Following up on my previous comment. The link to the Lensic’s own site indicates that the interior decorator for the renovation was Conrad Schmit Studios. Is it just me, are do other’s find their work wanting? I’ve seen several of their halls and always come away thinking their favorite color is beige, their work concise but bland, their taste conservative to the point of banality. Or am I expecting too much?
I just spent a lovely vacation week in Santa Fe and was very fortunate to be able to see Buster Keaton’s silent comedy “Steamboat Bill” presented with a live 6-piece orchestra at the Lensic. I can’t agree with Ziggy enough. The Lensic is standing, it’s clean, it’s loved, but the magnificient plasterwork now looks like a temporary stage set inside a black box. It looks like the architect and client had no idea how to renovate a movie palace. Curtains are black, light fixtures are all modern and surface mounted, all the cove lighting is gone, the atmospheric sky is gone (black flat ceiling with stage lights hung on a grid), the interior painting looks amaturish (did they get a do-it-yourself kit from Home Depot), what curtains there are are all black, there is no house main, the screen was in full view the whole time. (They did have a go-bo on the screen to give it a little interest). The organ seems to be gone.
I had to laugh at the curtain speech inwhich the MC complimented the theatre’s magnificent acoustics. Then the orchestra came in and they all had microphones pointed into their instruments: even the TUBA and SAXOPHONE!
Lest we forget though, this is the only movie palace in Santa Fe and it is still a wonderful venue. The projection quality was spot-on, the seats comfortable, the entire theatre was clean and open. A side alley has been enclosed and serves as ancillary lobby space with new spacious restrooms.
One day, we can hope for a more sympathetic renovation. But in the mean time, it was a great show and Santa Fe still has a jewel of a theatre. It is very much worth a visit.
Saw “That Darn Cat” here as kid in our 1962 Chevy II station wagon sitting on the tailgate. Back then the address really was Lebanon Road rather than Lebanon Pike.
Norman, I have to agree with you about Memphis' which of the big 4 theatres in downtown Memphis was the finest. The Loew’s State with its half-block long lobby and its Thomas Lamb “Adam” auditorium was a masterpiece. The Orpheum is bigger and possibly richer, but the Loews State was a masterpiece. And to think, the lot sat there empty for 30 years. Tears over spilled milk, I know, but none-the-less, a sad loss.
The Memphis Public Library has a couple of vaudeville programs from this theatre and photos of it being torn down.
The plaza was a superior movie theatre built in what a friend called Mamie Eisenhower Modern. The exterior was clad in travertine marble (along with the rest of the Poplar Plaza shopping center) with an eccentric stainless steel finial atop the marble clad vertical sign. The long lobby lead patrons past the adjacent storefronts to a broad orchestra foyer. The restrooms feature curving walls, curving leather settees and tinted mirrors. The audiorium opened up in a broad single floor with a cinemascope screen braced by backlit stainless steel spirals. Behind the screen was a tiny stage, really only big enough to hold the big Altec Lansing speakers. Room was provided behind the stage for expansion should live theatre ever come to the Plaza, but a real stage house was never built.
This is the theatre where the catch phrase “Elvis has left the building” comes from. The plaza’s facilities included party rooms and private viewing rooms on an upper floor. Elvis could go see a movie here without anyone seeing him, at least that’s what he hoped. Seems one night word got out that he was in the theatre and it started a panic. He slipped out a side door and the manager wound up shouting that memorable phrase in an effort to calm the crowd.
The Plaza got twinned in the late 1970’s (?) to compete with the newer, and considerably plainer, Malco Quartet (an early 4-plex) directly across the street.
The Plaza finally closed in the late 1980’s. The whole shopping center changed hands soon thereafter. In an in-explicable renovation, the entire shopping center was stripped of its travertine marble cladding and painted beige. Bookstar took the Plaza and did an exemplary renovation on the interior. The only major change being that they leveled the floor to create a sales area. The auditorium, lobby, orchestra foyer, restrooms, even the box office were all lovingly repaired, renovated and restored. The only loss was the funky finial atop the vertical sign which – after much public outcry – went to the a local museum.
The Plaza was an easy walk from Memphis State Univeristy, but not enough students made the 10-minute trip to keep this lovely hall operating.
