Abandoned theater in GA before restoration
Albany Theatre, Albany Georgia
The Albany Theatre was constructed in 1927 as a focal point of community arts and entertainment in downtown Albany and southwest Georgia. The land on which the theater was constructed was owned by the estate of Samuel Farkas, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who became a prominent citizen in Albany in the late 19th century. He owned a mule trading business, a livery stable, and a farm implement business. Adolph and Ike Gortatowsky leased the land from the Farkas estate and developed the theater. Architect Roy A. Benjamin was commissioned by the estate to design the building. Soon after construction began it was discovered that the foundation was not strong enough to support the building, and it was suggested that piling be driven into the ground to stabilize it. History records that many thousands of feet of piling was driven, giving the building as strong a foundation as any in the city. The original estimate for the cost of constructing the theater was $200,000, however the completed project came in at $300,000. The Albany Theatre was the first building to use steel-beam construction in Albany.
Like a majority of public spaces, the Albany Theatre had separate entrances and segregated seating for African-American patrons until the mid-20th century. A separate entrance and ticket window were located at the end of an alley on the side of the building. A small section of seats in the balcony known as the "crow's nest" was where African-Americans sat in the theater.
The Albany Theatre was formally dedicated on the evening of September 12, 1927. The event included live performances by the Albany Theatre Orchestra and other local talents. The Albany Herald reported in an article dated January 20, 1985, that upon its opening more than 4,000 persons tried to attend the gala first-night presentation. The Albany Theatre became known as the finest and largest vaudeville and movie theatre in Georgia outside of Atlanta. The Albany Theatre showed the first-run high class motion pictures, four shows daily, with an admission cost for evening performances was fifty and fifteen cents. During the silent film era music was provided by an organ and a ten-piece orchestra. Due to its 2,000-seat capacity, the theater attracted touring productions from all over the country, which included the Folies de Paree with the French exotic Dansuese Mile Yvette; Buddy Rogers with his orchestra; and the complete NBC Broadcasting Orchestra with Stuart Alien in 1939. Cab Galloway and his orchestra with the Cotton Club Revue performed at the Albany Theatre for a one-day engagement in 1940.
The Albany Herald also reported in 1985 in the article entitled "Once the Grand Dame of Albany Entertainment," "no theatrical structure remaining anywhere in the nation has a more distinguished and illustrious history than the Albany Theatre. This is particularly true in terms of the internationally-known stars who performed in person on the Albany Theatre stage during the half-century that followed its lavish opening in 1927. These included Will Rogers, the folk humorist who was possibly the world's most beloved performer; Sarah Bernhardt, considered by many to be the finest stage actress in history; Maude Adams, who gained lasting fame in the title role in the original "Peter Pan;" Ethel Barrymore, reigning queen of the royal family of the American theatre, who performed on two occasions here."
Other famous performers of the day who appeared at the Albany Theatre included Noel Coward, the English playwright-actor-composer; Fredric March, stage and screen star; DeWolfe Hopper; Metropolitan Opera singer, Geraldine Farrar; show business giants Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, composer Sigmund Romberg; actor John Forsythe; Charlotte Greenwood, film comedienne; Evelyn Keyes who starred in "Gone With The Wind" as Suellen; Ethel Waters, a noted Black actress and singer; and Cab Galloway.
The world premieres of two movies, "The Biscuit Eater" and "Goodbye My Lady," both filmed in the Albany area, took place at the Albany Theatre. As the Albany Herald article concluded "The Albany Theatre stands today, somewhat forlorn, yet it bears mute but eloquent witness to its own magnificent history, a history as rich as any existing theatre in America."
The theater also played a role in the beginnings of the Albany Movement, a coalition of local Black improvement organizations that came together during the Civil Rights movement. Tommy Chatmon, Sr., a Civil Rights activist in Albany in the 1960s, related details of an incident at the theater that helped lead to the greater Civil Rights movement in Albany. According to Mr. Chatmon some African-American students from Monroe High School purchased tickets for a movie at the "Colored Only ticket counter" at the Albany Theatre. They were permitted to sit in the African-American seating section in the rear of the balcony known as the "crows nest." Due to the overcrowded condition of the first orchestra level that was designated for white patrons, the students seated in the designated seating area were pressured to give up their seats. The students surrendered their seats but did not leave the theater before asking for a refund. The request was initially denied by the theater management, which at that time was Adolph and Ike Gortatowsky, who also operated other theatres in southwest Georgia. One student, Ms. Occie Troutman, stated, "I believe we got our money back." However, she also stated that the money was not the issue as much as the discrimination practices in the theater.
