Columbia Theatre Looks To The Future, Salutes The Past

Much like the film starlets who have graced its screen over eight decades, the Columbia Theatre in Olde Towne, St. Helens, has lived many lives.

And though the world beyond the doors of the historic theater has altered its configurations countless times since owner James Svoboda first took the helm in 1963, the theater’s guiding philosophy has changed little: combine the best of modern technology with an old-fashioned atmosphere, and you have a recipe for an unforgettable movie-going experience.

The Columbia Theatre was first constructed in 1928, at the height of the vaudeville and silent film era, and it was envisioned as the entertainment center of surrounding Columbia County. It offered both plays and films and also boasted a barber shop and a restaurant in its wings. The auditorium itself featured a balcony, 700 seats and a state-of-the-art pipe organ.

Its main competition was the Roxy Theatre, also located in St. Helens.

“No show is too good for the Columbia,” a 1939 newspaper advertisement boasted: “We endeavor to keep the Columbia… a theatre of which any town even larger than St. Helens may well be proud.”

A variety of popular acts passed through town over the years, and many took a turn on the theater’s stage. As a kid growing up in nearby Scappoose, Svoboda loved visiting the elegant theater. His brother, John, was even in the audience when Roy Rogers and his horse, Trigger, brought their traveling show to the Columbia.

But as the golden age of film passed out of existence, a downturn in the movie business cast area theaters into hard times. By the 1950s, The Roxy had shuttered its doors, and the Columbia Theatre was in danger of following suit.

Svoboda’s parents, John and Florence, bought the theater for a song in 1963 and leased it to their son. It had fallen into disrepair, and Svoboda quickly set to the task of restoring the theater to its former glory — and making a few improvements, as well. He eventually inherited the place and has spent the better part of his life dedicating himself to its upkeep and preservation.

In the years since, the theater has had several more brushes with fame.

In 1998, a made-for-TV movie starring Debbie Reynolds was filmed in Olde Towne. It was called “Halloween Town,” and the Old Courthouse was used as a centerpiece for the movie. Location scouts fell in love with the old-timey look of the nearby theater and recast its interior as the cobwebbed lair of a wicked warlock bent on turning town residents into a denizen of undead evil-doers.

Between takes, Reynolds would sit in the theater and practice her lines.

“You have such a lovely theater,” she told Svoboda.

In 2008, the first installment of the hugely popular “Twilight” movie series was filmed partially in Olde Towne, St. Helens, and the Columbia Theatre is visible in one of the movie’s scenes.  

Today, movie-lovers who pass through the theater’s doors are spirited off on a cinematic journey both backward and forward in time.

The theater’s red, white and gold exterior recalls the great movie houses of old: an old-fashioned marquee announces the movie being screened, and just above, a molded eagle draped in an American flag perches within the building’s masonry, standing watch. Beneath, an attendant waits inside a bubble-shaped booth to pass out tickets for the night’s show. 

Upon entering the theater, the sense of being transported to another era intensifies. Red carpets and lighting cast a nostalgic glow across an array of movie memorabilia as the smell of popping corn floats through the front corridor.

The barber shop and restaurant nooks have been preserved and remodeled to capture the nostalgic atmosphere of the 1950s.

The former barber shop, painted in black and white stripes, now serves as the theater’s espresso bar. Black-and-white prints of old movie greats such as Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplain and Frank Sinatra dot the walls. Svoboda commissioned a local artist to paint the famous set of weeping and laughing masks, Comedy and Tragedy, above the room’s counter. Aside from coffee, the bar offers a variety of old-fangled favorites, including nachos, pretzels, ice-cream comes and sundaes. Beer and wine are also available on Thursday nights.

The restaurant, painted in cheerful red and white “candy stripes,” serves as the concession room. There, customers can purchase classic movie-going snacks, including fresh-popped popcorn with real butter and huge, bottomless sodas for old-fashioned prices. Coke and movie memorabilia decorates the walls. Also on display is Svoboda’s historic, valuable collection of old model cars.

An antique 1930s carbon arc projector once housed in the Roxy Theatre stands sentry at the entrance to the auditorium, a sleeping giant. At its side hangs a 1949 photo of MGM’s legendary troupe of contract actors. The relics recall another era when celluloid spun and Hollywood’s most enduring greats strolled the red carpets in living, breathing form. 

As show-time approaches, moviegoers can stroll into the red-toned theater, guided down the aisles by blinking white lights, and relax in one of 300 spacious, high rocker chairs, purchased from Universal Studio’s executive screening rooms. Or they can climb the stairs to the theater’s elegant balcony, which seats 100, for a true old-fashioned movie-watching experience. 

Gold embellishments decorate the 25-foot ceiling’s vaulted recesses, from which the theater’s original fixtures still hang. The old orchestra pit sits empty at the front of the theater, and in the theater’s backrooms, still more relics of other film eras abound. An old dressing room where vaudeville greats once prepared for their acts now sits empty, and an “All-Talking” sign used to advertise the magic of sound films hangs, partially obscured, on a back wall. 

However, when the lights go down and the movie begins, it becomes quickly obvious that theater’s technology is anything but old-fangled.

Viewers are treated to an ultra-modern theater setup that includes the latest in 3-D film technology and sound. A 2010 Christie digital projector beams an incredibly lifelike picture onto an ultra-bright high-definition silver screen, while a Dolby Digital sound system enhanced with 29 THX-approved speakers and sub-woofers offers an intense auditory accompaniment to the action. 

Visitors have called it “the brightest screen in the Portland-metro area,” and famous faces virtually pop out at viewers as the film rolls, accompanied by crisp, crystal-clear sound.

And like all of cinema’s best duos – from Laurel and Hardy to Abbot and Costello – the  theater’s digital-age technology and nostalgic atmosphere play off each other to create a total effect that is greater than the sum of its parts, and is as captivating as it is novel.

The future undoubtedly holds more changes, both for the film industry and for the world at large, but visitors to the Columbia Theatre can rest assured that the historic movie house will continue to keep pace with ever-advancing film technologies, while respectfully saluting its long and colorful past.