Bridge abutment doubles as screen at Yellow Creek Theatre

Photo by: Rami Daud

Photo

Patrons gather behind the Poland Library on South Main Street on July 8 for the first night of Yellow Creek Theatre, which screens free classic movies every Friday.

By Robert Guttersohn

rguttersohn@vindy.com

POLAND

The suspenseful, baritone brass soundtrack and quick, flat dialogue in “Sorry, Wrong Number” typifies movies of the film noir era.

“Henry, there’s somebody coming up the stairs,” screams Barbara Stanwyck in the damsel-in-distress style present in all films of that genre.

Thanks to a trio of Valley residents, the audience will see it from an angle few have — projected onto a support column of the U.S. Route 224 bridge crossing the Yellow Creek.

Ron and Joanne Eiselstein and John Scotford are the brains behind the Yellow Creek Theatre. Over a range of Friday dates every summer since 2005, they’ve shown free classic movies. This year, films will be played weekly through Aug. 26 and include classic titles such as “The Sound of Music” and “Strike Up the Band.”

The theater first was conceived when Ron and others in Poland were installing the Reed Memorial Stairway leading down from the bridge. Suddenly, it came to them that one of the bridge’s support columns was wide enough to have movies projected onto it.

“The wheels started to turn,” Joanne said.

They brought the concept to Town One Streetscapes, a Poland civic group. But, like most people told they’d be watching a movie being played under a bridge, it was hard for the group to envision.

So during Celebrate Poland that year, the three of them played Three Stooges shorts. Later that year, their first full-length movie was “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Would anyone show up? Would people lose interest? They didn’t know what to expect.

“They not only showed up, but ... they all stopped talking when the movie started,” Joanne said. “They were serious movie-watchers.”

Today, Yellow Creek Theatre is a Town One project with the three at the forefront. And since 2005, the wheels have not stopped turning.

“From day one, the site is continuing to be upgraded,” said Scotford, who finds local sponsors to fund the equipment, broadcast fees and upgrades.

In the first year, there was sand and dirt down by the creek’s embankment. So in 2006, they covered it with a 2,500-square-foot brick patio. And as audience levels grew, they created an ampitheatre two years ago with stone walls, which run half circles along the hill, creating the separate levels.

Local jazz musicians play before each showing with Ron providing the drumming.

“We can’t afford anybody else,” Ron said.

“He works for free,” Joanne added.

There are theme nights. For example, next Friday they’ll play surfing music before showing “Beach Blanket Bingo.”

Joanne’s selection of old movies is for two reasons. First, it avoids vulgar words being broadcast throughout the quiet village. She remembered when they played “Back To the Future” one year — a generally family- safe movie — the one cuss word just hung in the air to Joanne.

“It was like nails on a chalkboard,” she said, although no one seemed to mind.

Second, the Eiselsteins both have an appreciation for old stuff — cars, films and houses. They’ve lived in two historical homes in the Valley. And they run the Village Pantry, a 19th-century-style shop on Main Street that sells an assortment of goods.

As for Scotford, “I’m just old,” he quipped.

The theater also closes generational gaps. One patron brought her grade-school-age daughter to watch “Singin’ In the Rain.” The next rainy day, the daughter skipped, swirled and danced like Gene Kelly while singing what she remembered of the movie’s title number.

“Some people think they are older movies, so they are for older people” Joanne said. “They’re for the young kids, too.”