Celebrating 75 years of movies

By Jessica Coleman    
Staff Writer
    Alvin Svoboda loves movies. He speaks of cinema and its related theater business with passion, knowledge, and wisdom. He can tell you many stories he has collected in his 58 years in the movie business at the Ganado Cinema. 
    Having opened on June 6, 1941, the cinema celebrates its 75th anniversary this month, and what better way to honor the business and its history than to show the very first movie ever to grace the screen?
    Svoboda is celebrating the 75th anniversary of his beloved theater with the community by holding a free show on Sunday, June 12. A screening of a video by the Shiner Hobo Band will begin at 1:15 p.m. followed by The Lady From Cheyenne at 2 p.m. Patrons will enjoy free popcorn as they step back in time in the Ganado Cinema. 
    It seemed simple enough, but procuring the film, The Lady from Cheyenne, required jumping over some hurdles. After an exhaustive search, Svoboda finally has his movie and he is excited to share his love of films with everyone willing to come.
    Svoboda’s first experience with movies was as a child, when his parents gave him a small projector as a gift.
    “They gave me a little 16 mm silent projector. It was maybe three foot by three foot,” he said, “and that’s how I got started in all this mess.”
    He started working at the Ganado Cinema when he was 15 years old as a janitor and projectionist, filling other positions as needed. He fell in love with everything surrounding the business of showing movies to audiences. Today, he owns it, and he still has the same passion for movies as he did in his teen years.
    “I did other things too,” he said, “I drove the Catholic school bus. I was a carpenter’s assistant. I got work where I could supplement. I got by on a minimum salary just to stay here and work. I could have gone out and looked for a job, but nothing interested me but the movies.”
    A lot has changed in the years Svoboda has been at the helm. The days of movie reels and projectors are long gone. The cinema went digital in 2009.
    “You can’t even get a movie on film anymore as of last year,” said Svoboda. “We still have all of our equipment, but it is basically useless. Scrap metal.”
    Movies now come on hard drives, and a key to view them is available for each showing. Svoboda has kept up with the changes in technology throughout the years so movie-goers at the cinema get the best movie experience possible.
    So if it’s been awhile since you have been at the movies, a trip to the Ganado Cinema on June 19 will take you back in time with all the latest digital technology.