Jack Wittnebert
Chris Hasselkus
Ray Healy
Mark Roth
Bill Hymen
Frank Oratio
Dean Cartier
The Rialto
Regulars proudly sponsor the grave of Buster Keaton through the adopt-a-grave program. We
do this to honor a great man who has given us so much joy and laughter. It's an expression
of our everlasting gratitude.
Thanks, Buster!
The adopt-a grave flower fund program is operated by the WAY OUT WEST tent of the Sons of the Desert. The fund provides quality flower arrangements for the graves of beloved stars on their birthdays, the anniversary of their death, and on Memorial Day. To find out more, visit: www.wayoutwest.org.
Become an Honorary Rialto Regular!
I've gotten quite a few compliments on my home
theater. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to pass along the kind words. I thought
it would be neat to offer other collectors the chance to become honorary Rialto Regulars.
This is a great way to find other collectors with similar interests.
If you would like to become an honorary Rialto Regular, please email Regulars@filmclassic.com. Let me know where you live, what formats you collect and the kind of movies you like. You'll be listed among the honored with my next update. Please let me know if you do NOT want your email address listed.
Thanks for visiting Filmclassic.com. Happy film collecting!
Mark Roth
Honorary Rialto Regulars
Don Detky (Jacksonville, Florida, USA) "I
began collecting films back in 1980. I grew up in a small town/city in
New Jersey that was blessed with great UHF stations that ran comedy and
mystery movies from the 30's and 40's, Charlie Chan, Blondie, Bogart,
Abbot and Costello movies along with Honeymooner, I Love Lucy, Groucho
tv reruns. I began reading about early movie makers and stars and Bam!
I was hooked. While my friends proceeded to get into all sorts of
trouble, I stayed home watching Charlie Chaplin "on the wall." I also
began showing these films to my neighbors, friends, family...whoever would
sit down and watch. I also began to make my own super-8 films, my
favorite was making my Dads house plants disappear. Well, I have 4 children
of my own who all love old movies, especially old comedies. My 4 year
olds favorite is "Charlie Chapter" (Chaplin to the rest of us)
Everyone loves Laurel and Hardy. I run my 16mm films on an old Graflex 1!
6 series 915 and on a Singer-Graflex 1115. I have a dual 8 Kodak m-80
but will be retiring this for better equipment in the near future. I
think separate machines for 8 and super 8 will be best. Also, I would
like to begin investing in sound equipment for 8 and super-8 but 4
children are expensive.
I enjoy almost every type of movie from the 1900's thru approx 1960. I
especially love Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Snub Pollard, Charley Chase,
Harold Lloyd, The Universal horror films from the 30's thru the 50's,
Charlie Chan, Mr. Wong. The only genre of movies I don't really care
for is drama...or most of them anyway. Give me Flash Gordon or a good
action serial any day!
I also enjoy Andy Hardy movies but have yet to find any on 16mm. If
anyone has a contact please let me know.
I really look forward to those nights when my children ask me to show
movies in "our " theater. We pop that corn, make a sandwich or two,
enjoy a cold soda (beer for the Dad thank you) and watch the magic of
Hollywood on our wall. This spring I will be having movie nights outside
under our huge live-oak tree. See you there!"
email: DDetky@jaxlegalhelp.com
Trevor Adams (Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand). "My interests are,
showing/collecting 8mm/Super 8mm silent/sound features.Collecting vintage toy projectors,
combination movie camera-projectors, magic lanterns and in particular, old 9.5mm machines
and films."
email: dan.adams@xtra.co.nz
Ronald Ficarotta (Staten
Island, New York, USA). "I collect Laurel & Hardy shorts and
features. I also collect some Mighty Mouse cartoon classics. I try, of course, to obtain
sound
versions for both. I also collect movie projectors, 16mm as well as dual 8mm units. I am
in the process of rebuilding the amp section for a Bell and Howell model 185 sound
projector."
email: rgiftsunltd@aol.com
Roger O. Williams (Slidell,
Louisiana, USA). "I collect 8mm/ Super 8mm & 16mm films. I believe that most
collections do well to have a focus and the focus of my own collection is films of and
about classical music.
My collection comprises several hundred titles and includes feature films, performance
shorts and biographical shorts and also cartoons, all of which have some relationship to
symphonic music, instrumental music, opera, oratorio and ballet. I also have a large
assemblage of silent and sound features, comedy and dramatic shorts, newsreels, trailers,
a few serials and almost every other type of film.
One of my many interests is in cartoons of the earliest silent variety and up to the
wonderful sound cartoons of the 1930s and early 40s by such masters as Ub Iwerks,
Fleischer's Betty Boops, Flip The Frogs and Supermans and various others.
