Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox
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The Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington is a 1931 Art Deco movie theater that now serves as a performing arts venue and home of the Spokane Symphony. It was designed by architect
Robert C. Reamer Robert Chambers Reamer (1873–1938) was an American architect, most noted for the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their architecture. Reamer was ...
, notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. It was part of the Fox Film Corporation Empire founded by studio mogul William Fox. The theater opened September 3, 1931 and showed films continuously until it closed September 21, 2000 after an engagement of the movie ''
Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' starring
Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
.


History


Planning and construction

In 1927 rumors began circulating that William Fox's expanding Fox Film Corporation was to build an "million dollar
movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...
" in downtown Spokane when an agent of the West Coast Company purchased 2/3 of the city block abutting Sprague Avenue and Monroe Street. The area was already home to a wide variety of theaters at the time but the area lacked a theater from a major motion picture house and distributor.'' The Spokesman-Review'' published initial depictions of the proposed atmospheric theater, which was designed in a "Hispano-Italian" architectural style by
John Eberson John Adolph Emil Eberson (January 2, 1875 – March 5, 1954) was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, e ...
. However, the project was delayed due to the financial difficulties of Fox Film Corporation following the
1929 stock market crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
and the companies subsequent reorganization as Fox West Coast Studios and no construction had commenced other than cleaning and clearing the work site. The site of the theater was to be on the southeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Monroe Street where Louie Adams' old beer parlor had been located. When Fox took over the companies operations in 1928, he reiterated support for the motion picture project in Spokane in several press releases in 1928 and 1929, including renderings of a new design, but the site remained vacant. Behind the scenes however, Fox West Coast Theater Corporation had set aside funding worth $15 million dollars for new expansion projects and in late 1929 hired
Robert Reamer Robert Chambers Reamer (1873–1938) was an American architect, most noted for the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their architecture. Reamer was ...
as architect to work on the Spokane project and releasing another rendering of the theater in the Spokesman-Review on January 5, 1930. Reamer's previous theater work included the
5th Avenue Theatre The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in Seattle's Skinner Building, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned b ...
in Seattle and the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington and the design in the newspaper resembled the latter. Reamer is also notable for his design of the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. The Spokane firm, Whitehouse & Price were brought on as associate architects and Los Angeles interior designer,
Anthony Heinsbergen Anthony Heinsbergen (December 13, 1894 – June 14, 1981) was an American muralist considered the foremost designer of North American movie theatre interiors. Born Antoon Heinsbergen in Haarlem (the Netherlands), he emigrated with his family t ...
was retained to work on the interior of the theater. A final rendering of the new theater was released in the July 1, 1930 edition of the Spokane Daily Chronicle showing a more "modernistic" Art Deco design that was becoming increasingly popular at the time and represented a sharp departure from the revivalist designs shown to the public in all previous press releases. Construction finally started in early 1930 and employed 200 people; the structures footprint, which included attached retail spaces, occupied the majority of a city block and was constructed using poured concrete. All the exterior façades and trim on the rectangular shaped building are concrete and were poured and completed in ten days using innovative construction techniques. On the exterior of the building are incised bas-relief ornamentation, with stylized eagles on its Sprague Avenue façade and butterflies fronting Monroe Street. During the Depression Era, a move to the Art Deco style was seen as a more cost effective way to decorate the building by reducing construction costs from expensive plasterwork and fixtures associated with a revivalist architectural style. The budget for the project had been reduced to $750,000, which showed up in the form of a more simple and boxy exterior shell and a lobby with less ornamentation than in the designs shown in the newspaper. Heinsbergen's decorations and interior appointments were a fusion of the rectangular angles associated with the Art Deco movement and the classical flowing style of
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
. The Spokane Fox theaters motif is derived from a Hollywood interpretation of art deco, which was a synthesis of the modernist and art nouveau movements of Europe in the late 1800s. Based on the buildings use of geometry, symmetry, style and use of abstract art, the theater is also said to derive influence from the
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
and
Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...
styles as well as Persian and other exotic architectural styles. The carpeting represents the ocean and the first floor and lobby signify an underwater seascape while the second floor and balcony illustrates treetops, and the roof has ornamentation representing celestial bodies. Heinsbergen's work in the theater represents two mural styles, with more elaborate three-dimensional imagery and the more artistic and simplistic two-dimensional designed murals and have been said to evoke children's book illustrations of the time. The centerpiece of the theaters interior was a wide light fixture made of etched glass and plaster in the shape of a sunburst, it was accompanied by nine smaller chandeliers representing the stars of the universe. As a movie palace built at the end of the vaudeville and silent film era, it was designed to accommodate live stage acts in addition to movies. The theater was outfitted with a movie screen, a full height
proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
stage, stage house, orchestra pit, and dressing rooms, fly system, and Wurlitzer pipe organ. From the entrance, the theater has two lobbies on opposite ends of the building which lead to ornately decorated hallways that provide access to the auditorium's main floor, halfway down the hallway and opposite to the main floor entrance is an exit to a pair of grand staircases that provides access to the
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...
and balcony levels. The buildings cost of construction was popularly publicized as being , with actual cost estimates at the projects completion being placed at for the land, for construction, and for equipment and furnishings. Upon completion, executives at Fox told reporters the theater as the most artistic and modern theater in the Fox Theater chain.