TC nice photos! These would have been taken in the early 1990’s I think. The stagehouse has since been extended, the vertical sign rebuilt and the marquee sign boards changed to electronic displays. The old milk glass letters in these photos were purchased from the Ohio and Palace theatres in Columbus Ohio with some letters also coming from a Memphis salvage yard which had torn down Memphis’s Loew’s Palace. The milk glass letters looked great, but were terribly fragile and after too many were broken the management rebuilt the signboards with electronics.
The Ruffin Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It is listed as building #92000248.
The architectural firm was Speight & Hibbs. The theatre was named for William F. Ruffin.
The “New Daisy” actually has that name on its marquee. The Old Daisy just says “Daisy” on the front: don’t know if it’s had other names through the years, but it is always refered to as the “Old Daisy” now. I’ll get the New Daisy on the site soon, it was a “stage show and feature” theatre for many years. (So many theatres, so little time.)
When Paramount Publix opened the magnificent Tennessee Theatre (q.v.) two blocks from the Bijou in 1928, they required that the Bijou close as a theatrical venue for “X” period of time. During those years, the Bijou stage saw many odd uses, the oddest possibly was a new car display about 1930. Movies returned to the Bijou about 1935.
The other story is about the convoluted ownership the theatre went through during the 1960’s and 70’s. The theatre building and the land was owned by a businessman and the theatre was operated by a succession of movie presentation companies. As downtown declined, so did the quality of the operation at the Bijou. From 1st run to 2nd run until finally the Bijou went porno. The old front-end building – an 1840 hotel – became a notorius brothel. In this sorry state the Bijou operated for years.
The businessman who actually owned the facility, along with large tracts of downtown realestate finally died and of course left everything to his wife. When SHE died, she left much of the realestate holdings to the giant, ultra-respectable, downtown Methodist church.
The church found itself owning a notorius brothel and porno theatre with a couple of years to go on the iron-clad leases!
It is a minor miracle that they didn’t tear the place down then and there, but the Bijou survived and after a THOROUGH cleaning returned to respectability in the early 1980’s.
If not an EXACT replica, it’s a FINE sign which made me tear-up with joy when I saw it. Exact replica? Well… It is a joy to see it daytime or nighttime. I suspect the purists on this web-site would wonder where they got the LED’s in 1928 though. The street looks better today than it has in decades, largely due to the grand vertical sign towering over the marquee.
Rosa Rio also played at the Brooklyn Paramount, (mentioned farther down in the story) and she is still alive and still playing and still a delightful, gracious lady. Her published works for jazz and theatre organ can be found on eBay from time to time.
Funny how the story about the ghost keeps changing. The only thing that seems to stay the same is the little girl’s name. Her death date, what theatre she haunts, and where she is seen seems to be a moving target. In the 3 years that I worked at the theatre, the only para-normal phenominon I ever saw was the former house manager who haunted some pretty unsavory corners of downtown.
I guess I should fill out the information. That’s retired univeristy of Tennessee chancellor Bill Snyder. He and Paul Swyderski (formerly organist at the Elm Skating Rink in Chicago) have provided live music for many events at the Tennessee Theatre over the last 20+ years. The organ was recently renovated by Ken Crome whose work is respected by many.
Legend has it that this was one of MALCO’s greatest business coups. The land – then at the far east side of Memphis – was purchased at a reasonable price. Supposedly, MALCO then sold off about half the property to the government as a highway right-of-way making enough profit to pay off the original debt and pay for the entire construction of the huge drive in. Basically they got it for free. That may be why the Summer is still operating.
Originally one screen, then two screens and now four, the sound system is now radio rather than the ever troublesome speakers-on-standards. Seeing all thos projection beams blazing from the centrally located concession building can still bring a smile.
The entrance drive winds into the lot between colorful neon (?) light fixtures straight out of “The Jetsons.” The projection/concession house is fairly unremarkable, but always a line to get more popcorn.
Monika, The Lamar operated as a porno house into the late 1970’s. Its last incarnation was a short-lived and underfunded “family entertainment” venue. When I last saw the theatre in the mid-1990’s there was no sign of fire damage. It was a wreck, but not burned.
