3 posts tagged “arcadia theater”
A lot can happen in a week, especially if you leave town for a short vacation.
I was pleased to read (online) the news accounts of the Cailloux Foundation’s gracious exit from the debate concerning the fate of the Arcadia Theater. I have consistently stated the Cailloux proposal, which offered to reconstruct the old theater’s auditorium into an open-air facility, was innovative and should be applauded. I like it when ideas come from “outside of the box” thinking.
I even enjoyed reading the letters to the editor which are critical of the course I’ve proposed: restoration of the Arcadia Theater. I’ve come to expect some criticism whenever I offer leadership on an issue. (Note to Mr. Hyde: your figures are off. I’ve cost the taxpayers of this community much, much more than you cite, though some might argue the expense has made the community better. Still, the jury’s out. Perhaps my efforts here have been a total waste of resources. You might be right.) Just remember Herring’s Second Law of Politics: You can accomplish almost anything if you get the right people to oppose you.
I would suggest we need a vigorous debate about the future of our old downtown area. The decisions made in the next few months will impact that area for a generation. The Peterson brothers’ idea of tearing down the old St. Charles Hotel and building a self-sufficient little hospital/office building, complete with a gas station on the ground floor, was a good decision for the Old Town area, but one which also impacted the neighborhood for more than fifty years. Likewise coming decisions will also impact the area. There’s a change in wind direction right now and this is the time to plot a new course for the little ship.
I am sympathetic to those voices who suggest Adam Smith’s concept of an ‘invisible hand’ is at work in the Old Town area – wiping away those structures and institutions which are no longer of economic utility. I am also partial to the voices who would like to preserve a portion of our community’s past. (Duh. Please see the past 12+ years’ worth of columns.)
I suppose my argument is this: there is a third way. Perhaps there’s a way to repurpose an old thing – say a vacant and deteriorating movie theater – into something that’s economically viable in today’s climate.
I would never propose we save the Arcadia simply to preserve a specimen from the past, like a fading butterfly pinned to a display board.
If the Arcadia is to be saved it should be made a vibrant part of our community, a place where we gather to celebrate a variety of events. It should become a place that builds community, a place where we share the special benefit of living in this place at this time. It should become a place where people want to be.
The Arcadia, in my opinion, should not be made into a 1950s-era movie house. If the community supported it economically as a single-screen 1950s-era movie house, I’m thinking the Hall family, who are experts in the business of presenting movies to the paying public, would never have shuttered the old girl in the first place. Their new facility, the sparkling Rio 10 Cinema, reflects the changing economics of that industry, where a small crew runs many screens simultaneously, where the stadium seating offers comfort and clear lines of sight, where the sound is superb. Asking a restored Arcadia to compete with that would be like asking a Model T to compete with a new Ford Mustang. We might feel nostalgia for the Model T, for its look and the memories it affords us, but my money would be on the newer car.
Nor should the Arcadia become merely a mini-Cailloux Theater (the facility previously known as the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium, managed by the able crew of Playhouse 2000).
Nor should the Arcadia be transformed solely into a meeting space for conventioneers visiting our city.
Nor should it be a neglected department of our city government. I still feel the city should give the Arcadia to a non-profit group. As I’ve offered before, I would be happy to form such a group.
There are those in our community who are much cleverer than I. If we work together on the Old Town area, and the old Arcadia Theater in particular, I’m thinking there is a solution that might just work, though I’m not completely sure what form that solution might take. There are examples elsewhere from which we could learn; there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has been, without a doubt, a costly citizen.
Wow! What a response!
Last week I wrote about finding the movie “Irene” on DVD – the old silent film is historically interesting for Kerrville, since it was the first film shown at the Arcadia back in 1926.
I rambled here last week that I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia and invited anyone who was interested in watching the film with me to drop me an email (joeherringjr .at. gmail .dot. com) or a postcard (615 Water Street, Kerrville).
Honestly, I thought I might find 10 people who’d watch the old film with me. We 10 would sit in the dark old Arcadia and root for Irene (played by Colleen Moore) as she searched for happiness. I could see us sitting there in our lawn chairs, munching popcorn, the film flickering as projected on a bed sheet.
Let’s just say a few more than 10 people want to see the film. Ok, a lot more than 10. I had to call a friend at the City to see how many people could safely be in the old theater at one time. We might need to have two shows. Maybe three.
So, if you missed sending me a message last week, but want to be included in the invitation list, please drop me a line. There are a few logistical problems to solve, but I’m still hoping to present the movie at the Arcadia soon.
The show will be free, and I think the experience will be fun. For the first time in 81 years the people of Kerrville will see this old film together in the same theater where it played.
