I finished last week’s column by writing that the historic State Theatre was an important part of my existence while growing up in this community. Looking back, it seems impossible that any theater could match the splendor of my hometown movie house. Its murals featuring those naked ladies riding those magnificent winged white stallions are but one example of what I am talking about, and then things changed.
I graduated from high school in 1963, and for the next decade or so I spent more time away from home and less time watching cartoons and movies at my hometown theater. I even spent a few years pretending I was getting a college education. When I finally settled in as an adult with a college degree, a wife and a career, I found the best little theater in the world—was no longer.
As an extremely old person, I have now come to realize that oft times progress is not progress at all. Take the State Theatre for example. By the early ’70s technology was rearing its sometimes-ugly head. Movie moguls realized that if one screen made money, two, three or four made a whole lot more. Thus was born the onslaught of plastic looking, sterile multi-screen movie houses all across America.
Tragically, the owners at that time decided to subdivide the grand old State Theatre into three different movie theaters, a travesty of the highest order. They removed seats down the middle of the lower section of the theater and constructed a wall where the seats had been.
They also constructed another wall between the balcony and the lower section, creating three movie screens separated only by scabbed-in walls without insulation. This resulted in patrons being able to listen to three different movies, all at the same time.
The theater limped along, operating as a triplex for a dozen years or so before giving up the ghost. By that time, state of the art multi-screen movie houses were operating in Redding, Anderson and even in the old Raley’s supermarket building on South Main Street. The State Theatre complex with its paper-thin walls simply could not compete.
Though I am a little fuzzy concerning the status of the theater through the decade of the ’90s, I believe it was during that time that two community-minded businessmen purchased the building, along with the medical building just west of the theater.
It was just before or just after the turn of this century that a group of actors from the local community entered into a rental agreement with private ownership with the intention of having the theater serve as the playhouse for amateur productions within this community.
I believe it was this group of folks who inherited the tough job of removing the scabbed-in walls and transforming the auditorium into one theater as intended. While they did what they could to preserve and protect the building, removing walls resulted in significant damage to the walls and ceiling of the auditorium. Damage aside, if not for the efforts of the local group of actors, the theater as you see it today would not exist.
For reasons I do not know, the playhouse concept did not work and in the early 2000s the non-profit State Theatre for the Arts morphed into a dedicated group of individuals who promoted low-cost movies, concerts and other community events while renting the theater.
These folks worked their collective tails off and provided a valuable service, but after a decade or so, they too cried uncle, as building a performing arts product proved to be difficult if not impossible when they did not own the building.
As one final act prior to disbanding, that board enlisted a couple dozen members of the community to serve on a steering committee to investigate the possibility of purchasing and restoring the grand old State Theatre. The steering committee met weekly for one entire year, 2010), performing due diligence activities. They determined that with a great deal of work, community support and good old-fashioned luck, purchasing and restoring the theater was a possibility — and the rest is history.
Today the non-profit State Theatre for the Arts owns the theater building, as well as the State Theatre annex located across the alley. Today the entire theater has been restored to look and act very much like it did when the grand opening was held on May 24, 1946. Today the historic State Theatre is home to approximately fifty concerts and other events each and every year. Today the State Theatre belongs to the entire north state community.
If you are still reading this column you will likely notice that I have not provided a single name of those responsible for the amazing success of the historic State Theatre. By listing a few, or a dozen or two or three that have donated time, money, labor or prayer, I would be failing to credit hundreds more who have supported this project in so many different ways.
I will simply say to each and every person, business or entity that has contributed to the success of the historic State Theatre — thank you.
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Coming Attractions at the Historic State Theatre:
March 21, World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra.
April 2, Missoula Children’s Theatre: Johnny Appleseed.
April 12, Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives
May 4, Crystal Gayle
May 5, Bridge & Wolak Presented by the Tehama Concert Series
May 24, An Evening with Suzy Bogguss.
Information and tickets for the above and other State Theatre events is available at www.statetheatreredbluff.com or by calling 530-529-2787. Have a great Wednesday, everyone.
Bill Cornelius is a life long resident of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an exceptional athlete. He can be reached at bill.cornelius@sbcglobal.net.