WWII Museum lands an ally
It was a fundraising match so perfect it could have been confected in Hollywood: Movie-theater magnate Theodore "Teddy" Solomon and his family wanted to give money to the National World War II Museum, and the museum needed cash for a high-tech theater.
The outcome: The family gave $5.5 million for a new 242-seat auditorium, which will be called the Solomon Victory Theater. It marks the biggest private gift for the Warehouse District museum's $50 million expansion, spokeswoman Clem Goldberger said.
But the Solomons' 89-year-old patriarch said he was initially hesitant about putting the family name on the side of the building in big metal letters that will be in spotlights at night, thinking it might be seen as ego-tripping.
"My family felt it was fitting," Solomon, a museum board member, said Wednesday. "So did all of the board. They thought that if there was a name on the theater, it ought to be Solomon."
The theater, to be dedicated in late October, will boast several layers of screens, including one 120 feet wide, that will show "Beyond All Boundaries," a documentary billed as "a cinematic experience" and a "35-minute multisensory journey through the war that changed the world." ...
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The outcome: The family gave $5.5 million for a new 242-seat auditorium, which will be called the Solomon Victory Theater. It marks the biggest private gift for the Warehouse District museum's $50 million expansion, spokeswoman Clem Goldberger said.
But the Solomons' 89-year-old patriarch said he was initially hesitant about putting the family name on the side of the building in big metal letters that will be in spotlights at night, thinking it might be seen as ego-tripping.
"My family felt it was fitting," Solomon, a museum board member, said Wednesday. "So did all of the board. They thought that if there was a name on the theater, it ought to be Solomon."
The theater, to be dedicated in late October, will boast several layers of screens, including one 120 feet wide, that will show "Beyond All Boundaries," a documentary billed as "a cinematic experience" and a "35-minute multisensory journey through the war that changed the world." ...