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1
Southern O regon New» Review,
I'hurveky, May I , 1947.
New Lithia Opens Sa
. I
*1
day, May 3rc
ORIGINAL THEATREGOERS OF 33
TEARS AGO ARE LITHIA GUESTS
G uests of honor S aturday night at the r
rem odeled and redecorated L ithia T heatre v
the audience who h< hl box seats at the openu
May 14, 1914.
Invitations have been sent out to the me
who h eaid M arguerite H oban, jn Eaust, 1
years ago. Oilier gu«sts will include Mayo
odder city m /Utiiluii doliielals, t I'. Talent,
S tale legislnlois Kail Ncvvbry nod I* rank J.
included.
The guest ol honoi will be professoi I. E. Vining. Professor Vln
mg, together w ith his brother,
R obert, built the Vining thekitre
m usicals ever to come out «1
as it was then called and o p erat lar
Hollywood, it le a tia e s Lai i >
j
ed it tor eight years. T hey also P ark ., Eveiyn Keyes, W uuam
,
piorfreied in tu eate is in Fail
D em arest and H ill Goodwin.
, .
hanks, A laska.
Any
film
like
"The
Jolson
j
A nother guest of honor will be
11. U. H uist, who operated the Story ’ w ould, by definition, Ov a j
MUSIC, SPECTACLE, GRANDEUR! lu rry Park is seen as Al foison in the
th eate r from' 1922 until 19*4. The glowing history ol A m erican
lav i li Technicolor production, “ The Jolson Story,” w ith Evelyn Keyes.
th eate r was sold in 1944 to W alt snow business, carved out ot ¡
er L everette who renam ed it the greasepaint and onenight stanus, ’
alive w ith the electric brilliance
Lithia.
continuously from 2:00 p.rn.
of
Times S q u are after dark, s e t ' I J
"The Jolson S tory," a tech n i to the
According to Selleck and G or
beloved rh y th m s o l a sc o i. LI
color m usical, starrin g L arry of B roadw ay show hits and H ol
don G alely, m anager of the L ith
P ark s will be presented to the lywood m usicals. C olum bia's m i-’ A .
ia, the people of A shland have re
audience S atu rd ay evening. This pressive production is reported-
quested a q u ality th eate r and the
adds a touch ot nostalgia to the ly all th at and m ore, for there is
m anagem ent is going to do all it
opening as the first talkie show n a v ib ran t and hum an love story V ,
can to m ake the L ithia an o u t
in the Vining th eatre was "The dram atically re v e a le d w h 1 c n I t
standing first run, qu ality picture
Jazz S inger,’’ which starred Al rounds uut the film in skillful
theater.
Jolson,
fashion.
j p
in addition to Having been on
The screenplay, w ritten by I j
hund 33 years ago opening night Stephen
L ongstreet, c a r r i e s
g
the following have been invited through nearly forty years ol Jol- ,
to atten d again, S atu rd ay night: son s rem ark ab le exploits in the I S
Mrs. D. Perozzi, Mrs. M. A. b a r- e n tertain m e n t world. As the spot- 1)(,|
ion, Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Uriscoe, light is tu rn ed on B roadw ay shov. )
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. McCoy, Mr. II m t afte r B roadw ay show hit, an d 1 cori
G. Enders, Mrs. II. O. Froback, then Hollywood and the "talk- 1 11131
Mr. D. M. Horn, M r
Lillian ics," all the glorious m usic a s s o -1 te n
Schulke, Mrs. W. R. Davis, Mrs. ciated w ith the "M am m y S inger ’, m
F. G. Sw edenborg, Mrs. Ella A p conics to the fore. Some of the req
plegate, Mrs. Alice A. Peil, Mr. beloved tunes beard in the film Asl
am i Mrs. Sam McNair and Mrs. are "A pril Show ers," "By the c a t
Lorena McNair.
Light of the Silvery Moon," "My qut
Made Me l<ove Y n t , ’ ’ "C alifornia rati
Here 1 Come," "Sw anee" "My
M am m y," "W ailing for the Rob- pit
ert E. Lee," "1 W ant a G irl," m:
"T h ere’s a Rainbow ’Hound Mv wi
S houlder" and "L iza.”