And last, but not least, I like old westerns. Particularly the late silents and
early sound films with Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Hoot Gibson and others."
email: info@mediafilms.com
John Seegers (Midlothian, VA, USA)
I guess you might say I am the original Roth Rialto Regular. I started watching movies
with Mark when the Rialto was his bedroom in his parent's house. We would watch 8mm one
reel silents on his Eumig projector. I met Mark my freshman year in high school back in
1974. Mark instilled in me a deep appreciation for all that is film. My personal
collection, made up of video and DVD, numbers around two hundred. I lean toward the more
modern and the more daring directors, but without the background in silent and B/W it
would all be meaningless. I just finished a college course on non-fiction film that
studied the documentary from Lumieres and Edison through to Maysles and Pennebaker, really
fantastic stuff. If you get a chance, check out Richard Barsam's book Non-Fiction Film.
And yes, I also have a room in my house dedicated solely to the purpose of watching
movies! email: jseegers@att.net
Jeff Cox (Fresno, CA, USA) I loved the theatre part of your website, and
would love to be listed as a regular , my name is Jeff Cox, I live in Fresno,California, I
collect Super8 and 16mm films, my favorites are Laurel and Hardy shorts as
well as Little Rascals shorts, my very favorites are Disney short cartoons made from 1940
to 1955, anything with Donald Duck , Goofy or Humphrey the Bear. I love buying and
trading. Thanks again for your awesome website.
email: JINFRESNO99@aol.com
Van Summerill (Ogden, UT, USA) I
also have a home theatre--the Bijou. It seats 12 (on theatre seats that once were in the
Salt Lake Mormon Temple). The Bijou has motor-driven curtains and a proscenium framed by
chase lights. The screen has moveable masking to accommodate CinemaScope and
"flat" films.
My 16MM collection consists of Laurel & Hardy shorts and features. I am currently
collecting Tom & Jerry theatrical cartoons and W.C. Fields 1930s Paramount feature
pictures, and am always on the lookout for theatrical newsreels.
My prized film is "Trapped By the Mormons," a 1922 British silent feature that
so infuriated the Mormon church, they were able to lobby to keep it from showing in the
U.S. at the time. We sit on temple seats, drink wine and watch this now-hilarious movie,
and the house hasn't been struck by lightening...yet.
Colin
Seatory (United Kingdom) Hi there. I just came across your web page & found
it great. I too am a Super 8mm film collector and have converted an unused bedroom into a
cinema along with motorized curtains, dimming lights & projection box/booth. I
run a Chinnon ss1200 (stereo) projector & have classic Disney features such as
Jungle Book, The Rescuers Down Under and Cinderella. Other features include War Games,
Daleks Invasion of Earth, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Marx Bros. (Love Happy) and When
the North Wind Blows. I also have a host of Tom & Jerry cartoons as well as cut down
films & original UK cinema adverts & various trailers.
So, about me: I live in the UK (North East) I am 39, male & have been interested
in this hobby for many years. When friends & family come to my cinema they think
it's fantastic when the lights dim, the curtains open to a fanfare and the 20th
Century Fox logo appears on the screen. I hope in the near future to have some pics
of my cinema to post.
email: colin.seatory@seatory.freeserve.co.uk
I collect 16mm and super 8 films mostly shorts and cartoons since I show films at my High School. Also, I am a fan of Dr Who and collect Dalek toys, books etc.
