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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2018)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL APRIL 4, 2018 9A Offbeat Oregon History: Mayor Baker's theatre in Portland By Finn JD John For The Sentinel M ost modern Oregonians interested in Portland history don’t quite know what to make of George L. Baker. Baker served longer in the offi ce of Mayor of Portland than anyone ever has, before or since. He was hugely popu- lar among most Portlanders for most of that time, becoming known for a kind of adorably bluff teddy-bear boisterousness. But he also resorted to fascist NEW: Digital X-Rays (use less radiation) Implants •Teeth Whitening • Extractions Lumineers (no prep veneers as seen on TV) Cottage Grove Dental Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS 350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies) 541.942.7934 BINGO COUPON COTTAGE GROVE ELKS LODGE 755 North River Road Information 942-3554 PUBLIC WELCOME Every Wednesday (except Holidays) Warm Ups 6:30pm Regular Games 7:00pm Frequent Smoke Breaks, Exciting New Game Program “Bingo Burger Menu” Available 2 PROGRESSIVE JACKPOTS Bring this coupon and receive a 2nd Warm-up Pack FREE CG tactics in opposing labor unions and other “subversives”; he was famously friendly with the Ku Klux Klan; and during Prohibi- tion, his police department ran an outright protection racket among illegal speakeasies and kept City Hall generously fur- nished with seized liquor. Baker got his start as a Vaudeville showman, and by the time he was getting into pol- itics he was running Portland’s premier stock theater company. But hardly anyone today under- stands how important that was. And the fact is, one can’t un- derstand Mayor George Baker without knowing what his the- ater meant to the Portland of the 1910s. Stock theatre is something most Americans today know lit- tle about. It still exists; but it’s a faded and impoverished ghost of what it was at the turn of the 20th century. Usually it’s seen in the form of local repertory theatres like the Oregon Shake- speare Festival in Ashland. It’s something of a niche art form, patronized by a small but enthu- siastic cohort that tends to pride itself (not without reason) on its cultural refi nement. But in 1901, when George hung out the shingle over his very own stock-theatre playhouse, that wasn’t the case at all. Stock the- atre was a mass-media enterprise, and it was huge — possibly one of the fi ve or ten most important industries in the city. But it was an industry with a bit of a lingering reputation problem, dating from Worship Directory DRAIN: HOPE U.M.C. 131 W “A” St. Drain, OR 541-315-1617 Pastor: Lura Kidner-Miesen Fellowship & Song: 11:30am Potluck Lunch: 12:00pm Worship: 12:30pm Cottage Grove Faith Center 33761 Row River Rd. 541-942-4851 Lead Pastor: Kevin Pruett www.cg4.tv Full Childrenʼs Ministry available Service: 10:00am Delight Valley Church of Christ 33087 Saginaw Rd. East 541-942-7711 Pastor: Bob Friend Two Services: 9am - Classic in the Chapel 10:30am - Contemporary in the Auditorium COTTAGE GROVE: 6th & Gibbs Church of Christ 195 N. 6th St. • 541-942-3822 Pastor: Aaron Earlywine Youth & Families Pastor: Seth Bailey Service times: 9am & 10:30am Sunday School: 9am for all ages Christian Education Nursery for pre-k - 3rd Grade www.6thandgibbs.com First Presbyterian Church 3rd and Adams St 541-942-4479 Pastor: Karen Hill Worship: 10:00am Sunday School: 10:00am www.cgpresbynews.com Calvary Baptist Church 77873 S 6th St • 541-942-4290 Pastor: Riley Hendricks Sunday School: 9:45am Worship: 11:00am The Journey: Sunday 5:00pm Praying Thru Life: Wednesday 6:00pm Calvary Chapel Cottage Grove 1447 Hwy 99 (Village Plaza) 541-942-6842 Pastor: Jeff Smith Two Services on Sun: 9am & 10:45am Youth Group Bible Study Child Care 10:45am Service Only www.cgcalvary.org Center for Spiritual Living Cottage Grove 700 Gibbs Ave. (Community Center) Rev. Bobby Lee Meets Sunday 3:00 p.m. cslcottagegrove@gmail.com Church of Christ 420 Monroe St • 541-942-8565 Sunday Service: 10:30am Cottage Grove Bible Church 1200 East Quincy Avenue 541-942-4771 Pastor:Bob Singer Worship 11am Sunday School:9:45am AWANA age 3-8th Grade, Wednesdays Sept-May, 6:30pm www.cgbible.org Hope In The Grove 700 E. Gibbs • 401-855-5668 Pastor: Wayne Husk Sunday services: Worship: 9am Coffee Fellowship: 10:15am Bible Study: 10:30am Hope Fellowship United Pentecostal Church 100 S. Gateway Blvd. 541-942-2061 Pastor: Dave Bragg