Grand opening and first decades

The Fox Theater opened with seating for 2,350 patrons (1,450 on the ground floor and 900 in the balcony) on September 3, 1931.
Anita Page Anita Page (born Anita Evelyn Pomares; August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008) was an American film actress who reached stardom in the final years of the silent film era. She was referred to as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin" and "the girl with the mos ...
, Mitzi Green, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen and El Brendel attended the opening performance gala. A crowd of onlookers estimated to be as much as 20,000 people crowded the streets outside the theater to see a free of charge outside show and catch a glimpse of the celebrities in attendance as they were escorted from the Davenport Hotel. The public was surprised at the sight of the buildings sleek modern art deco exterior, which was in stark contrast to the Italianate renderings that were shown in the Spokesman-Review in years prior. The interior decorations were singled out for praise in contemporary newspaper accounts. Wilbur Hindley at the Spokesman-Review commented that the design was "so unusual, so bizarre and so futuristic that the casual passerby catches his breath in surprise and wonder;" the design utilized aluminum and glass as opposed to the traditional marble and wood in the interior décor, which included embellishments like hand painted murals of undersea plants and etched glass light panels. The Fox opened with a live production of Fanchon and Marco's ''About Town'' variety show followed by the film ''
Merely Mary Ann ''Merely Mary Ann'' a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy drama film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics '' Seventh Heaven'' (1927), '' Street ...
''. Ticket holders also got to see acts by
Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
and a performance by the Fox Theater Orchestra. This mix of alternating traditional vaudeville style live entertainment and trendy Hollywood talkies was part of the theaters initial long-term business strategy and reflected the evolving tastes of the public. Movies had become a low cost
escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
from the challenges of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The variety shows were phased out after a couple years owing to the public favoring movies over stage productions, but the Fox continued to show live performances as it remained the primary performing arts venue in Spokane for its first few decades. The theater began hosting its long running "Community Concerts" performances in 1934 which would bring in nationally touring musicians to the Fox and in 1935 it staged a performance by the
Hoboken Four The Hoboken Four was a musical quartet formed in 1935, uniting a trio of Italian-American musicians who called themselves the 3 Flashes with aspiring singer Frank Sinatra. The trio had been based in Hoboken, New Jersey, before meeting Sinatra in 1 ...
which included
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
. In 1937, one of Spokane's most famous residents,
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
hosted a national talent show at the Fox. In film, the theater showed Disney's box-office record breaking film,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
, setting a 7-day attendance record with 40,000 admissions in 1938; which was quickly outdone in 1939 by Gone With the Wind, which would stand until 1943 when a showing of the musical, This Is the Army surpassed it.


Multiplex and Decline

The theater added a bigger screen, 3-D effects, and a
CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
projector in 1953, then showing its first 3-D film,
Bwana Devil ''Bwana Devil'' is a 1952 American adventure film, adventure B movie written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and starring Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, and Nigel Bruce. ''Bwana Devil'' is based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters an ...
later that year. The Wurlitzer 3-manual, 13-rank theatre organ installed when the building was constructed in 1931 was removed in 1961. In May of that year, the Fox Theater sold it to a Los Angeles-area collector, who disassembled it and had it shipped to California, the process of dismantling the organ took approximately one week. Starting in 1968, the theater began to augment its motion picture programming with live performances by the Spokane Symphony, which became a tenant in the building until 1974 when they moved to the newly built Spokane Opera House. A new sound shell was installed for the symphony. Not long after in 1969, the theater discontinued its long running Community Concerts series that it had hosted since 1934 that had brought in many big names over the years such as Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Marian Anderson,
Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.
, Rudolf Serkin, Jascha Heifetz, Glenn Gould, Isaac Stern, and Leontyne Price. The Fox Theater subdivided its main screen and opened as a three-screen complex (with one main screen downstairs and two balcony screens upstairs) on 14 November 1975. In 1989, the theater began showing second-run movies at per ticket. Nine chandeliers were removed from the ceiling to accommodate the change. When Regal Cinemas built the new 12-screen megaplex at NorthTown Mall, it sold half of its eight Spokane theaters, including the Fox. The final movie, a screening of ''Gladiator'', was shown on 21 September 2000, and a small ceremony before the showing marked the sale of the theater to the Spokane Symphony, where representatives of Regal Cinemas and the Spokane Symphony exchanged a symbolic $1.3 million check for the keys to the theater.
Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
, wife of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama held a rally campaigning for her husband's presidential campaign on February 8, 2008.


