July 26, 2006
 
RUTHERFORD ON FILM: Explore Labyrinth of Keith Albee; Would Matthew Like to Follow Jessica’s Lead and Donate a Date to Highest Bidder for Keith Preservation?
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- Although it will not be showing movies on a regular basis anymore, the Keith Albee sits awaiting the start of the Marshall Artists Series. Preparations are underway for the incorporation of a charitable foundation which will operate (and hopefully renovate) the 1928 Thomas Lamb jewel.
 
Anyone who has stepped inside the theatre -- or walked downstairs to the restrooms -- may have thought, “what else is down here?”
 

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Rumors exist that a ghost or two maintains residence at the Keith. Also, due to the heavy concrete flooring of the main auditorium, it would have been my choice for a Cold War bomb / fallout shelter. Of course, the refugees would have likely died not from radiation but from daily “rations” of popcorn, candy, and soda.
 
The theatre’s basement housed a popcorn popping facility when it was operated by Greater Huntington Theatre Corp. The corn was then taken to their other theatres (Camelot and Cinema).
 
However, once you leave the popping plant, you find large mechanical objects which make up the theatre’s heating and cooling system. Toward the rear, the theatre has four levels of dressing rooms for live shows. One room in the basement has been called an “animal room,” where , well, all types of large creatures waited for their time on stage.
 
Of course, from the top of the balcony, you can see a lighted Spanish village with birds in the background.
 
Hopefully, the Keith will be one of the sites for the advance screening of “We Are Marshall.” Rumors have been circulating that certain tickets may go for as much as $2,500, but the proceeds would go to the theatre’s restoration.
 
Actually, Jessica Biel, who has been described as “the sexiest” woman alive by Esquire magazine, recently helped raise $30,000 to defray medical expenses of a teen who lost her left leg in a car accident on prom night. Biel, a Denver native, offered to share a luncheon date, with the highest bidder, who turned out to be senior vice president for an oil and gas company.
 
Now, since People Magazine’s Matthew McConaughey has been dubbed the “sexiest man alive,” wonder if the Texan who plays Coach Jack Lengyel would offer a “date” to the highest bidder to help raise money for the Keith Albee and Marshall?