Will Dunklin
Patsy, Tom, et al, All the downtown movie palaces in Nashville are gone. The only old venues in Nashville are the Ryman Auditorium (which is actually a former church, longtime home of the Grand Ole Opry) and the lovely, but seemingly un-loved, War Memorial Auditorium. Neither of which showed movies to my knowledge.
Knoxville’s recently – and splendidly – renovated Tennessee Theatre has a completely new marquee and vertical sign to replace the 1950’s marquee and long lost 1928 vertical. The Nashville “Tennessee Theatre” signs didn’t make it to Knoxville, though it was discussed at the time.
Tom, you might note that in downtown Nashville, Loew’s operated the Crescent and the Vendome for a while. While not trying to be picky I don’t recall there being a theatre with the singular name “Loew’s”.
Patsy – a new auditorium was indeed built for the Grand Ole Opry. (in 1973?) It was part of a theme park named Opry Land which has since been demolished. The G.O.O. theatre is now part of an enormous shopping mall called Opry Mills which includes the Opry Land Hotel.
Back to the Paramount: did any photos ever surface? I’ve never found any, though to be honest, I haven’t tried too hard. Has anyone checked with the Theatre Historical Society?
atmos, this was definately not an atmospheric. It would be an interesting footnote in movie palace history to know who made the choice of “clouds or chandeliers.”
It is ironic that Nashville lost all its movie palaces just as the city (and state) were building the brand new Tennessee Performing Arts Center with three variously sized halls just blocks from the “threatre strip” along Church Street. Having been in all three of the TPAC halls many times, I can only sigh and wonder how anyone ever thought that was better than saving -even one of – the old palaces.
Brian, B&K and (later, Plitt) had their offices in the Chicago Theatre, directly across the street. I can’t say they didn’t have offices in the State Lake Building too – it was a large operation after all. The other details you mention do ring true.
I seem to remember that the State Lake had a very early closed circuit television process inwhich TV images were projected directly into a 35mm film camera and run directly into a film processor and then directly into the theatre’s projectors and thus onto the screen. The delay between live action and projection onto the screen being something like 7 minutes. A couple of prize fights were presented “closed circuit” at the State Lake in this manner during the early 1950’s.
As you said, the State Lake has a significant role in mass entertainment history.
Ron, while others can explain this in much better detail, in a nutshell, many of the Hollywood studios owned, operated or otherwise were involved with theatres. You make more money if you show the picture you made in your own theatre. So Paramount Pictures owned Paramount Theatres, RKO owned Keiths and Orpheums, Warner Brothers owned Warner theaters. If I remember the story right, Loew’s theatres operated the other way, the theatre chain created MGM studios to provide material for their screens: a subtle twist on who owns what. United Artists studios got the Apollo Theatre in Chicago and made it into one of their prime exhibition halls. When the theatre changed hands years later, the name stayed the same.
Again, trying to keep this long, complex story brief, the Consent Decree of 1947(?) separated most of the studios from their theatres. Paramount, MGM, Warner and RKO were the main studios effected. (I think) Smaller studios like Columbia, Universal and Disney owned few theatres and were not included in the Consent Decree, but neither did they have enough realestate for it to matter much.
Tony, the management of the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville investigated purchasing the Nashville vertical sign when it was announced that Nashville’s “Tennessee” would be razed. (The Knoxville theatre had lost its vertical in the 1960’s). Word was that it had been sold, but to whom or where, I just don’t remember.
The Ruffin is a real delight. The interior has been lovingly described as “Cardboard Deco:” elegant, urban, sophisticated Art Deco transplanted to a tiny West Tennessee cotton town theatre.
Sitting on one side of the town square, the Ruffin, and its dedicated and talented management, has kept life in “downtown” Covington when many other towns have withered and died.
The Ruffin is worth a detour to see if you’re ever in Memphis.
The Bagdad shows up in the movie “What The #$%! Do We Know?.” Several nice shots of the auditorium, lobby and marquee.
“What the #$%!…” is a wonderful quasi documentary with dramatizations of the mixing of quantum mechanics and spirituality. (!) Hope you can see it in a theatre rather than on video. Really hope it plays at the Bagdad.
Following up on my previous comment. The link to the Lensic’s own site indicates that the interior decorator for the renovation was Conrad Schmit Studios. Is it just me, are do other’s find their work wanting? I’ve seen several of their halls and always come away thinking their favorite color is beige, their work concise but bland, their taste conservative to the point of banality. Or am I expecting too much?
