The Garden Theatre, at 615 Locust, was one of the more attractive showplaces downtown, and had a long run, surviving floods and the Depression, from 1917 through 1951. As with the RKO Orpheum's later transformation into the Galaxy, it was thought that a modern name change might keep patrons away from their new televisions, but the new monicker Rocket must not have worked well--it lasted about a year until the theater closed forever in 1952.What you see here is my restoration of the sign (which also served as the Garden's logo in newspaper ads) complete with chase lights. I haven't worked it into my film just yet, but it will find a place!
If the animated GIF doesn't loop for you here, here's a link to a looping Quicktime version:
Garden Marquee Loop
2 comments:
Exactly, Matt! Most of what I did involved separating a static photograph into layers, and filling in the background where cars, people, etc. were. Usually the clouds were from stock photos.
Have you seen "The Kid Stays In The Picture"? Same techniques--what they did was inspirationally good.
Thanks for the good words!
Has everyone forgotten the Strand across the street from the Garden? I was an usher there, working about 40 hours per week (for $12 as I recall) while a Junior at North Des Moines High School. Often worked until about 10 p.m. even on school nights. No wonder my grades weren't stellar!
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