Worship: 11:00am Sunday Bible Study: 7:00pm Wednesday www.hopefellowshipupc.com “FINDING HOPE IN YOUR LIFE” Living Faith Assembly 467 S. 10th St. • 541-942-2612 Worship Services Sundays: 9a & 11a Youth Worship Sundays: 11a (all ages welcome) Mondays: 5:30p (6th-12th grades) Non-Denominational Church of Christ 1041 Pennoyer Ave 541-942-8928 Preacher: Tony Martin Sunday Bible Study:10:00am Sunday Worship:10:50am & 5:30pm www.pennoyeravecoc.com the years just after the Civil War. Vaudeville has always had a bit of a disreputable edge, and never more so than in the 1870s in the American West. Compa- nies toured around the country like circuses or carnivals. The shows they performed were of- ten poorly written and ribald, the theatres they played in sometimes doubled as bordellos. The players were widely considered fast and disreputable, and although they usually weren’t, it only took a few examples to reinforce those stereotypes. But local resident players, back in the early days, were worse. Vaudevilleans usually weren’t prostitutes and card-game swin- dlers. In the frontier town of Port- land just after the Civil War, lo- cal players usually were. Venues like the Oro Fino — owned and operated by Portland’s fi rst chief of police, James Lappeus — ac- tually had little rooms upstairs for “private theatrical performances,” and trained mountebanks staffi ng the gambling tables downstairs to fl eece the suckers and tenderfoots and keep the regulars winning just enough to keep them com- ing back. Particularly in saloon settings like the Oro Fino, the women sometimes would vamp audience members between sets, cajoling them into buying them drinks which they would dump discreetly into spittoons. As the town got bigger and more respectable, though, so did the theaters. And by the time George Baker was entering the fi eld, there were basically two kinds: Vaudeville houses, offer- ing cheap shows by the travel- ing troupes; and big upmarket mainstream houses, less cheap but by no means expensive, which hired their own profes- sional staff or “stock” of play- ers. In this era, live theater was the preeminent storytelling me- dium. When the movies came to prominence after the First World War, it was live theater that they essentially replaced. Live theater supplied the stories and narratives that Portlanders used to defi ne themselves and their world, and it was the most accessible source of the East Coast culture that middle-class Portlanders felt the lack of rath- er keenly in their rough-hewn frontier city. By the turn of the century, the Baker Stock Theatre was the center of Portland’s mainstream social life. Baker positioned it as a great unifying force: it was not too high-brow for the aver- age longshoreman to appreciate, but not too frivolous for an eru- dite lawyer to enjoy. It was strictly G-rated: Mind- ful of the sketchy reputation of his industry, Baker took pains to make his theaters as clean and wholesome as possible, and his players — who were part of the community, of course — shared that vision. Entire fami- lies made it part of their weekly routine, and on Wednesday mat- inees, babies and children under 5 were allowed. Baker’s players, especial- ly the leading ladies and men, quickly became celebrities. “We belonged to them,” said Miss Fay Bainter, the compa- ny’s leading lady for a time around the turn of the century. “We were a part of their lives. Our position was enviable. Why, I never had to use a street- car or taxi. Someone would al- Comprehensive family, medical eyecare and optical services Old Time Gospel Fellowship 103 S. 5th St. • 541-942-4999 Pastor: Jim Edwards Sunday Service: 10:00am Join in Traditional Christian Worship Cataract exams • Glaucoma exams • Lasik exams • Diabetic exams Serving Cottage Grove Community since 2006 Welcome new patients Offi ce hours: Monday thru Thursday 9-5, Friday 9-4 Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Philip Benizi Catholic Churches 1025 N. 19th St. 541-942-3420 Father: Joseph Hung Nguyen Holy Mass: Tue-Thu: 8:30am; Sat:5:30pm Sun: 10:30am Confession: After daily mass, Sat. 4-5pm or by appointment St. Philip Benizi, Creswell 552 Holbrock Lane 541-895-8686, Sunday: 8:30am St. Andrews Episcopal Church 1301 W. Main • 541-767-9050 Rev. Lawrence Crumb “Church with the fl ags.” Worship: Sunday 10:30am All Welcome 257 N. 8th St. • 541-942-5000 www.PCVI.com Home Pride Painting and Repair LLCC Over 30 years of experience Schedule Now For Spring and Summer Interior and Exterior Painting Seventh-day