Fifty years ago tonight, Richard Harris appeared on the Allen Theatre stage.
The previous afternoon I had walked in off the street looking for a job, after talking to Ceil Hartman she told me to come tomorrow at 10 AM. So the following morning I made my way to Playhouse Square, as best as I can recall I dusted seats in the balcony, and filled popcorn boxes in the afternoon. The main cast of characters were: Ray Shepardson, founder of the Playhouse Square Association; Ceil Hartman, business manager; Smitty - Ralph Smith, a general handyman; Veralynne Bosko, Smitty's friend and volunteer; Bert LeGrande, memberships: Victor Villimas, tickets, publicity, etc.; Bugs - Solomon Alexander, maintenance; and a girl named Cinnamon who was in charge of the volunteers, there weren't many, in fact some of only ones were a group of Garfield Heights HS seniors that called themselves "The Next Generation." A group of Veralynne's friends would also be around to assist: Poe - Ken Plocica, Kevin McAndrew, Chuck Fleming. and Pete Webber, and possibly a couple others. I didn't meet all these people the first day, and a couple didn't stick around too long, while I stuck around for the next eight years.
It was probably around six when Ray appeared and shoved a cash box into my hands and said "you're in charge" indicating the mezzanine concession stand, it was the second brief encounter I had with Ray that day, it would be a few days later when he explained what the overall goal was, restoring the theatres, and the nightlife in that grim section of downtown, where the streetlights didn't even work. I had no idea what anything cost, fortunately Ray's longtime friend Gorden Bell appeared to take charge. Everything, popcorn and soda, cost 25¢ in that long ago era. I seem to remember biz was slow early, but brisk at intermission. The mezzanine concession stand didn't last past that spring. The main stand downstairs where the Tea Room once was raked in the big biz, 5-600 boxes of popcorn and over 1,000 sodas. That concession revenue was the slim lifeline that kept the Association afloat during this time.
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