I do have a bonus challenge for my engineering friends: how can we cool down the old theater to a comfortable temperature? There is no air-conditioning in the old building, and it can be quite warm in there. Too warm to enjoy the 93 minute movie.
I’ve had two suggestions, both good. First, we could show the film on a Saturday morning. The building is coolest then. Or, we could wait until autumn.
But I’d like to show it at night, with the Arcadia sign flashing in the night sky. And I’d like to show it right away, while people are talking about the future of the Arcadia.
So – if you have an idea how we can cool the old building down (inexpensively) to show the film, please drop me a line.
* * *
Speaking of old films, I got a great email from Cheryl Johnson, office manager of our local Time-Warner office, this week:
“Time Warner Cable will be hosting "Hollywood in the Hill Country" on Saturday, July 21st. We will be doing a free showing of the movie "Casablanca". This will be held at Louise Hays Park - Centennial Stage. The movie is to begin at sundown so it should be around 8:30PM. We would love for you and your families to join us! Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets or coolers. Sit back and enjoy the movie!”
Now that sounds like fun! I hope the weather is good for them – this is something I’d like to see done often, and eventually, I’d like to see old movies presented at the Arcadia Theater.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who likes old movies.
A small package arrived by mail to our office Thursday. It is still wrapped in plastic, like a ham or a gift basket, and I haven’t unwrapped it.
Though I want to, I cannot.
Though the plastic is transparent, I’m not sure what I’ll find when I open it. Sure, I can see right through the wrapper. And I even know what I’ll find when I open the little plastic case when I tear away the cellophane. I’ll find a disc, a shiny plate of plastic with microscopic pits arranged in some secret code only a DVD player can comprehend.
And, according to some research I’ve done on the inconvenience we call the Internet, I even know the basic outline of the information on the disc. It contains a story, the story of an Irish lass named Irene.
“A hardworking but under-achieving Irish girl loses her job and gets tossed out by her tough mother,” the jacket reads. “She turns to her gold-digging friend and turns the head of a society man until his mother finds out about her family. How can it end?”
Elsewhere, I’ve written about the story recorded on this particular disc.
It’s “a saga about the life of a poor, beautiful Irish lass whose dire economic circumstances obscure her royal lineage. She worked as a shopkeeper’s assistant, selling dresses. A local grandee had obtained the job for her there as a model; the villainous shopkeeper had demoted her to lowly clerk. During a grand fashion show, the grandee notes the absence of his protégé, storms to the dimly lit store, costumes the girl and returns with her to triumph, and eventually love – discovered on a rusting fire escape, outside the fashion show.”
I even wrote “the scenes of the fashion show were ‘registered in subdued tones of the Techni-color process, a new idea which has recently been discovered by those who invented the method of color photography.’”
Here’s the deal: I’ve found a digital copy of the 1926 movie “Irene.” This probably means nothing to you, Gentle Reader. But in my recent obsession about the Arcadia Theater, it means a lot to me. You see, ‘Irene’ was the first movie ever shown at the Arcadia.
“On the warm Tuesday evening of June 29, 1926, a flock of folks crowded into a newly built hall to watch the comedy film “Irene,” starring Colleen Moore.”
Yep, about 81 years ago exactly, the first movie shown at the Arcadia has returned to Kerrville. On Thursday afternoon I tapped the still-wrapped case of the DVD against the wall of the old silent Arcadia Theater. I don’t know why, but it felt good. Like a circle was finished, one that started in that hot summer of 1926 and was completed in this wet summer of 2007.
A picture of Colleen Moore is on the cover of the plastic case. She’s pictured looking out of a doorway wearing an oddly-shaped hat. She looks hopeful, as if expecting something.
Here’s what I’d like to do, if I can figure out a way to bring it all together. I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia, projecting the DVD-encapsulated movie against a bed sheet or some other make-shift screen, not unlike the way movies were shown in the classic film Cinema Paradisio. I’d like anyone who was interested to show up, bring a lawn chair, and watch the old story with me. I’d like to share the story with a crowd of people, munching popcorn in the dark, hoping dear Irene finds her way to happiness.
Not unlike the crowd in 1926. In the same place. Watching the same movie.
It would be an interesting historical experiment: Not only would we be watching the same movie they saw that first evening, we’d be following the same story, feeling some of the same emotions.
If you’d like to be there, drop me a line, either by mail or by email.
Maybe I can figure out a way to make it all happen (there are some technical, permission, and air-conditioning issues to be solved). If so, if you let me know you’re interested, I’ll send you an invite. It might be quite fun.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wonders what the crowd saw that now distant evening.