Fundraising and restoration

The adjacent Spokane Club sought to purchase and demolish the building to build a parking garage. Although the club had entered into negotiations with the then-owners, Regal Cinemas, they had not signed a contract and the Club dropped its plans to purchase the theater and supported the Spokane Symphony's bid when they learned they were interested in the site for a concert hall. The theater was saved when the
Spokane Symphony The Spokane Symphony is a 70-piece professional orchestra based in Spokane, WA that performs more than 65 concerts per year for more than 150,000 listeners. It was originally incorporated in 1945 as the Spokane Philharmonic before being renamed ...
signed a contract to purchase it for  million in June 2000. Once the Symphony determined whether the renovations were feasible and the funds could be raised, it began an extensive "Save the Fox" fund raising campaign to raise the budget needed for restoration. Myrtle Woldson gifted the campaign $1 million and then followed that up with a challenge to match a $2 million donation. About a quarter of the restoration funds were raised from federal and state sources, $8 million from various programs including a Save America's Treasures grant and $2.5 million allocated from the Washington state legislature. Prominent architectural features were renamed in honor of significant donors. The theater dedicates a "Walk of Stars" along Sprague Avenue and Monroe Street to acknowledge the donations and contributions of those who support the theater and symphony. The theater was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 2001. The restoration designer was NAC Architecture of Spokane and the contractor on the project was Walker Construction of Spokane. Restorers catalogued, cleaned, painted, and re-created lost architectural details and lighting fixtures. Some external building modifications were made during the renovation. A donation of vacant land by the
Cowles family Cowles may refer to: Surname * Alfred Cowles Sr. (1832–1889), publisher Chicago, spouse Sarah Hutchinson * Alfred Cowles Jr. (1865–1929) publisher, businessman and lawyer *Alfred Cowles (III) (1891–1984) businessman and economist * Anna Roose ...
allowed the stage area to be enlarged on the west side of the theater and a new concrete bulwark was erected there and a refabricated vertical marquee was created to sit atop the building. The original
proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
stage was converted to a thrust stage. Internally, partitions that were installed in 1975 which converted the theater into a multiplex were removed and the creation of an inner lobby reduced the seating from 2,350 to 1,727 and a hole had to be cut into the buildings south face to allow the installation of new steel structural beams into the attic to support the equipment required for modern amenities. Restoration specialists from EverGreene Architectural Arts were brought on to restore Heinsbergen's interior designs as well as the sunburst and chandelier light fixtures. Upgrades to the theater included installing heating and air conditioning systems and soundproofing the venue to make the
acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
suitable for a symphony. The buildings original glass work was cleaned and some replicated using relearned techniques; the metal framework in the leaded glass in the building was replaced using a shiny and reflective zinc to maintain an art deco aesthetic. The total cost of the renovations was $31 million and it was completed in November 2007. The project later received a national preservation award in 2010 by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
. The theater was renamed the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox in honor of Myrtle Woldson's railroad pioneer father, who contributed $3 million towards the renovations. It re-opened as the home of the
Spokane Symphony The Spokane Symphony is a 70-piece professional orchestra based in Spokane, WA that performs more than 65 concerts per year for more than 150,000 listeners. It was originally incorporated in 1945 as the Spokane Philharmonic before being renamed ...
on November 17, 2007, presided over by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. The re-opening included a special celebration featuring a performance by Tony Bennett on November 19, 2007. The meticulous restoration was documented in the KSPS-TV film "Spokane's 21st Century Fox".


References


External links


Official WebsitePBS Documentary "Spokane's 21st Century Fox"Spokesman-Review picture slideshow of the Fox Theater Grand Opening
{{Authority control Art Deco architecture in Washington (state) Cinemas and movie theaters in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Spokane, Washington National Register of Historic Places in Spokane County, Washington Theatres in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Spokane, Washington Tourist attractions in Spokane, Washington Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Theatres completed in 1931 Robert Reamer buildings