Or
It is said that, as Jolson, L arry
P ark s gives a truly am azing per- cal
form ance. Much stress is laid on wi
the uncanny way lie has captured alt
all of Jo lso n ’s trad em ark s as an Jia
REOPENING OF LITHIA
en te rta in e r; especially his habit i n ri
BRINGS BEST SCREEN
of cocking his head and looking Jo
FARE TO A SH LA N D
askance at things, which tends to { pr
’ The Jolson S tory," Colum bia em phasize the w hite of his eye pe
P ictu res’ Technicolor cavalcade of balls. In an ex actin g and difficult j
the music, the m agic and the role w hich sees him on screen in . cd
lim es of A m erica's greatest e n practically every scene, young e r
tertain er, is scheduled to have its P arks has evidently m ade the ¡ include L udw ig D onath, Scotty
first local show ing on S aturday, m ost of a w onderful opportunity. | B eckett, T am ara Shavne, Jo-C ar-
May 3 at the reopening of the
E velyn Keyes, of the flam ing roll D ennison, John A lexander.
L ithia T heatre. H eralded as one treSsis and glam orous beauty, E rn est C ossart and the M itchel,
of the most lavish and spectacu- has the fem inine lead, the deli- "B oycholr."
G ale Santocono, well known
We t Coast th eate r decorator, and
building designer, th reaten ed to
w ithdraw from th e Lithia th eater
project in A shland unless his
ideas on retain in g and recreating,
the charm of th e original colonial
design w ere used.
Jam es Selleck, city manage i for
R obert L ip p ert th eaters, revea cd
the story h ere today, saying th at
th e original plan had called lor
stream lin in g and m odernizing the
s tru c tu re in th e neon-plastic
m odi b u t th at Santocono had
been stru ck by the beauty of the
original design of the old Vining
th eate r building and had pointed
out th at resto ratio n of the o rig in
al colonial design would m ake a
m uch m ore b eau d fu l th eate r out
of th e stru ctu re.
Santocono won his point by
stalin g th at he would not work
on th e project unless his plans
w ere followed.
He has since been in com plete
charge of the p roject and th e tile,
glass brick, and m odern plastic
m aterials have been abandoned in
favor of sim plicity in design.
The th eate r front has been
p ain ted in w hite and blue. Four
w hite poster fram es lace the side
w alk on each side of the m arquee
front. C athode tube lighting has
been installed u n d er the m a r
quee. M oveable red letters s u r
m ount the m arquee.
L ininger and sons poured con
crete for a new floor in th e o rch
estra section. C om plete new s e a t
ing arran g em en ts have been m ade
and B. F. S h earer com pany of
P o rtland, Oregon, have installed
th e m ost m odern th eate r seats
available. P ush back seats have
1 he V inin g Story
Began M ay 3, 1914
The V ining story w hich is
incident to the Jolson story
begins, as far as A shland is
concerned, w ith the opening
night of the V ining theatre.
May 14, 1914, w hen I. E. V in
ing and Robert V ining p re
sented M prguerite Hobart in
F aust to an audience w hich
paid $5.00 for balcony seats
and $10.00 for orchestra seats.
The first m otion picture to
play the theatre w as "Ca
price" starring Miary P ick-
ford, a niece of the late Judge
W atkins of A shland.
Miss
Pickford's father w as also a
resident of AsJiland for a p er
iod of tim e in 1870-80.
Professor V ining w ill be the
guest of honor Saturday night
at the opening of the Lithia.
1 V.tAvvW
TO HAVE BEEN
ABLE TO
FURNISH
5
New Lithia Theatre
And we extend congratulations on the re-open
ing of the New Lithia Theatre
K
"
WILLIAM DEMAREST-BILL GOODWIN
. V
£ IB
I-
W
”
S C H IV U I ir S IIH D tlRSSIREEf
UM YQU/—
BH i w 01 TH(
’ 00!. tOOtSIt-- ---------
S IONE? SKO LSR T
------
Establishd 1894
M edford, O regon
P h one 7109
5
gômauitti
1. WmnmmmilmMnimifimnn,
u
been placed in the loges, and in
the boxes heavy plush, opera type
seats have been installed. “v new
Poor has been laid in the balcony
to su p p o rt the new seats.
S tairw ays have been w idened
and the lobby has been enlarged
by m oving the wall forw ard into
the orchestra section. M. O. Bes-
sonette has been in charge of the
actual work ol reconstruction.
M aterials for th e w ork w ere o b
tained from the C rater Lake lu m
ber com pany.
Electrical fix tu res have been
replaced and rew iring has been
done th roughout the th e a t e r.
T row bridge and Flynn, M edford,
and Sam Jo rd an electric com
pany, A shland have been install-
this equipm ent.
Are Proud
iS ™
r
»
Santocono Insists Upon
Colonial Motif For Lithia
.Ritimaunuiruu;
Crater Lake Lumber Co
I
The New Lithia Theatre
SATURDAY, MAY 3rd, 6:45 p.m.