Adventist Church 820 South 10th Street 541-942-5213 Pastor: Kevin Miller Bible Study: Saturday, 9:15 am Worship Service: Saturday, 10:40 Mid-week Service: Wednesday, 1:00 Call us for a Free Quote! “We do small remodels, home repairs and decks! Serving Lane & North Douglas Counties Trinity Lutheran Church 6th & Quincy • 541-942-2373 Pastor: James L. Markus Sunday School & Adult Education 9:15am Sunday Worship 10:30 am Comm. Kitchen Free Meal Tue & Thur 5:00pm TLC Groups tlccg.com United Methodist Church 334 Washington • 541-942-3033 Pastor:Lura Kidner-Miesen Worship: 10:30am Comm. Dinner (Adults $5, Kids Free) 1st & 3rd Monday 5-6:00pm umcgrove.org “VICTORY” Country Church 913 S. 6th Street • 541-942-5913 Pastor: Barbara Dockery Worship Service: 10:00am Message: “WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES” Worship With Us! Our Worship Directory is a weekly feature in the newspaper. If your congregation would like to be a part of this directory, please contact the Cottage Grove Sentinel @ 541-942-3325 541-735-0089 ccb# 217560 ways stop and take you where you wanted to go.” For those few years, Baker’s theater was the cultural epi- center of Portland. It brought the upper and lower classes together, gave young people a place to meet and get to know one another, and performed a community-building function of which Baker was obviously very proud. “Don’t you remember the way it was?” former leading man Howard Russel asked an Oregonian reporter in 1909. “Why, if the right people did not occupy the seats we were accustomed to seeing them in, we would ask (from on stage), “Where is so-and-so tonight? I don’t see them in their regular seats!’ It was like a family par- ty.” It’s this picture of Portland — an overgrown small town, rough-hewn but with high cul- tural aspirations, a town in which workers and business executives moved in the same circles and knew one another’s families and laughed at the same jokes and enjoyed the same di- versions — that has to be kept in mind when considering the things Baker became most no- torious for after he was elected mayor of Portland in 1917. Be- cause within just a few years of his election, that “belle epoque” Portland was lost and gone. George knew, and had pre- sided over, the golden past that the cultural reactionaries yearned for as the “Red Scare” dawned in 1919. He looked at union representatives fi ghting to get their members treated fairly, and saw out-of-town troublemakers trying to turn brother against brother for their own personal gain; so he hired a secret crew of thugs to fi ght them. He saw ethnic minorities and newly emancipated women infl uencing and changing the culture he’d helped create in ways he didn’t like, so he threw his support behind the “100 per- cent Americanism” of the Ku Klux Klan. This is, of course, no excuse for his quasi-fascist behavior throughout the 1920s; but it’s important to know in evaluating this fascinating and controversial ex-mayor. By the end of his time in of- fi ce, in 1933, Baker was basical- ly a spent force. Perhaps that’s because his theater company, which he hadn’t really been able to run personally while serving as mayor, went out of business in 1922. The golden age of stock theater was over; its pri- mary functions had been taken over by the new Hollywood feature-length movies. By then there was a whole generation of Portlanders who had never been to Baker’s theater, never met him working the crowd on open- ing night, and knew him only as a back-slapping character about whom rumors of disreputability occasionally swirled, presiding over one of the more corrupt City Halls on the West Coast. In 1932, 47 percent of the electorate voted to recall him from offi ce. Baker took the hint and announced he wouldn’t run for re-election. He died in 1941. SPECIAL VIDEO EVENT Is the history found in the Bible credible? In-depth investigation by filmmaker Timothy Mahoney searched for answers and found startling new evidence that match the Bible’s account of the Exodus from Egypt. You won’t want to miss this dynamic Presentation. Reserve you seat today. Question & Answer time to follow . Watch: Location: Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus Creswell Sabbath Fellowship 300 N. Mill St., Creswell Pre-register your viewing time: Friday April 20 - OR - Friday May 25, 2018 6:00—8:30 p.m. (refreshments served at 5:30-6:00) For information or to pre-register: 541-895-3338 or 541-895-5300 Email: info@getreadyfortheking.org - www.creswellsabbathfellowship.org