Some of the same students took a stand and appealed to Mr. Chatmon, at the time a local Black businessman, for help. According to Mr. Chatmon, he appealed to Melvin Heard, the principal of Monroe High for help, who contacted Vernon Jordan, the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This meeting initiated the beginning of the NAACP Youth Council in Albany in 1959. The late McCree Harris was a Monroe High School civics teacher at the time and considered this as an opportunity for her students to be a part of an organization that was an advocate for minority rights. Some of the students who challenged the treatment they received at the Albany Theatre included Evelyn Toney, who is known for sitting in the all-white section of the theater. She became one of the first students to be sent to the Trailways Bus Station for a sit-in in late 1961. The Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC) order mandating the desegregation of all interstate transportation facilities such as train stations, and bus terminals, went into effect on November 1, 1961. Three NAACP Youth Council members, all students of Monroe High School, were sent to sit in the waiting room designated for whites at the bus station to test the new law. The students were asked to leave by the police and complied. The students returned three weeks later and were arrested by Chief Pritchett when they refused to leave. Later in the day, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sent Albany State College students to the bus station, and they were also arrested for disorderly conduct. The students' arrests stirred the African-American community into action. Now it was time to confront the law. The rallying cry was "March and go to Jail!"
The Trailways Bus Station sit-in led to additional advocacy from the late Civil Rights attorney C.B. King. It also lead to the arrival of Vernon Jordan and gave rise to the Albany Movement, which ultimately led to the arrival of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) members. Although the Albany Movement did not immediately achieve its goal of desegregating public spaces in Albany, it did prove to be a testing ground for the SCLC for strategies and policies that would later be used in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and in voting rights movements in Mississippi in 1964.
Building Description
The Albany Theatre was constructed in 1927 in downtown Albany to serve as a movie house and live performance theater. The theater was constructed on a lot behind an existing two-story retail and office building that was extensively remodeled and became the entrance arcade for the theater. The two-story retail portion of the building features elements of the Classical Revival style including a symmetrical facade. The first-floor veneer has been removed, however the storefront display windows and door openings remain intact. The second floor is covered in a yellow brick veneer and features five bays divided by brick pilasters topped by classical capitals. There are four windows on the second floor topped by stone panels each featuring a carved detail. The cornice of the facade features a dentil course and a stone band with "ALBANY THEATRE" engraved in the center. To the south of the main entrance is an arched opening that opens into an alley that leads to the entrance historically associated with African-American patrons. A separate ticket window is present at this entrance. The south facade of the building is red brick and contains window openings at the second-floor level. The rear portion of the building, which contains the theater, was originally constructed of brick, however, a 1941 tornado damaged the exterior of the building and the south and west facades were finished with stucco. The north facade shares a party wall with the adjacent building.
The interior of the retail portion of the building contains an entrance arcade that was flanked by eight stores, four on each side. Each store had a separate entrance from the arcade. The original store entrances and display window openings remain intact. Most of the original mosaic tile floor also remains. The ticket kiosk which was originally located in the center of the arcade was removed and a ticket window was installed at the rear of the arcade near the entrance to the theater lobby. The ticket window opening is arched with a fanlight transom. The second floor of the retail portion of the building contained offices that were accessed by a stairway in the northeast corner of the building. The individual office spaces have been removed and the second floor is currently unfinished.
Three sets of paneled double doors at the end of the arcade lead into the theater lobby. The doors are topped by an entablature that supports three round arches each containing a carved detail. The lobby features an ornamental plaster frieze with scrolls, acanthus leaves, shields, and egg-and-dart motifs. The walls are divided into panels by fluted pilasters and the sections contain a chair rail with applied panel molding above. The staircase leading to the mezzanine and balcony levels is to the right of the lobby entrance. The mezzanine walls are similar to those in the lobby with chair rail and panel molding.
The auditorium balcony and gallery contain tiered and slanted seating levels. The ceiling features recessed domes that contained colored art-glass and tracery frames that were backlit. Also located in the balcony is the "crow's nest", the seating area reserved for African-American patrons. This seating area was accessed by the separate street entrance on the south facade of the building. This seating section is at the rear of the balcony next to the projection booth and has the only original seating remaining in the theater. The main level of the auditorium is highly decorative and features chair rail and panel molding. The cornice of the main auditorium features radiating half-fans, a dentil course, and crown molding. The stage, located at the north end of the auditorium, features an arched opening decorated with an ornamental plaster band of intertwined half circles. The orchestra pit, located in front of the stage, is separated from the seating area by a wooden balustrade. A nine-pipe ebony lacquer organ was located in the orchestra pit during the historic period. The organ chamber grill boxes are located to each side of the stage. The ceiling in the main part of the auditorium features a 26-foot center medallion. A crystal and bronze chandelier hangs from the center of the medallion. Four smaller medallions with smaller chandeliers surround the center medallion. Much of the interior is in a deteriorated condition. The theater operated until the early 1970s. After being vacant for three decades, the theater is now (2006) undergoing major rehabilitation and restoration, based to a large degree upon the original 1927 architectural blueprints.