I just spent a lovely vacation week in Santa Fe and was very fortunate to be able to see Buster Keaton’s silent comedy “Steamboat Bill” presented with a live 6-piece orchestra at the Lensic. I can’t agree with Ziggy enough. The Lensic is standing, it’s clean, it’s loved, but the magnificient plasterwork now looks like a temporary stage set inside a black box. It looks like the architect and client had no idea how to renovate a movie palace. Curtains are black, light fixtures are all modern and surface mounted, all the cove lighting is gone, the atmospheric sky is gone (black flat ceiling with stage lights hung on a grid), the interior painting looks amaturish (did they get a do-it-yourself kit from Home Depot), what curtains there are are all black, there is no house main, the screen was in full view the whole time. (They did have a go-bo on the screen to give it a little interest). The organ seems to be gone.
I had to laugh at the curtain speech inwhich the MC complimented the theatre’s magnificent acoustics. Then the orchestra came in and they all had microphones pointed into their instruments: even the TUBA and SAXOPHONE!
Lest we forget though, this is the only movie palace in Santa Fe and it is still a wonderful venue. The projection quality was spot-on, the seats comfortable, the entire theatre was clean and open. A side alley has been enclosed and serves as ancillary lobby space with new spacious restrooms.
One day, we can hope for a more sympathetic renovation. But in the mean time, it was a great show and Santa Fe still has a jewel of a theatre. It is very much worth a visit.
Saw “That Darn Cat” here as kid in our 1962 Chevy II station wagon sitting on the tailgate. Back then the address really was Lebanon Road rather than Lebanon Pike.
Norman, I have to agree with you about Memphis' which of the big 4 theatres in downtown Memphis was the finest. The Loew’s State with its half-block long lobby and its Thomas Lamb “Adam” auditorium was a masterpiece. The Orpheum is bigger and possibly richer, but the Loews State was a masterpiece. And to think, the lot sat there empty for 30 years. Tears over spilled milk, I know, but none-the-less, a sad loss.
The Memphis Public Library has a couple of vaudeville programs from this theatre and photos of it being torn down.
The plaza was a superior movie theatre built in what a friend called Mamie Eisenhower Modern. The exterior was clad in travertine marble (along with the rest of the Poplar Plaza shopping center) with an eccentric stainless steel finial atop the marble clad vertical sign. The long lobby lead patrons past the adjacent storefronts to a broad orchestra foyer. The restrooms feature curving walls, curving leather settees and tinted mirrors. The audiorium opened up in a broad single floor with a cinemascope screen braced by backlit stainless steel spirals. Behind the screen was a tiny stage, really only big enough to hold the big Altec Lansing speakers. Room was provided behind the stage for expansion should live theatre ever come to the Plaza, but a real stage house was never built.
This is the theatre where the catch phrase “Elvis has left the building” comes from. The plaza’s facilities included party rooms and private viewing rooms on an upper floor. Elvis could go see a movie here without anyone seeing him, at least that’s what he hoped. Seems one night word got out that he was in the theatre and it started a panic. He slipped out a side door and the manager wound up shouting that memorable phrase in an effort to calm the crowd.
The Plaza got twinned in the late 1970’s (?) to compete with the newer, and considerably plainer, Malco Quartet (an early 4-plex) directly across the street.
The Plaza finally closed in the late 1980’s. The whole shopping center changed hands soon thereafter. In an in-explicable renovation, the entire shopping center was stripped of its travertine marble cladding and painted beige. Bookstar took the Plaza and did an exemplary renovation on the interior. The only major change being that they leveled the floor to create a sales area. The auditorium, lobby, orchestra foyer, restrooms, even the box office were all lovingly repaired, renovated and restored. The only loss was the funky finial atop the vertical sign which – after much public outcry – went to the a local museum.
The Plaza was an easy walk from Memphis State Univeristy, but not enough students made the 10-minute trip to keep this lovely hall operating.
