This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
The new movie screen was installed by the Longmont Theatre Company this week. The remote controlled 12.2 foot high and 19.6 wide screen and a digital projector will be used for the first time this weekend by the Front Range Film Festival.
Longmont Theatre Company started a “Raise the Screen” campaign in January 2015 for money needed to buy the screen. Faye Lamb, President of the theatre company, stated that in 2017, a final gift from the Richard Klein family, who owned the Trojan Theater, helped complete the campaign.
The Longmont Theatre Company performs at the Longmont Performing Arts Center, a name given to the building by Klein, owner of the Trojan Theater, a movie house in the location from 1960 to 1984. In 1991, the Longmont Theatre Company worked with Klein to purchase the movie theater.
His gift made possible the conversion of the Trojan Theater to the Longmont Performing Arts Center, and its theatre auditorium is named for him. His dream or wish was to maintain movies, live theatre and performing arts, and other community activities in the historic theatre. “We have arrived at honoring his vision; it just took LTC 27 years to do so,” Lamb said.
In 1960, Richard Klein purchased the property from the Fox Corporation and renamed it the Trojan Theater. The Fox Theater was built in 1939. The building is representative of the important role played by the movie theater on Main Street in communities across the country in the early and mid-twentieth century. The screen will have many uses, according to Lamb. In the future, the movie screen and auditorium will be available for schools, corporations, to rent. “We are in the planning stages of many activities for the movie screen.”
“We are so proud to honor the legacy of the Trojan Theater. People in Longmont still remember watching movies here as a child.” Lamb, who does all the curtain talks before each live theatre production, said at each show, she asked for a raise of hands of who had come to the old Trojan Theater to watch movies years ago. “Over half the house, almost every time, raised their hands.”
The New Trojan Movie House at the Longmont Performing Arts Center will be christened at a private event in the near future. Lamb is hoping those receiving an invitation will attend and celebrate.
“This building and all it stands for is very much a part of Longmont’s history.”
This is a press release issued by the Longmont Theatre Company and is published here as a public service.
