Historic Theatres Day

Today has been proclaimed "Historic Theatres Day" by the Theatre Historical Society, below are a few scenes from Playhouse Square

 The recreated lobby of Loew's Ohio. This lobby was destroyed by fire on July 5, 1964, was subsequently gutted and replaced by a modern lobby. Last year the lobby was recreated, murals and all, and today looks pretty similar to what it looked like in 1921.

The stairs behind this false box would usually be pretty wet 40 years ago. The roof above the organ loft (the Ohio never had an organ) had caved in in early 1972, and water would pour down the stairs behind the box. In the summer of 1972 Smitty and I did boxed in the area with 2x4s and sheets of plywood, we slowed the leak down considerably, but never stopped it. I do hope to see the day when the original boxes are restored. The one here was added in 1943 following the Mayfair Casino supper club years, 1935-37.

I still remember when we took down the massive Cinerama screen in Loew's State. I remember being at the top of the proscenium removing the valance, letting it crash to the floor. It was a slow process.

 Lobby of Loew's State 1975, photo by William Gesten/Foto Arts Inc. Of course the thing I remember most about Loew's State is our hit show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in the lobby. This show was supposed to run 3-4 weeks, it ran for over two years. At the time the massive lobby was the only usable space in the two Loew Theatres.

Lobby RKO Palace. I'll always remember what a hassle it was to relamp those chandeliers.

Allen Theatre Rotunda, I don't know how many Allen Theatre shows I worked on, it was quite a few.