Anyone who has been to Hollywood Boulevard Cinema in Woodridge knows the owner's style: Big.

Cinema owner Ted Bulthaup brought that style to his new Naperville movie theater, Hollywood Palms Cinema, whose grand opening is this weekend at 352 S. Route 59. Palm trees, bamboo, coffee plants and other tropical greenery nearly scrape the ceiling of the entryway atrium. A two-story waterfall in the lobby turns conversations up to shouting range. A pair of plaster winged men flanking the screen in one auditorium stand 17 feet tall. They're painted gold.

Bulthaup attributes his big style to his native state of Texas. "Everything is big there," he said pointing to a massive painting behind his equally massive desk. "See the Alamo?"

He also has big-name connections. Among people he calls "good friends" is Karen Allen, who starred opposite Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." She's making personal appearances at Hollywood Palms and Hollywood Boulevard this weekend.

He persuaded the heads of multiple film studios, plus Steven Spielberg, and then George Lucas, to write letters in support of "The Wizard of Oz" Munchkins' own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He was invited to the 70th Anniversary Party of the Premiere of “The Wizard of Oz” at New York’s Tavern on the Green where Judy Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while Margaret Pellegrini one of the last living Munchkins celebrated her 86th Birthday with several other Munchkin cast members, but he sent his regrets because it happened to be the week of the Hollywood Palms grand opening.

So he drops names. And he speaks in hyperbole — his cinemas are the first this and the best that. But Bulthaup is no Donald Trump, who puts his name on everything he builds. He's soft spoken. ("I get accused of mumbling a lot," he said.) He prefers to stay in the office (behind a door that says, "Nobody sees the Wizard. Not nobody, not no how").

To create the cinemas' grand style, he picks up set pieces while traveling the world. Then he stores them in his prop shop or displays them in his office until he uses them.

"I notice the little things other people don't, but it's the little things that add up to the whole picture," he said.

He's not kidding. While giving a tour of the new cinema, Bulthaup took notes out loud: "That blue light bulb is out, that trim needs to be dusted, that chandelier is one bulb short, that placard needs a larger typeface." If they weren't fixed by the grand opening, his vision for the customer experience wouldn't be complete.

He has been in show biz for a while.

Now in his 50s, Bulthaup started promoting concerts when he was 17. In 1975, as senior class president at Downers Grove South High School, he booked Styx to play a concert in the gym — just before the band got its first Top 10 hit.  He went on to book bands at colleges and line up outdoor concerts.

He opened his first movie theater-restaurant combination in downtown Indianapolis in 1991.

"It was dead back then," he said. "We were the only business open downtown on Sundays back then, and we were the only business that wasn't a get-drunk-pick-up-chicks-bar-type place the other nights of the week."

He started out running sub-run films just before their video release because studios wouldn't sell first-run movies to a place with a liquor license. He finally convinced them that "Prohibition is over."

It was in Indianapolis that Bulthaup developed the design sense moviegoers now see in his Woodridge and Naperville cinemas. He would go early in the morning on weekends and add some half-round trim or some red paint. He says his wife, Cheri Bulthaup, knew he was ready to open another theater after he was done "tinkering for 10 years in Indy."

The celebrity film openings started at Hollywood Boulevard with the Munchkins and "The Wizard of Oz." After that came the "Star Wars" films and actors, then the "Harry Potter" films and their stars.

Hollywood Boulevard built a loyal following of moviegoers — 106,000 people subscribe to his e-mail list — and investors alike. It's because of that loyal following that he's expanding now.

Bulthaup had opportunities to expand before. Offers included one from Disney's Pleasure Island, but he said he would rather build a cinema for the locals, potential regulars, than for the one-time tourists.

While other theaters struggle to compete with Blockbuster and Netflix, Bulthaup says his Hollywood franchises work because they provide a whole night out: a bar, full restaurant service and first-run films in auditoriums with distinct personalities.

He shows open disdain for theaters that pick the same carpeting and decor throughout.

"They're neon trimmed bunkers," he said. "They're called exhibitors he quips, I'm surrounded by a bunch of exhibitionists.”

"I don't consider us in just the exhibition industry like they seem to do.  I consider us in the hospitality business. We take care of the customers. We take care of them as soon as they cross the threshold. And they love us — 'love' is always the word they use. They always tell us it's the best movie experiences they've ever had."

FROM THE STORYTELLER

Over the past year, Ted Bulthaup worked many 14-hour days at the new Hollywood Palms Cinema, even during the summer when the air conditioners weren't working.

He said he lost 30 pounds opening this theater. That's why his three-piece suit is too big. (He wears it with blue Converse sneakers.)

"People might style is kind of weird," he said. Then he rolled his eyes. "but it's show biz."

People might also find it weird that Bulthaup, the owner of two movie theaters, hasn't seen a movie in years.

He can't go to his own theater, he said. Some staff member inevitably taps him on the shoulder.

He can't go to anyone else's theater "because it's junk food and a sterile environment" he said.

He can't watch at home because he would rather watch documentaries or feed his news addiction.

But he loves the classics. "Lawrence of Arabia" is his favorite. The Marx brothers still crack him up. And his theaters are well-known among fans of "The Wizard of Oz" for personal appearances by the Munchkins.

It was through his friendships with the Munchkins actors that he learned they didn't have their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lobbying for the star, he got rejected the first time. Then he led a letter-writing campaign with friends in the industry and the governor of Kansas – "because what else is Kansas known for?"

The Munchkins got their star in 2008, right in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

For the ceremony, he got an archway of rainbow-colored balloons to grace the Chinese Theater forecourt. He got a carriage with a purple "horse of a different color" to pull up. The Hollywood High School band played music from the film. He spent thousands on the event.

Bulthaup said most star ceremonies include a few dignitaries and photo opps. But he thought that wouldn't do the Munchkins justice.

So you might call him weird for any number of reasons. But unlike many personalities associated with Hollywood, you can't call him selfish.