RESTORING THE STATE THEATRE

Auburn Placer Performing Arts Center Announces Installation of 35 MM Film Projection Equipment and New Screen

Thanks to local family funds held at Placer Community Foundation, Auburn Placer Performing Arts Center at the State Theatre will be showing full screen 35 mm films. The donors to date are: The Constantino Family Fund at the Placer Community Foundation ($2,000); the Janice L. Forbes Fund at the Placer Community Foundation ($1,000); the Hideo Ray and Irene Yamasaki Family Fund at the Placer Community Foundation ($1,000); and, the Placer Community Foundation Audience Development Fund ($2,000). The funding process is also being facilitated with a no-interest loan from Patrice Taylor to meet the purchase and installation timeline. Placer Community Foundation is a public trust established to assist donors in building an enduring source of charitable funds to meet the changing needs and interests of the community.

Through tireless research on the part of Board Member Richard Del Balso, APPAC has the good fortune of working with John Eickhof, owner and operator of ACE Theatre and Services out of Wendell Idaho. Eickhof's installation of 35 mm projection equipment and a new screen allows APPAC to continue the long tradition of showing movies at The State Theatre, which dates back to the 1930's. As outlined in the new Business Plan, APPAC cannot compete in the contemporary film market with multi-screen theatre complexes, but plans to take advantage of the historic qualities of the facility by initially offering specialty films on a limited schedule. Still in the planning stage, this could include classic as well as art, foreign, and independent films. During the first week in April, a 35 mm projector was installed along with a new screen. This installation was done by Eickhof, who has long ties to the State Theatre.

John Eickhof started working as a projectionist in the Brockway Theatre in Kings Beach when he was 14 years old. While working as a sound/projection technician in the Northern California/Nevada area in the mid 1970's, the State Theatre was one of his regular calls. During the late 1980's, he installed the second projection setup when the State was turned into a two-screener. He also removed the equipment when the State was eventually closed by Signature Theatres. He installed both projection set-ups when the theatre was again re-opened again a few years ago. John currently owns the ACE Theatre in Wendell, Idaho. While in college in Sacramento in 1977, John met Guy Erickson who visited him at his home in Colfax. Both shared a mutual love for film and the movies. John recalls "Guy was amazed that I had a full size 35mm projector system operating in my living room!" John soon helped Guy install a 35 mm projector system in a new room he had built at his own home for the showing of film. They were close friends for nearly 30 years.

John relates that Guy started out in the A-V department at Del Oro High School, running 16mm projectors. He worked as a projectionist at the Basalone Theatre at Treasure Island Naval Base while he was in the US Navy. After his service, he returned to Loomis, joined the Sacramento Projectionists Local #252 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators (I.A.T.S.E.) and worked in virtually every theatre in the Sacramento valley and the foothills. According to John, "Guy absolutely loved film and film history. He was quite a film aficionado, and was known for doing impressions and reciting famous lines from classic films. He had a vast collection of 35mm films and would show them for friends in his home screening room." Through the years, Guy worked for John's company doing projector repair and field service calls plus working on many installations. John fondly recalls Guy's love for vintage theatres, saying "he always spoke highly of the State as it was the closest vintage theatre to him in Loomis. He knew the projectionist that worked in the State before a fire destroyed the original projection booth located way up on the present roof."

In a recent conversation, John exclaimed: "I was stunned when I first observed the new marquee at the State. It is magnificent - I am sad that Guy never had a chance to see it before he passed away. He would have been very pleased! Guy was an old-fashioned projectionist; he liked to run things manually, no automatic stuff. This is why I am furnishing his favorite projectors to install at the State. He was so fond of the Simplex XL, that after having two older sets of machines at his home, we finally found him a pair of XL's and installed them in 1994. Although Guy won't be there in person for the next installation, his spirit definitely will!"

See more photos and an Auburn Journal article about the installation of the projection equipment, Projecting the future for State Theatre.

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