TC nice photos! These would have been taken in the early 1990’s I think. The stagehouse has since been extended, the vertical sign rebuilt and the marquee sign boards changed to electronic displays. The old milk glass letters in these photos were purchased from the Ohio and Palace theatres in Columbus Ohio with some letters also coming from a Memphis salvage yard which had torn down Memphis’s Loew’s Palace. The milk glass letters looked great, but were terribly fragile and after too many were broken the management rebuilt the signboards with electronics.
Found this collage photo of the block which includes the Princess, now sans any architectural features. Seems it is now used as a church.
View link
The Ruffin Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It is listed as building #92000248.
The architectural firm was Speight & Hibbs. The theatre was named for William F. Ruffin.
The “New Daisy” actually has that name on its marquee. The Old Daisy just says “Daisy” on the front: don’t know if it’s had other names through the years, but it is always refered to as the “Old Daisy” now. I’ll get the New Daisy on the site soon, it was a “stage show and feature” theatre for many years. (So many theatres, so little time.)
Not only did the Lamar House host 5 presidents, but rumor has it a number of queens lodged there too!
A couple of endearing stories about the Bijou.
When Paramount Publix opened the magnificent Tennessee Theatre (q.v.) two blocks from the Bijou in 1928, they required that the Bijou close as a theatrical venue for “X” period of time. During those years, the Bijou stage saw many odd uses, the oddest possibly was a new car display about 1930. Movies returned to the Bijou about 1935.
The other story is about the convoluted ownership the theatre went through during the 1960’s and 70’s. The theatre building and the land was owned by a businessman and the theatre was operated by a succession of movie presentation companies. As downtown declined, so did the quality of the operation at the Bijou. From 1st run to 2nd run until finally the Bijou went porno. The old front-end building – an 1840 hotel – became a notorius brothel. In this sorry state the Bijou operated for years.
The businessman who actually owned the facility, along with large tracts of downtown realestate finally died and of course left everything to his wife. When SHE died, she left much of the realestate holdings to the giant, ultra-respectable, downtown Methodist church.
The church found itself owning a notorius brothel and porno theatre with a couple of years to go on the iron-clad leases!
It is a minor miracle that they didn’t tear the place down then and there, but the Bijou survived and after a THOROUGH cleaning returned to respectability in the early 1980’s.
If not an EXACT replica, it’s a FINE sign which made me tear-up with joy when I saw it. Exact replica? Well… It is a joy to see it daytime or nighttime. I suspect the purists on this web-site would wonder where they got the LED’s in 1928 though. The street looks better today than it has in decades, largely due to the grand vertical sign towering over the marquee.
Rosa Rio also played at the Brooklyn Paramount, (mentioned farther down in the story) and she is still alive and still playing and still a delightful, gracious lady. Her published works for jazz and theatre organ can be found on eBay from time to time.
Funny how the story about the ghost keeps changing. The only thing that seems to stay the same is the little girl’s name. Her death date, what theatre she haunts, and where she is seen seems to be a moving target. In the 3 years that I worked at the theatre, the only para-normal phenominon I ever saw was the former house manager who haunted some pretty unsavory corners of downtown.
I guess I should fill out the information. That’s retired univeristy of Tennessee chancellor Bill Snyder. He and Paul Swyderski (formerly organist at the Elm Skating Rink in Chicago) have provided live music for many events at the Tennessee Theatre over the last 20+ years. The organ was recently renovated by Ken Crome whose work is respected by many.
Legend has it that this was one of MALCO’s greatest business coups. The land – then at the far east side of Memphis – was purchased at a reasonable price. Supposedly, MALCO then sold off about half the property to the government as a highway right-of-way making enough profit to pay off the original debt and pay for the entire construction of the huge drive in. Basically they got it for free. That may be why the Summer is still operating.
Originally one screen, then two screens and now four, the sound system is now radio rather than the ever troublesome speakers-on-standards. Seeing all thos projection beams blazing from the centrally located concession building can still bring a smile.
The entrance drive winds into the lot between colorful neon (?) light fixtures straight out of “The Jetsons.” The projection/concession house is fairly unremarkable, but always a line to get more popcorn.
Monika, The Lamar operated as a porno house into the late 1970’s. Its last incarnation was a short-lived and underfunded “family entertainment” venue. When I last saw the theatre in the mid-1990’s there was no sign of fire damage. It was a wreck, but not burned.
