The Folly had been operating in Stanwood for at least seven years prior to the 1920 remodel. In a 1913 letter to the trade magazine The Moving Picture World, house projectionist Will Walker described the theater as "one of the best equipped little houses in the country" ("Announcement Slide Scheme"). Conditions at the Folly may appear somewhat crude compared to modern standards, but they were fairly typical of small-town movie theaters in America at that time.
According to Walker, the Folly could seat up to 300 patrons in neatly arranged rows of folding opera chairs. The screen was homemade -- white canvas, approximately 10 feet across, covered in bronze powder and varnished. The Powers Six projector had a "throw" of 80 feet (the projector was 80 feet from the screen), and ran off a 16-horsepower gasoline engine and a three-and-a-half kilowatt generator.
It is unclear who owned and operated the Folly Theater at the time of the 1920 remodel. In 1918, the house was owned by W. H. Conners, who operated the venue with his wife.
