Saenger Theatre (Mobile, Alabama)
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The Saenger Theatre is a historic
theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
and contributing building to the
Lower Dauphin Street Historic District The Lower Dauphin Street Historic District is a historic district in the city of Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on 9 February 1979. The district encompasses all of Dauphin Street from ...
in Mobile, Alabama. It was dedicated in January 1927. The Saenger Theatre is a Mobile landmark, known for its architecture and ties to local cultural history. The theater has been completely renovated in recent years with an upgraded electrical system,
VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...
facilities, new stage rigging and sound system. It is the official home of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and also serves as the venue for movie festivals, concerts, lectures and special events.


History

When ''The Saenger'' opened on January 19, 1927, it was the sixty-first Saenger theatre of a chain founded by the Saenger brothers, Julian and Abe of Shreveport. The Saengers were pharmacists when they purchased their first theater in Shreveport in 1911. They eventually owned 320 theaters located throughout the South, Costa Rica,
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
. The Saenger Theatre in Mobile took a year to construct at a cost of about 500,000 dollars. Designed by renowned
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, Emile Weil, the Saenger featured the following: three-color auditorium lighting, a two-manual, ten-rank Robert Morton
theater organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements o ...
, full stage facilities to accommodate large road shows including stage and wardrobe traps, four floors of dressing rooms, musicians' and chorus rooms and 2,615 seats. Around 1950, the seats on the floor were replaced and respaced, reducing the seating capacity to about 2,200. Seating capacity today is 1,921. The Saenger Theatre's decoration was described as, "the motif of a French palace of the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
." It was inspired by classical
Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
and Mobile's coastal location.
Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...
is cast above the front entrance and the interior plaster ornamentation includes:
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
above the proscenium, Maenads encircling the chandelier in the lounge, Pan beneath the organ grilles and various stylized
seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...
s, shells and fish throughout the theater. The color scheme of the interior was primarily sea-green with maroon and gold trim. The ceilings featured a variety of ''
trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
'' decoration. The building was designed in a continental style, intended to resemble European opera houses. The theater's opera boxes that were located beneath the organ grilles were later removed to improve sight-lines when the larger Cinemascope movie screen was installed. Other outstanding architectural features of the original building included: the tilted arcade, grand marble staircase, ornate lamps, chandeliers, statuary and door frames, a mezzanine and promenade. There were lavish furnishings in the men's "Stage Room" and the ladies' "At the Sign of the Lipstick" lounge, which included draperies and carpets with the name of the theater woven into the fabric. At the dedication ceremonies, then Mayor Harry T. Hartwell and State Senator John Craft were joined by J.L. Bedsole, then President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, in addressing the large crowd gathered for the occasion. Mrs. W.G. Ward, a representative of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...
, presented a portrait of General Robert E. Lee for the theater's foyer, as the dedication date was the General's 119th birthday. Through the years, the Saenger provided Mobilians with outstanding theatrical entertainment on the live stage and motion picture screen. The Saenger hosted silent movies,
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
shows, movies, dramatic and musical productions and was the setting for the first America's Junior Miss pageant. However—as was the case with many of these grand movie palaces—ownership changes, high maintenance costs and various other issues rendered many of these beautiful buildings nationwide, "
white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...
s". In fact, many were demolished to make way for parking lots and general urban development.


Restoration

In early 1970, owners ABC/
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
closed the Mobile Saenger and removed the projection equipment and prepared to demolish the site. On the eve of demolition, the
University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...
bought the Saenger and saved it from destruction. It was partially renovated and reopened as a performing arts center called the USA Saenger Theatre. On October 1, 1999, the City of Mobile purchased the Saenger from the University of South Alabama. A new non-profit organization, called the Center for the Living Arts, Inc., was formed early in the year 2000 to operate the Saenger. The Center for the Living Arts, with donations from the community, restored the historic Mobile Saenger at a cost of about six million dollars. Active in the renovation was businessman Massey Palmer Bedsole Jr., and his wife, former State Senator
Ann Bedsole Ann Smith Bedsole (born Margaret Anna Smith; January 7, 1930) is an American politician, businesswoman, community activist, and philanthropist. She was the first Republican woman to serve in the Alabama House of Representatives and, alongside F ...
of Mobile. The Saenger Theatre of Mobile now functions as downtown Mobile's premiere live music concert venue and performing arts center and is the official home of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. The Saenger features the annual "Summer Movie Series" and presents numerous concerts, lectures and special events.
ASM Global The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports event ...
continues operations of the historic Saenger Theatre on behalf of the City of Mobile.


See also

* Saenger Theatre (New Orleans) * Saenger Theatre (Pensacola, Florida)


References


External links


Mobile Saenger Theatre
{{Authority control History of Alabama Movie palaces Saenger theatres Cultural institutions in Mobile, Alabama Buildings and structures in Mobile, Alabama Theatres in Alabama Emile Weil buildings Vaudeville theaters Historic district contributing properties in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Mobile, Alabama Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama 1927 establishments in Alabama