Will Dunklin
Patsy, Tom, et al, All the downtown movie palaces in Nashville are gone. The only old venues in Nashville are the Ryman Auditorium (which is actually a former church, longtime home of the Grand Ole Opry) and the lovely, but seemingly un-loved, War Memorial Auditorium. Neither of which showed movies to my knowledge.
Knoxville’s recently – and splendidly – renovated Tennessee Theatre has a completely new marquee and vertical sign to replace the 1950’s marquee and long lost 1928 vertical. The Nashville “Tennessee Theatre” signs didn’t make it to Knoxville, though it was discussed at the time.
Tom, you might note that in downtown Nashville, Loew’s operated the Crescent and the Vendome for a while. While not trying to be picky I don’t recall there being a theatre with the singular name “Loew’s”.
Patsy – a new auditorium was indeed built for the Grand Ole Opry. (in 1973?) It was part of a theme park named Opry Land which has since been demolished. The G.O.O. theatre is now part of an enormous shopping mall called Opry Mills which includes the Opry Land Hotel.
Back to the Paramount: did any photos ever surface? I’ve never found any, though to be honest, I haven’t tried too hard. Has anyone checked with the Theatre Historical Society?
atmos, this was definately not an atmospheric. It would be an interesting footnote in movie palace history to know who made the choice of “clouds or chandeliers.”
It is ironic that Nashville lost all its movie palaces just as the city (and state) were building the brand new Tennessee Performing Arts Center with three variously sized halls just blocks from the “threatre strip” along Church Street. Having been in all three of the TPAC halls many times, I can only sigh and wonder how anyone ever thought that was better than saving -even one of – the old palaces.
Brian, B&K and (later, Plitt) had their offices in the Chicago Theatre, directly across the street. I can’t say they didn’t have offices in the State Lake Building too – it was a large operation after all. The other details you mention do ring true.
I seem to remember that the State Lake had a very early closed circuit television process inwhich TV images were projected directly into a 35mm film camera and run directly into a film processor and then directly into the theatre’s projectors and thus onto the screen. The delay between live action and projection onto the screen being something like 7 minutes. A couple of prize fights were presented “closed circuit” at the State Lake in this manner during the early 1950’s.
As you said, the State Lake has a significant role in mass entertainment history.
Ron, while others can explain this in much better detail, in a nutshell, many of the Hollywood studios owned, operated or otherwise were involved with theatres. You make more money if you show the picture you made in your own theatre. So Paramount Pictures owned Paramount Theatres, RKO owned Keiths and Orpheums, Warner Brothers owned Warner theaters. If I remember the story right, Loew’s theatres operated the other way, the theatre chain created MGM studios to provide material for their screens: a subtle twist on who owns what. United Artists studios got the Apollo Theatre in Chicago and made it into one of their prime exhibition halls. When the theatre changed hands years later, the name stayed the same.
Again, trying to keep this long, complex story brief, the Consent Decree of 1947(?) separated most of the studios from their theatres. Paramount, MGM, Warner and RKO were the main studios effected. (I think) Smaller studios like Columbia, Universal and Disney owned few theatres and were not included in the Consent Decree, but neither did they have enough realestate for it to matter much.
That’s the gist of it anyway.
Tony, the management of the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville investigated purchasing the Nashville vertical sign when it was announced that Nashville’s “Tennessee” would be razed. (The Knoxville theatre had lost its vertical in the 1960’s). Word was that it had been sold, but to whom or where, I just don’t remember.
The Ruffin is a real delight. The interior has been lovingly described as “Cardboard Deco:” elegant, urban, sophisticated Art Deco transplanted to a tiny West Tennessee cotton town theatre.
Sitting on one side of the town square, the Ruffin, and its dedicated and talented management, has kept life in “downtown” Covington when many other towns have withered and died.
The Ruffin is worth a detour to see if you’re ever in Memphis.
The Bagdad shows up in the movie “What The #$%! Do We Know?.” Several nice shots of the auditorium, lobby and marquee.
“What the #$%!…” is a wonderful quasi documentary with dramatizations of the mixing of quantum mechanics and spirituality. (!) Hope you can see it in a theatre rather than on video. Really hope it plays at the Bagdad.
scenicroute – I agree 100%. Could you contact me directly: got a projection question regarding another theatre here on CT.
Will