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Uptown Theatre, Part III

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The following information is from Ed Comber’s MAKING HISTORY column published in the Linn County Leader.

Everyone knows the Uptown Theatre was a community hub where people fell in love, owners buzzed their customers’ chairs, pageants and homeless benefits were held, and the World War II war effort was aided, but did you know it’s also an important work of architecture in rural Missouri?

Theater historian Maggie Valentine asserts that the “motion picture theatre served as a significant architectural experience for millions of people [and where] a significant architectural type, distinguished by program, emphasis, imagery, and history; one must read the building as such, as an architectural type, rooted in popular culture with its own symbolic program, to appreciate the architecture.” If you’ve ever stood across the street and looked at its façade, you can see how it fits Valentine’s description and is one of the exceptions due to its Spanish Revival architecture.

The Spanish Revival Style: External Architectural Aspects

What is the Spanish Revival style? It was popular in the United States between 1915 and 1940 and is most closely associated with the Southwestern United States. Virginia McAlester notes that Spanish architectural influence followed the Santa Fe Railroad as it extended northeast through Missouri. Sound familiar? That certainly explains why there are multiple buildings in Marceline and along the Santa Fe line that have Spanish-style architecture.

McAlester goes on to say that the range of “decorative detail found in Spain was extraordinarily diverse.” In other words, it was seen as a diverse medley of designs and styles. Thus, there is no one aspect most closely associated with Spanish Revival style architecture.

The Uptown Theatre is no exception. The Marceline News described the theater in the following way at the opening of the original theatre in 1930: “The entire front of [the theater is in] buff colored textured brick with vari-colored insets of terra-cotta.” The buff color indicates that the building is designed with one of the main characteristics of the Spanish Revival style, add in the floral designs and creatures in various configurations and you’re looking at a beautifully designed building in the style.

Furthermore, it’s a simple rectangular 3-story building in brick running bond with a rectangular plan shape and a flat, steel and stucco roof mimicking a tile roof that slants slightly between the two end pilasters, which imitate the columns typically seen in traditional Spanish Revival style homes.

While ornamentation is not uncommon in this style, the Uptown Theatre’s detailing includes urns, lions, and flowers, all of which are not typical of the style. However, ornate decorative façades with floral designs and creatures in various configurations is most representative of some 15th century Spain embellishments, so there could have been some influence from that style as well.

Nonetheless, the theatre illustrates the intention of an application of a high style commonly associated with theater buildings.

The Spanish Revival Style: Internal Architectural Aspects

What was wonderful to see when I inspected the theater last year is that its interior space retains both its original function as a theater and much of the original 1930 architecture too.

A Marceline News reporter described it at its opening as follows:

Entering the lobby [the] walls are of a textured color plaster…Flex-O-Tile…presents much the same appearance as tile or terraza [sic]…. Just on leaving the lobby stands the… foyer.

The first impression upon entering the foyer is the [carpet]. Here again are notice soft lights reflected from the side wall fixtures…. The walls are of a soft shade of tan of textured plaster with a ceiling very subdued in color… In the center of the front wall will be installed the drinking fountain of the latest design and at each end of the foyer are the retiring rooms and the ‘cry rooms.’

The first impression on entering the auditorium is of a riot of color distributed haphazardly…. The ceiling is crossed with heavy beams… Bordering the celling and around the proscenium arch is a rich design of cast ornamental plaster…

At each side of the proscenium arch are decorated plaster arched grills thru which the house will be heated in the winter. These grills are finished with the same decorative plaster…. The walls are finished in a heavy textured plaster….

If you’ve been in the theatre in the last 50 years, you’ve noticed how strikingly similar the inside is to this description. Sadly, the only things missing now are the “cry room”.

Marceline Comparisons

Per the 2018 Marceline architectural survey, the subtle influence of Spanish architectural styles is evident in several buildings in the city; however, only one other commercial building in Marceline has significant Spanish architectural characteristics. That building, built in 1900, is the former mortuary. It exhibits more traditional Spanish architectural characteristics which make it more reminiscent of Spanish Missionary than Spanish Revival.

Another building that displays Spanish architectural characteristics is the Santa Fe Depot (also eligible for the National Register), built in 1913. It is the most traditional example of Spanish Revival in Marceline and is generally reflective of Santa Fe Railroad’s corporate styling.

