The State Theater on Locust, a jewel in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit came to an ignominious end in 1974. The last film to unspool was a porno, Naked Lunch, with just a handful of patrons, me included, on hand. . . Community efforts to save this "Moorish Palace" is a saga crammed with intrigue and duplicity; it would make a great novel. . . the fight to preserve the structure almost brought down the Historic Harrisburg Association as well. Fresh from is triumph of establishing the first of the historic districts just a month earlier, the membership wanted to mount a "Save the Theater" campaign. The leadership, caught in a messy conflict of interest, refused. The resulting schism cut the HHA membership roster by more than half, and it never did fully recover despite the persistence of Hugh and Mary Peterson, Neil and Roseanne McGee and others . . .To placate the insurgent rabble (now aligned with the newly-formed Orpheum Theater Association) the Rural Electric Association (now in possession of the building) and the city promised a grand restoration of the historic Telegraph Building which stood next door. . . The preservation movement was doomed, but preservationist got the last laugh of sorts--the so-called "derelict" building refused to come down. It was so well built that the proscenium arch had to be dynamited--several times. And no one was surprised when, a few years later, the Telegraph Building was demolished for the Locust Street garage. . . Loss of the State was the last ding-dong of center city's death knell. The vibrancy was already fading and the theater's loss accelerated it. The city floated plans to turn the smaller, less ornate Colonial Theater (Third and Market) into a community center, but the building collapsed into the street (a very leaky roof was blamed) before that could happen. . . It is nice to have the plain-Jane Whittaker Center, but, oh, what might have been . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment