Theo Kalomirakis' Private Theaters
Reviewed by Jim Sweeney
Some people want a home theater. Not a wide-screen TV and a nice leather couch, but a real movie house in miniature. Theo Kalomirakis, a magazine art director and film buff, designed one for the basement of his Brooklyn townhouse. Media publicity about it led to a new career: he now designs home theaters. Brett Anderson describes them in his book, Theo Kalomirakis' Private Theaters, (photographs by Phillip Ennis Home Theater Magazine/Harry N. Abrams Inc., $49.50 hardcover).
It should come as no surprise to Trans-Lux readers that many of Kalomirakis' clients want to clone Art Deco movie palaces. They're reproduced down to the last detail. Some have ticket booths with dummies in them. Many have appropriate names such as the Bijou, Paramount, or Uptown.
The Roxy, the theater that Kalomirakis designed for himself nine years ago, was a simple, streamlined room. The theaters he designs for his usually wealthy clients, often seating dozens, allow his imagination to go wild.
The end result is a cross between theatrical set design and architectural reproduction. Some design elements are copied directly from Art Deco theaters or other structures. For one client, he copied the Chrysler Building's elevator doors for a screen. For another, he acquired a reproduction of a Donald Deskey carpet in Radio City Music Hall.
Some architectural features are salvaged from demolished or renovated buildings. One theater has a 1928 Lalique Deco chandelier. Another client's Paramount Theater includes brass handles from the Paramount on Times Square. The same theater also has a 1919 chandelier from Cleveland's Centrum Theater. The book says that Kalomirakis recently supervised the restoration of the Centrum, indicating his career is taking yet another direction.
Many of his clients want replicas of theaters from their youth. One client told Anderson that going to the movies was a special occasion when he was a kid. A couple named their private theater after the Chicago theater the wife frequented as a child. A third client named his theater after a long-demolished movie palace in his native Germany. A fourth client drew on theaters in his home town, Rochester, for inspiration for his design.
The book's 100 color photographs are luscious. Several shots from different angles establish the scale and design of each theater. Leafing through the book makes you wish you had the room and the money for a home theater (the state-of-the-art projection equipment alone costs thousands of dollars).
The book's one annoying flaw is Anderson's fawning profiles of the wealthy owners of these theaters. The focus of the book is Kalomirakis' theater designs; why Anderson thought readers would want to hear about the clients in such detail is puzzling.
This article originally appeared in Trans-Lux volume 18, number 1, March 2000.
Where to Find the Book
You can find Theo Kalomirakis' Private Theaters in local bookstores or purchase it on-line at a discount from Amazon.com Books.
ADSW offers this book in association with Amazon.com Books and receives a small commission on sales referred to them.
Comments
Created Tuesday, June 06, 2000; Modified Saturday, September 20, 2003.
