P.S. The big street-side box office was preserved and is now in the lobby of Theatre Harrisburg’s offices and occasional theatrical venue on Hurlock Street in Uptown Harrisburg. Ronn
I was one of the principals involved in the effort to save the State so I can speak only to that period. I became a resident of the city in 1962 and attended many showings there. At the start of that decade the place was still lively and there were sell-out crowds on the weekends; the balconys were full… The costs to “save” the theater were inflated to discourage our group and the estimate was made by a firm hoping to win the contract to demolish and rebuild. (They didn’t.) A second opinion said the structure was sound and the cost of conversion for stage attractions would be much lower. There was a huge stage space, ample room above for flying flats, and several dressing rooms one flight down from the stage… The Rural Electric Assn. at first promised to turn over the property for a few thousand (doubting our abilities to raise such) but when the funds poured in they quickly reneged and it became a political football of sorts. It became clear to us that the city wanted “taxes” that they hoped a new building would bring… There is much more to the story involving the Historic Harrisburg Assn. and city hall too involved to report here … The photo mentioned above does show the entrance to the men’s lounge on the floor below. If you “mirror image” the picture, the women’s is under the opposite staircase … I am no techie so I don’t know what it means, but the only remnant we found in the projection booth was several yards of very wide film; apparently it was to be used to adjust the dolby sound for “Jesus Christ, Superstar” if we understood the markings correctly. Maybe that means something to someone … The final showing (I was there with a handful of other “preservationists”) was a porno entitled “Naked Lunch.” Sorry, I don’t recall the plot if there was one …
P.S. The big street-side box office was preserved and is now in the lobby of Theatre Harrisburg’s offices and occasional theatrical venue on Hurlock Street in Uptown Harrisburg. Ronn
I was one of the principals involved in the effort to save the State so I can speak only to that period. I became a resident of the city in 1962 and attended many showings there. At the start of that decade the place was still lively and there were sell-out crowds on the weekends; the balconys were full… The costs to “save” the theater were inflated to discourage our group and the estimate was made by a firm hoping to win the contract to demolish and rebuild. (They didn’t.) A second opinion said the structure was sound and the cost of conversion for stage attractions would be much lower. There was a huge stage space, ample room above for flying flats, and several dressing rooms one flight down from the stage… The Rural Electric Assn. at first promised to turn over the property for a few thousand (doubting our abilities to raise such) but when the funds poured in they quickly reneged and it became a political football of sorts. It became clear to us that the city wanted “taxes” that they hoped a new building would bring… There is much more to the story involving the Historic Harrisburg Assn. and city hall too involved to report here … The photo mentioned above does show the entrance to the men’s lounge on the floor below. If you “mirror image” the picture, the women’s is under the opposite staircase … I am no techie so I don’t know what it means, but the only remnant we found in the projection booth was several yards of very wide film; apparently it was to be used to adjust the dolby sound for “Jesus Christ, Superstar” if we understood the markings correctly. Maybe that means something to someone … The final showing (I was there with a handful of other “preservationists”) was a porno entitled “Naked Lunch.” Sorry, I don’t recall the plot if there was one …
For interior pictures of the State go to the August 18, 2009, entry here: http://tbwdailydiary.blogspot.com/ TheBareWall