The second to last stop on the Orlando World Wide SketchCrawl was the Winter Garden Theater where ME Dance Inc. was performing Deja Vu. I got a ticket for Terry and I did this quick sketch of the theater while I waited for her. I wish I had known about the Citizen Kane screening. I would have liked to see that on the large screen.Dana Boyd was at the first stop on the crawl and he stopped by the theater for the final legs.
Built in 1935 the movie theater was the first in Central Florida to show “talkies”. It was a gathering place for locals to see newsreels and films of the day. The theater underwent several renovations until it closed in 1963. lt then became a farm supply and tractor warehouse for Pounds Motor Company. The City of Winter Garden and the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation restored the theater and reopened it in 2008. Now the theater showcases dance, theater productions and concerts along with classic films.
Terry was running late, so I worked on this sketch right up until show time. A family with two young and curious boys stopped to watch me work. When I started packing up, one of the boys asked to look through the sketchbook, I said, “Sure” and handed it over. He flipped through the pages with his parents looking over his shoulder. He came to a sketch of a burlesque dancer wearing close to nothing. Doh! I had forgotten about that sketch. Luckily his parents weren’t phased. The dad has worked for Disney Theme Park Entertainment Division perhaps the kids were used to women in tights. The theater was packed but Dana and I found seats in the second row house right. At 8pm the house lights began to fade…