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The small town in Wisconsin (Ladysmith) that was on national news because of a tornado that happened Mon PM is one of my towns .
Unlike most of the surrounding businesses, the theatre is still standing--but does need a good structual inspection. I did lose most of my newer rubber roof as some of it just dissappeared, while the rest is cut to sh@# do to flying glass and metal. I also lost a beautiful 1948 marquee that was backlit with neon and the sign that was about 20 feet tall with chaser bulbs and neon letters---hopefully I can find a sign company to restore in the insurance mans budget.

I was wondering about your 4 towns and hoping that Ladysmith wasn't one of them. I just finished reading the news about it and didn't see anything in there about a theater. Then I came in here and saw your note. Very sorry to hear about your loss and those of your patrons and friends. I hope that things can be put back to rights, but I know that marquees are getting harder to replace these days. If it makes you feel any better, we figured out how much it would cost to replace our current street sign with a double sided LED sign of the same size and line capacity as our current sign - $36,000. At that price it will be a while before we make a change. I suppose that we can buy lots of replacement letters and tracks and continue to freeze our hands off in winter for less than $36,000.

Please keep us informed on how things go.

[This message has been edited by BECKWITH1 (edited September 03, 2002).]

In the back of my head I was thinking Ladysmith was one of your towns. I didn't see anything in the paper about a theatre. Glad no one was hurt. Good luck putting it all back together.

Sorry to hear about your property loss, but thankful no one was injured at your theatre. I hope you can get everything repaired quickly and economically. Good luck on the marquee. I love those old marquees.

Of course you'll reopen with "Twister"?

Sorry to hear of the damage, and hope you and the town are back to normal soon.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
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Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Sorry to hear about this though it sounds like you were among those who got off the easiest. Is there a web site to check out the news in Ladysmith? Hang in there!

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Best of luck getting your roof and marquee back together, I really like the old neon marquees, they add so much charachter to the building.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WELL-WISHES!

But the way Beckwith--as of Aug 2nd--up to 5 single screen dinosaurs lol. I am not as smart as Mike is--he at least adds screens

Almost any news site has story/pics (i.e.-weather.com, cnn.com, ect.)--but sure looks worse in real life. Power was restored to the theatre today--structual inspection passed with flying colors--in fact inspector made a comment "this thing is built like a (beep) Sherman Tank. Insurance adjuster did his thing and was gracious enough to inform me rubber roof is totalled (which I knew)--but also that my particular coverage will only pay around 60%---but my premiums have been so reasonable the last 6 years, I figure it will end up a wash. The great news is the Marquee is structually sound--just need all the glass, neon and bulbs replaced, and a bit of straightening--that is 100% covered!! So I could actually be opened tonite, other than town still closed to public in general, and an 8:00 curfew.

I did fare very well compared to my neighbors--and almost feel guilty (also if building was totalled could have built a small 3 plex lol)--80% of commercial buildings are condemned.

Sorry about long book--but I feel better blabbing about it

Jim

Forgot to say--we had a matinee that afternoon, and was only business opened--thank God the matinee ended 35 minutes before it hit--if it would have been a normal non-holiday Monday, at that time of day, there definately would have been deaths.

I really feel for everyone in your community. I'm certainly thankful that your theatre was spared any worse damage and that the marquee can be repaired. It may become a symbol for your town and give hope for it's rebirth. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit among that kind of devastation. It seems that had the storm hit while your matinee was still going on that the theatre would have been the safest place to be.

Roxy--my hopes are that the community does look at it like a symbol, but it could go the otherway too--resentment, as I am not from that particular community, even though not that far away and the most damage is where people aren't able to see---but we will try and portray the best----I also remembered today that the theatre was listed as a fall-out shelter back in the days--I guess it just might have been able to make it thru a nuclear explosion --looking at the devastation all around it.