The reason the Uptown Theatre is so much more important architecturally than the depot is because Cantwell and Wolfskill understood it needed to blend into the commercial district without standing out very much, as the Chief would a few years later. As a result of this thinking, the theater remains unimposing and unostentatious, exuding an earthy feel that blends well with the other buildings in the downtown commercial district at the time of its erection. You’ll note that the Masonic Temple does a similar thing. Given that it was built in 1923, my guess is Cantwell and Wolfskill decided to imitate the blond buff brick look, which just happened to be part of the Spanish Revival style.

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

FACADE

Uptown Theatre, Part II

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The following information is from Ed Comber’s MAKING HISTORY column published in the Linn County Leader.

The Uptown saw an increase in importance through the 1940s and into the 1960s, when changes in movie-goers habits began to change.

1940s Era

World War II had just started when Glen Dickinson’s partner, H. J. Griffith bought him out to become the sole owner of the Uptown Theatre in April 1940. Griffith updated the equipment and continued the tradition of community-based entertainment, first-run movies, and added even more community outreach programs, many a direct result of World War II. For example, the theater hosted the “Miss Marceline” beauty pageant and various dance contests, like the “Big Negro Jitterbug Contest” on New Year’s Eve 1940 to give the community a different focus than the war the U.S. was supporting but hadn’t officially entered yet.

As part of the theater’s community involvement, the Uptown began showing anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese news reels. It also sponsored aluminum collection programs, ‘March of Dimes’ fundraisers, sold Defense Stamps, was approved as an official issuing agency for the sale of war bonds, held war bonds rallies, hosted benefits for veterans, did a fashion show, had a benefit for raising kitchen fat, held an amateur night for aspiring showbiz folks, and hosted a cooking show.

Community-based events continued through the 1940s. In 1941 around the time the U.S. officially entered World War II, for example, manager David Dallas had a “woman’s friendly neighbor program” that included “book readings, musical numbers, lectures and other features of particular interest to women”. The first of these was for the Daughters of the American Revolution. During this decade, the theater continued to host community fashion events, beauty contests, and rallies.

After the end of World War II, a 1946 advertisement confirms the theater was still showing first-run features like “A Thousand and One Nights” with roughly a 6-month delay in the showings, presumably due to the movies being shown in metropolitan areas first.

Plays, indoor sporting events, concerts and similar entertainment continued to be held at the high school during this period.

But the Uptown remained a steadfast, important part of life in Marceline and the surrounding areas. It played a significant role in helping the U.S. war effort through to the end of the war. After that, regrettably, the theater became just a regular part of the community.

1950s – 1970s

In 1951, the Uptown Theatre was sold to Louis Higdon, a former manager of the theater. By all accounts, it doesn’t appear he did much with the theater, but I know from speaking with Marceline residents in person and on the Facebook page “Marceline Memories”, that the newspaper and other media failed to publicize the theater.

Despite the sudden media blackout on the theater, the Uptown remained the only movie theatre in town until October 12, 1952, when the Star Drive-In theater opened at the corner of Missouri State Roads 36 and 5, approximately three miles north of the Uptown Theatre. The drive-in held 300 cars and closed in 1977. The Star was seasonal; thus, the Uptown continued as the only local place to see movies year-round and the sole place during the winter.

Four years after the drive-in theater opened, the Uptown Theatre hosted a movie premiere by Marceline’s most famous former resident: Walt Disney. In 1956, Walt and his brother Roy Disney held the Midwest premiere of The Great Locomotive Chase in Marceline attracting thousands to the city (PHOTOS?).

Throughout the 60s and 70s, the only two venues that existed in Marceline for films were the Star Drive-In and Uptown Theatre. The nearest other theaters that were advertised in Marceline’s newspaper were the Lin-Vi Drive-In in Brookfield, MO and the year-round Macon Theatre in Macon.

During this time and after, the Uptown continued its role as a center of the community, continuing as a place for films and various gatherings, though there appears to be only one notable event at the theater of note occurring after the 1970s: the Disney’s premiere of the Spirit of Mickey in 1998.

The stories I’ve heard from locals about their time at the Uptown Theatre have been wonderful. The number of people who had their first date there, or who remember “The Tingler” one owner (Basil) had rigged up for the Vincent Price movie. From what Hank and others have told me on the Marceline Memories Facebook page, Basil would walk up and down the aisles and knocking the boys’ feet off the chairs, or two ladies named Mary Belle and Ivorine, or the tales of people who used to live in the apartments above the theater, have been eye-opening. It is a place that is deserving of historic preservation for reasons that go far beyond Walt Disney. From its rocky beginnings with legal battles and a direct competitor to helping with the World War II war effort to it making memories for so many people, it is a place that brought the community together for decades and generations.

 

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.