I have not got a home cinema yet but I show my films in my bedroom and other rooms of the house that nobody else is in. I was kicked out of the garage because one day my father went away to work and when he came home he found I had banged in to the wall to make a projection booth and a screen!! email: projectionist20@hotmail.com
David Baker (Greensboro, North Carolina, USA) I would like to be listed as an honorary Rialto Regular. I am a senior citizen, but my story may be very common (possibly). I started almost 50 years ago collecting films by trading a school friend a car from my train set for a very early 16mm that used 100 foot reels. An early "kiddie" machine. My parents had some old film in the attic and I used that for enjoyment. Later I bought a small projector, regular 8mm, I think a Brumberger, which used 50-foot films. A local drugstore rented 8mm movies for a cost I could afford by mowing lawns. I also discovered Blackhawk films. My father had a casual interest in home movies, so later on I went to Super 8mm with a camera, projector, screen, and an editor with some passed down equipment. Then came divorce, relocation, and video, and I sold my stuff except the home movies of my children. Years pass away. By this time I have grandchildren who have never seen a real movie on film. In a matter of a few weeks I find a super 8mm projector, a new Da-Brite lenticular screen in the original box, and a projector table. These are "signs" that I could not ignore. I buy all, and I discover films on Ebay. An internet search and I find Filmclassic.com and Phil's films. I have quickly collected some super 8mm films, sound and silent, from Ebay. Spare reels from Texas, an editor from the state of Washington, extra projector lamps from Alaska, and leader stock from Pennsylvania. We have outdoor drive-in style shows in our garage. My grandchildren love to see the "reel" movies.I would like to correspond by email with others doing this, and especially in any one near Greensboro North Carolina. I am looking for any information on how to maintain my super 8mm projector, a Hanimex SR9000. If the Roth Rialto is within driving distance for North Carolina I would like to visit on a show night. I contribute a Hopalong Cassidy feature, super 8mm, sound, B&W, on a Goldberg 1000-foot reel as the evenings entertainment (or part thereof). If anyone cares to drop a line, I will reply. Thank you. email: davidandjoycebaker@hotmail.com
Jerry Boss (Manchester, Connecticut, USA) Mine
is THE MAJESTIC, like the Jim Carrey recent movie. I have an
apartment that is in a converted mill, with open space equivalent to 2 stories high,
except at the back, a second floor balcony/booth. I show 35mm on three 35mm potables....a
DeVry XD, a SIMPLEX SP, and a Tokiwa.I collect cartoons, trailers and features. I would
love to hear from anyone in this hobby. I am 56 years old. email: phantomfilmloft@webtv.net
Jimmy B. Williams (Austin, Texas, USA) I used to collect films in 8mm and Super 8mm when I was a kid. I had an uncle in Fort Worth, TX who had an article written about him in the Fort Worth newspaper along with another gentleman in the same city about having 2 of the largest collections of 16mm films (classic features and classic shorts) and big band era music (33's and 78's) on the planet! When my uncle (Harry) found out about my new love for film collecting....well....let's just say I became like a newly adopted son. And his brother, my dad, didn't seem to mind. So to make a long story short, every Christmas after that I received a wonderful grab bag of 200ft and 400ft b/w classic films ranging from Buster Keaton to W.C. Fields to Charlie Chaplin to Our Gang to, well.....you get the idea. Case in point: My wife and I have just had our first son and, although I've been out of the loop for a while, this is something I would like my son to grow up with. There is nothing more exciting, more romantic than the smell of fresh popped popcorn, the smell of the warm projector and that hypnotic clicking of the film as it passes over the sprockets of the movie projector. It's great to be alive and I'm looking forward to film collecting all over again. I don't think I'll ever grow up! email: cwilliams45@austin.rr.com
Tom A. Pennock (Battle Creek, Michigan, USA) I have been collecting films since I was eight years old when I received a small Brumberger toy projector on Christmas day in 1963. There were 25 foot short films with the toy projector. Soon I graduated to 50 foot regular 8mm Castle Films, Carnival Films, Atlas Films and Columbia Pictures 8mm films.My first longer 8mm film I received on my birthday in 1964 with my first electric projector. I think the 8mm unit was a Universal projector. The film was "Little Roquefort in "Pastry Panic". I went through numerous projectors. In 1965 my first "brand new" electric silent projector. It threaded automatically and was my first autoload projector. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the unit now. Must be old age!!!
I got into Super 8 in 1970 with silent films from Blackhawk. Then bought a brand new Eumig in 1972 and my first magnetic sound short from Blackhawk titled "The Live Ghost" with Laurel and Hardy. I went through numerous sound projectors, most being Eumigs. Anyway, I continued to collect sound and silent films. In 1973 I got into original movie posters. In 1989 I began collecting in 16mm. I now collect 8mm, S8, 16mm, some 35mm. Also film scores. I collect on so many different people. All classic films and the stars are all legends.
A newspaper profile was written on me locally in 1975 and reprinted in Film buff Magazine in 1976. Today an article could never be done because I am too diverse now. The 1975 article concentrated on "Laurel and Hardy". I continue to collect more and more and am out of room.
I ran a film society in 1975, 1976 and 1977. My first exposure to film was in elementary school when the principal showed Castle one reelers during the hot lunch programs. When I saw Abbott and Costello and Woody Woodpecker I was hooked!!! My first 25 foot 8mm silent films were "Popeye's Horseshoes", "Betty Boop" and "Tom Mix". I cranked the Brumberger toy projector until I got blisters on my fingers. My Grandpa made a small piece of plastic fit on the film crank to prevent this from happening again. It did work and no more blisters!!! My first projector became lost in 1967 when we moved. I was so happy to find another toy Brumberger on e-bay recently with a 25 foot Mickey Mouse cartoon. The bulb still works and I cranked away the toy projector. For a moment it was like being back in time to 1963. It was that wonderful Christmas morning again!!! My e-mail address is: tapennock@aol.com